The Cupertino giant recently launched the 8th generation of its highly acclaimed iPad lineup and it was an instant hit because of its much-needed performance upgrade. As soon as Apple announced the upgrade to their faster A12 Bionic and 3GB RAM, people just got crazy.
This grants the budget iPad starting at $329 or ₹29,900 in India, to excel in performance even coming at entry-level pricing. There have been availability concerns of the iPad; however, somehow, I did manage to get the 32GB version or the entry-level variant.
People are pouncing on buying the new Apple product and having used it for 4 days now, and I can genuinely tell why it is so good. However, all of this goodness is packed in the same old design that needs upgrade maybe next time.
Specifications
- Gorgeous 10.2-inch Retina display
- A12 Bionic chip with Neural Engine
- Support for Apple Pencil (1st generation) and Smart Keyboard
- 8MP back camera, 1.2MP FaceTime HD front camera
- Stereo speakers
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi
- Up to 10 hours of battery life
- Lightning connector for charging and accessories
- Touch ID for secure authentication and Apple Pay
- iPadOS brings new capabilities designed specifically for iPad
In the Box
iPad, Lightning to USB-C Cable and 20W USB-C Power Adapter
Design & Display
The overall design of the iPad remains the same, and the 10.2-inch retina display remains the same from the last generation as well. So, in this section, you do not expect anything or exciting as such.
The touch screen experience is fluid, and there are no lag or stutter while using it during drawings or stuff. You can use an Apple Pencil or other third-party stylus pencils which we will be giving a list of in our coming articles.
Performance
The key improvement here is the inclusion of the new 7nm based A12 Bionic chip with Neural Engine, which is a total beast. The two years old flagship chip is now on a budget iPad, making it the ideal performer for any task.
Also, the RAM of the device has been upgraded to 3GB, and this does help when you have a habit of opening quite a lot of apps in the background. I used the iPad heavily opening multiple apps, and I faced no lags whatsoever, the experience was buttery smooth.
In AnTuTu, the iPad 8th Gen with 32GB memory scored healthy 395,976 points, making it one of the fastest budget tablets. Be it a blogger like me, or a school student or even a casual user, the new iPad can be a real companion for your daily use.
iPadOS
The new iPadOS 14 comes installed out-of-the-box on the new iPad, so you have features like widgets with various options to customize it. The Photos app also gets updated with new sidebar feature. Also, there are drop-down menus that easily lets you sort things and do a lot of management stuff in apps like Calendar.
The Music app has been re-designed to take benefit of the huge screen of the iPad, now featuring rich album art, song details and a huge part of it showing the lyrics. Siri has been implemented in a new way, the Siri bubble overlay makes things easier for you.
The new Universal Search feature is beneficial as you can directly search for anything in the home screen or over any app, write a few letters and the app that you searched for opens. The overall of the iPadOS is amazing, and with a keyboard & a mouse, this is almost a mini-computer at your hands.
Cameras
The iPad cameras remain the same as last-gen, still decent rear camera, however, with some noise while taking photos. Videos are much better, with up to 1080p recording and slow-mo option as well does the job for any camera requirement.
The front camera is a pretty basic one, the 1.2MP FaceTime HD front camera works well for taking video calls but it could better as in 2020 the need for a good front camera has increased considerably.
Connectivity & Ports
For connectivity, you just have the 802.11ac Wi-Fi as this is the base Wi-Fi model and the Lightning connector, which is a downside as well. Apple could have gone for a USB-Type C, and the old Touch ID does, however, it works well and fast.
Audio
The bottom stereo speakers are not the loudest but are clear and sweet, and as they are at the bottom, you do not get the surrounding audio effect. It is good enough for listening to movies, music and stuff.
Battery Life
The battery life on the iPad 8th Gen is amazing; the device takes some time to charge even though a 20W USB-C Power Adapter charges it. It almost took 3 hours to charge the iPad from 0-100% totally. However, once you charge it whole, it takes a lot of time to discharge as it promises an amazing 10 hours of battery life.
Pros & Cons
Lets get into some of the pros and cons of the device:
Pros
- Fast, smooth & functional
- iPadOS is bliss for work or play
- Performance is exceptional for the price
- The display is still crisp and great for long hours of work or entertainment
- Ideal secondary device for productivity users and creative people
Cons
- Old aspect ratio and chassis
- The front camera is not that great
- 32GB of storage is too low
Verdict
Opting for an iPad is a huge step because it’s way more costly than an Android tablet, but this makes sense for a certain category of people. People who need a reliable tablet which is fast and will work for a long period of time or even use as a secondary device, the iPad 8th Gen makes sense.
However, if you are a person who needs a basic tablet for study or even for watching videos, you could be better off buying a cheaper Android tablet. The Apple iPadOS experience is for productivity centric people and those Apple fans out there as well.
Also, the use of Apple Pencil makes the iPad even more special, but people like me need it because of its battery life and horsepower, usage might be different. Still, the reliability this device provides is exceptional. However, a bit modernization of the iPad is needed, maybe, Apple has reserved it for the next generation.
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