Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review: The ultimate tablet

Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review: The ultimate tablet

What is it that puts the "Pro" in iPad Pro? Not so long ago, you would have included a larger screen in the list of characteristics that turns an ordinary iPad into a Pro device. The more cynical of us might even have wondered whether iOS was even capable of doing proper work. With the iPad Pro 9.7, Apple has cast such qualms to one side. This is the iPad that really can do it all. 

Visually, you's struggle to tell the iPad Pro 9.7in apart from the iPad Air. It’s the same size and weight, and the main clues that it’s not an Air are on the back, where the camera bulges out, iPhone 6-style, and – if you have a 4G-equipped version – the former black stripe at the top is now silver. There’s also the telltale three black dots on the side that indicate the presence of Apple’s Smart Connector, for hooking up compatible keyboards.
The main changes are all internal, where you’ll find an Apple A9X processor and up to 256GB of storage. The screen, too, is entirely changed and now supports the Apple Pencil. More power, more storage, and a stylus: the question is whether all this adds up to a genuinely “Pro” device.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Pencil and Smart keyboard

If you’ve used the Apple Pencil on the larger iPad Pro, you know what to expect from it on the smaller one. As we said in that review, the Pencil is the closest experience you’ll get to writing with a real pencil on paper. Yes, you don’t get the actual feel of pencil on paper, the slight drag, the physicality of leaving a trail of actual atoms on top of something. But the way Apple reflects a change in the pressure you're applying, and the angle of the Pencil itself, is somehow, magically, reflected in what appears onscreen. It's an excellent experience.

Arguably, the Pencil is a better fit for a smaller iPad. The 12.9in version is a pretty big thing to write or draw on, more like an artist’s sketchbook than a business notepad. That’s great if you’re an artist – you can certainly see how the designers in Apple’s design studio would love the larger size – but for an average person, the smaller device feels more familiar and natural than its big brother.

If you’re the kind of person who routinely carries around something like a Moleskine notebook, you’ll love the combination of the iPad Pro 9.7in and the Pencil. If you regularly use an app such as Apple Notes or Microsoft OneNote, you’ll love it even more. The combination of Pencil and iPad Pro 9.7in is possibly the ultimate OneNote machine. It’s portable, light, and a great writing and drawing experience.

Where the smaller iPad Pro compares much more poorly to the larger one is as a machine for typing. First, the good bit: Apple has done an excellent job of shrinking the Smart Keyboard cover to smaller iPad proportions and retaining a decent typing feel. However, even Cupertino is subject to the laws of physics and biomechanics, and a smaller keyboard is more tiring and less comfortable to type on than the more spacious one. I’ve found that I can happily type on the iPad Pro 12.9in’s Smart Keyboard for an entire day with no ill effects. The smaller version left me feeling cramps in the hands after only 500 words.

In a pinch, or when travelling, the Smart Keyboard is fine. However, if you’re serious about writing a lot, you’ll do yourself a favour if you buy an Apple Bluetooth keyboard instead.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: The screen

You’re going to love the screen on the iPad Pro 9.7in. It’s so good that I spent time just staring at the serried ranks of icons on the homescreen, admiring the colours on it. It’s not just pleasant to use: it’s an actual, real pleasure.

Apple’s done several things to make the screen better. The first is that it’s brighter – Apple claims 25% – and this, coupled with lower reflectivity, makes it much easier to read outside. But the biggest improvement is what Apple’s calling True Tone. True Tone is an active adjustment of the onscreen colour temperature based on the ambient light, measured by a tiny light sensor on the iPad.

Executed poorly, this kind of system would be terrible. Get the calibration between screen temperature and ambient lighting wrong, and your screen would be oversaturated, or dull, or washed out. There are so many potential lighting conditions that creating an algorithm for optimising the screen is a very tough proposition.

But Apple hasn’t done it badly. In fact, True Tone looked fantastic in every lighting condition I used it in. I turned it off for a while and quickly wanted it back on. It just looks better – you’re going to love it and want it on every other screen you use.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Camera

Tablet cameras are something you either use a lot or think are a complete waste of time. The camera on your tablet, if you own one, has always been a generation behind the camera on your phone – often, multiple generations behind.

