- Actually move it up, looks better if we move it up.
Hey everybody.
I'm Dieter, I'm working here from home
just like everybody else.
This is the iPad Pro review.
In the background is my TV
and in the next shot you're gonna see this,
which is a pretty cool wallpaper
which we'll have on theverge.com/wallpapers.
But it moves, because Apple thinks
that you want Ken Burns effect.
It's like screensaver, and that's annoying.
Other than that, though, great video,
check out the shots from Brennan King.
This is the all new just announced
iPad Pro that Apple put out last week.
I've got the 12.9 inch version of it right here.
And, you know, the iPad Pros
have been around for a few years now.
And we kinda know what to think about them at this point.
We've had every possible argument,
you could possibly have on
whether or not they're real computers
or if they could be your main computer
or if they can be really used for productivity or whatever.
I think that they're computers
no matter what Apple says
in their new marketing (chuckles) copy.
And I think they're really good computers,
that sometimes work in weird ways,
because Apple imposes some limitations on them
that bug me sometimes.
I'm just gonna say right at the top,
that you can take all the usual iPad Pro stuff for granted.
The screen is amazing, face ID is great.
Battery life is a full day.
Although now that I'm using it full time to work from home,
I can manage to kill the battery
by like three or four or five o'clock, I really push it.
There are lots of really good iPad apps.
The USBC port is still here,
and it does most of the USBC port stuff that you'd want.
It's an iPad Pro.
What you probably really wanna know is,
how this iPad Pro compares to 2018s model.
And there are a few things here.
But remember, I just don't think
that you're gonna take advantage
of most of the new stuff that's built into this thing,
which is the story with every iPad Pro.
So, let me just list the new things,
so that you've got them in your head.
There's three of them, well, three and a half.
(chuckles)
The first is this new camera module here.
It's got an ultra-wide lens and LiDAR.
There's a new processor inside,
that Apple calls the A12Z Bionic.
It has studio quality microphones.
And the third half thing is, the trackpad support.
And I only counted as half because,
trackpad support is coming to basically every iPad,
not just this iPad Pro.
Which means at this point, you're probably wondering,
"Hey, why do you have the dumb smart keyboard here
"and not the new fancy magic keyboard cover,
"the trackpad, Flippy Hands that Apple announced?"
Well, that's not shipping until May
and so we don't have under review yet.
Sorry.
Okay, so let's actually get into this stuff.
What should we do first?
Well, let's talk about the chip.
It's the A12Z Bionic, where in 2018, It was A12X.
Why is it called the Z?
Well, I guess Z is higher (chuckles) than X.
I don't know what's gonna happen,
they've run out of letters.
Anyway, the big change with the Z version
of this processor,
it has a more powerful graphics processor.
And you know what, kinda whatever, it's--
The thing is really fast.
I never felt a slow down,
but I also never really felt a slow down
on my old iPad Pro.
I guess now, there's just more headroom
in the GPU for graphics chops
and maybe Augmented Reality.
Look, a benchmarking anyway,
so that if you wanna argue about numbers, you can do that.
This 12.9 inch 2020 version of the iPad Pro,
got a 9981 GPU on Geekbench, whereas 2018 got a 9138.
But if you really wanna argue at GPU specs,
you can have way more fun doing that,
with the Xbox series X and the PS5 (chuckles) right now.
What does 800 more on a GPU score actually mean to you?
Probably not that much.
Look, it's fast.
Now potentially a bigger deal
is this new camera system here.
The standard wide-angle lens is 12 megapixels,
with a 1.8 aperture and the ultra-wide,
it's only 10 megapixels, with F/2.4
and 125 degree field of view, but I love ultra-wide cameras.
I think they're super fun.
So I'm actually kinda glad that they added this one here.
I am on team that,
it's okay to take pictures with your tablet.
I just am.
It's okay for people to do it.
It's also okay to use your tablet to make movies,
but I just think these cameras
might be a little bit overkill for the iPad.
I'm very impressed that you can shoot
4K video at 2430 or 60fps.
But, I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you.
If Apple sold a version of this iPad
with kind of a dumpy camera on the back
and just no big square camera module or just flush,
I would probably buy that version,
especially if it cost a bit less.
Now on the iPad, I care way more about the selfie camera,
because I use it for video conferencing.
This camera takes 7 megapixel photos
and it also can record video at 1080p.
And I think this camera looks great.
But, I'm kind of annoyed that it's on the side here,
instead of on the top, when you're in landscape mode.
So when you're doing a video conference,
it never looks like you're looking at the camera,
you're always looking off to the side.
