iPad (2017) Review

• FEATURE
•  BASIC IPAD
• A SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE IPAD
• FAMILIAR DESIGN, BRIGHT DISPLAY

IPAD (2017) Specification:

• 9.4 x 6.6 x 0.29 inches, 1.03 pounds
• 9.7-inch display, 2048 x 1536 resolution
• 1GB of RAM
• 32 GB of Storage
• Apple A9 processor
• 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.2-megapixel front camera
• Touch ID home button
• No support for Smart Connector, Apple Pencil
• Two stereo speakers, located at bottom
• Bluetooth 4.2
• Fingerprint sensor
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Lighting port
• 32.4-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

DESIGN: 

It’s 1.4mm thicker than the Air 2 and about 30g heavier, too. In other words, just like the original iPad Air. The tiny extra heft to this iPad doesn’t make it feel worse in use. If you can tell the difference when one tablet is the equivalent of a packet of crisps heavier than another.

The extra thickness does feel very slightly worse in the hand if you are holding an iPad Air 2 or iPad Pro at the same time, but if you are doing that regularly, it might be time to seek help. It's a smart trade off for a flush camera and bigger battery. The entire exterior of this product is either glass or aluminum, not the plastic one generally sees in mid-range models like this one. The build quality is excellent, and the device strongly resisted our efforts to bend or flex it.

Casing color options are space grey, silver, and gold. Only the space grey version has black bezels around the display; the others have white. The Power button is on the top, and the Volume Up and Down buttons are on the right hand side. All of these are aluminum rather than plastic, and are easy to press.

DISPLAY: 

Apple does screens well. The 9.7in display used here is almost eye-searingly bright at maximum settings more so than any iPad but the Pro. It's clear, and with an identical resolution to previous iPads. In other words, content is pin-sharp, unless your nose is wedged against the glass. The anti-reflective coating is the bigger problem, reverting the tablet to being a mirror as soon as there's even a hint of bright light nearby. Traditional LCDs like this one aren’t designed to be used in direct sunlight. Still, it’s bright enough that it can be used in the shade.

A difference in the screen in new iPad and the ones in the Pro series is the LCD isn’t laminated, and there’s no anti reflective coating. The result is a display that will show reflections more than Apple’s higher price models. This is mainly distracting only if the user starts looking for them, though. Still, the display has an oleophobic coating, so it resists picking up fingerprints… mostly.

Camera:

The iPad’s snapper setup echoes that of the Air 2’s; an 8-megapixel primary camera with an f/2.4 aperture but lacking a flash and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing iSight camera with an f/2.2 aperture and Apple’s signature screen-based Retina flash. Actual picture quality actually surpasses that of the Air 2, with lower noise being the most obvious advancement. True to form for Apple, the iPad possesses exceptional cameras for a tablet, with attractive colour reproduction, a fast shutter and respectable low light performance. There’s also a pleasing amount of detail from both the rear and front cameras, despite the latter’s comparatively low resolution. The cameras seem to be similar to the setup on the iPad Air 2  an 8 megapixel rear camera with an f/2.4 aperture, and a 1.2 megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture. Both are snappy with almost no shutter lag, and those of you that use tablets to take photos will be happy to hear that the rear camera does a great job of offering good quality and detail. Your iPhone will still be the better choice, though.

The front facing camera is grainy and has poor image quality due to the low 1.2 megapixel count. Still, using Facetime in 720p, it does the job.

Performance:

The A9 processor in the iPad provides excellent multitasking performance. As I split my screen among 12 Safari tabs and a streaming 1080p YouTube video, the tablet stayed responsive and speedy. It remained zippy as I switched the side rail app from among YouTube, Slack, Tweetbot and Narwhal.

The main reason the new iPad is nearly as good as the iPad Pro is how well it runs the thousands of iPad apps. The A9 chip is the third generation of the 64-bit A-series chips, and it also brings a better image signal processor and more accurate M9 motion coprocessor than the iPad Air 2’s A8X. Apple says the new chip is more battery efficient, plus the new iPad has a slightly larger battery than its predecessor. Apple included 2 GB of RAM in this computer, the same as in the smaller iPad Pro. This is plenty for an iOS model, and something of a surprise, as Apple could have saved money by putting in just 1 GB.

This iPad debuts running iOS 10.3, the latest version of Apple’s operating system for tablets and phones. And owners can count on several years of free system software upgrades, which is nice to know with iOS 11 expected in a few months.

The 8-megapixel rear facing iSight camera, and the front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera aren’t changed from the iPad Air 2, but the coprocessor that controls them the image signal processor is. Like the iPhone 7, the iPad’s ISP assembles multiple frames each time you take a photo, which should reduce noise and give you a sharper, clearer result. I don’t take a lot of pictures with my iPad It more likely to have my iPhone handy when a photo opportunity strikes but a good camera is still important for video chatting, augmented reality, and creative fun like stop motion animation or Apple’s new Clips app. Oh, and the camera sits flush with the back of the iPad, unlike the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which has a slight camera bulge.

Pros and Cons:

The Pros:

Affordable price; Epic battery life; Bright, vivid display; Strong audio; Wide range of tablet-optimized apps

The Cons:

Thicker, heavier than before

Battery Life:

With a bigger 8,610mAh battery than the Air 2 (which explains the thickness), this iPad has refused to die on us. We have used it for more than a week in Wi-Fi-only mode, with some use every day, and it only recently dipped under 40 percent.

This iPad is one of the longest-lasting slates there is. On the Laptop Mag battery test (web surfing at 150 nits) the slate lasted 12 hours and 59 minutes on Wi-Fi and 11:59 over LTE.

Verdict:

The new iPad is everything that a tablet needs a great screen, a long battery life and plenty of power and at 28700 the price cut is the most noticeable thing. Not much has changed, but not much needed to. It should be fairly easy to figure out. If your iPad is on its last legs or you are looking at buying your first one, there’s never been a better time. This one’s cheaper, faster and future proofed.

But if you are still happy with your iPad, there’s not much here that should convince you to upgrade. As I said at the start, the iPad was perfected a while ago, and if you only use it to watch videos and browse the web, you don’t need an upgrade unless your current one is running out of speed. The last question is whether you should pick this or the iPad Pro, more expensive. My instinct is that unless you are a creative type that needs the Pro’s powerful specs and accessory support, or want a full laptop replacement, the new iPad represents better value, and is perfectly capable of running productivity apps like Microsoft Excel without a problem.