The iPad Pro 9.7in changes this. It uses the same 12-megapixel camera as on Apple’s current flagship phones, and it takes good pictures. In fact, the pictures are so good that when I look at them in the Photos app, I struggle to remember whether I took them with the iPad or my iPhone.

You get all the bells and whistles you’re used to from the iPhone, too, including Live Photos. Whether you think that these are gimmicks or not, it’s good that Apple is taking tablet photography seriously enough to make sure it’s not a second-class citizen.

Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review: The ultimate tablet

Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review: The ultimate tablet

It's expensive, but for one darn good reason: Apple has made the best

tablet in the world, and proved that iOS is ready for anything

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Performance

Of course, a new iPad will be faster than an old iPad. But Apple claims the new iPad Pro is 2.4 times as fast as the iPad Air 2, which was itself no slouch. We’re still running our benchmarks, but there’s no doubt that this is one fast tablet. Using demanding apps like Adobe Photoshop Fix is just breezy.

The iPad Pro 9.7in isn’t as fast as its bigger sibling, however, for one reason: Apple has chosen to equip it with 2GB of RAM, rather than the luxurious 4GB that comes in the 12.9in iPad Pro. You only really notice the difference when working with large images and big video files, or when you have a million tabs open in Safari. However, if you’re used to the speed of the bigger iPad Pro, you will notice it.

But if you’re coming from an older iPad, or if this is your first iPad, you’ll be amazed about how quick this is. It’s still, as Apple always says, “desktop-class” performance. It’s just a bit of a slower desktop.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Price

So far, so good. There’s no doubt that the iPad Pro 9.7in is a marvellous tablet, and I loved using it. But there’s a catch: you’re going to pay for it. In fact, you’re going to pay a lot for it.

On its own, the iPad Pro 9.7in will cost you anything from £499 for a 32GB Wi-Fi version up to £849 for one with 256GB of storage and both Wi-Fi and LTE. Add in an Apple Pencil (£79) and Smart Keyboard (£129) and you could spend as much as £1,047.

To put that into context, the 13in MacBook Air with 256GB of storage, a Core i5 and 4GB of RAM will cost you £48 less than the most expensive version of the iPad Pro 9.7in with a keyboard and Pencil. Or, if you don’t want to live in Apple World, you could buy a Surface 3 LTE with 128GB of storage, 4GB of RAM and Type Cover for £688, then spend the near-£400 you’ve saved on a nice holiday.

Even the entry-level price is not exactly inexpensive. Add the Pencil and Smart Keyboard to the 32GB Wi-Fi version, and you’ll still pay £707 – more than the most expensive version of the Surface 3.

Yes, this is a machine that’s beautifully designed, runs the entire range of iPad apps, and is extremely portable. It’s packed with great technology and has the best screen you’ll see on any device. Leaving aside the iPad Air 2 (which Apple is keeping in the lineup for the time being), it’s also Apple’s cheapest computer. But no matter how you look at it, you’re paying a lot of money for a device with a 9.7in screen.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Verdict

This is one of the toughest reviews I’ve ever had to write. The starting point is this: Apple has made the best tablet on the market, full stop. It’s probably the best device Apple has ever made, and given the company’s history that’s saying a lot. It’s also a joy to use, and their PR team may have to pry it out of my fingers when the time comes to give it back to them. In fact, I may just claim it never got delivered.

If you’re a business user, the iPad Pro 9.7in is the ultimate "carry about the office" device. It’s brilliant if you spend your time going to meetings, taking notes, managing people, and firing off emails from odd places. If you use OneNote, it’s the best experience for note-taking you’ll ever have, leagues ahead of anything on Windows.

And thanks to the keyboard and Pencil support, it’s also an incredibly capable device for creating. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that "the iPad is only for consumption". Use the Pencil with something like Photoshop Fix for a few minutes, and you’ll see how this combination makes you more creative than you’ll ever be with a laptop.

But unlike its bigger sibling, it’s not a machine that you can sit and work on all day. The 9.7in screen, which makes it an ideal note-taking device, will be too cramped for anyone who wants to write a long Word document or change around a big spreadsheet.

And that’s why I think the "Pro" name is a bit misleading. If you think of "Pro" as meaning “supporting the Smart Keyboard and Pencil”, then, yes, it’s a Pro device. But unlike the larger iPad Pro, it’s much harder to make the case that it can replace your laptop. This whole review was written on the larger iPad Pro, bar 500 words that were written on the 9.7in iPad and caused my fingers to ache.

