10.2'' iPad 7th Generation Review
10.2'' iPad 7th Generation Review

10.2” iPad 7th Generation Review – A Laptop Alternative?

April 9, 2020
by Arunyuvaraj
13 min read
5,122 Comments

Apple’s New 10.2” iPad 7th Generation – the education-focused, affordable iPad, comes with a lot of features that we have seen for years. This is our final thoughts covering 10 most essentials you should check out for any gadget you need to buy. Let’s see if this is worth it in 2019 for the iPad or any other tablet available in the market. So grab some snacks and popcorn and some drinks and start reading the full review of  the 10.2 inch, 2019, iPad 7 th generation. During the intro event, Apple promoted this device as a laptop replacement. We really wanted to check, is it true? Can this 7th gen iPad replace your laptop? Let’s check out in the full review: 

iPad 7th Generation Verdict 

Is this iPad 7th Gen worth it? Yes, Definitely. Even Though it has a 6 year old display, 6 year old design, 7 year old camera and 3 year old processor, it can do every single thing that iPad pro can. It’s just that it will do all of those things a bit slower and that’s it. This is the bog-standard, bottom of the barrel kinda device which can be a great entry level iPad. But is it a laptop alternative? Not really. 

We recommend this device for all those who need a basic entry level iPad, who don’t care about any other extra features. So if you are a student to take notes, or an office goer to watch content and respond to emails, or an artist to draw sketches or a kid only to play high-end games, this device is for you. 

Pros 

  • iPadOS & Larger 10.2” Display
  • Smart Connector 
  • Supports Apple Pencil 1
  • 100% recycled Aluminum 
  • Sufficient Battery Life 

Cons

  • 6 year old Design, Display
  • 7 year old Camera 
  • 3 year old A10 Processor
  • Expensive Accessories 
  • Unexpendable Minimum storage – 32 GB

iPad 7th Generation Price 

iPad 7th Generation Storage Wi-fi only Wi-fi + 4G 
32 GBRs.29,900Rs.40,900
128 GB Rs.37,900Rs.48,900

What’s in the Box of iPad 7th Generation

  • iPad 7th Generation running iPadOS 13
  • Lightning to USB Cable
  • USB Power Adapter
  • Documentation
  • Charging Brick 

Design 

Apple announced their 10.2” iPad 7th Generation in their September 2019 event. Now this is a completely new size for the basic iPad. In the past, all the base variants had only 9.7” but there is now no longer a sub-10” iPad in the entire iPad lineup. This is now the first time that every iPad device is either above 10” except for the iPad mini. 

As far as the design is concerned you don’t have to worry that we are going to use a bulkier device here. It’s not a lot bigger and there is nothing noticeably bigger feel while holding the device. However the screen size is noticeably bigger, as they have made the display bigger only by shrinking the thickness of the side bezels – This device is only 0.4 inches taller and 0.2 inches wider than the 6 th generation iPad. Even Though it has the separate home button, you even have the exact same navigation like the iPad pro has. 

The design of this 2019 entry level iPad 7th gen is a fairly outdated one. Although it gets a bigger 10.2” display, we still have the same 7.5 mm thickness like the previous two entry level iPads. At 493 gm for the wifi only model, this is the second heaviest model since the iPad air1 launched in 2013. One-hand usage is not quite impossible but for some of us it may not be comfortable and also tiring because of the weight. When it comes to iPad 7th Generation colors, it comes in three usual color finishes – space grey, silver and gold. 

Display 

The 10.2” screen has a non-laminated display with pixel density of 264 PPI and brightness of upto 500 nits. The biggest selling point of the 7th Gen iPad is the screen as it has the new 10.2” display which brings in a new physical dimension into the iPad and also some pretty big screen real estate. This is especially useful with all the multitasking features coming inside with the iPadOS. Everything is much smoother now with the iPad OS and you will not face any issues in this display. You can read things on the left and take notes on the right, you will love this display for sure. To be honest, the really big step backwards is the non-laminated display which makes you feel that there is a gap between the bezels and the display. 

