Review: Apple’s newest iPad Pro slims down while scaling up

by Blaine Kyllo on December 14th, 2018 at 1:20 PM

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When Apple’s new iPad Pro arrived at my house, it was more than a week before I got to spend any time with it. My first impression when I pulled the 12.9-inch model from the box, though, was that it is thin—the thinnest tablet made by Apple—and light enough to hold comfortably in one hand.

My kids, aged 8 and 11, made it their own for the first dozen days. They’ve got their own iPads, but they were curious about the Apple Pencil magnetically attached to the side of the new tablet. That led them to explore what they could do with the Apple Pencil. I downloaded Linea Sketch onto the device so they could do more drawing.

So it’s my own fault that I ended up hiding the device one morning and telling them that I’d sent it back to Apple. How else was I going to get my own time with it?

I spent a few days using it as a primary device, so I watched video, read some books, and played some games. I used it to FaceTime my mom and brother with Group FaceTime (part of iOS 12.1) and checked social networks and reviewed emails. I also played with some augmented reality (AR) experiences, which are perfect for this device because of its portability.

The new A12X Bionic chip that powers the new iPad Pro wasn’t slowed by anything I did.

As with the iPhone X models, there’s no home button here, which only gives me more opportunity to be amazed by Face ID, the most convenient way to use a mobile device. There’s also a much thinner bezel, which means you’re getting more screen as a result. The Liquid Retina LCD display is bright and responsive and features Apple’s True Tone colouring.

There’s also no headphone jack, so you’ll need a dongle or Bluetooth headphones. The only port on the iPad is a USB-C, which makes it easier to charge the iPad and allows you to more simply connect other devices to it.

And while I’m not skillful at drawing, I played with the Apple Pencil for a bit and realized that any real artist who isn’t already experimenting with what they can do on the new iPad Pro needs to give it a try. It’s remarkable what’s possible.

The new Apple Pencil is flat on one side, which not only provides a surface to attach to the side of the tablet but also keeps it from rolling onto the floor. While being able to charge the Pencil by attaching it to the iPad, the other killer feature of the new stylus is the ability to double tap with a fingertip to rapidly switch between things like a pen tip and the eraser.

The iPad Pro has now been sent back to Apple. The kids and I already miss it.