Apple iPad (2022)

Summary

 

Apple iPad Pro (2022)

 

After the big iPhone introduction took place in September, Apple often uses the fall to introduce a few other products, just in time for the holidays. A bunch of new Macs based on Apple’s new M2 soc were expected this October, but things turned out differently. The fall of 2022 only brings two new tablets: the iPad (2022) and iPad Pro (2022).

The iPad Pro is the pinnacle of Apple’s tablet lineup, and in some ways so fast and advanced it’s almost ridiculous. The iPad Pro (2021) was already the fastest tablet on the market and in the 2022 model Apple has placed an even better soc: the M2, which you can also find in recent MacBooks .finds. The large 12.9″ model that is the subject of this review still has the ultra-progressive mini LED display with over 10,000 LEDs, superfast Wi-Fi 6E, 5G and Thunderbolt connections, and an almost insane 16GB of ram and up to 2TB of storage. All that hardware is processed in a slice of glass and aluminum that is super thin at 6.4 mm. That may cost a bit. The price increases that Apple is implementing in Europe this year have not passed the iPad Pro by either. last year you still had a 5G variant with the same storage capacity as a WiFi model this year. The most expensive top model even breaks the 3000 euro limit.

At 10.9″, the screen of the iPad (2022) is exactly the same size as that of the iPad Air (2022). So it is most similar, but there are a few smaller and larger differences, mainly to the detriment of the iPad (2022). The budget model is just a centimeter wider and just as much longer, because the edge around the screen is slightly wider. In real life, you only see it when both devices are next to each other. What you can also notice is the increased thickness. At 7mm, the iPad (2022) is certainly not a thick tablet, but Apple’s other tablets with the new design are thinner. It is positive that the tablet also feels a bit firmer. If you hold the iPad Air (2022) with both hands If you try to bend back and forth, you clearly feel that the device gives way and you even hear it creak a bit, which does not happen so quickly with the iPad (2022).

 

The reason for the thicker housing is the non-laminated screen of the iPad (2022). As with the previous budget iPads, there is again a bit of space between the glass on the front and the LCD panel below. Not only does that sound cheap, with a loud ‘tock’ when you tap the screen; the space between the glass and panel causes internal reflections, making the screen less readable in ambient light. Especially if you view the screen at an angle, the contrast decreases sharply compared to the iPad Air and other, more expensive iPads, where the screen is neatly laminated.

If we look at the buttons and connections along the edge, it is striking that the iPad (2022), like the other iPads with the new design, does not have a 3.5 mm connection, which the iPad (2021) does have. The familiar Lightning port has to make way for USB-C. At the top right, as with the iPad Air, is the power button with built-in Touch ID function, with the volume buttons at the top right. Like the iPad mini, Air, and Pro, the iPad (2022) have speakers on both short sides of the device for stereo sound in landscape mode. The iPad (2021) only has speakers on the bottom, so all the sound comes from one side if you hold it horizontally. The speakers of the iPad (2022) produce a great sound and can also be nice and loud. They are probably not as good as those of the Pro models.

The bezel around the screen continues uninterrupted, just like with the other iPads with the new design. There is a front camera hidden in it, the usual 12-megapixel copy with an ultra-wide-angle lens with an angle of view of 122 degrees. New is the position in the long side. As a result, the iPad (2022) gives you a better picture in video calls than the iPad Air and more expensive models, where the camera is in the short side. In addition, it seems to your interlocutor as if you are talking past him or her. On the back of the iPad (2022) is a 12-megapixel camera without flash, just like the iPad Air; the iPad (2021) has another 8-megapixel copy.

Clumsy pen, muggy keyboard

You’ve probably already seen it somewhere on the internet; where you can use the second-generation Apple Pencil with other iPads with the new design, which magnetically sticks to the side of those tablets and charges, with the iPad (2022) you are sentenced to the first-generation Pencil. It’s no less accurate than the second one, but with its smooth housing it’s just a little less nice to hold and if you drop it, it easily rolls away because it doesn’t have a flat side. You don’t store it that easy either.

Apple’s old Pen has a Lightning connector for charging it, hidden under the easy-to-lose cap opposite the tip. That will be difficult since the iPad (2022) no longer has it. The solution is an adapter from Lightning to USB-C, which you can possibly buy for a tenner if you already have the Pencil. If you now purchase a new pen, the attachment is included as standard. To charge the Pencil, first plug the charging cable into your iPad, followed by the adapter to which you can then connect the Pencil again. For a brand that prides itself on sleek design, that looks downright clumsy. The Pencil, disappointingly, cannot be used while charging.

