iPad

Apple 'Time Flies' Event - Apple Watch Series 6, Watch SE, iPad 8, Air 4 & more!

Apple have just concluded their September Event and as well their usual slick & cinematic presentation, we got a whole host of announcements and updates. If you haven’t seen it yet, we’ve linked the replay of the livestream above.

Some highlights to note:

Apple Watch Series 6 (Source: Apple)

Apple Watch Series 6 (Source: Apple)

The iPad Air does not have a definitive release date as of right now (Source: Apple)

The iPad Air does not have a definitive release date as of right now (Source: Apple)

  • Apple Watch Series 6 - Presented with a particular emphasis on Health & Lifestyle. The major upgrade that Apple pushed was the Blood O2 Meter. This starts at £370 and is available on 18/09.

  • Apple Watch SE - Budget option with the S5 Processor. This will start at £269 and is available 18/09. They have also dropped the price of the Series 3 to £199.

  • Apple Fitness + - New, pre-recorded work-outs each week, world-class trainers and metrics sent straight from the Watch in real-time. The subscription is £9.99/mo or £79.99/year and is coming in late 2020. You get 3 months for free if you buy an Apple Watch.

  • Apple One - Combines Apple Services in one package and ranges from £14.95/month to £29.95/month.

  • iPad 8 - This comes with the same Design as the last generation but includes an A12 Bionic Chip with a 6-Core CPU & a 4-Core GPU. This starts from £329 and is available from 18/09.

  • iPad Air 4 - We get a new design with some new colours, improvements to TouchID and an A14 Bionic Chip. The starting price has been bumped to £579 and is available in October.

  • No AirTag - Is this being saved until the iPhone announcement?

  • iOS 14, iPadOS 14, WatchOS 7 - All of these are being released…tomorrow!

We’ll have a load of content covering all of this in more detail over the next week, so make sure you are Subscribed to the channel so you don’t miss out.

What are you most exited for?

iPhone 12 Pro, Apple Watch Series 6, iPad Air 4 – Latest Leaks & Rumors!

We haven’t made a Leaks & Rumors episode since July. This is mostly because I like to wait until we get a few more things to talk about and we haven’t really had a good amount of new leaks, until now.

We finally have some major updates on the iPhone 12 Pro, the Apple Watch Series 6, which is apparently launching next week, as well as the iPad Air 4 and the upcoming Apple Event. So, without any further ado, get those snacks ready, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

iPhone 12 Pro 

In terms of the iPhone 12, you might remember the large number of leaks that we got suggesting the Frame was going to be squared-off, the Notch was going to be smaller and that the Triple Camera Module would now be a Quad-Camera Module with one of the Modules being that LiDAR Sensor. Even though these were “meh” changes, I would’ve loved to see the Notch be made even smaller or even removed entirely. Jon Prosser posted a CAD drawing of the iPhone 12’s Notch back in May, which appeared to show the Speaker Grill moving into the Bezel, making the Notch a bit smaller this way. 

This our idea of what the iPhone 12 will look like, check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS’ for more.

This our idea of what the iPhone 12 will look like, check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS’ for more.

Another leaker (@Choco_bit) posted an image of the iPhone 12 Pro, showing the smaller Notch, the Quad-Camera Module on the back (again with a LiDAR Sensor) and we also saw the iOS 14 Widgets. We did get the Widgets, but the other two changes would not be happening anymore. Jon Prosser posted, on August 26th, saying that the Notch is staying the same and the Bezels are getting noticeably thinner, so at least there’s that. The Notch will appear smaller on the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max as the Display itself will be bigger. Jon also mentioned that FaceID will work from wider angles, even flat on the table, so that is indeed a nice improvement. 

The sides are flat, like we’ve seen in all the leaks. We’re going to get that iPhone 4 & iPhone 5 style Body, while the Glass will indeed have a slight curve, which will make it easier to use when it comes to Gestures. Jon is also saying that the entire Camera Module would now be 10% larger. I’m assuming that he’s referring to the big square housing for the Modules. In terms of that Back Camera Array, we’ve had a bunch of recent leaks. These are Case leaks that mostly show a Triple Camera Module Array, instead of the Quad that we’ve seen leaked before as the LiDAR Module would now be positioned in a very similar manner to how the Flash is. I think that’s a worse approach. Also, the LiDAR Module on the iPad Pro 2020 is quite a bit larger than the one on these iPhone 12 leaks. Maybe Apple can pull this off and compact it a bit more to make it smaller but in my opinion, I still think it would look nicer with a Quad-Camera Module Array.

It looks like the Triple-Camera Array is staying for the iPhone 12.

It looks like the Triple-Camera Array is staying for the iPhone 12.

So, no smaller Notch or Quad-Camera Module Array, any other updates? Well, we still don’t know for sure what is happening with the high Refresh Rate Display. We’ve had countless leaks saying that it will happen and countless leaks saying that it won’t. But luckily, it seems like there is some hope. Jon Prosser posted a bunch of photos and even a full hands-on video of an iPhone 12 Pro PVT unit. These are the Production Validation Test units and they’re basically tested by Apple employees in order to ensure that they’re working correctly. They need to undergo a bunch of tests and if they pass all tests correctly, these are the units that will be mass produced. In most cases, these are exactly what the retail units would look like.

Interestingly enough, there is actually a toggle in the Settings to enable High Refresh Rate on these, but there is also a note telling employees to check if their PVT unit supports high Refresh Rate. It seems that Apple has manufactured some units with 120Hz, and others without. Display Analyst Ross Young reports that, based on his sources, it is way more likely for Apple to release the iPhone 12 Pro with just a 60Hz Panel. It looks like Apple has managed to get the 120Hz Panels in the end, but not the 120Hz Driver.

So, we’ll have to wait and see what happens but in my opinion, a high Refresh Rate on the iPhone 12 Pro is a must. We’ve had high Refresh Rate Smartphones since 2017. The first Phone to come with it was the Razer Phone, which featured a 120Hz Panel. Since then, more and more Smartphones have started including this to the point where even mid-range Smartphones in 2020, such as the OnePlus Nord, come with a 90Hz Panel.

Apple is late to the party with higher Refresh Rate Displays.

Apple is late to the party with higher Refresh Rate Displays.

I know that Apple wants to wait until they get it working properly. They want to use an LTPO Panel so that they can adjust the Refresh Rate from 120Hz, all the way down to 1Hz, just like the iPad Pro’s ProMotion Display does. That is an LCD Display, rather than an OLED. The only Smartphones out right now with an LTPO Display, are Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra and Z Fold 2. That’s it. Samsung has already made it clear to Apple that they would not be able to provide them with an LTPO Panel in 2020. It seems like that has changed, or at least Apple has found a different solution for that. Judging from the PVT units, it seems like they can only switch between the 60Hz and a 120Hz Refresh Rate, which could point towards this not being an LTPO Panel, but rather a standard 120Hz Panel like we’ve seen on most 2019 and 2020 Smartphones. On those Phones, you can indeed switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, but nothing more than that. Anyway, if this iPhone doesn’t have 120Hz, then it would be a major disappointment in my eyes. 

Camera-wise, we haven’t really had any massive leaks aside from a new Sensor that Apple will be using to enable better Low-Light Performance, as well as Night Mode with the Ultra-Wide Angle Module. Aside from that, Jon Prosser showed us that the Camera will indeed support 4K120 as well as 4K240, both of which are likely to be used in slow-motion, or at least the 4K240 mode will as that’s listed as Slow-Mo. That’s pretty nuts for a Phone. There’s no other Phone, other than the iPhone 11 Pro, that can shoot 4K60 and all Lenses. Now, the iPhone 12 Pro will bump that up to 4K120 and even 4K240. It’s pretty nuts what Apple’s Processor is capable of. But that’s mostly it.

There will be no Charger in the box, that’s already confirmed. ‘LoveToDream’ reported that the Lightning Cable will now be braided, so at least there’s that.

