iPad 2018 a device with a price that surprises

The changes the iPad has gone through are numerous. Born at 9.7 inches, he shrunk with the mini and grew back to twice in size. Along the way it has gained many functionalities. And with each of them he has become more capable. To the point where this year’s new model has become the best computer for the masses. We tell you why in our iPad 2018 analysis.

iPad 2018: spectacular hardware

Those interested in a new 2018 iPad will wonder what’s new about last year’s model and why it’s worth paying attention to it. The differences between the 2017 iPad and the 2018 iPad are basically two (and a half):

Support for Apple Pencil. If you like to draw or take notes and your idea was to be able to do it on an iPad, you will no longer have to resort to Pro models in any of their editions.

A10 Fusion processor, the same one found on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus that many of us have in our pocket. In 2016, this chip was already quite powerful and still lives up to a demanding use, as we will see later.

As a result of this processor, the iPad 2018 is able to make full use of the new HEIF and HEVC formats for photography and video, respectively. This means that videos and photos take up half the space on Apple devices. The A10 Fusion chip can seamlessly encode and decode these formats, while older models can only decode them.

-The iPad 2018 improves on two key aspects: the A10 Fusion processor and native support for Apple Pencil-

The input storage of the 2018 iPad is 32GB. It is half that is found in the iPhone and iPad Pro models introduced in 2017, but thanks to both formats we can be more relaxed when it comes to planning the longevity of the Apple tablet.

The other specifications are the same as last year’s model. Same retinal display, same dimensions, same weight and autonomy. Where we do find a last novelty is in the new shade of the golden color that is now slightly pink.

Is it different from iPad Pro?

Clearly this iPad is not the iPad Pro. Hardware comparison is absurd for many from the moment you put certain features face-to-face:

The screen is not laminated, lacks anti-reflective cover, ProMotion and True Tone.

The camera is 8MP and an aperture of 2.4 mps are compared to the 12MP and 1.8 of the Pro models.

The processor in iPad production models is an A10X Fusion, with extra graphics thrust.

The speakers are two on the iPad 2018, while on the iPad Pro we have double for stereo sound.

RAM is also doubled from model to model, from 2GB to 4GB.

The smart connector’s absence to use physical keyboards without bluetooth.

-The screen improvements of the iPad Pro are very comfortable but not essential in the experience of an iPad-

It’s funny, but the only difference I noticed immediately apart from the Smart Connector was the speakers. I use a 10.5-inch iPad Pro almost daily as a computer in mobility and it has been the sound, not the differences in the screen, which has caught my attention the most.

By this I do not mean that the laminated screen (translation, there is less space between our finger or Pencil and pixels), the anti-glare coverage, ProMotion or True Tone are minor improvements. It’s okay to have them but in my case it hasn’t been a radical downgrade between the two models.

By simplifying what makes iPad 2018 other than iPad Pro, we could say the following: the sixth generation iPad is iPad Pro. You have almost the same processor, with support for Apple Pencil but without Smart Connector, half RAM, half speakers and a more than acceptable display.

These differences, again, will make sense in the last section of this iPad 2018 analysis.

Although with (almost) the same software

Knowing Apple, the iPad 2018 hardware is designed to have a balance between components. If the display lacks several state-of-the-art technologies, this results in lower power and memory requirements when running the software without compromising the experience.

At the software level, the sixth-generation iPad is perfectly capable of taking full advantage of iOS 11 on Apple tablets. That is, it enjoys all the news introduced by the company in the eleventh revision of its mobile operating system.

One of the most noteworthy is the dock of apps similar to that of macOS, from which you can save apps to access them with ease by swiping from the bottom up. If we continue this upward gesture, we’ll turn on the app selector that’s already running to quickly switch between them.

Being able to place two apps at the same time, what some call real multitasking, is also one of the star functions that becomes especially useful with drag & drop. You can adjust the width of this Split View, at the same time that you use the Picture in Picture where you show a video superimposed on any set of apps, as well as Slide Over, the function that allows you to place an app «floating» on top of one or more.

That is, the iPad 2018 has the same ability to run multitasking apps as an iPad Pro. With a single distinction: when we slide Over, the other apps we slide this feature on will be in the background. To be able to use them you have to touch with your finger outside the app in Slide Over, while on an iPad Pro this step is not necessary.

-There is no other platform that has this number of apps designed for tablet. The iPad has more than 1,000,000 optimized

As for third-party apps, Apple has more than 1,000,000 specifically created for its tablets. This makes it the most powerful and best quality platform compared to Windows and Android competition. Native apps that can make use of the qualities of this iPad from the first minute.

Without making extensive measurements for this analysis, the iPad 2018 is able to move each and every one of the apps I’ve thrown on without blinking. The combination of the A10 Fusion processor, more powerful than a significant part of all the computers sold today, and iOS 11 make this iPad a real one-zero grinding machine.

Charging times may be longer than on other company devices, but not much. Games as demanding as Fortnite or Sims move perfectly. Without choking or jumping. At no time do you think «wow, I wish I had an iPad Pro to move such or that app with more ease». No. This iPad is a beast in its own way.

And support for augmented reality

The iPad 2018 comes with iOS 11.3 installed as standard, bringing with it version 1.5 of ARKit, the augmented reality app development framework. This release allows developers to use vertical elements in their virtual representations.

One of the added advantages of this sixth generation iPad’s A10 Fusion processor is that it makes it capable of running all Apple’s augmented reality apps. The cut in the ARKit stand is on the A9 chip (inclusive), present on iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, iPad 2017 and iPad Pro 2015 and 2016.

As we said, augmented reality is not exclusive heritage of this iPad. But those who decide to acquire this device will know that it is able to take advantage of the fantastic possibilities of this technology. In addition to doing it with slack thanks to that powerful processor.

A shocking price

We come to the key feature of the analysis of this iPad 2018: its price. In Spain, the basic 32GB model has a starting price of 340 USD VAT included. Or what’s the same, 50 euros less than last year’s model. You’ll find 128GB of storage and 4G connectivity for an additional 90 and 130 euros respectively.

And this price means it costs less than half that the most affordable iPad Pro at 10.5 inches and 720 USD price. This is the best summary I can do in this iPad 2018 analysis: half of an iPad Pro for less than half its price.

Makes it the best educational tool

To finish the iPad 2018 analysis, we need to talk about one sector that is very important to Apple: education. At its event a couple of weeks ago in Chicago, Apple unveiled this device accompanied by a series of novelties in the form of software and services designed for education.

From the platform for the student management teacher and their assignments, the free 200GB in iCloud for each student, the more than 250,000 educational apps, the creation of digital books in ePub 3 format from Pages on iPad or smart annotations and support Apple Pencil at iWork up to two accessories developed together with Logitech.