A couple of things this screen lacks is pro motion and true tone display. Pro motion is nothing but a 120 hz display reserved only for the iPad pro version. True tone display is a tech that balances the screens’ white balance for the room, so if you are in a yellow or red room for that matter, this tech adjusts the screens’ white balance to be a little more white. This is actually subjective because seasoned photographers will turn off true tone while editing to get the perfect color representation of the footage which true tone will mess. But as a feature,  you miss out on this option, which is there in the Air and Pro versions but not in this low-end iPad. 

10.2'' iPad 7th Generation2 Review
10.2” iPad 7th Generation2 Review

Performance

One thing that worries everyone is the A10 chip processor that runs this device was there in the 6th gen device as well. For reference, it’s the same chipset used in the 2015 launched iPhone 7 as well. It was a great chip then and it’s fine even now, working well but at the same time it’s getting old. The 7th Gen iPad runs on an A10 fusion chip which is there in the last gen model as well. How is the older A10 processor fairing? It is actually performing well in all the benchmarks and with the 3 GB Ram and iPad OS, it’s doing well in most of the tasks. Multitasking is fine for normal tasks like web browsing and email editing but things start to slow down once you throw massive tasks upon it. You can use 2 iPad layouts or 2 iphone layouts at the same time but can’t mix it with an iphone layout and another iPad layout, which is possible only in iPad pro. It can edit the videos in Luma fusion, edit your photos in the Lightroom, and edit audio in the Ferrite for your youtube videos. It can chew all of these and spit it out fantastically like a champion. Yes, that’s the catch here; it’s like the champion (iPad pro) and cannot be the real champion. But it performs those tasks for what it’s meant for in a very fine way and it’ll be like the same for at least a few years. Apple Arcade Games are working very smoothly on this processor. 

Speaking of the price difference between iPad pro and iPad 7 th gen, the price difference is almost 2.5 times which makes sense that it’s not gonna be the same performance in both the devices. The rendering time and export time is going to take a longer time than the iPad pro but it’s expected; the important part here is that it did the job which is awesome. 

Camera

Though the camera is not a necessary feature for an iPad since we have a better camera in most of our smartphones,  it will be useful in cases when you want to make a Facetime call with your family or friends or at times when your phone’s battery is dead and you really want to take a photos with your iPad. Now, quality wise, this iPad 7th Generation comes with a 1.2 mp camera (not a typo there). You read it right, not a 12 mp camera like iPhone 11 or 11 pro but a 1.2 mp camera with 720p video recording capabilities(seriously Apple?!! We are living in 2020). Considering the price differences between the higher devices, it is usable though. The rear facing camera is essentially better though because this is the same camera that we had in iPhone 5 from 2012, (yes, 7 years older now). Yes it’s a 8 MP sensor with f-1.2 aperture and can shoot video upto 30 fps. It’s again in the worst list when compared to the higher iPad models but it can be useful when you need to capture a specific scene.    

The cameras might ignite a spark that who’s taking photos with their iPad? But again, think about the uses of this and applications on this iPad. AR – augmented reality is pretty incredible on iPad. It’s useful not only for the small businesses and home remodelling but it’s also useful for a number  of educational purposes out there that Apple has been continuing to highlight. Apple has a lot of AR games and apps in the app store even touting the ones that have new features for iPadOS. There is a lot in there and a lot going on. So, AR is really where those cameras are gonna be useful for even in the classroom. 

iPad 7th Generation Features 

It still has the touch ID for authentication which has ignited disapprovals and biggest criticisms among the Apple fanboys. It retains the headphone jack and has a pair of speakers unlike the four speaker setup on either side of the iPad PRO. It supports apple pencil though the first generation pencil which is there only for 2 reasons. One, it only has the lightning port and not the magnetic charging dock on the side and two, the initial first gen Apple pencil is cheaper, which is definitely important for the budget iPad tagline. 

