Australian T3 - May 2018

$469

apple.com

WE’RE IMPRESSEDGreat

battery life; good screen; nicely

powerful; solid value.

WE’D IMPROVEWeak speakers;

no TrueTone screen; camera isn’t

very strong.

THE LAST WORDThis is the

VW Golf of tablets: reliable and

high-qualitywithoutbreakingthe

bank.Thisisourpickforthebest

mid-range tablet on the market.

VERDICT

Find the latest and greatest

iPad deals: bit.ly/t3ipaddeals

Discover more at techradar.com/au WINTER 2018T3 83

Te s ted

astyear,Appleintroducedits
cheapest non-Mini iPad ever, the
$469 iPad 5th-gen. It came with no
bellsorwhistles,butalsofewflaws.
It was a fast, slick, well-built machine for a great
pricethatmakesforanidealentertainment
tablet to have lying around the house. A year
later,it’sstillmorethangoodenoughforthat
job, yet Apple has given us a new version.

More is less
So what improvements has it made? Well, barely
any,actually.henewiPadnowsupportsApple
Pencil – the company’s own (very impressive)
stylus–andhasafasterAppleA10processor.
hepricehasalsoflatlinedforthebaseversion.
Ifyouboughtlastyear’smodelthisoneisn’t
worthsplashingoutfor,butifyou’reupgrading
orgettingyourfirstiPad,it’sajuicyproposition.
Maybethesinglemostimportantpartofa
tabletisitsscreen,andthoughtheiPad9.7’s
2048x1536 display is far from cutting edge, it’s
reallygood.It’sthebiggestareaofdifference
from the iPad Pros, despite the addition of

Apple takes its no-frills

tabletandadds...onefrill.

Butwithitswiderangeof

apps and build quality, it’s

still the mid-price master

Apple

iPad 9.7

PENCIL PUSHER

L

Pencilsupport(whichisresponsiveandprecise,

though at $145 is not a cheap add-on). You don’t

get the Pros’ wide-colour display, HDR support,

and120Hzrefreshrate,butgiventhatthisis

abouthalfthepriceofthe10.5-inchiPadProit

feelslikeafairtrade-off.heonlyfeatureofthe

iPadProswe’redisappointednottoseehereis

TrueTone, which conviniently matches the

colour temperature of the screen to the ambient

lightintheroom–it’smadetosaveeyesand

offermorecomfortablereading,whichseems

likeagoodthingtohaveinatablet that will

appeal to kids everywhere.

Performance and responsiveness everywhere

elseisgreat.Forwebbrowsing,workingin

documents, gaming, and playing with

GarageBand and iMovie, it’s more than fast

enough and handles split-screen multitasking

well(thoughthesizeofscreenmeansit’snot

quiteaproductivitypowerhouse).Batterylifeis

greattoo,aswithlightuseyou’llusuallybeat

Apple’s 10-hour guideline. Also, it barely loses

any power in standby, so you’ll rarely find it

dead when you want to fire up Netflix.

Actually,moviesareoneofitsweakerpoints.

Why? he screen is nice, but the speaker is

weedy. Even the cheap Kindle tablets have

stereo.hecameraisaverage,butworkswell

enough for a few snaps here and there.