The 9.7" iPad Pro Review
by Brandon Chester on June 1, 2016 9:00 AM ESTA Few Thoughts On True Tone
Back when I received the 9.7" iPad Pro I published some of my thoughts regarding the True Tone display technology. And while I won't really be going over the topic in great detail again, I do have some additional thoughts on the technology after having using the new iPad Pro for quite some time.
Something I wanted to clarify from my original article is the purpose of my greyscale measurements. Some readers interpreted it as evidence that True Tone didn't work as intended. In actuality True Tone works exactly as intended by providing good relative accuracy. As you move to different environments the color temperature of the display shifts to match how your eye adjusts its perception of white depending on the temperature and brightness of the light around you. This obviously leads to inaccuracy relative to the sRGB standard, but that's missing the point of True Tone entirely. My tests were simply meant to demonstrate how much shifting occurs in different environments, along with a clarification on some misunderstandings I had heard regarding the relationship between True Tone and the DCI-P3 gamut, which are really unrelated technologies.
True Tone works very well, and in a way Apple has proven me wrong here because I was initially skeptical. I've seen this attempted before, particularly by Samsung, and the implementations have not been good at all. When I first got the 9.7" Pro I felt like the True Tone mode shifted too far toward the red. However, after using it for some time I began to realize that this was the product of me using other devices that all shift toward blue, which ruined my perception of the display. When using the iPad Pro on its own for reading or doing work, pulling out another device with a blue shifted display is absolutely jarring, as the iPad has adjusted to match how my eyes perceive things in different lighting, while all my other displays are forever blue. In a way, the biggest problem with True Tone is that it's not in everything, and I think this is something Apple should be bringing to all of their portable devices.
Apple's Simulated True Tone Image
It's difficult to photograph True Tone, as depending on where your camera's white balance lands the iPad Pro will look too red, or the other display will look too blue. I really recommend checking out True Tone for yourself, although if you decide to do it in an Apple Store you probably won't see the benefits because Apple's other products are designed to look neutral under the same sort of fluorescent lighting as those stores. If you have a chance to try the 9.7" iPad Pro outdoors or somewhere with warmer lighting I think you'll see why this tech is one of the small things that nobody really asks for, but everyone appreciates once they have it.
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UtilityMax - Friday, June 3, 2016 - link
Wrong. Those are not tablets. Those are ultrabooks, but with a removable keyboard, and very lousy as "tablet".NonSequitor - Friday, June 3, 2016 - link
You have stated this several times in the comments. What is your definition of tablet? Is it size? The Surface Pro 4 is smaller than the iPad Pro 12.9 in two dimensions, though it is thicker. Is it weight? It's about 10% heavier than the iPad Pro 12.9. If you add in the keyboards and pens for each the weight difference drops to under 3% (1074g vs 1098g). So what makes these a lousy tablet?UtilityMax - Friday, June 3, 2016 - link
Tablet, something I can comfortably hold and use without a keyboard. The iPad Pro 12 is also a pretty lousy as a tablet.Amandtec - Thursday, June 2, 2016 - link
Without ability to plug in a mouse I can't use it for office work. Therefore I need a laptop as well. Therefore I am not buying an iPad Pro.phexac - Thursday, June 2, 2016 - link
"Without ability to plug in a mouse I can't use it for office work. Therefore I need a laptop as well. Therefore I am not buying an iPad Pro."Well, this is called a "tablet." Welcome to 2016.
nikon133 - Thursday, June 2, 2016 - link
It is called iPad Pro. Pro, by default, advertises usage within professionals' needs, a.k.a. work related scenarios. I think the whole naming is wrong. These devices should have been named just "iPad", as opposite to iPad Air. I think "Pro" was added only to try steal show from likes of Surface Pro and other x86 tablets. Pure marketing, very little footing in reality. Classic Phil Schiller.blackcrayon - Monday, June 6, 2016 - link
The footing in reality was probably the massively faster A9X, smart connector, and the Pencil support, which pros can and do use for their jobs.It's a silly argument anyway, I can do "pro" tasks on an iPad 1 if I want, as my job requires plenty of ssh and command line administration. But leave it to the Apple whiners to complain about Apple's name for a product they wouldn't buy no matter the name.
Galatian - Thursday, June 2, 2016 - link
Still completely puzzled how nobody calls out Apple on the price gauging. This is essentially what the iPad Air 3 should have been, when you look at past evolutions, so they essentially just pushed the price up. This coupled with the fact, that they eliminated the probably most bought storage size (64 GB), means that anybody who wanted to get an 64 GB Air 3 now has to pay 300€ more.Luckily they decreased the price of the iPad Air 2, so that is now a very strong contender for a good tablet, that is merely meant as a consumption device.
I understand that there are people out there who need a pencil or perhaps even a good camera (although I would think that most people owning an iPad Pro would also have a iPhone), but the amount seems to be so small, that it feels like Apple just needed to add a few things to differentiate this "half" Pro (as in: not even the big chip) from the iPad Air 2.
trewtrew - Monday, June 6, 2016 - link
I think Apple has realized that people only upgrade their iPad's every 5 years or so. A bunch of people still rock the original iPad and I think the most common iPad is still the iPad 2. So they raised the price $100 but the way I look at it that includes at least 5 years of software updates.Genxxx - Thursday, June 2, 2016 - link
Have use this for a couple of weeks, if u wan an 'IPAD', yes this is the best u can get.But if u r thinking to do something more like the 'pro' name suggests, don't buy this. It can't even group some photos and PDFs together without 3rd party app and with lots of restrictions.
U have to work around this or that on simple functions, namely no folder system is the biggest let down.
Excels, word, autocad, PDFs, bmp, they think separate all files are the best way to manage ur iPad.
For the screen, the left top corner is dimmer than the rest. Since my first purchase have faulty charger and error on charge, they changed a new one by waiting for a week. Then the second unit camera has a fur inside the lens, so they made me wait for a week and give me a new one. All three unit has this dimmer corner, so I don't think this is the best screen around. Open a blank white app and u can notice this clearly.