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Depending on what interests you most, the various announcements at Apple’s live event in San Francisco stirred different levels of excitement.
However, there can be little doubting the biggest announcement as chief executive Tim Cook showed off the Apple iPad Pro to the world.
As the name suggests, this new tablet is quite clearly being aimed at the more advanced end of the tablet use spectrum. Packed with power capabilities that wouldn’t be out of place on a laptop, but with the entertainment, education and businesses apps of the App Store at a user’s fingertips, upon first sighting it looks a potent package.
But what about up close?
With a 12.9-inch screen, it sounds like an obvious statement to say the iPad Pro is big. But it really is – when first confronted with it you can’t help but marvel at the slightly alien look of it. It is a familiar design, yet it’s enormous. But then, the screen is more than three inches bigger than a traditional-sized iPad, and that is quite a jump.
Having said that, the Pro doesn’t feel too cumbersome to cradle and hold. Yes, there is a level of adjustment, but no more than in the same way the iPhone 6 Plus gave you that feeling. It’s also surprisingly light. When the comparison was made on-stage that it was a similar weight to the original generation iPad we were concerned – that was heavy.
But here that doesn’t seem to register. Perhaps it’s perspective, and given the screen space you have you expect it to have some weight to it.
Having said that, there is no doubt that transport and going about your day with a Pro will be inherently different to with a regular iPad. You can’t help but think a dedicated sleeve or wider bag may be needed. This isn’t the casual laptop substitute that slots into a space in your bag that the iPad is – the Pro is a fully fledged replacement for your laptop, and remembering this will be key.
Having got to grips with it, the other thing that strikes you is the rapid response of the Pro. It is razor sharp, and can handle heavy duty tasks very well.
That A9X chip, which Phil Schiller made a big point of telling us is the most powerful processor Apple has ever made, waltzes through powering games and some of the detailed medical and design apps we saw mentioned in the press conference.
Even the everyday things, such as opening the Maps app and jumping to satellite view, happen impressively quickly compared with previous iPads.
Perhaps the most talked about aspect of the Pro is in fact the accessories you can use with it. Firstly there is the much talked about stylus, or Apple Pencil as the Cupertino-based firm is styling it.
Unlike a lot of styluses, the Apple Pencil is long – like a pencil that’s made few trips to the sharpener – and that familiarity makes it comfortable in the hand.
Without doubt the most impressive aspect is how it interprets different strokes as you draw. Pressure is noted, as is the angle at which you brush the Pencil against the screen. You can do details as well as shade large areas.
Response is rapid, and in our experience the interpretation on-screen was exactly what we were looking to do.
However, at 99 US dollars (that’s about £65) – the UK price is still to be announced but is expected to be similar – this is quite an investment for something with quite a specific usage case. Designers and those of a creative persuasion will no doubt be won over once they try it, but the rest of us? That’s harder to tell at this stage.
Then of course there’s the new Smart Keyboard as well. Third party keyboards have been on offer for the iPad for years, but this is the first time Apple itself has got involved.
It’s a fascinating move because this is firmly Microsoft Surface territory, and these two devices have effectively spent their entire co-existence trying to be the complete opposite of each other. But now Apple is moving in on the “hybrid” market and from first impressions they’ve done a good job of doing so.
The keyboard itself is also very nice to work with. It responds very well for a detachable keyboard – mainly thanks to the new connector Apple has added that automatically syncs it when attached.
The Surface is under pressure now, there’s no doubt about it. And once the Pro makes it into the wild, don’t be surprised to see that market take off even more.