Like the other iPads of recent years, except for the iPad mini, the iPad (2022) has a keyboard connector. It fits the Magic Keyboard Folio, a new accessory, especially for the iPad (2022) that costs no less than 299 euros. In addition to the Magic Keyboard for Apple’s more expensive tablets, with its beautiful design where the tablet seems to float above the keys, the ‘magic’ Folio cover has a much more Muggle -like feel . When unfolded, the tablet simply rests on its side, with a fold-out kickstand on the other part of the cover to prevent it from tipping over. When closed, the cover and tablet can easily slide relative to each other. The Magic Keyboard has a much firmer hinge and therefore stays in place better.

Although the keys of the Magic Keyboard Folio are not backlit, they provide the same feedback as the “real” Magic Keyboard. That feedback is comparable to that of a laptop and a lot more pleasant than with the keyboards that Apple sold with the iPad (2021) and earlier models. The cover also has an integrated touchpad, which can be slightly larger than the Magic Keyboard due to the lack of a floating construction. For that reason, the Folio cover also has an extra row of function keys.

Screen with downgrades

The new design of the iPad (2022) fits a new display, which, as mentioned, has the same diagonal as the iPad Air (2022). The resolution of 2360×1640 pixels and the refresh rate of 60Hz of the IPS LCD is also the same, although the screen of the budget iPad has somewhat rounder corners to match the thicker screen edge. In addition to the lesser pen support and the non-laminated design, Apple has given the iPad (2022) a further downgrade compared to more expensive iPads; the color gamut remains limited to about 96 percent of sRGB. This is particularly striking because almost all other current Apple equipment with a screen in it supports the larger DCI-P3 range and therefore also offers full sRGB coverage.

iPad Pro (2022): case and screen

Little had changed in the design of the iPad Pro (2021) compared to its predecessor and with the iPad Pro (2022) nothing changes at all on the outside. There are still an 11″ and 12.9″ models, of which we have only tested the largest version. Both are exactly the same size as their predecessors, weigh the same, have the same ports and connections, and you can use the same accessories. Even the colors available are no different from last year. Where Apple’s cheaper iPads come in a range of cheerful pastel shades, the Pro iPads have a more sober color scheme: dark gray or silver.

Although there are rumors that Apple is preparing an even larger tablet , the 12.9″ iPad Pro is also a nice whopper. Not that there is much empty space around. The screen bezel of the Pros is even slightly narrower than that of the iPad Air. That is also the reason that the 11″ model of the iPad Pro can offer a 0.1″ larger screen diagonal within an equally large housing as the Air. The tablets are also very thin, even only 5.9 mm at the 11″ model and still 6.4mm on the 12.9″ variant. While the thing doesn’t feel fragile, it seems better not to bend it too hard.

At 682g, the iPad Pro 12.9″ is clearly heavier than the average tablet. It’s also significantly lighter than the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 , which weighs around 880g. Windows convertibles are often much heavier, but that comparison isn’t quite right. honestly, because they often also have a built-in keyboard. If you put the iPad Pro 12.9″ in the accompanying Magic Keyboard, which costs another 430 euros on top of the tablet, the total weight is 1380g. That’s comparable to a light Windows convertible and it’s even more than Apple’s own MacBook Air M2 , which weighs 1230g. As mentioned, the Magic Keyboard is a clearly nicer and sturdier keyboard than the Folio keyboard on the iPad (2022). It also has an extra USB-C port.

*2022 model only

For those who missed the reviews of recent years, a small recap of the buttons and connections all around. The power button and volume buttons are in the same places as on the iPad (2022) and iPad Air (2022), but a fingerprint scanner is missing. In addition to the same 12-megapixel front camera with ultra-wide angle lens, the bezel of the iPad Pro also contains the necessary hardware for facial recognition. Face ID works the same as it does on your iPhone, except you may have to be careful that your finger isn’t in front of the lens when you hold it horizontally. For that reason too, it would have been nice if Apple had moved the front camera to the long side, just like with the iPad (2022). That will probably happen in the next generation.

