IF YOU DON'T NEED A PENCIL

APPLE IPAD (10TH GEN)

- Kenny Yeo

IMAGES APPLE. 123RF, KENNY YEO

This year, Apple has finally decided to give its most affordable iPad a thorough makeover with a fresh design, new accessories, and the A14 Bionic chip. Bezels are slimmer, Touch ID sensor has been integrated into the power button, and the chassis now has flat sides. The display is larger too at 10.9-inches (up from 10.2). It's almost indistinguishable from the iPad Air.

However, the front-facing camera has been moved to the long side of the iPad. This is good news for anyone who uses their iPad for video calls. The Smart Connector has been relocated to one of the edges instead of being at the back.

Also, the iPad comes in brighter colours. Apart from Silver, there’s now Pink, Blue, and Yellow. The unit I’m testing is Yellow and it’s certainly very striking. It’s more mustard yellow than banana.

The display is quite similar to the one in the iPad Air. They are the same size, support the same 2,360 x 1,640 pixels resolution, and neither supports ProMotion technology. However, the iPad’s display isn’t fully laminated, doesn’t have anti-reflective coating, and only supports the sRGB colour space (not P3). Even then, this is a mostly good-looking display. It looks crisp and sharp, and the colours look rich and natural. Reflections are only bothersome if you view the display from odd angles.

Another big update (at least for me) are proper stereo speakers on both sides of the screen when in landscape mode. This is a huge deal because earlier iPads had stereo speakers but they were both on one side next to the Lightning port, so when you were watching videos in landscape, sound only comes from one side.