Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020)
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Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020) |
The 2020 iPad Pro takes 2018’s wow-factor redesign and beefs up the camera on the back with lidar (light and radar) technology, commonly used in self-driving cars, not tablet computers.
Apple re-invented the iPad Pro in 2018 with a stunning design featuring large, beautiful screens with thin bezels, Face ID instead of a Touch ID home button, and squared-off sides.
The new £769 iPad Pro is essentially identical and just as stunning two years on as the original, here reviewed in its larger 12.9in form starting at £969 plus the Smart Keyboard Folio costing £199.
The tablet has four excellent speakers on the sides, a USB-C port, a magnetic wireless charger for the Apple Pencil stylus and a little pogo-pin smart connector on the back for keyboard cases. There’s no headphones socket though.
The camera lump has grown on the back, mirroring that used on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, featuring a dual-camera system and the lidar scanner – more on those in a moment.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020) Battery Life:
The Apple A12Z Bionic processor is the same as the A12X Bionic used in the 2018 iPad Pro, but with an eight-core GPU instead of seven. It performs the same: fast and smooth.
Apple says the iPad Pro is more powerful than many full-blown computers; certainly, Affinity Photo was faster performing the same complex edits on the iPad Pro than on the new MacBook Air with an Intel Core i3 chip.
Battery life wasn’t quite as good as the previous model when tested in 2018. The new iPad Pro manages more than eight hours of constant work between charges; enough for day’s work and watching a video on the commute home but not quite the 1.5 days working-day battery that 2018’s model managed.
Part of this discrepancy could be explained by the upgrade from iOS 12 to the more capable iPad-OS 13.4, which does more, often concurrently, so will be more power-hungry – but also more useful. With lighter use, such as reading or watching offline movies, the iPad Pro lasts well over nine hours between charges.
Charging the 12.9in iPad Pro with the included folding 18W charger took three hours 20 minutes from flat. Using 45W charger shaved more than an hour off that time.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020) Sustainability
Apple does not give a rated lifecycle for the iPad Pro’s battery, typically 500 full-charge cycles, but it can be replaced for £99. The tablet is generally repairable, with the out-of-warranty service cost being £616.44, which includes the screen. The iPad Pro was only awarded a three out of 10 for repairability by the specialist iFixit.
The iPad Pro has 100% recycled tin in the solder of its mainboard, flash, and wireless charger and at least 35% recycled plastic used in multiple components. Apple is also using renewable energy for the final assembly of the machine and breaks down the tablet’s environmental impact in its report.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020):
Since splitting iOS into iPadOS for Apple’s tablets and iOS for its smartphones, the iPad line has gained significant utility more befitting of a tablet computer.
The big new addition for iPadOS 13.4 is Bluetooth or USB-C mouse and trackpad support, an update available for a large range of iPods, not just the iPad Pro.
You don’t quite get a mouse pointer on-screen like a Mac. Instead, you get a morphing blob that changes shape when near actionable items. A caret appears when over text like a Mac, but when you go near a button the cursor jumps to it, morphing into a light-grey rectangle highlighting the button. This instant selection reduces the precision required to click something obvious.
A trackpad is the best option for the iPad as it opens up a load of gestures many of which are similar to those on a Mac. Highlights include two-finger scrolling, three/four/five-finger swipes replicating iPad's navigation gestures (up for home, etc), and a five-finger pinch to see recently used apps. You can even two-finger or right-click, which brings up what would be the tap-and-hold menu on icons and items.
The interface and cursor have a bit a momentum too. For instance, you can click the time to get to notifications or battery icon to get to quick settings, or you can fling the cursor to each respective cursor with a bit of force instead. To bring up the dock you need to fling the cursor to the bottom of the screen. It’s surprisingly fun if using a cursor on a screen could ever be described as such.
Not all the usual interactions you expect are supported, such as a lack of hover-over for tooltips, which stops some functions in web apps from working. Some buttons also refuse to click, such as the back arrow in Evernote. Clearly, some third-party app developers will need to do some work.
Overall, trackpad and mouse support is fairly transformative for the iPad Pro as a work machine attached to a keyboard. It adds much-needed precision for text selection, working in spreadsheets and other office duties, while also reducing the strain of constant prodding of the screen.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020) Camera
The big new hardware addition to the iPad Pro for 2020 is a new dual-camera setup, similar to that used on the iPhone 11, and a lidar sensor.