So If all that is the same, What’s new in the iPad 7th Generation features list? 

Just like the iPad air 2019 and all the other iPad pros, we have a smart connector which actually allows you to connect with Apple’s first party keyboard to this iPad. This is exactly the same keyboard which we got with the 2nd generation iPad pro 10.5” or the iPad air 2019. So if u happen to have a keyboard for those iPads, it will work perfectly for this iPad as well. This is a big deal because if you are using this iPad mostly for taking notes and responding to emails, typing is pretty crucial and having a full size keyboard for the first time on this iPad makes a huge difference when you are typing that much. Keys are not so cramped, it’s much more comfortable to type on. 

The biggest disappointment of the year is that this 7th gen iPad misses out on USB type-c port which is kind of awkward in 2020. Lightning cables do not work well when it comes to connecting an external storage and then we have to use an adapter like a dongle which makes the table a mess. Common Apple! We are all ready for the USB-C revolution. 

Speaking about the special features, the biggest one out there is iPadOS which is essentially ios but since it’s in the iPad, it is called as iPadOS just because of how big the changes are. So now we can use the full desktop pages in safari by default rather than getting the mobile view which means the google docs on the web  is now fully usable with full comments on the side visible which is amazing which was not possible at all earlier in the iPad. You can also use multiple slide over apps for an even better multitasking experience and you can also use multiple windows of the same app side by side such as multiple instances of the notes app for example. 

Did we also mention that you can use a PS4 or an XBox controller with them natively and play games such as Fortnight or you can even use the playstation remote app and literally play from your very own playstation games from your PS4 at home directly on this iPad. How insane is that! And now that Apple has launched Apple Arcade, their subscription gaming play service, it can now play console quality games such as Oceanhorn 2 directly on this iPad with ease. Once Apple arcade grows even more, we will have even more high end games on this iPad which we think is just a matter of months away. 

Probably the best part of the iPadOS is that if you got a Mac running MacOS Catalina, you can also use it as a secondary monitor for the Mac as well. The fact that it also supports Apple pencil makes it a graphics tablet that works wirelessly and is connected by a keyboard. So that’s just amazing. From both the productivity and gaming side, this iPad is an amazing amazing tool to have.  

Battery 

Apple claims upto 10 hrs of web browsing which is a fun fact as they claim the same for every single iPad model that came ever since the first original iPad in 2010. Though we will not get the marketed 10 hrs, we will get somewhere around 6-7 hrs of battery life with iPad 7th Generation which is really great. Moreover, battery life depends on the type of our usage. Despite increasing the brightness of the screen, increasing the performance and making the device thinner, Apple has maintained their battery life over the years which is something amazing. 

Conclusion 

Despite comparing this to its older siblings, iPad air or iPad pro that are 2 to 3 times higher than this doesn’t make sense at all. Of course the more expensive iPads are better; and that’s why they are more expensive in the first place. 

So yes, Apple didn’t revolutionize iPad this year but it’s an education and budget focused device. It’s plenty powerful and makes improvement in the areas that count like in the smart connector and larger screen size. Those are really big deals for some people who are using it every single day. 

Is this new iPad 7th Generation worth it? Yes, Definitely. Even Though it has a 6 year old display, 6 year old design, 7 year old camera and 3 year old processor, it can do every single thing that iPad pro can. It’s just that it will do all of those things a bit slower and that’s it. This is the bog-standard, bottom of the barrel kinda device which can be a great entry level iPad. 

We recommend this device for all those who need a basic entry level iPad, who don’t care about any other extra features. So if you are a student to take notes, or an office goer to watch content and respond to emails, or an artist to draw sketches or a kid only to play high-end games, this is the right iPad for you, this device is for you. 

About the author

Arunyuvaraj

I'm Arunyuvaraj, a techno freak, fascinated about the world of science. I would love to share my knowledge about new gadgets, tech products and automobiles with my friends. Through this blog, I aspire to help more friends.

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