Apple Sells Record Number Of iPads During COVID-19 Lockdown: Are iPads That Practical?

A Brief On Specs

The 8th Gen iPad is powered by the A12 Bionic SoC, the processor that powers the iPhone XS, hence, it is definitely neither the fastest nor the latest silicon from Apple. However, it is much powerful than something like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G that powers the products like the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, which is much more expensive than the 8th Gen iPad.

The iPad comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage with no microSD card slot. It has a 10.2-inch IPS LCD screen with 2K resolution along with 500nits of brightness. As per the software, the device runs on iPadOS 14 and should receive at least three more major iPadOS updates.

 

A Great Device For In-Between Work

Given that work-from-home is the new normal, I was always looking for a device to stay connected with the team, and I just didn't want to use a smartphone or a laptop to do so. A phone would be too small to reply to a mail or a slack message while a laptop would be too large.

This is where the iPad comes in; it is big with a 10-inch display and it is portable too. Hence, I would use the iPad to do the aforementioned tasks especially when I would take a break in-between. I would get emails and stuff directly on the iPad, where I could respond to the same on the spot if it is something important.

A Great Partner For iPhone

So, a device that I bought to consume multimedia is now serving multiple tasks and another feature that I didn't realize is that an iPad can also receive calls and SMSs too. Though you can't make a call on an iPad, you can still receive the calls that you receive on your iPhone. This means, my iPhone now had fewer things to take care of, as it mostly sat idle on my work desk.

Besides that, I could also attend online launches, watch videos on YouTube, Prime Video, Netflix, and all the other streaming services at a much larger screen and the dual stereo speaker setup also works extremely well for listening to music and watching movies and videos.

iPad Can Make Your Life Easy

iPad is one such device that sits between laptop and smartphone. Thus, it can do things that could be done on an iPhone or a laptop. However, it is not good enough to replace either of them. Though it has a camera system, it is nowhere near as good as a mid-range smartphone and the same goes for the creative tasks.

I actually wanted to get the iPad Air, as it has a USB Type-C port. However, it did cost almost twice as much as the 8th Gen iPad and now I feel that I did make a good choice, as I could charge the iPad with the iPhone charger, and I did save a lot of money without compromising on major features.

Apple has been making high-performance tablets and the brand sold a record number of iPads during the pandemic, where more and more people are now fancying an iPad for multimedia consumption and personal entertainment. With the increase in smartphone screen size, most thought that tablets could soon be things of yesterday, and Apple has proved them wrong.

I also feel that products like the iPad Pro are overkill for most people, as most users might not need that powerful hardware on a device like an iPad, as the iPadOS isn't as mature as macOS or Windows OS to utilize all that horsepower. However, there is definitely a niche that does need an iPad Pro with an M1 processor and mini LED display.

This also means the iPad is not a device that everyone should own, especially those who have a smartphone and a laptop. However, this device bridges the gap that will make your life a lot easier and this is definitely one of the most underrated devices that Apple makes.