In terms of the Release Date, Jon Prosser has posted the timeline for Apple’s upcoming releases. Do keep in mind that Jon has been 100% accurate in the past, in terms of actual Release Dates. According to Jon, Apple will launch the new Apple Watch next week, followed by a new iPad. Then the iPhone 12 event will be in mid-October, followed by the iPhone 12 release on October 19th, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro release sometime in November. 

Apple Watch Series 6

What about the Apple Watch Series 6? If you’re enjoying this, we have some really awesome content coming in the next few days so it would be great if you could Subscribe so you don’t miss out, it’s free to do so. 

Well, my top request would be for Apple to redesign the entire Watch and make it into a Circular Design, or at least offer a Circular Design as well. That’s my personal request and I would love to see that happen. Unfortunately, it will not happen this year. The Series 6 would look identical to the Series 5. There will only be one major improvement, the addition of a Blood Oxygen Level Meter. This will show you the saturation of Oxygen in your blood. If it’s between 95% and 100%, then that’s all good. Anything lower and you might want to go and see a Doctor. Also, COVID does affect the Oxygen level in your blood so the Series 6 might even be able to give you a notification in case you have signs that could point to you having COVID. So, that’s the main feature.

The Circular Design may come one day, but not this time.

The Circular Design may come one day, but not this time.

The Battery is getting larger, but only from 296mAh, to 303.8mAh. The Performance is going to be improved thanks to the Apple Watch S6 Processor. I am hoping that the Battery Life will be improved quite substantially because the Series 5 was actually a downgrade over the Series 4. The Series 4 could easily last me two days, whereas the Series 5 has even died on me mid-day when I was cycling for like four hours with GPS enabled and Cellular enabled. Workouts kill off the Battery like crazy. Now that Sleep Tracking has been added in watchOS 7, Battery Life is more important than ever.

We’ve also seen reports that Apple is working on an Apple Watch SE, essentially updating the Apple Watch Series 3 with a more recent Processor and selling that for around $200. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg has reported on this as well. Overall, it seems like they’re just making as few small changes as they can until they can really re-design this thing. The Series 4 was really the big change, back in 2018. The Series 5 only added a Display Controller, which in combination with the LTPO Panel, which the Series 4 also had, allowed it to have an Always-On Display. The Series 4 could’ve easily had it as well, it only needed that tiny Display Controller.

It seems like the Series 6 will be another minor upgrade, with the biggest change just being the Oxygen Level Meter, which could’ve been easily added to the Series 5 and even the Series 4.

New iPad 

Finally, it seems like there is also a brand new iPad that Apple will be launching as early as next week, according to Jon Prosser. But which iPad is this? Is it a new iPad Pro, or a new iPad Air or a new entry-level iPad? Well, it’s definitely not a new iPad Pro as we just got one earlier this year.

It will either be a new iPad Air (the iPad Air 4) or a new entry level iPad, (the iPad 8th Generation), ‘mydrivers.com', which has a mixed track record, reports that this will come with an 11” Display, an A14 Processor and 128GB of Baseline Storage. Essentially, identical to the 2018 iPad Pro in terms of Design, just with a more powerful Processor. ‘91mobiles’ posted a few schematics of this new iPad, showing some slightly thicker Bezels than on the iPad Pro and a slightly smaller 10.8” Display. 

We don’t know exactly which iPad this will be, just that it won’t be new ‘Pro’ model.

We don’t know exactly which iPad this will be, just that it won’t be new ‘Pro’ model.

FaceID will be included, as opposed to just TouchID on the Power Button, which a leaked manual was apparently showing. A Smart Connector does appear to be present on these schematics, which would allow support for Apple’s Magic Keyboard.

Mark Gurman and Debby Wu of Bloomberg have both written a fairly comprehensive report outlining Apple’s plans for this quarter and according to them, this iPad would indeed be a brand new iPad Air with pretty much the same Design style as the iPad Pro. It would make sense for the Display to indeed be an 11” Panel, rather than something smaller with slightly thicker Bezels just to make the iPad Pro look a bit better.

I have to say, I am a bit unsure in terms of the Processor. Some reports are saying that it will come with an Apple A14X Chip, while some are saying that this will be an A14 Chip. The A14 would make sense but only if Apple also updates the 2020 iPad Pro with the A14X. Otherwise, it would just be weird having an A14 in this new iPad Air and a slower A12Z, at least slower on the CPU side, on the iPad Pro. That just wouldn’t make that much sense. That’s my personal prediction, a CPU update for the 2020 iPad Pro with the A14X.

AirPods Studio

The New AirPods Studio could be right around the corner.

The New AirPods Studio could be right around the corner.

Now, here’s a bonus item. A brand new pair of AirPods. Mark Gurman and Debby Wu also report that Apple is preparing a new pair of AirPods, those AirPods Studio that we’ve been hearing about for a few months now. The leaker ‘Komiya’ reports that the AIrPods Studio will come in White and Space Grey. The Audio Quality and Active Noise Cancelling would be “very high”, according to Komiya.

Apparently, they will also come with Apple’s new H1X Chip, some new Equaliser Settings and Ear Detection, so just like the regular AirPods. They may have some sort of Hand Gesture, like the HomePod does.

The Price will be $350, likely £350 in the UK, and they will ship in September/October and announced via a press release on Apple’s website. From the looks of it, it seems like these could be announced next week when Apple also launches the Apple Watch Series 6 and the new iPad Air 4. Jon Prosser even posted the time of the release, which according to him would be on Tuesday, September 8th between 9-12 EST when Apple will be holding *something* on their website.

iPad Pro (2020) - The Future of Computing?

Apple has finally updated the iPad Pro, their highest end iPad, which hasn’t seen an update since 2018. So, without any further ado, here are our initial impressions with Apple’s highest end iPad for 2020! 

Apple released the iPad Pro Third Generation back in October 2018 and this was the biggest change the iPad had since the iPad itself launched in 2010. The home button finally went away, we got FaceID and on-screen gestures, so this iPad was essentially the equivalent to the iPhone X. It was that big of a change.

Now, Apple has usually updated their iPad every year, but for whatever reason, we didn’t get a new iPad in 2019. This was quite strange because we got an iPad Pro Fourth Generation mock-up from our friend Sonny Dickson, we even did a full video on that back in September 2019. It featured a larger, Triple Lens Camera Module but no other visual changes apart from that. But, fast-forward six months and we finally got that iPad Pro.

Unboxing

When we take a look at the box, we get a very similar style on the front with just the screen of the iPad, like we did with the 2018 model. They did change the wallpaper this time, although we actually prefer the way the previous box looked as it made the iPad’s Bezels look thinner, since the wallpaper was black. They do look quite thick on this one. On the top and bottom, we get an Apple logo which matches the colour of the iPad that’s inside. On the sides we get iPad Pro branding, which also matches the colour of the iPad.

When it comes to stickers, there’s a stark contrast in Apple’s approach.

When it comes to stickers, there’s a stark contrast in Apple’s approach.

On the back, we get a listing of everything that’s inside, plus the capacity, which in our case is 128GB. It also makes note of the fact that this is the second generation of the 11” iPad Pro. For whatever reason, Apple isn’t calling this the Fourth Generation iPad Pro, even though they were following this trend with previous iPad Pro releases.

When we open up the box and we get the iPad itself. We then get a booklet, which contains the Apple stickers that don’t seem to match the colour of the iPad. Apple is honestly so inconsistent with these stickers. Not all of their products include them, like the Apple Watch for example, and some do match the colour of your device, like with the MacBook Air and Mac Pro. However, some don’t, such as with the MacBook Pro and even the iPhone.

Aside from this, we get the Warranty & Safety Guide as well as the Quick Start Guide, which includes some tips on how to navigate the iPad (button placement and so on). We get a USB-C to USB-C Cable because the iPad Pro, unlike the iPhones, do have a USB-C Port, just like the MacBooks. We also get a Fast Charger, which is the same 18W USB C Charger that we get with the iPhones. What we really like about this Charger is just how compact it is. The UK plug has these collapsible feet, which makes it perfect for traveling, so good job Apple! That’s pretty much all we get inside the box, quite a straight-forward experience so now, here’s what you need to know about this iPad. 