It’s a much better iPad than the iPad Air 2, thanks to support for the Pencil and (to a lesser extent) the Smart Keyboard. The screen is the best one on any tablet. In fact, it’s so lovely that I want this on all my machines, right now. The camera might finally make you want to use the camera on a tablet because it’s almost as good as the one on your iPhone.

It’s a laptop replacement for a more sizeable number of people than any 9.7in iPad before it. It chips away at the reasons someone should buy a laptop, but to a lesser degree than its bigger sibling.

Despite Apple’s hype, for most people the iPad will be a second device, rather than the only device. But Apple has created a device you’ll want to spend more time with, one that makes your laptop look and feel clunky and old-fashioned. The increasingly rare times when you have to use a laptop will make you feel disappointed and eager to get back to the iPad. This is a tablet you’ll want to use more of, and there’s no higher praise for any piece of technology than that.And that’s okay. At first, I felt like the fact that this “Pro” iPad couldn’t replace a laptop to the same degree as the 12.9in version was a big deal. As I’ve spent more time with the device, though, I’ve come to realise that it matters much less than I initially thought.

                                                                                          Abdellah slaoui

Apple Pencil review: Much sharper than the average smart stylus

Apple Pencil review: Much sharper than the average smart stylus

Apple's pressure-sensitive writing tool is at once completely sophisticated and totally easy to use.

Apple’s pressure-sensitive Pencil is a home run, exhibiting remarkable performance on the new iPad Pro, but that should not come as a shock: The two were engineered from the ground up to work together and only with each other.

The iPad screen recognizes when you are using the Pencil, and in response, dynamically boosts its scan rate to 240 times per second (twice the speed it scans for your finger) to minimize latency, the time between the Pencil’s point touching the glass and a mark appearing on the canvas. Simultaneously, the Pencil’s sensors work with the display to detect its position, force, and tilt via APIs in iOS 9.1 that not only register current location but predict future movement.

The Notes app has a drawing screen, complete with a ruler for drawing straight lines.

Press lightly to get a thin stroke, press harder to get a thicker stroke, and rub lightly with the side of the Pencil’s tip to get shading action, just like using a regular pencil, though the quality of that shading depends on the app and the brush you choose.

Sketching and writing

Straight out of the box, Apple’s Pencil is a joy to use. You don’t need to do any elaborate pairing or visit the Settings app—just plug the Pencil in to the iPad Pro’s Lightning port to pair it, then go to town. It works as a stylus with any app, letting you launch, navigate, scroll, and complete basic operations. You can even trace over a regular sheet of paper.

So what if you think you can't draw? The Pencil even lets you trace through a regular sheet of paper. 

But Pencil doesn’t do everything. Edge gestures to access Notifications or the Control Center don’t work, and you can’t use it to open a second app in Slide Over or resize apps in Split View. You must still use your finger for those functions, and I’m good with that because it’s not necessary, and you don’t want to accidentally invoke functions with Pencil.

I tested the Pencil with Evernote, Notability, Adobe Photoshop Mix, Fix and Sketch, Complete Anatomy, LiquidText, Pixelmator, Procreate, Paper, Notes, Apple Photos, and iMovie, along with the iPad’s built-in apps. Remarkably, each app performed as advertised, and in accordance with its own conventions, including Notes’ nifty onscreen ruler that helps you draw a straight line. The only anomaly was the reference app Complete Anatomy, aimed at medical students, which suffered from a slight lag time when I used the Pencil to annotate the text.

Handwriting feels fluid and looks great too.

Cursive handwriting and printing can be a heartbreak with many styluses, and performance varies widely. However, I have yet to see a handwriting function that works quite as well as Pencil. (It reproduces my poor penmanship flawlessly.) Pencil is a totally natural notetaker and such a pleasure to use, that I’m almost tempted to lug the iPad Pro around for the sheer joy of writing with it. And just for the record, I thoroughly enjoyed sketching with it too, though I’m far from a freehand artist.

Use and handling

Styluses are a personal thing. What feels right to one paw doesn’t necessarily translate to another. Apple’s Pencil has just the right amount of balance and heft so that I can use it for long periods of time without feeling hand strain, just like a traditional pencil. That’s actually a bigger deal than it sounds. Only one other stylus I’ve used competes, and that’s Adobe’s Ink. Most other styluses wear out my hand in a surprisingly short period of time.