Just like the cheaper iPads, there are four openings for the speakers around the edge of the iPad Pro (2022), but the Pro model produces a louder, nicer sounding sound with much more bass and spaciousness. The single USB-C port supports Thunderbolt 3, so you can connect an external monitor to your iPad or use the iPad itself as an external monitor with your Mac, via Apple Sidecar. Support for external monitors in iOS and apps has expanded over the years, from simply cloning the tablet screen to apps that can show something different on the second screen than the tablet screen. An example is the preview of a video you are editing. With iOS 16 you can now also show a windowed desktop on the second screen via the new Stage Manager feature. More about that on the page ‘Software: iOS 16’.

There are two cameras on the back of the iPad Pro (2022), with a 10-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera in addition to a 12-megapixel primary camera. A lidar scanner is also available for AR applications. New are the improved Smart HDR implementation (version 4, as with the iPhone 13 series) and the ability to record videos in the ProRes format, thanks to the new encoder in the M2-soc. The question is why you would want to do that on a tablet that has significantly worse camera hardware and is less easy to hold than a phone. It is also salient that you still need a third-party app to be able to record videos in Apple’s own codec.

Mini LED screen that recognizes your pen

Last year, with the iPad Pro (2021) 12.9″, Apple introduced the innovative mini LED screen that is illuminated by more than 10,000 LEDs, divided into 2596 independently dimmable zones. The Liquid Retina XDR display is still one of the most advanced screens available and is of course also present on this year’s model. Unfortunately, with the 11 “iPad Pro 2022 you still have to make do with a normal IPS LCD without mini LEDs, which is not suitable for HDR.

Whether you have an 11″ or 12.9″ iPad Pro 2022, they both have the only screen innovation this year. Via a new coprocessor in the M2 chip, they already recognize the Apple Pencil 2 when it hovers up to 12 mm above the screen. That is nice to have for certain applications. For example, in a drawing program, you can see a preview of the size of your brush stroke so that you can adjust it before you start drawing. Similar to the mouse cursor, you see icons and buttons interacting with your pen throughout the interface.

HDR content literally and figuratively looks stunning on the mini-LED screen of our 12.9″ test model. This is due to the fine-meshed local dimming, which enables a particularly high contrast, but the panel also offers a high peak brightness: 1600cd/m² on a small part of the image and 1000cd/m² if the entire screen should be white. You can argue whether an OLED panel is even better for HDR reproduction because of its pixel-perfect dimming, where you sometimes see some blooming on the iPad screen However, OLED panels of this size do not achieve such a high brightness.

The iPad (2022) and iPad Pro (2022) both run the new iPadOS 16.1 out of the box. That will also be available again for many of the older iPads. The oldest is the very first generation iPad Pro, which dates back to 2015. The 2017 model of the ‘regular’ iPad still receives the new software. Based on the same support period, you can expect updates with the new devices until 2027 and 2029. Samsung gives its 2022 high-end tablets four OS upgrades and five years of security updates, doing almost as well as Apple, but other tablet manufacturers often don’t give updates for that long. Among them is even Microsoft, where you must have at least a Surface Pro 6 (2019) to be able to run Windows 11, at least officially.

iPadOS 16 offers some of the same features as its smartphone counterpart iOS 16. The nicest one is the ability to automatically cut out the subject from a photo with a simple long tap. You can then copy the image directly to another app to, for example, insert a picture in your digital notepad or use your funny face as a sticker in WhatsApp. Also new is the Weather app, which iPhones have had for a long time, but not the iPad. It offers all the functions that you can also use on your smartphones, such as a ten-day forecast, rain radar, and air quality index. Smaller novelties are the shared iCloud photo library and the ability to retrieve messages and emails after sending and changing them.

Compared to Android, iPadOS offers a more extensive software ecosystem with apps that can take full advantage of the possibilities offered by Apple’s tablets. For example, there are some good drawing programs and video editing program DaVinci Resolve coming later this year, which can really put your device’s SOC to the test. Compared to Windows and macOS, the app offering is not necessarily better.

Stage Manager: windows on your iPad

The biggest change in iPadOS 16 is one that’s only being made available for the more expensive tablets: the ability to view apps in windows for easier multitasking. Apple calls it Stage Manager. The function is built around virtual desktops (stages) on which up to four app windows can be displayed at the same time. Via the strip, a 3d bar on the left side of the screen, you can switch stages and if you drag windows to it, they disappear from the scene.

