Earlier in June, at its WWDC keynote 2017 event, Apple announced its new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, a refreshed version of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which is slightly larger, faster, and more powerful than its former self. As the device has started selling in India from July 10, here we are going to provide our first impressions of the new iPad 10.5-inch to give you a good idea of what to expect before deciding whether or not to purchase it, and we see whether it can outperform a laptop so that it can actually be used as a laptop replacement.
Display & Design
Apple 10.5-inch iPad Pro looks and feels the same as the earlier generation iPad Pro. At 600 nits, it is among the brightest displays you will ever use, which uses a P3 color gamut for more vibrant colors, and it’s just incredibly beautiful to look at. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro features Apple’s True Tone technology, which adjusts the display color based on ambient lighting conditions to make colors appear more consistent in different lighting situations.
The 10.5-inch display is about 20 percent larger than that of the 9.7-inch model it replaces. There are four speaker grills distributed on both the sides and there is a 3.5-mm jack.
ProMotion
One of the big improvements of the new iPad Pro is its new variable refresh rate display, which Apple calls ProMotion, and it can run at 120Hz (120 refreshes per second), or twice as fast as previous displays. It can also cycle down to 24Hz on still images. That means ProMotion uses the 120Hz refresh rate only when the screen is in motion, cutting it to 24Hz when the screen is at rest or 48Hz when displaying video.
This new feature makes it easier to read text and scroll simultaneously with no visible flickering of text during fast scrolls. That fast refresh rate means that the UI animations are almost natural, and when you use the Apple Pencil, the response is as if you are writing on paper. It makes easy to edit and create images, and animations look better.
Battery life
Battery life on a tablet has never felt quite as crucial as battery life on a smartphone or laptop, but the new 10.5-inch iPad doesn’t disappoint. It packs a 30.4Whr battery, which provides typical iPad battery life. Apple claims 10-hour battery life on this device.
Other Specifications:
iPad Pro features a 10.5-inch QHD IPS display with 2224 x 1668 resolution at 264 PPI, Apple A10X Fusion chip with 64-bit, Quad-LED True Tone flash, 4K video recording, 12-megapixel rear- and 7-megapixel front-facing camera sensors, four speakers, and iOS 10.
Other than a slightly larger display in a slightly larger body with slimmer bezels, it also contains a lot more power. The A10X is hexacore which is as blazingly fast as you’d hope, and the GPU that comes inside has 12 cores, promising 40% better graphics performance.
“With iOS 11 coming, the core UI of how iPad multitasking works is going to completely change. For instance, the new operating system will let users work on up to 4 different screens at the same time with a split view. The dock of apps at the bottom will be available with a swipe up from anywhere. There will be real Drag-and-Drop support — and in fact, it may be more powerful than what you can do on a desktop. And, finally, you (and all your apps) will have access to a real, traditional file system,” a website reported.
iPad Pro (10.5 inches) Price in India
Wifi only device:
- 64GB – Rs 50,800
- 256GB – Rs 58,300
- 512GB – Rs 73,900
Wi-Fi + Cellular device:
- 64GB – Rs 61,400
- 256GB – Rs 68,900
- 512GB – Rs 84,500
Using the 10.5-inch iPad Pro as a laptop replacement:
The real question with an iPad Pro is whether or not it can actually be used as a laptop replacement.
As expected, the smaller display shows fewer lines of text per page. The clarity of the screen seems to make up for that and although you’ll need to scroll a bit more to see what you need in each window, the smooth, fast scrolling of the new iPad Pro makes that a non-issue.
For a 256GB model with cellular connectivity and AppleCare, Smart Keyboard, and Pencil, you’ll end up paying around $1,300 after tax. You can also, of course, get a premium laptop for this price.
