Traveling with an iPad Pro isn’t new to me. I’ve used the previous iPad Pro as my main commuter computer and, before that, other iPads. They’re great for quick reading, communicating, writing on a keyboard, and… for me, that’s about it.
Keep in mind, I’m on a New Jersey Transit train for at least 45 minutes each way. (With recent construction hold-ups, it’s closer to an hour and a half.) On my ride, I’m trying to get work done. To date, there have been limits to the iPad’s productivity and multitasking workflow that made it a difficult device, for me, to replace my laptop. But I muddled through on my commute, choosing its portability over a laptop.
Now I’m commuting with the 2018 12.9-inch iPad Pro. I’m writing this review on it. It’s got a great keyboard case, though it could use a trackpad. It’s got a big, laptop-like screen. It’s more portable than the last version. But it doesn’t solve the final few things I need to make it a true laptop. Does that matter? Is it close enough? And if I’m not sketching or editing photos, is this product even meant for me?
Welcome to the 2018 iPad Pro.
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Editors’ note: This is a review in progress, focusing on our impressions of the new iPad Pro after just a few days of use. Ratings will be added after additional battery testing, benchmarking and USB-C accessory testing has been completed.
An artist’s tool that needs more software upgrades
The new iPad Pro definitely bags some huge wins over its predecessor: It’s shockingly fast, has USB-C, a far better Pencil design, easy login with Face ID and there’s more screen real estate crammed into a more compact design. From a pure hardware perspective, it’s a knockout — and drop-dead gorgeous, to boot.
But the iPad Pro just isn’t flexible enough, yet. The browser is not the same as a desktop-level experience, which can make it hard to work with web tools. No trackpad on the optional keyboard and no support for mice makes text editing cumbersome. Furthermore, iOS hasn’t changed enough. It’s way too much like an evolution of the iPhone, instead of a fully evolved computer desktop. And the current crop of available apps don’t yet exploit this awesome new hardware. A true version of Photoshop is on deck from Adobe, for instance, but it won’t be available until 2019. (I got an early peek and it looks great, but it’s not here yet.)
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Those drawbacks notwithstanding, this new hardware is going to cost you — a lot. The iPad’s price has gone up, to $799 for the 11-inch version with 64GB compared with $649 last year for the 10.5 inch. The 12.9-inch version costs $999 for 64GB of storage. My top-of-the-line review unit, with a crazy 1TB SSD and cellular, is $1,899. Add in the new and improved Apple Pencil (increased in price from $99 to $129), that new fancy Smart Folio keyboard case ($179 or $199, up from $159), and new USB-C dongles and headphone adapters you’ll need, and that’s one expensive iPad.
As genuinely exciting and notable as this continued evolution of the iPad Pro is, it also feels frustrating on day one — especially considering what you’re paying. It echoes the familiar pattern of Apple’s 2018 iPhones: Faster, larger screens, higher prices. Six or 12 months from now, if Apple and third-party developers continue to invest in evolving iOS and expanding the universe of available accessories, it could very well unleash the full potential of this amazing device. In the meantime, this is more of a niche product for artists and creatives willing to live within its bounds. If you’d like a hint of the creative possibilities at a much lower cost, I’d recommend the far less expensive entry-level 9.7-inch iPad (which works with your old Pencil or the Logitech Crayon, too).
iPad Pro 2018 and accessories
| US | UK | Australia | |
| iPad Pro 11-inch (64GB) | $799 | £769 | AU$1,229 |
| iPad Pro 12.9-inch (64GB) | $999 | £969 | AU$1,529 |
| Smart Keyboard Folio 11 | $179 | £179 | AU$269 |
| Smart Keyboard Folio 12.9 | $199 | £199 | AU$299 |
| Pencil 2 | $129 | £119 | AU$199 |
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It’s all just one big screen now.
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Welcome to the iPad X
The new iPad Pro looks like a large iPhone X. And, in a lot of ways, it really is like a large, super-powerful iPhone X or XS.
Face ID hits the iPad, without the notch: It has Face ID, and the same TrueDepth front-facing camera. Whatever you could do with the iPhone XS, XS Max or XR and its front camera, you can do here. Depth-based portrait mode photos look as good as the iPhone, and it can do Animoji and Memoji and other depth-sensing AR. Face ID is nearly invisible. The camera now fits seamlessly into the narrower bezel around the edge. It’s hard to even remember where it is sometimes.
The camera works in landscape and portrait and recognized me quickly. Face ID feels like a better fit for tablets, and even better for laptops, but Apple hasn’t introduced it to Macs yet. I had to bend over or lift the iPad up occasionally for logging into an app, or paying for something on iTunes. That’s where Face ID can get annoying over Touch ID.