Stage Manager works exclusively on iPad Pro tablets from 2018 and the iPad Air 2022. The iPad Pro 2021, iPad Air 2022, and iPad Pro 2022, which have an M1 or M2 soc, can also extend the image to an external monitor, to show up to eight programs side by side at the same time. Showing Stage Manager only on the second screen and not on the iPad screen doesn’t seem possible.

On a suitable iPad, for example our iPad Pro 2022 test model, it is also still possible to use the old multitasking interface in iOS, where apps can be displayed in split screen or slide-over view. It will also remain available on iPads without Stage Manager, such as the iPad (2022). If you have the right device, you can switch on the new display via an icon on the control panel. If you then open an app, only the dock remains, the bar with stages appears on the left and the rest of the interface becomes a vague blur.

Stage Manager works differently than the Windows or macOS window environment, and “different” doesn’t always mean “better.” For example, apps in Stage Manager do not have a traditional title bar with the familiar three buttons, but a menu for closing or maximizing, which is opened with the three dots in the top center. Closing an app, therefore, requires an extra action each time. For some reason, dragging a window larger or smaller can only be done from one of the bottom corners, with the ever-changing ‘correct’ corner being helpfully indicated with a small arc.

Where it is crystal clear in Windows and macOS what happens when you drag or resize a window, with Stage Manager it is always a surprise what happens to your workspace. You have little freedom to choose how large windows are and where they are placed. Stage Manager arranges the windows in a row, possibly moving other windows for you. A further complication is the strip, which sometimes accidentally swallows a window and minimizes it towards a new stage when you only wanted to put it on the left side of your existing workspace. Obvious combinations are not possible. For example, you can’t put four windows in a grid with one app in each corner. The interface wastes quite a lot of space on padding. It is not possible to place windows tightly against each other and with several windows next to each other, the edges of the screen must also remain empty. The dock and strip can be hidden if desired. If you also want to display it, even the spacious panel of Apple’s largest iPad feels cramped.

Perhaps the typical behavior of Stage Manager is an expression of Apple’s habitual urge to take users by the hand. He was also probably born out of necessity. IPadOS never supported windows before, and apps weren’t designed to be freely scalable. Apple apparently didn’t feel like asking its developers to update apps specifically. This way you can only choose from a number of predefined heights and widths for each window, which also depends on the app you happen to use. We encountered apps that barely rescalable, while most of Apple’s own system apps offer about five different heights and widths.

In addition to window management, the way you open new apps and find open apps can also be improved. As far as the second is concerned, the 3D overview of the comic looks nice, but it is not so clear and also requires an unnecessary amount of space on the screen. Apparently, Apple itself has also recognized this. Tapping an icon in the dock will show you where all open windows of that app are located on all different stages. If you still want a new window, it can work to drag the icon to the desktop. However, if the app is already open somewhere, you may get that open window in front of you.

Another instinct: the option ‘Add new window’ in the menu of each window is not primarily intended to open an extra window of the same app, but instead you can add any window to your current stage. What is also striking is what happens when you close all windows of a certain workspace. You will then not be redirected to another stage that is still open but will return straight to the home screen, from where you will first have to open another app to return to the Stage Manager overview.

In short, Stage Manager is a concept with a lot of potentials. It’s about time Apple’s Pro iPads got such a window management system that brings the experience closer to a laptop. The possibility to make full use of a second screen is also significant. However, the interface seems unfinished at this point. Apparently, it’s quite something that the feature made it at all for this release; iPadOS 16 only came out a month after iOS 16, where both normally appear at the same time. The cause is rumored to be the extra work that Stage Manager generated. During the beta period that took place this summer, Stage Manager was heavily criticized for its limited compatibility with older models of iPads, and for the lack of stability and other bugs that existed at the time.

More screen space

A slightly hidden new feature that goes nicely with the Stage Manager is the ability to adjust the display scaling. It works on all models that also support Stage Manager, so not vice versa, for example, on the iPad (2022). You can find the function in the display menu, where you can choose from ‘More space’ and ‘Larger text’ in addition to the standard view. Only the first option is available on eligible iPads with an 11″ or 10.9″ screen. Although the iPad warns that it must restart when switching modes, this is not the case. Only the apps need to be reloaded.