iPad Pro Hands-on Makes the Case for Productivity Uses, Apple Pencil Is Excellent

With the launch of the iPad Pro coming up shortly, technology and education expert Fraser Speirs got some hands-on time with the device at an invitation-only event in London yesterday. Speirs has been sharing his thoughts from his one-hour session with the iPad Pro and its accessories and answering questions on Twitter, offering an interesting perspective on the user experience.

iPad-Pro-Smart-Keyboard
Overall, Speirs was impressed by the iPad Pro, finding it most ideal for productivity tasks in noting the device "is expansive where the Air 2 is intimate. It definitely has a 'work' feel to it, although photos/media are fantastic." Multitasking in particular is "a whole different thing" on the iPad Pro with a true feeling of "two iPads stuck together," an experience that makes it "a great device for serious work and creativity."


Speirs is a bit less enthusiastic about other use cases, noting that "if you just use it to browse and Netflix" there may not be enough benefit from the iPad Pro to make it worth the increased size and weight compared to iPad Air 2. For reading, he feels "it's not a device to snuggle up with" but would be solid for reference work.

Turning to the Apple Pencil, Speirs calls it "extremely impressive" and "certainly the best iPad stylus I have used by a country mile." Palm rejection is described as "near-perfect" and the "best I have ever seen on iOS," making for a smooth experience with writing and drawing apps.

apple_pencil_white
Speirs was less impressed with the Smart Keyboard, calling it "a bit fiddly" due to its size and complexity but a "decent enough" keyboard. As far as the keyboard feel, Speirs compares it most closely to Logitech's Keys-to-Go among accessories iPad users might already be familiar with.

For more of Speirs' thoughts on the iPad Pro and its accessories, check out his Twitter timeline, which is full of tidbits and other impressions.

Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Buyer's Guide: iPad Pro (Caution)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...

Top Rated Comments

JXShine Avatar
123 months ago
Next year, apple will release the iPad Pro 2, featuring 3D touch, 20% lighter body. But that's not it! They will release iOS 10 to make your iPad Pro 1 30% slower!
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Xeyad Avatar
123 months ago
As an owner of a 12" Macbook, I still don't see the benefits of an iPad Pro other than the pencil. Anything else, like Office work or some Adobe photoshop, OS X is simply much better and the mouse interface is more useful than iOS and touch interfaces.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
flux73 Avatar
123 months ago
WOW...there's a bunch of insight for you, I could have told you most of those things without the need to get a hands on experience!!
But you wouldn't have any credibility.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bennyprofane Avatar
123 months ago
SP4 kill this hands down.
I recently bought the SP3. I was just so intrigued by the concept. I had been wishing for an iPad running OS X or at least giving us file system access and the possibility of external storage. I wanted to love the SP3 but there were too many reasons not to.
Windows is not good for touch (and having abandoned windows as my main system more than 10 years ago, I have to say I didn't like coming back at all, even though I still use it for some things on a VM but as a main system it's just so cluttered). The tiles were ugly so I was only in desktop mode and it's so fidly on touch that you have to use a mouse if you want to do more than start a movie or browse some websites. Battery lasted 5 hours tops, huge disappointment.
The screen was reflecting too much. Even when watching a movie, something which shouldn't use a lot of resources, the fan often started blowing.
For a laptop it was just too weak, for a tablet not that great. I guess there are some who have use for it but I much more prefer the combo of a Macbook Pro and an iPad. I sold the SP3 and am considering the iPad Pro. I haven't paid a lot of attention to the SP4 but from what I read, it still has most of the weaknesses I described and the Surface Book having only 3 hours of battery without the keyboard is the biggest joke (apart from that, it would make a cool hackintosh).

One thing the SP3 made me realize is that an iPad running OS X might not be that great. An open and (really) professional iOS is probably better. Perhaps we'll get there by iOS 20.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
123 months ago
Near perfect palm rejection? I'm a stickler for this, it needs to be perfect or else I'm always going to have issues while taking critical notes. Why near perfect and not perfect?

Anyone know if palm rejection is implemented by the app or if it's handled by iOS?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aide199 Avatar
123 months ago
When can you pre-order??????????????????????????????????????????????????
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)