As the person who has built his own powerful desktop PC, I was never sold on the idea of a tab but once I decided I needed it, in order to solve Pastest and read PDF books on a bigger screen, the 2018 Ipad was an easy choice. The iPad is simply the best tab available in the market and the Android tab experience comes nowhere closer.

First Impressions

Although I have used iPads owned by my friends before, I was once again won over by the slim design of this stellar piece of hardware. Weighing just a pound, the iPad is a delight to hold. It is slightly thicker than the more polished iPad Pro though. In fact, design wise the iPad 6th gen hasn’t seen much change from the iPad Air. The large bezels exist which though, being black on my space grey iPad, offer an immersive experience. I was relieved to find the headphone jack however, which have been phased out from all other iOS devices. 

2018 iPad (6th gen) WiFi 32 GB: Amazon ₹28,000
Apple Pencil 1st gen: Amazon ₹7600

I purchased the iPad and the Pencil from the iStore on Elgin Road. I did get a ₹1,000 discount on the iPad but I left the store without any other accessory as they had nothing good to offer.

Multitasking

The multitasking features on the iOS are state-of-the-art. The strong multitasking support allows the iPad to be used almost like a computer. Pair the iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard and enhance the capability of the device further. Check the photo below to find out how I can scribble notes in the Apple Notes app while solving MCQs, keeping two apps open side by side – Apple calls this feature as Split View. This is just a peek into the array of multitasking features the iPad is armed with. There is Slide Over, multi-touch Drag and Drop, a customizable Dock that is accessible from any screen and holds upto 13 user-defined apps and 2 recently used apps, App Switcher, App Spaces and Video Picture in Picture.

Performance

While the iPad 2018 has retained the same chassis from yesteryear, it has seen a significant upgrade in the horsepower. The impressive A10 fusion CPU has enough computing that provides it the much needed power boost. Using the iPad feels very snappy and hasn’t seemed laggy for one moment. The fast iPad has enough battery juice to keep you entertained throughout a ten hour long flight.

Apple Pencil

If the iPad is a glorified piece of paper, it sure needs a hi-tech pencil to go with. Support for the Apple Pencil, so far limited to the iPad Pro models, has been a major USP of the iPad 6th gen. The Pencil offers smooth writing on the iPad without any lag. Full support for tilt and pressure sensitivity makes the pencil a technology marvel.

Display

The diehard graphic designer will complain that there is a slight gap between the tip of the pencil and the stroke on the iPad screen due to its non-laminated display but it won’t matter to most users like me. Internet joke: if you buy the iPad in space grey (like me), you may not even notice the gap.

The lack of an antireflective glass will make reading difficult on the iPad on a sunny day at the beach but as long as I am indoors, the Retina display on the iPad sixth generation is absolutely stunning.

Apps

Photo storage & editing

The stock photos app has slightly better editing options but I am using Google Photos as all my photos are stored there.

PDF

I use the Apple Pencil to annotate PDF books while reading them on the iPad. The best free app suited to the purpose is PDF Viewer. As you can see in the picture below, I can underline, highlight and jot down a few words while reading a book.

Image Annotation

For annotating images (mostly screenshots) I use the in-built iOS tool called Markup. The Markup tool comes adequately feature-packed for my needs.

Drawing

For the artists, there are a good many apps like Paper, Procreate, which take advantage of the unique features of the Apple Pencil like pressure sensitivity. Of the two, Paper is free to download with some features reserved for paid users whereas Procreate is a fully paid app.

Notes

Despite existing for more than ten years, Evernote still feels like an incomplete product which led me to try a lot of other apps like Bear Notes, but I have remained stuck to Evernote for general note taking because it is cross-platform and has an excellent web clipper tool.

Read it Later

The read it later app of my choice is Pocket on Android and Windows. I have installed it on my iPad too.

Handwriting

As an Evernote user, the handwriting app of my choice should have been the app from the house of Evernote called Penultimate but I found that it lacked a lot of features. I was most distraught to find that Penultimate doesn’t even offer blue ink for writing. Instead I am using the stock Notes app which is quite powerful and feature rich.

