Why kids will love the new Apple iPad 9.7

Apple's latest 9.7 inch iPad, designed for education, starts at ₹ 28,000 in India.

Photograph: Courtesy StockSnap/pixabay.com

The Apple iPad 9.7 is the latest kid on the block.

It comes loaded with goodies and promises to make the experience memorable for students.

“iPad is our vision for the future of computing and hundreds of millions of people around the world use it every day at work, in school and for play. This new 9.7-inch iPad takes everything people love about our most popular iPad and makes it even better for inspiring creativity and learning,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing.

The iPad 9.7 will be available in two variants -- Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + Cellular -- offering storage options of 32 GB and 128 GB.

The price in the US for Wi-Fi would be $329 (₹ 21,390 approximately) and $459 (₹ 29,842 approximately) for the Wi-Fi+ Cellular variant with 32 GB option.

There would be a special discount for students as well.

The iPad 9.7 doesn't run on the latest Apple's A10 Fusion Quad core processor, but on the one found in 2016 Apple iPhone 7 series.

The graphics is supported by PowerVR Series7XT Plus, a hexa core GPU.

All this processing is backed by 2 GB of RAM.

The 9.7 inch LED backlit display panel with IPS technology, is embedded in aluminum body.

The display resolution is 2048 x 1536 pixel at 264 ppi.

The display is protected and with scratch resistant glass and is also coated with fingerprint resistant oleophobic material.

The latest addition to the tablet is the support for stylus, the Apple Pencil. It can be bought separately for approximately ₹ 7,500. 

The innards remain the same as found in the last year's 9.7 inch iPad.

An 8 MP f/2.4 camera on the rear comes with autofocus.

The camera supports HDR, panorama, burst mode, tap to focus, exposure control, and the Apple's live mode.

Video can be recorded at 1080p. You can shoot slow motion video up to 120 fps and time lapse video recording.

The front camera may look mediocre at 1.2 MP, f/2.2 but being it will support faster video streaming for Apple's FaceTime.

The iPad's front camera supports video recording up to 720p and also has HDR support for videos and photos.

The cellular variant supports LTE data (internet) and Wi-Fi calling.

For security, Touch ID sensor is built in to home button and placed at the bottom of the display.

For motion sensing, it supports three-axis gyro and accelerometer. 

Photograph: Courtesy apple.com

The user interaction is enabled through Apple's iOS11.

For a smooth and immersive experience, Apple provides support for plethora of informative, interactive and augmented reality based educational and other apps available on app store.

For people with disabilities, there are features like VoiceOver, Siri assistance, dictation, assistive touch, zoom, magnifier etc.

All this is powered by a 32.4 KWh Li-Ion battery which provides juice approximately for 10 hours of multimedia use.

The Apple iPad 9.7 seems like a great initiative by Apple to engage children in an immersive, innovative way.