Your First iPad: The Easy Guide to iPad 10.2 and Other iPads Running iPadOS 13

Introduction

There’s a new operating system in town and it’s turning heads. I’m, of course, talking about iPadOS. It’s Apple’s latest way of bringing Mac and iPad closer together.

If you’ve used an iPad before, then the OS will be familiar to you, but there’s a number of new things you should know about.

If you’ve never used an iPad, then this book will help you navigate around the device in a way that’s easy to understand and not so comprehensive that you feel overwhelmed.

This book is based off of the iPad 10.2 (the one with a Home button—not the Pro models that have abandoned buttons); that doesn’t mean it’s not useful if your iPad doesn’t have one, but some features will work slightly differently.

Ready to get started? Let’s go!

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What Exactly is In This Thing?

The Cosmetics of an iPad

Before talking about how this thing works, let’s talk about what’s inside (and outside) that makes it work.

Inside

The iPad 10.2 has a resolution of 2160x1620 (264ppi); by comparison the other current models are the following: iPad 2732x2048 (264ppi); iPad Air: 2224x1668 (264ppi).

In case you’re wondering if 264ppi translates to 4k: the iPad’s are no doubt high definition, but not technically 4k. What you have to remember however is: does it matter? When you have a 100-inch TV screen, 4k certainly looks sharp. When you are looking at a 10-inch screen, it’s hard to notice a difference.

Like the iPad that came before it, the iPad 10.2 has a fingerprint scanner for extra security. It does not have facial recognition like the iPad Pros or most newer iPhones.

It supports the first generation of Apple Pencil (not the second); the second generation of Apple Pencil is only supported on Pro models.

Speed-wise, the iPad has an A10 Fusion chip (the same chip as the previous generation of iPad); by comparison the iPad Air has an A12 chip. What does that mean? It means the iPad is fast, but not as fast as other iPads; for casual Internet browsing and email, you won’t notice. If you were to run pro apps and do video editing, you will probably notice some lag in the speed.

If you are the type that likes to hold your giant tablet up to take pictures, you have a good camera to help you. The back camera is 8MP with 1080p video capturing; the front camera is 1.2MP. It definitely isn’t as good as what you will find on the newest iPhones (or the iPad Pro), but it will still take good shots.

The battery life on the iPad is comparable to other models (even the Pro line), which is about 9 to 10 hours depending on what you are doing.

Outside

The outside of the iPad is not that much different from any other iPad (or iPhone). There aren’t a lot of buttons.

On the top left of the iPad there is a 3.5mm headphone jack (it also supports wireless headphones); on the top right is the on/off/standby button. The middle is the front-facing camera.



On the right side is the volume up/down button. On the bottom right is a SIM tray if you have the cellular model.



On the left side is the Smart Connector, which is where the keyboard will magnetically snap if you have purchased that.

Finally, on the bottom is the Home button (and fingerprint scanner), and below that is the lightning port for charging and transferring data.



Feature This…

Every year, Apple dazzles us with dozens of new features. A lot of these features are under the hood and don’t sound very exciting, but they are making your iPad Pro perform better. Briefly, here are a few things people are excited about. I’ll cover where to find these (and more) as I walk you around the iPad and show you where things are.

Before I get to that, however, let me go over which iPads support the newest OS (not all features of iPadOS, however, will be available on earlier devices):

iPad Air 2

iPad Air (3rd generation)

iPad (5th generation)

iPad (6th generation)

iPad (7th generation)

iPad mini 4

iPad mini (5th generation)

iPad Pro 9.7-inch

iPad Pro 10.5-inch

iPad Pro 11-inch

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation)

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation)

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation)

As is usually the case, Apple’s latest OS is supported on older devices—but not all devices. 

You can see what model you have by going into Settings > General > About.



To install iPadOS from a later device, go to Settings > General > Software Update.

Okay, so what are the features?

Home Screen - A noticeable aesthetic change to iPadOS is the Home screen. App icons are just a tad smaller, which allows for more icons to fit on the page. Swipe to the right and you can access the Today View which moves the icons over even more and has a list of widgets and at-a-glance information (like news and weather). The Today View works in landscape or portrait, but when you have your iPad in portrait, the view slides over your icons.

Example of the Today View in landscape:



Example of the Today View in portrait:



Split View and Slide Over - The multitasking feature returns to iPadOS but now supports multiple windows from the same app. This lets you swipe between apps quicker. It will be covered in more detailed later in the book.



App Exposé - This feature lets you see all the open windows for a particular app. To use it, hold down the Apps icon.



Markup - If you have an Apple Pencil, you can tap on the corner of your iPad display to open up Markup; this lets you make notes on whatever you are working on.



Files - Files on the iPad now lets you share entire