The last time I ever picked up an iPad was in the year 2012 or 2013 – I can’t remember. I had the 4th generation iPad and it is still usable today. I used to play games like Infinity Blade on that iPad, and that game predates Fortnite by many years. Then, I kinda just fell off from the tablet scene until I started owning and reviewing some Android tablets recently.
Then, a few weeks ago, I got my hands on the new 5th generation iPad Air that is equipped with the powerful M1 chip, alongside some other first-party Apple accessories like the Apple Pencil, Smart Folio, and also the Magic Keyboard. In today’s video, it’s not really going to be a review but more like how much the iPad changed over the years and if I like this tablet or not. So, let’s begin.
Which configuration did we get?
A brief introduction of the configuration of the 5th Gen iPad Air I got – it’s the Starlight color with 256GB of storage with cellular, and I do have a SIM card inside though it’s connected to WiFi for most of the time.
The iPad Air 5th Gen in itself
We’ll put all the accessories aside and talk about the iPad Air on its own first. This tablet is thin, lightweight, and obviously very pretty to look at. The overall dimensions of this 5th generation iPad Air is actually identical to the 4th generation – which is actually a good thing since you can just reuse all the cases from before.
Even the screen is the same. It’s a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina IPS LCD screen at 60Hz only, but it still looks and feels absolutely fantastic. One thing I do like is that Apple didn’t push the boundary to make the bezel as small as possible – because I think Appel understands that for a tablet, you’ll need bezels to actually hold the tablet properly to use it.
It also has stereo speakers – making the iPad Air one of the best tablets for media consumption.
It now even uses USB-C which I truly appreciate. Apple, please do the same for the iPhones too. I know Lightning was the first to bring forth and make the idea of a reversible USB connector ubiquitous, but it’s time to embrace USB-C.
How is it like to use the iPad Air 5th Gen?
And now, let’s talk about how it is to actually use the 5th gen iPad Air. It’s been a long time since I last used an iPad so I took my time to learn and adapt to the new iPad OS. The experience was rather interesting, though.
Once I got everything setup on the iPad Air, I went ahead and download some essential apps and update the software too. Since I recently also started using a MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip, it immediately told me that Facetime was usable on both machines. That was nice.
Then, I realized one more thing – the iPad Air was displayed as a removable device on the MacBook. I was blown away by the seamless integration that Apple has developed here – and best of all, I didn’t have to use iTunes!
I was able to select what files and settings to sync between the MacBook Pro and the iPad Air – but I didn’t want to duplicate my files anyway, so I didn’t sync them. Then, I remembered that the iPad OS now has a new segment called “files”.
In my mind, I thought it was a storage partition that we use it like a USB flash drive. But no, it acts like… a sandbox of storage for each app that supports this feature. For example, I can drag and drop videos into VLC to watch them later with the VLC app, but the Photos app doesn’t see those videos that VLC sees.
I mean, it’s not what I expected but hey, it works the way I wanted it to, albeit in a different way.
Other than that, one of my favoite activities with the old iPad was to read books because I like Apple’s Books app more than Google Play Books. It’s functional, has a build-in dictionary and highlighter feature so that you can save these words or phrases or sentences for future references. Even the interface was a lot better.
Fun fact, the Apple Books app was called iBooks previously. I had to check to make sure that I got the name correctly.
So yeah, I recently started reading books again thanks to the iPad Air. More time on books, less time on social media.
Using the Smart Folio case
This is also where I use the Smart Folio case the most. It has a very soft felt material inside so that it won’t scratch the iPad Air’s metal body while having a rubbery exterior to provide grip and protection.
I mean, you’ve seen this case before – but I’m surprised by the attention to detail for this case. Remember the days of tablet photography that many people hated? I tried doing that with the iPad Air with the Smart Folio case.
Apparently, the last fold of the flap can be flipped inwards and actually held on by a magnet while revealing the camera. Fascinated by this, I also took some pictures with the iPad Air and surprisingly, the pictures are actually good!
How’s the performance of the M1 chip in the iPad Air (2022)
That aside, I also use the iPad Air to play Genshin Impact and oh dear lord – the performance coming out of this M1 chip is amazing. It ran Genshin Impact at its absolute maximum graphical settings at 60fps without any issues at all. I wasn’t expecting this – bit I’m sure as hell surprised by its performance.
I am also surprised that Genshin Impact is available for the iPad Air and also the iPad Pro are both using Apple’s M1 chip, but Genshin Impact is not available for MacOS??? Why?
As a productivity machine
Anyway, I also use the iPad Air to do quite a lot of work. Surprisingly, I find myself using the iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard most of the time since I usually type a lot while I’m not recording or editing videos.
I’m not going to talk about this Magic Keyboard that much in this video – but I really like the way Apple design this as the iPad is lifted slightly above the keyboard level and provides a certain angle of tilt.
One of my favorite features is Quick Notes. By swiping in from the bottom right corner, I can start typing something – like a reminder or some sort. Best of all, when combined with the Apple Pencil, I can just yoink the Pencil from above and start scribbling on Quick Notes. I actually did quite a lot of quick math using that feature – and I love it. All of the notes are also synced via iCloud to my MacBook Pro too!