Weight & Camera

In terms of design, it looks pretty much identical to the 2018 model. We have the same Bezel sizes, the same colour options, the same exact thickness, the same everything actually, aside from two things.

The first being the weight. The 2018 11” iPad Pro was 468 Grams, while this new one is 471 Grams. The WiFi & Cellular model is 473 Grams. Definitely not something that you’ll be able to tell but it is there. The second visual difference is the Camera Module. We now get a much larger Camera Module compared to before, which now houses a second Camera Module. These modules are very similar to the Cameras that we get on the iPhone 11. Not the 11 Pro, but the regular iPhone 11. 

Spot the difference?

Spot the difference?

The Main Module is basically identical, while the second module is an Ultra-Wide Angle Module. However, unlike the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro, both of which have a 12MP 120 degree Field of View Module, the iPad Pro 2020 has a 10MP 125 degree Field of View Module. So, the Resolution is a bit lower but with a higher Field of View. We also get a brighter True Tone flash but that’s pretty much it. The module itself is actually smaller than on the iPhone 11 Pro but it is a bit bigger than the mock-up that we showed to you in September 2019. On that mock-up, we had three Camera modules, wheres here we only (sort of) have two.

There is actually a third module, which is this almost invisible black circle and is what is called a ToF Camera. Apple is calling this a LiDAR Sensor but it’s essentially the exact same thing. This Sensor emits laser beams which get bounced around the environment and then get picked up again by the Sensor. Then, based on the time it takes for the beams to get reflected back and the angle at which they get reflected, the iPad can essentially create a 3D map of the environment. The FaceID Camera on the iPhone X and newer, even the FaceID camera on the 2018 & 2020 iPad Pro, already have this functionality. It’s just that now we have it on the back as well. 

So, you might be wondering why do we have it on the back? Well, it’s not for scanning faces but for scanning and mapping in the environment in 3D. The biggest difference between this and FaceID, is that unlike FaceID, which works at about 30cm-40cm max, the LiDAR Module on the back of the iPad works at up to 5m, which is a huge difference. This is how it can map the environment in 3D so accurately. Apple even went as far as calling this the best device for AR, in the world!

Unfortunately, there aren’t that many AR apps in the first place and even the ones that we do have, do not yet take advantage of this yet. They need to use ARKit 3.5, which just got released, to take full advantage of the new LiDAR sensor. Until then, we still get improved Object Tracking in apps such as Ikea Place, but when it comes to object and people Occlusion, that would require an update. 

The only place where the LiDAR sensor is taken use of accordingly, is in Apple’s own Measure App. Now, when you measure something, not only will it instantly allow you to measure an object without having to calibrate the app first, but the circle that you use to measure will actually follow an object’s shape. So, if you have a table or a wall, it would automatically detect those and sit flat on them, whereas on the iPhone, this circle would actually go through objects, it would not detect them. Definitely stay tuned for our full in-depth review, a few weeks from now, after we get to spend more time with this and hopefully by then, we’ll also get some updates to the current AR apps.

Specifications

Aside from the weight and the new Camera, something else that’s different on this new iPad is the Processor and the RAM.

In terms of the RAM, we now get 6GB all across the board. Before, we got 4GB on all models except for the 1TB model, which did indeed come with 6GB of RAM. We’ve never really had any RAM management issues on our 2018 iPad Pro. Interesting enough, the iPhone 11 Pro Max has been a completely different story, even though they both have 4GB of RAM.  6GB of RAM should make this iPad a bit more future proof than the last model. 

A breakdown of the Processors that we’ve had in past releases.

A breakdown of the Processors that we’ve had in past releases.

With the CPU, we get the brand new Apple A12Z Processor. Now, this is interesting because this is the first time since 2010, when Apple launched their first A-series Processor (the A4 on the iPhone) that they’ve added a new name into the mix. Previous iPads have had the A8X, the A9X, A10X, and the A12X. The addition of ‘X’ signifies a more powerful version of the regular CPU models that we got inside the iPhones. Long story short, the only difference between the A12X , which is was what we got in 2018 iPad Pro, and the A12Z, is that the ‘Z’ has eight GPU Cores, while the X from the 2018 model has seven GPU Cores.

Fun fact, the A12X was also manufactured with eight Cores but had one of the Cores disabled. This is how CPU manufacturing works. Only about 60% of the CPU’s manufactured are even usable. From this 60% batch, very few have all of the Cores working perfectly. So, the ones that have issues get rebranded into different Processors, with some of the Cores disabled. The same thing applies to GPU’s. If you buy an RTX 2060, that’s actually a 2080 that had a few manufacturing issues and they disabled some of the Cores.

It seems to us that Apple is just using the exact same A12X CPU, but they’re using a higher quality version of it, that has all the Cores working perfectly. Aside from this, we do get improved microphones. Apple’s calling these ‘studio quality’ microphones. We get WiFi 6 but aside from this, this is still pretty much the exact same iPad.

One thing that we do get which is actually a pretty nice thing to have, is higher base Storage. We go from 64GB ,up to 128GB for the same price, which is nice. For most people, 128GB is generally good enough, however this is definitely not the case with 64GB, especially when you consider that Apple’s calling this a “Pro” device. 

The Magic Keyboard

New device, same old 1:1 pricing for US & UK consumers.

New device, same old 1:1 pricing for US & UK consumers.

Probably the biggest upgrade by far, is this new Magic Keyboard. It not only gives you a similar typing experience to the 16” MacBook Pro, but you also get a Trackpad, which is now fully supported in iPadOS.

But, this keyboard costs $300 (£300 in the UK), so it’s crazy expensive. For the price of this Keyboard and an iPad Pro, you actually end up spending more than you would for a MacBook Air. We would say the MacBook Air is just so much more worth it since you get macOS, which is still far superior to iPadOS in terms of what you can do with it.

Also, this keyboard does work on the previous model as well, which is great. If you have an older iPad Pro or a non-Pro iPad, Logitech released some new Keyboards for those iPads, which also have a Trackpad included, so you’re not really missing out on anything here. 

Conclusion

We would say that the best thing about this iPad, is that it made the 2018 model cheaper! You can find it extremely cheap online now.

But, there is said to be a second iPad Pro coming out around November or so. This will feature the brand new Apple A14X Processor, which will be based on a 5nm process and it should give us some major performance improvements. We’ve even seen reports that Apple will be including a miniLED display into this iPad, or at least the high-end 12.9” version, which will give us Black Levels similar to an OLED Display. Apple’s Pro Display XDR is using miniLED. We have 576 Dimming Zones, but the iPad Pro is said to have thousands. So we’re really looking forward to that.

iPad Pro (2020) & MacBook Air (2020) – 25 Things You NEED to KNOW!

Apple has unveiled two new products. A brand new iPad Pro and a new MacBook Air. It would technically be three if you included the storage bump on the Mac Mini, but we’re not counting that. In this article we want to cover some interesting facts that you should know about both of these new Apple releases.

1) We Had It!

We actually made this video back in September 2019, showing you a mockup of the 2020 iPad Pro. We showed you the Triple Lens Camera Module on the back. It was smaller than what it ended up being on the 2020 Model, but the main idea was indeed there. That iPad was supposed to be released in October or November 2019 but for reasons that we’re not aware of, it did end up getting delayed. But we do have it now, so here’s a few more interesting facts! 

2) 16” MacBook Pro Keyboard 

The Smart Keyboard on the previous model left a lot to be desired

The Smart Keyboard on the previous model left a lot to be desired

The biggest update that we got, by far, is this brand new Magic Keyboard. From the looks of it, this now replaces the existing Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro and is pretty much what will bring the iPad Pro closer to an actual laptop. Also, it has actual keys. These are 16” MacBook Pro style keys, with a good key travel, unlike the current Smart Keyboard which have those mushy micro-fibre textured keys. So typing on this should be a significantly better experience. We’re really looking forward to that! 