Also, Face ID is only designed for one user. It highlights the still-outstanding lack of multi-user support on iPads. For families, or anyone sharing an iPad, there’s no way to store multiple logins, short of convincing Face ID to accept someone else’s face as an “alternate appearance.“
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The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro (middle) between the 2017 12.9 inch Pro (left) and 10.5 inch Pro (right). It’s a big difference.
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Gorgeous makeover: No doubt about it, this iPad’s pretty. Both new sizes fit more screen in less space, in different ways. The 11-inch Pro fits a larger display into a similar-sized body to last year’s 10.5-inch version. The 12.9-inch shrinks down the body of last year’s larger Pro and keeps the same screen size, and the difference is dramatic. The bezels are nice and small, and Face ID blends in. It’s a perfect look… except for the lack of a headphone jack.
An amazing screen: The iPad Pro display is lovely. It’s LCD, not OLED, and its curved corners are engineered similarly to the iPhone XR’s LCD screen. The display can reach 120Hz ProMotion like last year, which pays off in smooth scrolling, and sometimes in games and animation. It’s bright and colors look great. Technically, the iPhone XS OLED bests it in detail, but this is just as good or better than the iPad Pro’s display last year. And having a thin tablet that’s nearly all screen makes for an eye-catching upgrade.
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Yes, you can do Animoji/Memoji.
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Booming audio: The speakers sound fantastic. Crisp and loud. Last year’s iPad sounded great, too. Now the speakers boom so loud the entire iPad vibrates at full force. It’s like holding a speaker cabinet. If nothing else, the iPad Pro is a killer TV.
USB-C in, Lightning and headphone jack out: Yes, it happened. As rumored, Apple dropped its Lightning connector on the new iPad Pro, and subbed in USB-C. This means an accessory transition that’s both frustrating and potentially game changing. More on that later.
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Your one and only port on the iPad Pro, besides that magnetic smart connector.
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But Apple also followed its worst iPhone design instincts and dropped the standard 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. As with the iPhone, you can buy a $9 dongle (USB-C to 3.5mm), but then you’ll have cut off the only port. And because the iPhone still uses Lightning, you won’t be able to swap headphone adapters between it and this new iPad Pro.
Navigating iOS on iPad Pro: Welcome to swipeland
The iPhone X swipe gestures are now on the iPad, mostly intact. Swiping up goes to the home screen, swiping down from the corner brings up Control Center. The previous iPad OS had some similarities. Now a few new wrinkles pop up. You bring up the app dock by swiping up a bit and holding, which can get confusing. Swiping up further brings up all open apps, including some that stay in split-screen pairing, just like before. Because the iPad version of iOS was already hinting at where the iPhone X gesture language would go, the continued leap here isn’t jarring at all.
But would I have liked some more new moves to make the iPad Pro feel even more PC-like? Yes, I would have. Multitasking keeps getting better year after year, but it’s still not as fluid as I’d like for my workflow.
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Getting to the app dock means swiping part way up, not all the way — a little weird.
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Speaking of workflow: Let’s talk about Shortcuts. What used to be called Workflow is now Apple’s own Shortcuts app, offering ways to build macros and link actions together and tie into Siri commands. I think Apple is aiming for Shortcuts to be the way to make productivity smoother, do things better, and not feel as limited by iOS. I didn’t spend much time in Shortcuts — I’m not a big macro-user, or IFTTT (if this, then that) programmer. But maybe it could help. I’d prefer it if iOS could just allow me to lay more things out simultaneously, show more on the home screen and multitask that way. The iPad Pro promises so much power, but it doesn’t give me an easy way to access that power.
For comparison, I quickly hopped on an old Chromebook to save some file attachments, fill out a form, write back to someone and attach the files. Just some quick everyday work. Simple on a Chromebook, but it feels harder to do the same thing on an iPad Pro.
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The old Pencil (left), charging and jutting out like a dagger. The new Pencil (right), charging up top, very nice.
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Pencil: A big improvement — but you’ll need to buy a new one
The first Apple Pencil was great to use, but had a host of annoyances, especially its awkward “jam it into the iPad’s Lightning port” charging methodology. The new Pencil has finessed the solution with elegant magnetic inductive charging. It snaps right onto a panel on the edge of the iPad Pro. By giving it a place to charge, much like the AirPods, it means your Pencil is likely to be ready when needed instead of rolling around somewhere and probably depleted. New, too, is a double-tap capacitive sensor on the iPad’s lower third, which makes a single action happen. Apps need to activate it individually: iOS 12 doesn’t make use of it, except in the Notes app.
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Liza Donnelly uses the iPad and Paper app to do quick, fluid work at live events.
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But anyone can take notes — how is the new Pencil for drawing and sketching? I met up with New Yorker and CBS News cartoonist and journalist Liza Donnelly to see what she thought. She’s worked with the iPad and 53’s Paper app to do live sketches during news moments, creating on-the-fly sketch-based journalism. Watching her work on it, it impressed on me how good Pencil is.