New Apple Pencil
I should also mention that the Apple Pencil this generation is a lot better than the last generation where we have to stab the Pencil at the Lightning port and the whole Pencil just protrudes from the iPad.
However, since it’s magnetically held on the iPad Air now, I’m also afraid of it detaching from the iPad Air while jostling in my backpack, potentially getting into some weird crevices and getting damaged. But, the Apple Pencil is very tough – so I’m not afraid of actual damages, just cosmetics.
More multitasking features and integration with macOS
Then comes a lot more multitasking features. There are gestures that we can use – like dragging down from the middle and then selecting another app to open both of them side by side, then controlling the size of both apps by dragging the handle in the middle.
Some apps are even able to take advantage of this feature to provide even better multitasking – like multi-window Google Chrome. It’s a feature that’s available on Android as well – but I just think it’s implemented better on a system level for the iPad.
By the way, even Chrome works with Apple’s Handoff feature. If I leave a Chrome tab opened on the MacBook Pro and started using the iPad Air, an icon appears and I can tap on that to continue where I left off from the MacBook Pro. Convenient little feature to have instead of sending links to myself via Telegram.
Using the iPad Air as an external screen for the MacBook Pro
Speaking of that, I also used the iPad Air as a secondary screen – or in this case, a tertiary screen for the MacBook Pro too. When I got the iPad Air, I immediately tried Sidecar.
Thanks to Apple’s seamless interconnectivity between devices, a few clicks and the iPad Air becomes an extension to my MacBook Pro’s screen. To my surprise, it worked really well and has little to no noticeable delay – at least for my tasks.
Or use the MacBook Pro’s keyboard and mouse on the iPad Air
On the flip side, I can use iPad apps by using the same keyboard and mouse as the MacBook Pro too. Again, seamless integration and I only have to push through either sides of the MacBook Pro’s screen to “establish” the connection.
Fun fact, I took a screenshot on the MacBook Pro and absent-mindedly went to the iPad Air and pasted the screenshot on Facebook Messenger, and surprisingly, it worked flawlessly!
The grass isn’t always greener, though
But, even after so many years, there are still a few glaring issues that I am not keen of – like the notification center is still very messy. I don’t really care about notifications on a tablet but imagine if my phone – which gets hundreds of notifications a day – has this kind of interface. I’ll be missing messages for sure.
Another thing that I don’t like is the settings menu. I wanted to mess around with the camera settings menu to see what the iPad Air’s camera is capable of, but the camera settings menu is not within the camera app. It’s within the system settings menu instead.
I mean, yeah – it makes sense to have a central hub for all the settings but I really wish there’s a shortcut key from the camera app to head into the system settings to change the camera’s settings instead of having to manually search for it.
One more feature that I’d like to see is some form of automation like IFTTT on a system level – something like Samsung’s Bixby Routines whereby I can set it to lock the orientation at landscape mode and go to 50% volume when I open YouTube, or lock the orientation to portrait mode and lower the brightness when I have the Apple Books app opened. That would be fantastic to have on the iPad, rather than just having the Shortcuts feature that we have now.
Oh yea – remember back in the days when iPhones and iPads had a physical push switch to either toggle silent mode or to lock the orientation? I miss that feature a lot.
These three complaints might sound like I’m nitpicking, but they’re issues shared across the iPad and iPhone. And I guess I have revealed my plans to try out the iPhone for the first time in my life – but we’ll wait for the iPhone 14 instead. I truly wish the next iPhone is using USB-C though.
Are apps better on Apple compared to Android?
One more thing that I want to talk about after being a pure Android user for so many years – do apps work better on Apple devices compared to Android? That… truly depends. The Facebook app dark mode is broken on both iPad OS and Android, so nobody wins I guess.
Other than dark mode, the Facebook app is more functional on Apple devices – especially for Facebook Page managers.
Since Android tablets are literally just bigger Android phones, all the apps work properly on tablets even though the icons might be humongous. The iPad Air on the other hand, has some apps like this wallpaper app locked to be only usable in portrait orientation.
Other apps like Instagram are made for iPhones only, but they still are able to adapt to the iPad’s screen – just a lot of emptiness on the sides in either orientation. Not ideal, but it works – and this has never changed since the last time I used the old iPad.
Widgets?
Also, widgets on iPad OS… still need some work, but it’s not Apple’s fault. On Android, I can have a Sonos widget to control music from my Sonos speaker. There is no such widget on the iPad Air. Spotify is in the same situation too – which I am just disappointed.
Battery life?
Before we end this review, we need to talk about the battery life. I mean, it’s quite good? I guess? It can reach about 8-10 hours depending on what I’m doing – and I think it will last through a workday without issues – except if you’re editing videos for a long time, of course.
Either way, the iPad Air 5 is a fantastic device and it really feels good to be back. It reminded me why I used an iPad so many years ago, now improved by all of the new features that Apple developed and integrated with the Apple ecosystem as a whole.
Conclusion
And that’s all we have to share with you about the 5th Gen iPad Air. It’s a fantastic tablet for all sorts of users – and even towards those who want to use it as a quasi-laptop-replacement device.
With that said, this is not the end as we are going to talk about the Magic Keyboard too. Do subscribe, and we’ll see you in the next video.
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