iPad Pro upgrade

This might sound sudden but last week, I bought the new iPad Pro 12.9 inch, space grey, 256GB model. And today, it arrived at my doorstep.

With the whole lockdown and circuit breaker measures currently in place (and for the foreseeable future as the measures are slowly lifted over a period of time) I am increasingly being reliant on my iPad Pro to conduct and attend zoom meetings, doing multiple tasks at once on multiple apps on my iPad Pro.

And so, I have decided to pull the trigger and get a bigger iPad Pro, specifically the 12.9 inch version. I have been using it for the better part of a day, and already I am deeply appreciating the bigger screen as I can do more on my iPad Pro.

More importantly, I have also been using my iPad Pro as a second screen to complement how I do my work on my desktop. With the iPad Pro having the only webcam that I have for my Zoom meetings, I can conduct such meetings while using the desktop as a secondary device to access programs and software that I use on a daily basis, without competing for screen space. Keeping zoom sessions on a separate device really increases my flexibility in how I arrange and prioritise my workspace. Ever since the lockdown is in place, using the iPad Pro and my desktop simultaneously has become second nature.

The one main issue I can readily identify with having to use a bigger iPad Pro is the added weight. I will definitely miss the smaller iPad Pro. It just feels more mobile than the 12.9 inch version. But I am confident that the bigger screen will compensate for its shortcomings in how I use it.

I tried watching a couple of Netflix shows (Money Heist if you are curious, which I am loving it to death right now) and watching on the bigger screen is such an amazing experience. No doubt I will get greater enjoyment out of using this bigger iPad when I watch my favourite shows from various streaming websites.

I got the Smart Keyboard Folio and it feels exactly the same as it is on the 11 inch version. I love the typing experience that I get out from the Smart Keyboard Folio and this new on is no difference. The only difference on the 12.9 inch version is that the individuals keys now have more space in between them, since the surface area of the entire keyboard is much bigger due to the bigger screen. But that does not affect my typing at all. In no time at all, my fingers adapted to the bigger spacing between keys and I am still able to type quickly and accurately.

Reading on this device is such a joy. News apps like the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post look even better on the bigger screen. Despite the greater heft in holding a bigger iPad Pro, I can now see and read more content as compared to the 11 inch version. That’s not to say that the 11 inch is inferior when it comes to using it to read. Rather, the bigger screen offers greater flexibility when it comes to displaying a page and the overall layout.

I’m not really interested in any of the new camera features or LIDAR that comes with the new iPad Pro models. Maybe in the future when I have the chance to actually use it, I will maybe talk more about it. But for now, it’s a great feature to have, but a feature that I will use very often.

The new, bigger iPad Pro will be a great work companion, complementing, maybe supplanting the tasks that I usually do on my desktop and being able to perform lots of tasks without any hitch.