3) Trackpad Support

This new Magic Keyboard also now has a trackpad which fully works in iPadOS! It supports gestures, just like in macOS, but more importantly, it is also a dynamic cursor. So, unlike on Mac or Windows where you have this arrow all the time, on iPadOS, the cursor will automatically adapt to what’s being displayed on the screen. So, if you have menu buttons, the cursor will turn into a selection box for those buttons. Pretty cool!

4) Floating iPad

We think that the coolest thing here is that the iPad attaches magnetically to this top portion of the keyboard. So it essentially floats.

5) Adjustable Angle

Something that we didn’t have with the previous Smart Keyboards were adjustable angles. The 1st gen had none, the 2nd gen had two but now with the new Magic Keyboard, it seems like we can adjust the iPad at almost any angle up to 130 degrees, which makes it way more similar to an actual MacBook.

6) Backlit Keys

Apple has released a TV ad for the iPad and the keyboard and it seems that the keyboard is even backlit. Again, just like on the Macs, you can see the keys at night!

7) USB-C 

Finally, the last thing that I want to mention regarding this keyboard, is that it also has a USB C Port for charging. Since this is on the side, it makes charging the iPad Pro much easier than attaching a cable to the floating iPad’s body. This USB C Port connects to the iPad, via the Smart Connector, which means that you still have the second USB C port on the actual iPad, free to use. Just as a bonus one, the keyboard case even has an horizontal Apple logo on it, that once again, makes it even more similar to the Macs. 

8) LiDAR

Now, aside from the Magic Keyboard, which will be sold separately and will only be available starting May. The second biggest upgrade that we got is the new LiDAR scanner. Long story short, this is indeed that 3D ToF camera that we’ve seen reported before. This heavily improves the AR experience.

Apple claims that AR objects will now appear instantly and that realistic object occlusion, where AR objects can pass in front of, or behind real objects is now further improved and that motion capture and people occlusion is now more accurate than ever.  We’ve made a recent video on the upcoming Apple Glasses so definitely do give that a watch, because this 3D Mapping technology will be used in the 2020 iPhones as well as Apple’s upcoming AR Glasses. 

9) Different Cameras

Screenshot 2020-03-27 at 16.37.40.png

You’ve probably noticed that on the back of this new iPad, we now have a triple lens camera module (Right). So one of those lenses is that LiDAR sensor that I mentioned. The second one is a 12MP f/1.8 module, which still has no Optical Image Stabilisation, while the third module is now an Ultra-Wide Module. However, unlike the Ultra-Wide Module on the iPhone 11 and the 11 Pro’s, this one is only a 10MP module, compared to 12MP and it has a 125 degree Field of View compared to 120, so it’s actually wider.

Interesting enough, Apple does claim that it does have 2x Optical Zoom and 5x Digital Zoom, however this would actually just be all digital, as there is no Telephoto Module.

10) A12Z

Something that I was very surprised to see is that instead of this iPad featuring Apple’s A13X processor, like it should’ve, it features a new A12Z chip. The A12X was introduced back in late 2018, a year and a half ago. So, from the looks of it, it seems that Apple didn’t get the chance to get the Apple A13X ready in time, for whatever reason, and decided to stick with pretty much the same chip as in 2018, just with some very small performance improvements. One of this improvements being that we now get 8 GPU cores, up from 7 that we had with the A12X. That chip however (the A12X), was still way more than most people needed, and it is still Apple’s most powerful mobile chip. So, no need to be worried that this will be slow.

11) RAM

Speaking of specs, we now have 6GB of RAM, up from the 4GB that we got with the previous model. With the 2018 iPad Pro, if you bought the highest capacity 1TB model, you would actually get 6GB of RAM, but the rest of the models only had 4GB. Now it’s 6GB all across the board. 

12) U1

On top of this, we also get the new U1 Chip, the Ultra-Wide Band Position Chip, that the new iPhones also got. This will be very useful for those new Apple tile-like trackers, which should launch at some point this year as well. Essentially, this Chip allows the iPad to very accurately locate other devices that also have that U1 hip. The tile-like trackers are also said to come with the U1. 

13) Studio Microphones

Apple has also improved the microphones in the new iPad. We now have five studio quality microphones, which should sound close to what we get with the new 16” MacBook Pro, when it comes to microphone quality. 

14) Expensive Keyboard

Now, if you want to buy that really cool keyboard that I was talking about before, it turns out that it will also be quite expensive. It will cost you $300 for the 11” iPad Pro or $350 for the 12.9” iPad Pro. Unfortunately, Apple is again applying a 1:1 conversion to the UK, so here it’s still £300 or £350. Apple is out ripping people off outside of the US again.

15) WiFi 6 

But hey, at least we do get WiFi 6, the next generation of WiFi standard. This is something that we don’t even get with the 16” MacBook Pro. The iPhone 11’s do at least have it. 

16) Wait until November!

Source: MacRumours

Source: MacRumours

If you need a new iPad Pro but you’re not fully sure about this one, I would suggest waiting until November because that’s when we would be getting…another iPad Pro! We’ve had many reports that Apple will be launching two iPad Pro’s this year, one in March and one in November.

The November one would actually be the bigger upgrade, as that will be adding 5G, the new Apple A14X processor with some very big performance gains as well as (possibly) that brand new miniLED display that Ming-Chi Kuo talked about. This would be a massive upgrade in terms of the display quality, thanks to local dimming, it will be similar to OLED when it comes to black levels. Not as good but much better than what we have now.

17) MacBook Air Keyboard

Aside from this iPad Pro, we also got a new MacBook Air which is actually a pretty nice upgrade over the previous 2018 model. The biggest upgrade being the keyboard, which is now the same scissor switch keyboard mechanism that we got with the 16” MacBook Pro, which had the same keyboard mechanism as the old pre 2016 MacBook Pro’s. 

18) Quad Core 

The second biggest upgrade is the performance. We now get Intel’s 10th Generation Processors, up from the 8th Gen and the biggest news here is that you can configure the Air with up to an i7 Quad-Core Processor. But, don’t get fooled! These are Intel’s Y series Processors, their most power efficient chips. So even though this is a 1.2GHz quad core CPU that can turbo boost to 3.8GHz, it still doesn’t compare to the U Series that we get in the MacBook Pro 13” or anything else. It’s quite a bit less powerful.  But at least we do get two extra cores, for double the performance compared to the previous model. 

19) Gen11 Graphics

The new MacBook Air also features Intel’s brand new Gen11 Graphics. Not only that, but we also get Intel Iris Plus Graphics as standard, up from the Intel UHD 617, which means that we get 80% faster graphical performance, a pretty massive jump in the GPU too.

20) Much faster RAM

RAM speed is also improved. We still get up to 16GB of RAM but, thanks to the 10th generation Intel processor, we now get LPDDR4X memory, up from LPDDR3. This means that we also get significantly faster speeds of 3733MHz, up from 2133MHz. This is a gigantic upgrade. 

21) 6K Support

If you randomly have Apple’s Pro Display XDR lying around, well the MacBook Air now supports it in Full Resolution, thanks to the new Thunderbolt Controller and the more powerful GPU. Ironically, if you have an iMac Pro 2017, that one does not support Apple’s 6K display.

22) Improved Speakers

The new MacBook Air also comes with improved speakers. Not only do they have Wider Stereo sound now, but they also support Dolby Atmos, so they should sound much closer to what we get in the 13” MacBook Pro.

23) Microphones

While we don’t get studio quality microphones, we do get a 3-microphone array now, with Directional Beamforming. 

24) No WiFi 6

Something that we don’t get unfortunately, is WiFi 6. We still have the old WiFi 5 standard, which is very odd because Intel’s 10th generation processors actually do support WiFI 6 natively. This means that Apple has intentionally told Intel to leave it out of their custom designed chips, those chips are specifically made for just Apple at this point as Apple likely wanted to promote WiFi 6 as just a feature that’s coming in the new MacBook Pro’s. 

25) Price Drop! 

A welcome bump in storage, an even more welcome drop in price.

