Apple is slowly transforming its iPad into a 2-in-1, and while this new tablet may not be a laptop replacement, it's more than simply an iPad Air 3. It's best used with pro-level accessories like the Smart Keyboard and Pencil, but it gets even more expensive.
PROS:
Easy to handle
True Tone display is gorgeous
256GB configuration
CONS:
iOS shows its limitations
Optional keyboard isn't backlit
Update: iPad Pro 9.7 will soon get its first major software upgrade with iOS 10, which Apple announced at WWDC 2016. Here's our updated review.
The iPad Pro is ambitiously touted as Apple's new tablet that has the guts to replace your laptop, and it now comes in an ideal size that perfectly demonstrates bigger isn't always better for everyone.
Even though I was thoroughly impressed with the grunt behind the powerful iPad Pro 12.9, I longed for that standard 9.7-inch display and form factor with the same pro-level features.
It's taken Apple a year and a half to launch a proper iPad Air 2 successor and, in that time, it fit almost everything from the giant iPad into a smaller frame. It's way more than an iPad Air 3 upgrade.
It's way more than an iPad Air 3 upgrade.
I can now listen to amped up music through its four loud stereo speakers, doodle away with the Apple Pencil and seamlessly attach a keyboard without fumbling with Bluetooth. Its Smart Connector port may be my favorite new feature inherited from the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
It's not all hand-me-downs. The iPad Pro 9.7 actually strikes out on its own with a few advancements. Its True Tone display technology adapts to my environment by subtly adjusting the white balance, and there's a much wider color gamut behind its anti-reflective coated glass.
Its camera is 12MP and shoots 4K video, taking cues from the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus camera specs. That's incredibly rare for a tablet of any size. So is the rose gold color option and debut of a 256GB configuration.
It's a tablet juggernaut - not in size, but the asking price.
What we have ended up with is a tablet juggernaut - but without looking like a juggernaut. On the other hand it also has a serious asking price to match its power, and several easy-to-spot software limitations.
The iPad Air 9.7 costs $599 (£499, AU$899), higher than the iPad Air 2 launch price of $499, (£399, $699) and even higher than the current iPad Air 2 price of $399 (£349, AU$599).
Is there enough here for Apple to retain its best tablet status? Let's explore the current iPad that wants to be your laptop-replacement of the future.
Be sure to watch our video review of the iPad Pro 9.7
Design
From across the room, I couldn't tell the difference between this iPad Pro 9.7 and my iPad Air 2 when I was charging both during my battery life tests. They're nearly identical on the outside, and that's a good thing.
The new 'Pro' label doesn't mean bigger, it just means bolder.
The new iPad Pro has the same sub-pencil-thin dimensions of 240 x 168 x 6.1mm, making it a natural fit for two hands and easy to stow in a backpack. Surprisingly, its weight matches, too, despite the specs upgrade: 437g for Wi-Fi and 444g for Wi-Fi + Cellular again. The new "Pro" label doesn't mean bigger, it just means bolder.
You get the same polished aluminum frame, fast Touch ID fingerprint scanning home button and a 9.7-inch Retina display. The lightning port hasn't moved from the bottom, the headphone jack and sleep/wake button are still on the top, and the volume rocker remains on the right side.
Apple is slowly transforming its iPad into a 2-in-1, and while this new tablet may not be a laptop replacement, it's more than simply an iPad Air 3. It's best used with pro-level accessories like the Smart Keyboard and Pencil, but it gets even more expensive.
PROS:
iOS shows its limitations
Expensive starting price
Optional keyboard isn't backlit
It's easy to say that the iPad Pro 9.7 has the same display as the iPad Air 2. It's technically true, but not wholly accurate. It has the same size, resolution and pixel density as the Air 2.
There's more to this year's Retina display, however, and the screen specs literally outshine what you will find on the bigger and seemingly more powerful iPad Pro 12.9.
Apple has introduced True Tone display technology, which dynamically adjusts the white balance of the screen to adapt its color and intensity to my environment. Just like the brightness slider, it's also handled automatically using four-channel ambient light sensors.
It's sort of like the new Night Shift mode that made its debut in iOS 9.3. True Tone is easier on the eyes, making the screen look more natural and, more often than not, less blue.
I really enjoy the adaptive True Tone display setting and can't turn it off now.
Apple's goal isn't sleep here, but to ever-so-slightly nudge the iPad Pro 9.7 glow so that look like a piece of paper. That's something that should (I'm hoping) become a standard feature across all of the company's device in the future. It's odd-looking at first, but you get used to it over the course of a few days. I really can't turn it off now that it's on.
It's bright enough in sunlight for me to keep working, even if I'm likely to be sunburned.
With a 2048 x 1536 resolution and 264 pixels per inch, it's hard to pack in more pixels into a display of this side and having it matter. However, Apple decided to crank up the color gamut to give its new iPad Pro 25% greater color saturation than the iPad Air 2.
It touts the fact that this tablet uses the same color space as the digital cinema industry, and it's true, the screen uses a wider array of colors and look more vivid. That said, the average user I've shown this to sees this as a minor addition to an already excellent-looking display. This is really meant for digital artists and photo editors who are putting the Pro-level display to work.
Everyone can get behind the return of the iPad's fully laminated display that presses the screen up against the glass without gaps and its even more important anti-reflective coating. Outdoors, I found the new iPad to be bright enough in sunlight for me to keep working, uncomfortable and likely sunburned.
Smart Keyboard
The iPad is slowly transforming into a computer before our eyes, and the latest move by Apple is the most striking: developing a keyboard for the iPad Pro line. This one, I must point out right away, is different than the third-party keyboards that are always Bluetooth-connected and often unreliable. Don't shrug it off as an optional accessory you should never consider.
Apple's Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro 9.7, in fact, isn't Bluetooth at all. It uses the new Smart Connector that magnetically fastens the new keyboard to the bottom (in landscape) of the tablet. It combines the tri-fold Smart Cover design with an extra fourth flap for the ultra-slim keyboard. It loudly snaps into place, but that just means it's secure enough to carry this iPad-keyboard combo by the tablet screen (the opposite of how you grab a laptop, unless you're under the age of 5).
The company boasts "No plugs. No switches. No pairing." To translate that into more iconic