The cameras are good for a tablet, but not as good as those on the iPhone 11. Fine for random snaps, but a phone is likely better for keepsakes.
The front-facing 7-megapixel camera is excellent for video calls – infinitely better than those fitted to Apple’s laptops. I wish it was fitted to the top in the landscape, rather than portrait, which would be far better for use in a keyboard case.
The lidar sensor aids augmented reality (AR) apps. It measures the distance to objects up to 5 meters away, allowing more accurate placement of virtual objects into the real world, particularly when they’re placed behind real objects.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020) Specifications
NETWORK
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Technology
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GSM
/ CDMA/ HSPA / LTE
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2G Bands
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GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
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3G Bands
|
HSDPA
850 / 1700 (AWS) / 1900 / 2100
|
4G Bands
|
LTE 4G Band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700 / 2100), 5(850),
7(2600), 8(900), 11(1500), 12(700), 13(700), 14(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800),
20(800), 21(1500), 25(1900), 26(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 34(200), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 46(5200), 48, 66(1700 /
2100). 71(600)
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Speed
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HSPA
42.2 / 5.76 Mbps, LTE-A, EC-DO Rev, A 3.1 Mbps
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LAUNCH
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Announced
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2020,
March 18
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Status
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Available Released 2020, March 19
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BODY
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Dimensions
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280.6
x 214.9 x 5.9 mm (11.05 x 8.46 x 0.23 in)
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Weight
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641 g (Wi-Fi), 643g (LTE) (1.41 lb)
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Build
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Glass
Front, Aluminum Back, Aluminum Frame
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SIM
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Nano-SIM or ESIM
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Stylus
Support (Bluetooth Integration Magnetic)
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DISPLAY
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Type
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IPS
LCD Capacitive Touch Screen, 16M Colors
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Size
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12.9 Inches, 515.3 cm2 (~85.4 % Screen to body ratio)
|
Resolution
|
2048
x 2732 Pixels, 4:3 Ratio ( ~265 PPI Density)
|
Wide Color Gamut
| |
True
Tone
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120 Hz Refresh Rate
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600
Nits Type Brightness (Advertised)
| |
PLATFORM
|
|
OS
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IPAD-OS 13.4
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Chipset
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Apple A12Z Bionic
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CPU
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Octa-Core
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GPU
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Apple GPU
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MEMORY
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Card
Slot
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No
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Internal
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128Gb, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
|
RAM
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6GB
|
MAIN CAMERA
| |
Single
|
12
MP, F / 1.8 (Wide), 1 / 3”, 122µm, Dual
Pixel PDAF
|
10 MP, F / 2.4 11mm (Ultrawide)
| |
TOF
3D LiDAR Scanner (Depth)
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Features
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Quad-LED Dual Tone Flash, Auto HDR
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Video
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1080
@30 / 60 / 120 / 240 FPS, 2160P @30 / 60/ 24 FPS GYRO, EIS
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SELFIE CAMERA
|
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Single
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7
MP, F / 2.2
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Features
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Auto HDR, Face Detection, Panorama
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Video
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1080P
@30 / 60 FPS
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SOUND
|
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Loudspeaker
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Yes,
With Stereo Speaker (4 Speakers)
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Jack
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No
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COMMS
|
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WLAN
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Wi-Fi
802.11 A/B/G/N/AC/AX Dual Band, Hotspot
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Bluetooth
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5.0, A2DP, LE, EDR
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NFC
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Yes
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Radio
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Yes
|
GPS
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Yes,
with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS (Wi-Fi + Cellular Model Only)
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USB
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3.1 Type-C 1.0 Reversible Connector, Magnetic Connector
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FEATURES
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Sensors
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Face
ID, Accelerometer, Proximity, Gyro, Compass, Barometer
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Siri Natural Language Commands & Dictation
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BATTERY
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Battery
Status
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Non-Removable
Li-Po 9720 mAh Battery
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Charging
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Fast Charging 18W
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Power
Bank / Reverse Charging
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MISCELLANEOUS
|
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Colors
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Silver,
Space Grey
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Model
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A2069, A2232
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Price
in Pakistan
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PKR-
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