And I'm also a little bit annoyed
by the limitations on iPadOS, by the way.
iPadOS doesn't let video conferencing apps
have the camera on, when that app isn't the frontmost app.
Which means that, if I'm not just staring at Zoom
and I switch away to some other app,
my camera turns off which makes the iPad Pro,
basically the perfect machine for telling your coworkers
that you're not paying attention to them (chuckles).
Anyway, the biggest new thing on this iPad,
is this LiDAR sensor right here on the back.
Now, LiDAR is like radar, but with lasers,
and anytime there's lasers involved,
tech companies can't seem
to help themselves in their marketing copy.
So, Apple says that, "LiDAR operates at the photon level
"and at nanosecond speeds."
Yes, that's how lasers (chuckles) work.
They use photons, and they move at the speed of light.
Now, the reason that Apple put LiDAR in this iPad
is for Augmented Reality Apps.
And I need to disclose here, that my wife works for Oculus,
which makes virtual reality,
which is kind of like Augmented Reality, but it's different.
And anyway, none of that changes my opinion on this LiDAR,
which is that it works really well,
but that there aren't really any apps
that take significant advantage of it right now.
The main benefit of LiDAR, at least right now,
is that it can detect objects in the room
almost instantly, instead of having to wave
your iPad around like a goon,
so that it can detect all the right surfaces.
It also means that it can have a much, much,
more granular sense of objects
and their position and size in space.
And all of that helps with something called occlusion,
which is when there's a real physical thing
between your iPad and the virtual thing,
that you've put out in the world.
Now older iPads and iPhones can do occlusion with people.
But with a LiDAR on this iPad, you can hide, you know,
parts of virtual objects behind any objects.
So, on this drummer boy here,
you can like hide half of it behind a table
or behind this bowl, or, you know, even my cat (chuckles).
Honestly, this LiDAR feels like this iPad Pro hardware,
is built for a software future, that just isn't here yet.
Sure, I like putting a virtual IKEA chair in the corner,
as much as the next person, but I don't know,
AI just doesn't seem to be as much of a thing
as Apple really wants it to be right now.
Unless you're putting a funny filter on your face,
because everybody loves that,
but you don't need LiDAR to do that.
Okay, let's talk about that trackpad thing.
I think Apple kinda nailed it,
it actually feels totally natural.
And there are a couple of weird things like, you know,
sliding your finger to the edge, to bring up the dock
or slide over apps or whatever.
But for the most part, it really works.
It really feels natural, and I really kinda love it.
If you have a trackpad and an iPad,
you should totally give it a shot.
If you want to trackpad case.
Well, there're aren't any out available today,
that I could really recommend.
Apple's is coming in May and it's gonna cost 300 or $350.
Bridge is also making one
that's more like a traditional clamshell,
it's gonna cost a little bit less.
That should be out in April.
And I'm sure that more coming soon,
because it is really that compelling.
I have a lot to say about trackpad support in the iPad
and honestly I have enough to say that,
I should probably just make another video about it.
So stay tuned for that.
For this review, it doesn't really affect anything
because, every iPad that supports iOS 13.4 and up,
is gonna get trackpad support.
So it just doesn't affect your purchasing decision,
because all the iPads will have it.
As for software, more generally, iPadOS, is what it is.
And I think we've all talked it to death over the past year.
I still think it's a little bit hard to learn,
how all the advanced stuff works.
And I still think that, power users,
have to use too many hacky workarounds
to get certain things done.
My opinion is still that,
I enjoy using the iPad more than any other computer.
But, sometimes it just doesn't do what I need it to.
Also, there's still some bugs.
Sometimes my smart keyboard here just decides,
that it hates an app, and it won't type text into it,
until I close the app and open it again.
This OS is way less buggy
than it was when it first launched last year,
but it's still not perfect.
So, that's the iPad Pro.
And what do I think?
Well, I think the LiDAR, AR stuff is really good,
but it also feels like something Apple did,
because it could, not because anybody was (chuckles)
actually asking for it.
Overall, the thing is really fast.
And I think for some people, it could replace their laptop.
For other people it couldn't, and for yet other people,
this is just the nicest iPad that you can buy,
and some people just really want a really nice iPad.
But I think for most people, this iPad is probably overkill
and they'll be perfectly happy with a standard iPad
or an iPad Air.
And at this point,
I think you know which one of those people you are.
And as nice as this iPad is,
I don't think it's gonna change your mind.
Hey, thank you so much for watching
and for bearing with us, on any weirdness that happens,
because we're trying to figure out,
how to shoot review videos.
We can't even be (chuckles) in the same room together.
But most of all, please stay safe.