TO THE POWER OF 10...
THE LATEST GENERATION OF iPAD BRINGS A GRAND REDESIGN TO THE APPLE TABLET AND SO MUCH MORE
YOU can set your clock by Apple product drops these days… new iPads? It must be October.
This week we saw Apple unveil the 10th generation of its baselevel tablet computer, and it’s sporting a radical revamp over the previous generation.
There was also a little controversy about some of its features.
Users who’ve been hanging on for updates to the high-end iPad Pro were also in luck when Apple took the wraps off a less eye-catching update on the front too.
So, let’s get into the details. The new iPad has been completely redesigned, and now more closely resembles the Air and the Pro variants of the tablet – there’s no home button, and the TouchID sensor for unlocking has been moved to the top button.
Also, for the first time, the iPad comes in a variety of vibrant colours – silver, yellow, pink and blue.
Another first for an iPad of any variety is the position of the frontfacing video calling camera. It’s been moved from the top of the device if you hold it in portrait orientation, to the top edge if you hold it landscape.
This has long been a complaint of iPad users, especially over the last couple of years – when making a video call, it looked like you were gazing off to the side because of the positioning of the camera, so the move ought to make for much more natural video conversations.
Another big hardware move comes in the switch to a USB-C connection for charging and connecting other devices.
This is not controversial in itself, but has raised eyebrows where the Apple Pencil is concerned. The iPad supports only the first generation of Apple Pencil, not the more recent one that attaches to the edge of the iPad Air and Pro for wireless charging.
The first generation Apple Pencil charged via a male lightning connector hidden under its cap – you plug it into the iPad to charge. Only this iPad doesn’t have a lightning connector… so how do you charge your pencil?
Apple’s clumsy solution to this problem is to sell an adapter for £9
(which will be included if you buy a new first generation pencil). Which is odd.
Inside, the iPad is powered by the A14 Bionic chip, which was also found inside all versions of the iPhone 12.
So it’ll comfortably work quickly through anything that is asked of it, including high-performance games and video editing
The device’s main accessory is a cover and keyboard, which Apple is calling the Magic Keyboard Folio – a two-piece case that attaches magnetically to the iPad, and utilises a fold-out kick-stand to allow space on the keyboard for a track pad.
The final minor controversy over the iPad is its price – it starts at £499, which is considerably higher than the ninth generation’s £369. The good news is the cheaper model is remaining in the line-up for the time being for those with a smaller budget – and it’s still a great device.
As well as the new base level iPad Apple has also launched new versions of its iPad Pros – the high machines with the top specs.
The biggest change to that department is the addition of the latest and fastest M2 processor, which continues to outstrip the competition, and makes the new iPad Pros real powerhouses for those wishing to use their tablet for high-end photo, video, and programming work.
Aside from the switch to the new chips, however, everything else remains more or less as it was in the last versions of the iPad Pros.
One new capability is the iPad Pro can now sense the Apple Pencil before it even touches the screen, powering a new feature called Hover, which allows some control over what’s on screen without even touching it.
The iPad Pros start at £899 for the 11in version, and £1,249 for the 12.9in.