That said, I would have appreciated the instrument to have more of a matte feel, as opposed to the slick plastic surface. It was not hard to grip, nor did it slip from my fingers, but it would feel even better with an ever-so-slight degree of velvety friction on the surface.

The Pencil isn't just for drawing. Complete Anatomy, an interactive medical textbook, supports the Pencil for taking notes and marking up drawings. 

That’s also related to the diameter. Being a pencil, it’s thin. And for drawing, that’s great. But when I’m taking notes with it, I’m reminded of how I tend to go for pens with a bit of a thicker barrel to ease the strain on my hand as the words fly from by brain to my fingertips. I’m not advocating Apple make the Pencil barrel thicker, but rather expressing that the variety of tasks the Pencil affords will offer different experiences.

The Pencil is pencil-like in length, so my small hand was just about able to handle it in a natural way. It edges toward being a bit too long, and I’m glad Apple decided not to use the end tip as an eraser, like traditional pencils, because at that length, it might feel awkward.

Most styluses are an either-or affair: You’re using your finger or you’re using the stylus. Thanks to a new touch subsystem in the tablet, the iPad Pro can recognize both inputs simultaneously and accurately differentiate between the two.

The Pencil feels like a pencil, only more slippery since it's finished with smooth, shiny white plastic.

Automatic and accurate palm rejection makes the Pencil convenient because I can actually park my fist directly on the iPad’s glass while writing, drawing, or painting without having to worry about errant marks showing up on the canvas.

And that brings me to the screw-on tip. Most high-quality styluses advertise their presence with a clicky little sound that gets old really fast. When I’m stressed or frustrated with a project, the last thing I want to hear is a clickety-clack. The Pencil has a point, but its materials make a very muted sound, which is much more agreeable. Apple thoughtfully includes a replacement tip in the box, just in case.

The only problem is losing tiny things. The second tip can stay in the box until you need it, but take care not to lose the adapter that connects the Pencil to your Mac or an AC power adapter for charging, or the little cap that covers the Lightning connector, as you cannot park both on the Pencil at the same time.

Limited use cases

To use the Pencil, which at $99 I consider reasonably priced, though on the high end of the spectrum, you also need the iPad Pro, which starts at $799 and goes over $1,000. The Pencil is totally useless on any other iOS device.

It’s a little disappointing that Apple limits the Pencil to iPad Pro users, when it could potentially engage a larger audience of late-model iPad users. Apple appears intent on creating a uniquely superior experience with the Pencil, so that a different kind of interaction, with perhaps more latency and less pressure sensitivity and tilt awareness, would defeat the purpose. Nonetheless, some people will stick with their laptops and smaller iPads and never need the iPad Pro. Depriving them of the Pencil doesn’t seem quite fair.

Yes, kitty, just plug the Pencil in to the Lightning port to give it a quick battery boost. 

Both the Pencil and the iPad Pro hold up well in terms of battery life, and the when the Pencil’s charge does drain, it takes almost no time to get it up and running again. The initial charge lasts about 12 hours, but 15 seconds plugged into the Lightning connector of the iPad Pro gets you back to work for another half hour before you can even lose your train of thought.

Getting a quick battery boost directly from the host device—without having to get up out of your chair to hunt for a cord or charger—is the way we all should work. Charging the Pencil is easier and faster than sharpening a regular pencil.

To check the Pencil's battery life, just add the Batteries widget to your Notification Center. 

Battery life, in this case, is academic, and the Pencil has no onboard battery indicator. However, you can check the battery level by enabling a Batteries widget in Notification Center; plus, an onscreen alert flashes when the battery hits 5 percent.

Bottom line

If you’re an iPad Pro owner, should you buy the Pencil? That’s a no-brainer—Apple hit it out of the ballpark in terms of ease of use and performance. Even those who feel they have no specific use for it right now will likely find it makes life easier in various, unexpected ways.

If you are an iPad owner that does not need an iPad Pro, it’s OK to be annoyed that you can’t use the Pencil with the rest of the iPad lineup—but that might not be the case forever. I think Apple should democratize the Pencil, upgrading the next generation of iPads to take advantage of at least some of the Pencil’s charms.

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                                                                                                                    Abdellah slaoui