THE EIGHTH GENERATION IPAD FROM APPLE

IN SOME ways this new iPad from Apple represents the perfect form of the original – just vastly superior in every way – thinner, lighter, faster, more capable, and a lot cheaper.

The general idea is the same – a simple touch-screen canvas with straightforward software.

This iPad retains the look and form of its predecessor – there’s a Home button and support only for the older first generation Apple Pencil. It might be the last of its breed – but if it is, what a way to go.

With a starting price of £329 for the 32GB wi-fi version (£100 more gets you 128GB), you get a whole load of computing.

The only major difference between this and one it replaces is its processor. We have moved from the A10 to the A12 Bionic (found in the iPhone XS and XR and last year’s iPad Air) bringing real power and speed.

Photo editing app Pixelmator Photo is available for it, and the newest version can make amazing improvements to image resolution. The feature took the latest iPad Pro around a minute to improve an image from my iPhone 11. The iPad did it in 90secs. The Pro costs at least £769. I hope you get my point.

At least half the story is the new operating system – iPadOS 14. The big improvements revolve around the Apple Pencil (£89) which is fast becoming a must-have accessory.

iPadOS 14 upgrades the way the system handles written text – any text field (like your browser’s search field) can be written into with the pencil and it converts your handwriting to text.

In the Notes app you can select and copy handwritten words as if they were typed, and even drop it into other documents as text.

There is still support for the

Smart Keyboard cover, which comes in at £159… and is well worth it if you write a lot.

So there you have it – a “real computer” that can do almost everything a laptop can, and a whole lot it can’t. At £329 it’s a bargain – 90% of the computer 90% of people

will ever need.

projected onto the lenses. This suggests they might focus on working with audio rather than video. And Facebook’s experimental VR wearable division – Project Aria – is also beginning to bear fruit. Facebook employees are being issued with early prototype glasses that feature cameras and ‘proper AR’ to try to get a handle on how the system might work in the real world. Find out more at apple.com/ ipad-10.2