A welcome bump in storage, an even more welcome drop in price.

However, something that I was very happy to see, what that in-spite of all of the upgrades that we got, Apple actually dropped the price for this MacBook Air. Previously, it used to start at $1100, but now it dropped to $1000. Not only that, but the baseline storage is now 256GB, up from 128GB, so you’re also getting double the storage for a lower price. 

26) Display vs Pro

Unfortunately, even though the MacBook Air seems like the perfect laptop, for me at least, it is not.  The main reason being the display. While this is indeed a Retina display, it is only a 300-400 nit display, compared to the 500 nit display of a MacBook Pro. It also lacks a DCI-P3 color gamut, which means that if you plan on doing any video or photo work, the MacBook Pro is still a much better choice!

iPad 10.2" (2019) - FULL Review!

This is iPad. Not the Air, or the Pro, this is the entry level iPad. I know that this might be a bit confusing to some, so let me explain.

Back in the days of Steve Jobs, Apple only had 1 single iPad, unsurprisingly called the iPad. Then came the iPad 2, the iPad 3, the iPad 4 and then, instead of Apple releasing the iPad 5, they revamped the entire naming scheme, and called it the iPad Air. So then we had the iPad Air 2 and then Apple killed the iPad Air naming scheme as well, releasing the iPad Pro. And then they actually brought back the iPad Air in 2019 with the iPad Air 3rd generation, and back in 2017 they also brought back the original iPad naming scheme, by launching the iPad 5th generation, and this was essentially the entry-level iPad. It didn’t have any other name, such as Air or Pro, it was the essential iPad, the one for everyone that just needed a very good tablet. In 2018, Apple released the 2nd entry level iPad, the iPad 6th generation, and now in 2019 we have the 7th generation

So, here’s my final thoughts on this iPad, covering the Design, Display, Camera, Performance, Special Features, Battery & Value!

DESIGN

Starting off with the design, and this is a bit of a weird one. The 5th gen iPad, the 1st entry level iPad from 2017, actually had the exact same design as the iPad Air 1 from 2013. We had the same thick body and the same non-laminated display, so it was really a pretty big step backwards. Then in 2018 the 2nd entry level iPad, or the 6th gen, had the exact design as the 1st one and now the 3rd entry level iPad, or the 7th gen, now finally gets a brand new design, kind of.

The six year old design of the 10.” iPad features thick bezels and a home button

The six year old design of the 10.” iPad features thick bezels and a home button

We still have the same 7.5mm thickness as the previous two entry-level iPads and the iPad Air 1 from 2013. So this is a fairly bulky tablet. It’s noticeably thicker than the 2019 iPad Pro which is 5.9mm, or the iPad Air 2019 which is 6.1mm. And it’s also quite heavy as well, at 483g for the WiFi only model, making it the 2nd heaviest iPad since the iPad Air 1. Only the iPad Pro 12.9” is heavier that this iPad. So using it in one hand isn’t necessarily impossible, but for me at least I found it quite uncomfortable and tiring. 

Also, the design itself is very outdated, as we still have the same thick top and bottom bezels, the same fairly thick side bezels which are even thicker than on the iPad Air 2019, and the good old home button.

Now, I did mention that this iPad got a design upgrade from last year, and that’s true. We did get a larger display. We now have a 10.2” display up from the 9.7” one that we had before. What this means is that the actual dimensions of this iPad are identical to the ones of the iPad Air 2019, same 25.6cmm height and the same 17.4cm width. The only difference between the two is the thickness difference. The Air does have a slightly larger 10.5” display, and the Pro has an 11” display, but this means that the entry level iPad does have the thickest bezels out of the three.

 

DISPLAY

So there is a display increase but what about the actual quality of the display? 

Well, resolution wise it’s pretty good. We have a 2160x1620 resolution panel, which has the same 264PPI as all the other iPads, aside from the Mini which has 364PPI. So it’s a very sharp and clear panel.  The brightness is very good as well. It’s 500 nits, so the same brightness as on the iPad Air. It’s not as bright as the Pro’s which get up to 600 nits but it’s still very good. However, that’s where all the positives end.

The difference between the laminated display of the Air and the non-laminated display of the 10.2”

The difference between the laminated display of the Air and the non-laminated display of the 10.2”

This display is unfortunately far behind what we get with the Air or the Pro, and that’s because it is not a laminated display. What this means is that there’s a gap in between the glass and the actual LCD panel underneath it. So it will always feel as if you’re touching a display that’s behind a windshield or a very very thick glass screen protector. This not only breaks away from the immersion but it also means that you’ll get much more reflection that you would on all the other iPads.

Aside from this, there is no True Tone display, that both the Air and the Pros have, which automatically adjusts the colour temperature to make it easier on the eyes, and we also lack a Wide Colour DCI-P3 panel, that both the Air and the Pros also have. So if you’re into professional colour grading, whilst this is a pretty good panel overall, the Air and the Pro would be much more suited for any work that requires colour accuracy. 

So, the design is indeed quite outdated but the display is the worst part about this iPad. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad display, it’s just that it’s noticeably worse than even what the iPad Air 2 from 2014 had. 

CAMERA

When it comes to the camera I know that this isn’t an important feature of an iPad, since we all have smartphones with a much better camera anyways, but a camera on an iPad can be useful in cases where you want to FaceTime your family and friends, when your phone’s battery is dead and you really need something to take a photo with.

A front facing camera comparison between the iPad Pro (Left) and 10.2” iPad (Right)

A front facing camera comparison between the iPad Pro (Left) and 10.2” iPad (Right)

This iPad has a 1.2MP front facing camera, which is pretty bad when compared to the iPad Air, the iPad Pro, or the iPhone 11. Video recording on the front is capped at 720p so again, they all compare. It’s obviously not the best but considering the massive price difference between these devices, it’s pretty good.

The back facing camera is a bit better. This is essentially the same camera that the iPhone 5 had, back in 2012, 7 years ago. So it’s an 8MP sensor, f/2.4 aperture, and it can do 1080p video recording in up to 30fps.

The pictures do actually look better than on the iPhone 5, thanks to a better image processing, and yes, while this camera is so much worse than the one on the iPad Air 2019 or the latest iPad Pro , it’s still perfectly usable for that time when you do need an emergency camera to just capture a scene.

 

PERFORMANCE

Moving on to the performance, this is also a bit of an odd one. You see, this 7th gen iPad comes with the Apple A10 processor, the same exact processor that the iPhone 7 from 2016 came with, and the exact same chip that the iPad 6th gen from last year got. So unfortunately, we don’t get any processor upgrade with this year’s iPad, which is pretty disappointing. 

Considering that the iPhone 6 got dropped from iOS 13 support, the iPhone 6s, which comes with the Apple A9 processor, is the last supported iPhone. So, the A10 could be dropped in iOS 15, which would mean that this iPad will only get 2 years of updates, compared to 5 years for example, that the iPad Air 2 had.

Now, we did get 1 upgrade performance wise and that is 3GB of RAM, up from 2GB. This means that you can now keep more apps open in the background, and this also helps a ton when it comes to split screen multitasking.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES

At this point in the article I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that this iPad isn’t that impressive. It’s an iPad with a six year old design, a slightly larger display, but a non-laminated one, a seven year old camera and three year old specs. But you see, even though it looks bad on paper, the remaining three sections of this review is where it really excels.

In terms of the Special Features this iPad, same as the one from last year, supports the Apple Pencil. It doesn’t support the 2nd generation one that the 2018 iPad Pro got, and it does not have that very smooth 120Hz refresh rate Pro-Motion that the iPad Pro has, so the overall experience isn’t as good as on an iPad Pro. But at least you can use it. I’ve seen comments from actual graphic artists that were using the entry level iPad from last year to make some amazing drawings so this can actually be used for professional work. It’s just that it’s not as good as a Pro is for drawing but it’s definitely usable.