Video Editing

I have looked no further than the robust and user friendly stock app iMovies. For advanced users, there is always Luma Fusion.

Medical Apps

The App Store has an unbeatable collection of medical apps compared to the Play Store. I have already installed a number of them.

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Others

The latest version of iOS allows you to uninstall stock apps. I was quick to uninstall the Mail app and install Gmail. Similarly, I installed Google Maps, Google Drive, Google News and of course Google Chrome, although iOS doesn’t let uninstall Safari. Then I installed my guitar learning apps, Yousician and Guitar Tricks, which look terrific on the iPad screen.

Accessories

Keyboard

The Smart Keyboard Folio which elevates the iPad Pro to another dimension, isn’t supported in the iPad. So I considered buying the very popular Logitech Slim Folio keyboard case instead. However, the iPad which is less than a quarter inch thick would bulge to almost an inch when put inside the Logitech Slim Folio, which is actually not so slim as the branding may suggest. I didn’t want that bulk and cancelled the idea. I did consider a external Bluetooth keyboard like the very sleek and very expensive Apple Magic Keyboard or the more affordable Logitech K380 but finally decided against that because I won’t need a physical keyboard for iPad on most days, except those rare occasions when I type a blog post this long.

Logitech Slim Folio Keyboard: Amazon ₹7,495

Case

The Apple Smart Cover is not sold at Apple Stores in India. At the store where I bought my iPad, I was offered an ordinary case which I did not like that much. I wanted something better and decided to buy a US brand called Moko. I ended up paying nearly three times the actual price of $12. However, I am not complaining as it is still cheaper than the case I was offered at the store.

It is a snug fit on the iPad, with cutouts in the right places for the ports. The lid closes, fully leaving no gap, and tightly – thanks to the magnetic action. The auto wake / sleep function is flawless. It doesn’t add much bulk and the iPad still feels good to hold. Despite its light weight, the case feels sturdy and durable, one that is build to last. It provides a strong footing to the iPad in the vertical viewing angle. The horizontal viewing position feels solid too. After many foldings and unfoldings, the cover shows no signs of wrinkling or creasing.

Moko Case for iPad 9.7 inch: Amazon ₹2399

Tempered glass

Although I normally don’t install tempered glass on my phones, I decided to put one on my new iPad as I don’t want the screen to get scratched. None of the products available in India seemed good enough to me. I zeroed in on the amFilm screen protector, an US product priced at $10. The installation was actually fun. It was thrilling to watch the screen protector spread out itself across the iPad screen surface! I am really impressed with the quality of the tempered glass. The stunning display of the iPad is not compromised and Apple Pencil glides smoothly as ever. The screen protector is hardly discernible. It is almost not there! Best part, the glass isn’t a fingerprint magnet.

amFilm screen protector for iPad 9.7 inch: Amazon ₹1434

Although I am happy with this tempered glass, if it ever cracks, I will go for the highly acclaimed PaperLike screen protector next time. The PaperLike comes with a matte finish, offering just the right amount of friction between the Pencil and the iPad, as well as providing some much needed anti-reflection to the iPad. It also ships free of cost to India. This would have been my purchase if I had known before.

PaperLike screen protector (two pack): PaperLike ₹2,324

Comparison with iPad Pro

The all-new iPad Pro sure has a ton of exciting features like USB-C, smart connector (supports apple Smart Keyboard), better display (laminated display, True Tone display, anti-reflective glass), way louder (quad speakers), Face ID, faster processor, more RAM, thinner bezels and all that but it costs a whopping 2.5 times more than the iPad. With the extra goodies like Apple Pencil 2, Smart Keyboard, the total cost would be close to ₹1 lakh. I didn’t want to invest that much into the iOS ecosystem already as my desktop / laptop will continue to run Windows (no Mac) in the foreseeable future and my phone is still an Android.