iPad Pro 10.5 Review: Poetry in Promotion

iPad Pro 10.5

If you’ve always thought that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro was too big while the 9.7-inch one was too small, then perhaps the new 10.5- inch variant might be goldilocks-perfect.

The new addition to the iPad family replaces the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and offers extra screen estate that may not seem much on paper at first, but it feels substantial enough especially when you use it with a keyboard. The tablet is slightly bigger and heavier than before, but chances are, you wouldn’t know it unless you’ve handled the old iPad long enough to notice.

But there’s far more afoot – the new A10X is kind of unnecessary given how adequate the A9X is. I cannot recall an app that was able to cause it to stutter. But it doesn’t hurt to be future-proof, and there’s also ARKit lurking around the corner to boot. More significant, at least for the visuals, is the upgrade to a 120Hz-capable, ProMotion display that is also able to scale according to the refresh rate of the content it’s playing on screen. And the result is animation that is silky smooth. Coupled with True Tone for matching screen colour to ambient light and industry standard DCI-P3 compatibility, the visuals on the iPad Pro are simply breathtaking.

Another upshot of the new ProMotion display is that the Pencil works better as well – the latency has been reduced to 20ms and the result is the best stylus experience you can have on a tablet right now; it’s not quite like writing on paper, but the immediacy in how the brushstrokes appear can be startling. Like all iPads, the battery life is quite impressive and we managed an average of nine hours or so from a full charge.

There’s no question that the new iPad Pro is very expensive and hard to recommend to anyone who isn’t looking to splurge. But yet, if you’re looking to blow your cash on something, it’s hard to find many things that are well worth the expense.

Rating: 4.5/5

The iPad Pro 10.5 widens the tablet gulf even further. Every component, cameras included, are top of the line. Generally, creative professionals, will have the biggest grounds to buy one, but with iOS 11 set to improve file management and multi screen support, the iPad Pro may be the mobile workhorse of choice for a great number of people.

From S$968

www.apple.com/sg