With the smart connector you can now connect keyboards like the Apple one to type with

With the smart connector you can now connect keyboards like the Apple one to type with

And something new this year, is a smart connector! Like with the iPad Air 2019, and all the iPad Pro’s, we have a smart connector which allows you to connect apple’s 1st party keyboard. Now this is actually the exact same keyboard that the 2nd gen iPad Pro 10.5” or the iPad Air 2019 use, so if you already have a keyboard for those iPads, it would work perfectly on this one. However Apple’s keyboard is very expensive, coming in at $160, pretty much half of what this entire $330 iPad costs. Not only that but there are so many better keyboards out there that work via Bluetooth, and also have a better typing experiences, such as ones from Logitech and Brydge. The Apple one is also very mushy, and aside from the fact that it’s very slim and you don’t have to charge it since it gets its power from the iPad itself through that smart connector, it doesn’t do anything extra that a 3rd party keyboard doesn’t do. However, the fact we now have Apple Pencil support and a smart connector on this entry level iPad, which used to be a key selling feature of the iPad Pro is a huge deal! 

Moving on from the keyboard, we wouldn’t be talking about special features if we didn’t talk about the biggest one out there, iPadOS. This is essentially iOS 13 but as it is on the iPad it has a new name, iPadOS, just because of how big the changes are. With iPadOS we can load full desktop pages in Safari by default, rather than getting that mobile view, which means that Google Docs on the web is now fully usable with full comments on the side, which wasn’t possible at all before on an iPad. You can now use multiple slideover apps for an even better multitasking experience, and also use multiple windows of the same app side by side, such as multiple instances of the notes app for example. There is even on-screen widgets now when you’re on the home screen in landscape, which is something that I’ve been wanting Apple to include for years.

Like with the Pro, the 10.2” will allow you to connect a games console controller to play games on it

Like with the Pro, the 10.2” will allow you to connect a games console controller to play games on it

If gaming is your thing, you can also use a PS4 or Xbox controller with this natively and play games such as Fornite, or even use the PlayStation Remote app and literally play your very own PlayStation games directly on this iPad, how insane is that! And now that Apple has launched Apple Arcade, their subscription gaming platform, you can play console quality games such as Oceanhorn 2, directly on this iPad with ease. This makes this entry level iPad pretty much a Nintendo Switch. It’s actually better than the Switch in so many ways, from raw performance to app support and the things you can actually do with this. Once Apple Arcade grows even more, we’ll get some even more high end games on this, so it’s just a matter of time. 

And probably the best part about iPadOS is that if you have a Mac with MacOS Catalina, you can also use it as a secondary monitor for your Mac, and Apple Pencil support will work as well! 

So there you go, from both a productivity and a gaming side, this iPad is an amazing tool to have.

BATTERY

Moving on to the Battery, Apple claims up to 10 hours of web browsing on this which fun fact, has actually been their claim for every single iPad model, ever since the original iPad in 2010.

So, Apple has kept that same battery life and made the iPads thinner over the years, made the displays brighter and the chips more powerful, while mentioning the same battery life over the years. I’ve never really had a battery life issue with any of my iPads over the years, but I also never got 10 hours. I mostly get around 7 hours or so, but battery life does depend on how you actually use the iPad. But do expect at least 6-7 hours out of this.

 

VALUE

And finally we have the value, is this iPad worth it? And my answer is yes! Definitely!

Even though it has a 6 year old design, a 6 year old display, a 7 year old camera and a 3 year old processor, it can actually do every single thing that an iPad Pro can, it’s just that it will do those things slightly slower, that’s it. And at $330, this iPad costs less than an entry level Apple Watch Series 5, which starts at $400. It’s $180 less than the iPad Air 2019 which starts at $500 and $470 less than the iPad Pro 11”. 

And because of this and the fact that like I said, this iPad can do everything that the iPad Pro can, just not as fast, I highly recommend it to everyone that just need a base iPad and doesn’t really care about any other extra features. I mean hey, you even have the exact same navigation gestures like you do on the iPad Pro. So even though that home button is there, you still have the same functionality that the iPad Pro has.

Whether you’re a student, an elder, a kid or someone new to iPads in general, this is the right iPad for you.

iPad Pro 4 (2019) - Early Preview

So I got a pretty special package in the mail. This supposedly contains a preview of the next iPad Pro, the 2019 iPad Pro 4th generation, and without further adieu let’s open this up and see what we have inside! 

UNBOXING & FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So opening up this box and inside we get this iPad mock-up wrapped in bubble wrap. The one I have is the 12.9” mode, which is the same dimensions that we currently have now with that model. But taking a look at the front nothing really has changed, we get the same design style, the same bezel sizes. The side frame is once again appears to be identical to the one we have now, same thickness as well.

Like this years iPhone’s the iPad Pro 4 is expected to come with a triple camera module

Like this years iPhone’s the iPad Pro 4 is expected to come with a triple camera module

So really, the only new thing about this iPad, is on the back, which has a fairly massive triple lens camera module. This is coming from the single module camera that we’ve had so far on pretty much every single iPad model, including the recent 3rd generation iPad Pro.

Now something that I’ve noticed is that the camera module itself is a bit smaller than the camera module on the iPhone 11’s. This usually means a trade-off in some regard but to be honest I wouldn’t expect Apple to manufacture a separate triple lens camera module just for this 2019 iPad Pro.

So what’s likely the case here, is that they just managed to reduce the footprint of the camera unit, by spacing out the camera components better since an iPad does have significantly more space inside, compared to an iPhone.

Now having that triple lens module on an iPad Pro might seem like overkill, and it kinda is. However what this means is that if you’re the kind of person that edits photos taken with the iPhone on the iPad Pro, like I do a lot of the time when I’m travelling then you won’t need to use AirDrop to constantly transfer your photos, since you can just take them with the iPad Pro instead.


BATTERY & RAM PREDICTIONS

So although we get a pretty big upgrade in the camera module, there must be something else to warrant upgrading to this right? Well from what we know it would appear that the battery life is also getting a huge upgrade.

Its highly likely that the iPad will feature the A13X Processor that is also found in the iPhone 11s

Its highly likely that the iPad will feature the A13X Processor that is also found in the iPhone 11s

The new iPad Pro is will be getting the Apple A13 processor, the A13X even, which will be Apple’s most powerful mobile processor by far! For context, the 2018 iPad Pro with the A12X processor scored 5106 SC and 17156 MC in Geekbench 4, which is just nuts! The iPhone 11 Pro Max for example, with the Apple A13 processor, scores 5411 SC and 13883MC, again in Geekbench 4. So the SC is even higher than the iPad Pro 2018’s, it’s just that the multicore and the compute GPU scores are lower. It is very likely that this will be the case again. The A13X will have an even higher SC than the iPhone 11 Pro does, probably at around 5700 or so and the MC should be around 19000 or so, while the GPU will be further improved. 

But just like I said before, the biggest improvement that we are getting with the A13 processor isn’t necessarily the performance gains, but the battery life. The iPad Pro should be getting about 2 hours extra battery life, if not even more than that, thanks to this A13 processor.

Now, something that Apple has added to the new Apple Watch Series 5, is an LTPO display and a new display controller that can adjust the refresh rate from 60Hz down to even 1Hz. The iPad Pro can already do something similar. It has a Pro-Motion display which also adjusts the refresh rate from 120Hz to 24Hz, depending on the content that you’re watching but it cannot go lower than 24Hz. Apple could implement the same display technology and the new display controller from the Apple Watch to let the iPad go as low as 1Hz and improve the battery life thanks to that as well.

Now, with the iPhone 11 Pro’s, we still have 4GB of RAM unfortunately. I know that some of you will say that “oh, iOS doesn’t need more than that because it’s very well optimised”, and while that is true, my Note 10+ which has 12GB of RAM, can keep many more apps open in the background compared to my iPhone 11 Pro which does have to reload certain apps quite often.

So with the iPad Pro 2019 I am personally expecting 6GB of RAM as standard, just like we had in 2018 with the 1TB models.

 

SCREEN PREDICTIONS

The thing that I want to see the most on the iPad, is an OLED display. Same Super Retina XDR that we have on the iPhone 11 Pro’s. That would look insane on an iPad!

