Apple iPad Pro 10.5-inch review: The best tablet money can buy

Design and Features

Design & Features

Apple hasn’t messed about with the design of the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, so in terms of aesthetics, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro retains all of the design elements of the last generation iPad Pro tablets such as the full aluminum body and chamfered edges. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is remarkably thin too at just 6.1mm. The latest iPad (2017), in case you were wondering, is actually quite a bit thicker at 7.5mm. 

It still only has four physical buttons - a power/wake button, two volume control buttons, and the Touch ID home button. Ports are unchanged too, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro has a single 3.5mm audio jack, a Smart Connector, and a Lightning connector - no nasty surprises here. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro also comes with four speakers, two on each side - something that the regular iPad and iPad Mini tablets do not have. Compared to other tablets, this iPad Pro sounds excellent, with passable stereo separation and a powerful authoritative sound.

There are four finishes available: silver, space gray, gold, and rose gold. It is worth noting that rose gold is only available on the iPad Pro, so if you want to stand out from the crowd of iPads, you know which finish to take.

Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil

There’s an all-new Smart Keyboard designed especially for this new 10.5-inch model. And owners of last year’s 9.7-inch iPad Pro who have ponied up S$228 for the 9.7-inch’s Smart Keyboard will likely be annoyed that there’s now a new Smart Keyboard that they’ll have to buy if they upgrade. That’s understandable, but the slightly larger keyboard does make typing a little more comfortable. 

For owners who already have a Smart Keyboard, note that you can use it with this new 10.5-inch iPad Pro as the Smart Connector is unchanged. However, it will look a bit odd if you do decide to fold it up. Plus, the sleep and awake functions that the Smart Keyboard enables won't work properly as the keyboard doesn't align properly with the iPad.

Apple says its a "full-size" keyboard, and they are actually just about right. My measurements place the keys at about 14mm wide, whereas the keys on my MacBook Pro are about 15mm wide. Interestingly, the keys on my desktop keyboard (a Matias Mini Tactile Pro) is only just 12.5mm wide, but they are concave and they taper towards the top. What I’m trying to say is that the keys on the Smart Keyboard aren’t small, but they are flat and most people will need some getting used to. Personally, I found that I could switch between my desktop keyboard and the 10.5-inch Smart Keyboard quite easily without sacrificing  too much  in the way of accuracy and speed.

Fortunately, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro uses the same Apple Pencil as last generation’s iPad Pro tablets. So if you already have an Apple Pencil, you can use it readily with this new 10.5-inch model. As I mentioned earlier, the Apple Pencil is even more responsive on the new iPad Pro thanks to its higher refresh rate.