Apple iPad (Tenth Gen, 2022) Review: Just a Pretty Face With USB-C

I can’t pinpoint precisely why I used to be so simply enamored with the brand new Tenth-generation iPad. Maybe it was the array of sweet colours, or the extra fashionable design sans the basic Home button. Maybe it was the brand new placement for the front-facing digicam, which meant I not needed to stare awkwardly to the aspect throughout video calls. Or the assist for the floaty Magic Keyboard Folio with a removable keyboard and a kickstand. 

But it wasn’t lengthy earlier than the bubble burst. When you crunch the numbers, actuality units in. The inexpensive and plenty-capable iPad that used to begin at $329 has now been hiked as much as $449. That’s with out the added price of equipment (Apple prices $249 for the Keyboard Folio). It‘s tough to justify a $120 price hike over its predecessor—especially when one of the “upgrades” is the removal of the headphone jack. It doesn’t help that Apple is continuing to sell the ninth-gen iPad for $329, and you can typically find the iPad Air for roughly $519 at retailers like Amazon. The 10th-gen tablet sits in an odd spot.

The redesign on this iPad is simply catching up to the rest of the lineup. The A14 chipset powering it, while snappy, is already two years old. The display is larger, but it still isn’t totally laminated—there’s an air hole between the glass and the display, so utilizing it with the Apple Pencil does not really feel as exact as with pricier iPads. The USB-C port, which I’m grateful for, requires an adapter to cost the first-generation Apple Pencil—as a result of, sure, bafflingly, this iPad does not assist the second-gen Apple Pencil. This slate feels thrilling and contemporary at first, till you notice you’re simply paying for beauty adjustments. Apple nearly had me.

A Fresh Look

The iPad lastly seems like the remainder of Apple’s pill lineup. The Home button is gone, however there is not any Face ID right here. Instead, Touch ID is built-in into the highest energy button like on the iPad Mini and iPad Air. The uniform bezels are nonetheless chunky in comparison with those on the iPad Pro, but it surely’s nothing just like the ninth-gen iPad with its thick borders on the high and backside. They’re much less distracting right here, and the Tenth-gen slate really feels fashionable.

The show is a teeny bit greater too, sitting at 10.9 inches (up from 10.2 inches). I spend most of my workday in entrance of a display, so this further area feels much less cramped than on this iPad’s predecessor—particularly after I use it as a secondary show with my MacBook Pro. The display is now utilizing a Liquid Retina panel, which mainly means it is nonetheless an IPS LED however with rounded corners. It’s too dangerous the brightness remains to be caught at 500 nits—that is completely tremendous indoors, however working by a window, I needed to crank the brightness to the max to see something. And as a result of there is not any anti-reflective coating, there’s a lot of distracting glare. (I counsel choosing up an anti-glare display protector.)

An even bigger annoyance if you happen to use the Apple Pencil a lot, is the truth that this iPad nonetheless does not have a totally laminated show. That means there’s a hole between the display and the glass. It’s tremendous, however it’s noticeable when drawing tremendous strains. It’s the one iPad with out one, and contemplating the worth hike, it should be right here.