But don’t get your hopes up for 2019. We have seen a recent report from Ming-Chi-Kuo yesterday, who claims that Apple will be releasing Mini-LED displays for iPad & MacBooks in 2020 and 2021. Now Mini-LED should not be confused to Micro-LED, which is the next display innovation after OLED. MicroLED is the future of displays, but it won’t be coming out until a few years from now. 

Mini-LED is what Apple already uses on their Pro XDR Display for the Mac Pro, and that one uses 576 full array local dimming zones. So it’s in between LCD  and OLED. It’s an LCD technology with a lot of dimming zones so you can still get deep black levels and high brightness but you only have 576 dimmable zones rather than 20.4 million zones like you would have if the Pro XDR Display had an OLED panel. Kuo claims that the new iPad Pro’s with the Mini-LED displays will launch in Q4 2020, with the MacBook Pros following in Q1 and Q2 2021. So this year’s iPad will have the same display as in 2018 for the most part. 

A quick breakdown of the differences between LCD, Mini-LED, and OLED

A quick breakdown of the differences between LCD, Mini-LED, and OLED

THINGS THAT NEED FIXING

Well, the current iPad Pro 2018 model does have 2 issues, which Apple should be looking to fix.

Some previous models of iPads came bent out the box (Source: MacRumors)

Some previous models of iPads came bent out the box (Source: MacRumors)

The 1st one being Bend Gate. If you remember the iPad has the Apple Pencil connector on one side and the microphone port on the other, which greatly reduces the structural rigidity of the iPad itself. This means that not only will it easily bend when you put stress on that point, but more importantly if you’re carrying it in a tight backpack with lots of stuff in, there’s a high change that when you remove it from the backpack it will be bent. I’ve even seen some cases where this iPad Pro came bent out of the box brand new, and in a lot of those cases Apple even refused to replace or repair it, because they considered it to be something that the user has done.

Now on the mock-up I’ve noticed that it still has the microphone port in the middle of the frame. The Apple Pencil charging pad seems to be in the middle as well, maybe slightly off, but visually at least I cannot see any changes and improvements from the 2018 model. Now there is a chance that Apple alters the construction of the aluminium back to make it more durable and less prone to bending. Apple have done this in the past, like the move from the iPhone 6 to the 6S with 7000 series aluminium, which is the strongest aluminium on the market that manufacturers can use. But overall, I cant guarantee that this will be altered before the release.

Scuffgate occurred when the Apple Pencil was eroding the area around its place on the iPad

Scuffgate occurred when the Apple Pencil was eroding the area around its place on the iPad

Then the 2nd issue that we’ve had is the Scuff Gate issue. This is actually something that affects more users than the Bend Gate issue. Essentially if you have the new iPad and the 2nd generation Apple Pencil, after a few weeks or months of use, you’ll notice that the pencil has started scratching and eroding the actual aluminium frame of the iPad. The reason why this happens is because the magnets aren’t strong enough to hold the top and bottom portions of the pencil, they only hold the middle of it. This means that it will slightly move, either in your bag or when you’re carrying the iPad in your hand, and this slight movement of the pencil will cause the aluminium frame to be eroded. This is something else that Apple will not replace your iPad for. I did ask Apple about this and they’re classifying this as cosmetic damage, even though it’s a fault in the iPad itself. In my opinion, and I’m sure you’d agree, using the Apple Pencil which is a 1st party accessory, shouldn’t damage your iPad in any way.

So these 2 issues, the Bend Gate and the Scuff Gate are something that I do expect Apple to address with this new iPad Pro.

 

CONCLUSION

In terms of the release date for this 2019 iPad, it appears very likely to be the end of October, at a special Apple event where Apple will also unveil the new MacBook Pro 16” redesign. We’ve had some reports claiming this to be released in March, but personally since this will be a fairly small update, an October release it what looks to be the most likely scenario from my perspective as well. 

The Triple Lens camera module is really the only noticeable upgrade and we could kinda say the same about the iPhone 11 Pro’s. But then we got some pretty big upgrades that no one was expecting, such as the significantly improved battery life, the 4m water resistance, the speaker improvements and more.

So I do think that Apple will have some more exciting features to talk about, when it comes to this new iPad, we will just have to wait and see.

iPad Mini 5 Review

Apple has revived their iPad Mini line up after 4 years of everyone, including myself, thinking it was dead. This is the brand new iPad Mini, and here are my thoughts on Apple’s smallest and most portable tablet!

HARDWARE

The Mini 5 starts at $400, which is $70 more than what the original iPad Mini used to cost back in 2012. It’s currently not the cheapest iPad that you can buy, there’s the entry level iPad which is larger, but it also comes with weaker specs and a significantly worse display.

What the iPad Mini offers compared to the Air and Pro for example, is a very compact form factor. In fact this thing is so compact that I can hold it in one hand and if you have some fairly larger pockets or a hoody it would even fit in those. I would highly recommend this if you travel a lot as it is the perfect iPad to carry on a plane or a coach trip.

Design comparison between the original iPad Mini and the Mini 5

Design comparison between the original iPad Mini and the Mini 5

My only complaint here is that whilst it is extremely portable, the design basically hasn’t changed since the first iPad Mini was launched back in 2012. The Mini 5 retains the small improvements that the Mini 4 got, like the laminated display and the thinner overall form, whilst also getting a darker shade of space grey, which does look really nice.

The edges are not reflective anymore, they’re not matte, but that’s it. We do have the exact same thick bezels as the original, which you can argue is good to have on a tablet, since you have something to hold it by, but that’s not necessarily true. The 2018 iPad Pro for example, had some insanely thin bezels and the accidental touch rejection was so good on that thing that you could hold it by the display and still use it! Now the Mini itself does have some incredible accidental touch rejection but only on the sides. So it is no problem at all if you accidentally touch the display when using this in portrait due to the thin side bezels.

Now I have seen a lot of reviewers and tech websites say that the iPhone XS Max is almost as big as an iPad Mini is, and there’s no point in getting a Mini anymore, which isn’t correct at all. 

You see the Mini has a 4:3 aspect ratio display compared to 19.5:9, which means that you can read full sized pages of a book or even comic books, without having to scroll or zoom in on the Mini. So if you’re into reading books and pretty much browsing in general, the Mini is a significant upgrade from even a large screen smartphone.

Speaking of reading, the display itself has been improved significantly over the years. We got a Retina Display with the Mini 2 and that laminated display I mentioned earlier with the Mini 4, but with the Mini 5, everything got even better.

A comparison in brightness between the iPad Mini 5 (Left) Mini 4 (Right)

A comparison in brightness between the iPad Mini 5 (Left) Mini 4 (Right)

The colors are more vibrant, with the inclusion of a DCI-P3 panel, just like on the iPad Pro so everything just pops, and the difference between the 5 and the 4 is definitely noticeable. It’s also a brighter display, which I do like a lot! It can now go up to 500 nits compared to the 350 or so we had before, so this would be a great tablet to use outdoors and on the go. At 326PPI this is also the sharpest iPad, with all the others having which 264PPI, and it does have to be that way since the Mini is smaller and you would therefore be holding it closer to your eyes.

Overall it’s a great display, I just wish that the display was larger. There’s so much room on the top and the bottom that Apple isn’t utilising which I really hope changes with the next generation’s design. 

For those of you who like taking pictures with iPads the camera’s pretty good, for an iPad Mini that is. It’s nowhere near the capabilities of the iPad Pro’s camera but the front camera is now a 7MP sensor, from the horrible 1.2MP one that we had on the Mini 4. Unfortunately the back camera isn’t that great, it’s an old 8MP sensor from a few iPhone generations ago and can only do 1080p video but the Apple A12’s processor does make a pretty big difference in terms of image processing. So if you would be using it for scanning documents and occasional photo taking, it’s more than good enough. 

 

PERFORMANCE

Now in terms of the iPad Mini 5’s performance and fluidity, every single iPad Mini came with the same processor that the iPhones came with a year before. The Mini 1 released in 2012 came with the Apple A5 CPU, same as in the iPhone 4S from 2011 and so on. 

But the Mini 5, instead of coming with the Apple A11 from the iPhone X, it actually comes with the A12 from the iPhone XS!  Which means the performance on this thing is incredible! Everything is buttery smooth, it maybe even more powerful than your own laptop!

I think that the best thing about having this much power in such a small tablet is that becomes literally the perfect portable gaming console. iOS games are not only the best ones on any mobile platform, in terms of graphics and how well they run on older devices, but on the Mini 5 for example, thanks to the power of the A12, you can play games such as Fortnite in native resolution at high settings and you can even attach a controller! 

Editing 4K video may be difficult with such a small display

Editing 4K video may be difficult with such a small display

With this boost in performance you can do video editing on this, even 4K video editing, but I wouldn’t really recommend it because of the small display size, but what I’m getting at is that whatever you throw at this it can easily handle it!

In terms of how well iOS runs on this, it’s still iOS so you’re very limited in terms of functionality but since the iPad Mini runs on the iPad UI rather than the iPhone UI, you can actually run multiple apps at the same time.

Apple does offer you years of day 1 updates too, the iPad Air 2 from 2014 is still fully supported 5 years after it was launched. So expect to be able to see this for many years!

It’s worth noting that iOS 13 would be coming with some major iPad UI overhaul and I am 100% sure that some, if not all of those features would be coming to the Mini 5 as well. Even with iOS 12 we got full gesture support, just like on the 2018 iPad Pro, so even if the home button is still there you can indeed use the same gestures as on the iPad Pro 2018 and fully navigate the UI which is a real plus! 

ACCESSORIES

Now this section is something that has to be discussed, and I am really happy about this, and that is that the Mini 5 now has support for the Apple Pencil.

But this is a bit of a weird one because the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard have both been exclusive to the iPad Pro, as Apple’s been selling the Pro as a professional grade device. Now that they added both Apple Pencil and Smart-keyboard support to the iPad Air 3, and Apple Pencil support to the Mini, Apple is clearly moving away from the idea that only the iPad Pros should have the best features. 

I mean, it’s not the 2nd generation Apple Pencil that the iPad Pro comes with, it’s still the 1st gen one which connects very weirdly, but it is an a mazing thing to have. Unfortunately you do have to buy it separately and yes, it does feel weird using the pencil on such a small display, especially considering that the pencil itself is bigger than the entire length of the display. But it’s perfect for things such as taking notes, and drawing professional art if you so wished.

 

CONCLUSION

Ok so in the end, while personally I do use an iPad Pro every single day and don’t intend to switch to a Mini anytime soon, the Mini 5 is not only the best entry into the iOS ecosystem, but it is also the best small form factor tablet on the market by a wide margin.

There’s absolutely nothing that even comes close in terms of the performance, the massive app selection, the software support and the best mobile gaming experience on the market right now, especially if you connect a controller.

iPad Air 3 Review

This is the brand new iPad Air! It’s just called the iPad Air but essentially this is the 3rd generation iPad Air.

It has been almost 5 years since the iPad Air 2 was released so we should see a pretty big upgrade in every single way!

It stands in between the entry-level iPad which hasn’t been updated since 2018, which starts at $329, and the iPad Pro 2018 which starts at $800. The iPad Air starts at $500, more than half the price of the iPad Pro. But is it more than half as good?

HARDWARE

The entire iPad Air design is based of the iPad Pro 2nd gen design from 2017. This means that, when compared to the iPad Air 2, there is a noticeable design upgrade. We get a 10.5” display compared to 9.7”, and we also get significantly thinner bezels overall in a form factor that’s just a tiny bit larger. 

Design comparison between the Air 3 and the 2018 iPad Pro

Design comparison between the Air 3 and the 2018 iPad Pro

It’s not as good as the 2018 iPad Pro’s design, with those really thin bezels and no home button and FaceID, but it’s still not bad. It is still one of the best looking tablets on the market and it now comes in an even darker shade of space grey than before, which I really like. 

The display is surprisingly good. It’s almost as good as on the iPad Pro 2nd generation. We get the same DCI-P3 color gamut, so everything is incredibly vibrant, and a True-Tone display that automatically adjusts its color temperature based on the lighting conditions around it. In addition we also get the same 1.8% reflectivity, so watching videos on this looks incredible. The Air is also really easy to read outdoors as it goes up to 500 nits, the same as a MacBook Pro. It’s not as bright as the iPad Pro 2nd or 3rd gen that can go up to 600 nits, but it’s still more than enough. Overall though, I do feel that this is indeed one of the best displays on a tablet at the moment.

Now the Pro does have that Pro-Motion technology which makes everything twice as fluid, up to 120Hz fluid, but this is missing from the Air. It is a pretty big downgrade if you’re coming from a 2nd gen iPad Pro or newer, since only those have Pro-Motion, but if you’re not then this display is as fluid as any other Apple device out there. 

It’s speakers are also great. They’re not quad speakers like on the iPad Pros, but they still sound great nonetheless. 

The front camera has been upgraded so it’s the same 7MP one found in the iPad Pros, meaning your selfies and facetime calls would look better. The back camera isn’t that bad either. Unfortunately it’s not a 4K sensor like on the iPad Pros, but for 1080p 30fps videos, scanning documents and occasional shots it’s more than good enough. 

Also, I do love the fact that even though we do have a home-button on this iPad, which is the same clickable one as on the iPad Air 2 from 2014, you can still use the same gestures as on the iPad Pro 2018. Swiping up to go home and opening the multitasking makes you forget that this iPad even has a home button.

 

PERFORMANCE

When it comes to performance this thing is just incredible! Games run great on this. Fortnite for example runs in native resolution at 60fps and you can even pair a controller with this thing and turn it into a portable gaming console, thanks to its 3GB of RAM.

You can also edit full 4K video on this thing if you want to. It’s not as fast as exporting video as the iPad Pro is 2nd gen or 3rd gen, but let’s be honest, even the majority of people who get an iPad Pro, don’t use it for video editing anyways. The Air isn’t even considered by Apple to be a Pro device, yet it does offer even better CPU performance than the 2017 2nd generation iPad Pro. It’s got the Apple A12 processor inside of it, the same one found in the iPhone XS so it’s even more powerful than most PC laptops out there.

 

ACCESORIES

But definitely the biggest advantage of the iPad Air is support for both the Apple Smart-Keyboard and the Apple Pencil, which were previously exclusive to the iPad Pro. It is the same Smart-Keyboard as on the 2017 iPad Pro 2nd gen so it’s a decent keyboard, but there are better ones out there like the ones by Brydge.

To charge the 1st Gen Apple Pencil you have to insert it into the port on the bottom of the iPad

To charge the 1st Gen Apple Pencil you have to insert it into the port on the bottom of the iPad

Now the Apple Pencil we get with this is not the 2nd generation that we got with the 2018 iPad Pro. We actually get the 1st gen one that was released in 2016, which isn’t bad. However, it does charge quite weirdly and since the display refreshes at 60Hz vs 120Hz like on the Pro, it doesn’t feel as fluid as drawing on an iPad Pro. But for taking notes and even occasional drawing this is an amazing tool to have, so much better than the iPad Mini 5, since you have a much larger display. 

I just wish that the display had a bit more resistance to it since it honestly feels like drawing on a glass window.

CONCLUSION

So in the end the iPad Air is pretty good! It costs significantly less than an iPad Pro and it offers significantly more than the entry-level iPad!

However, my Pro tip would be to get the iPad Pro 2nd gen instead. You can actually find it really cheap now, even cheaper than the iPad Air. While the CPU performance is weaker than the iPad Air, the GPU is better so it’s faster at exporting videos, the camera is better on the Pro and you get a flash as well. You also get the Pro-Motion display so everything is twice as fluid, and the Apple Pencil is also a much better experience on the iPad Pro. It also offers quad speakers, so watching and listening to content is a much more enjoyable experience on the Pro.