Photos: Apple upgrades $300 iPad for education... and businesses

Apple event in Chicago on March 27, 2018

The 2018 iPad 9.7-inch was unveiled at an event at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago on March 27. While the focus of the event was on using iPads in education, the new iPad will be a welcome upgrade to many businesses that use the low-cost version of the tablet for kiosks, cash registers, customer service, employee data entry, and much more.

Image: Shara Tibken/CNET

Specs for 9.7-inch iPad 2018

The specifications are solid at the price point, although it also has to compete with Google Chromebooks more than other tablets or even Windows 2-in-1s.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Features of 9.7-inch iPad 2018

For students, iPads may have the most appeal for K-3, where there are a lot of apps aimed at entry-level learning.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Multitasking and Apple Pencil support

Apple especially highlighted the iOS features for running two apps at the same time and the new capabilities with Apple Pencil in the iPad 9.7-inch.

Image: Apple

iPad with Bluetooth keyboard

You can, of course, connect a Bluetooth keyboard if you want to use the iPad like a laptop at times. However, it won't support the Smart Keyboard that the iPad Pro models offer.

Image: Apple

A10 Fusion is in

The A10 Fusion processor gives the 2018 iPad 9.7-inch a nice speed boost.

Image: Apple

Software for Apple Pencil

Apple also keeps refining the software in iOS to support the Apple Pencil.

Image: Apple

Cameras in 2018 iPad 9.7-inch

The cameras in the iPad are especially aimed at augmented reality, since no one should be regularly using an iPad as a camera.

Image: Apple

AR on the 2018 iPad

Apple has been investing heavily in augmented reality, and the new iPad's 9.7-inch screen provides a lot of real estate for viewing AR apps.

Image: Apple

Frog dissection on the iPad

In the future, some students may forgo physical frog dissections for virtual ones on the iPad.

Image: James Martin/CNET

AR on the new iPad

AR on the iPad certainly has potential for interesting learning experiences.

Image: James Martin/CNET

iPad home screen drawn by Apple Pencil

It is impressive what some artists have been able to draw with the Apple Pencil, like this iPad home screen.

Image: Apple

Logitech's $49 Crayon

As a less expense alternative to the Apple Pencil, Logitech is offering a $49 "Crayon" that works in similar ways and is presumably aimed at younger users.

Image: James Martin/CNET

iPad for note-taking and highlighting

Taking notes and making annotations with a stylus like the Apple Pencil is still a phenomenon that looks good in demos but isn't in wide use.

Image: Apple

10 hours of battery life

Perhaps the feature that businesses and professionals care about the most is battery life.

Image: Apple

Apple School Manager

Apple School Manager software gives the IT department the ability to create Apple IDs in bulk. A school of 1,500 can create IDs for the whole school in under a minute.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Teachers can see student progress

Apple's tools for teachers look promising. But, it also has an uphill fight against Google Classroom.

Image: James Martin/CNET

New Classroom software for teachers

The interface for Apple's classroom tools look impressive enough in the first demos.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Classroom is also coming to Mac

Thankfully, Apple is also bringing its classroom and teachers tools to the Mac as well.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Shared iPad feature for schools

Since a lot of schools have students share technology rather than each student having their own device, the Shared iPad feature is a must-have.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Apple Schoolwork app

Image: James Martin/CNET

Apple promised strong privacy settings

Apple also promised high standards in privacy. It said that its employees cannot see any student or teacher data, for example.

Image: James Martin/CNET

Learning coding on iPad

Image: James Martin/CNET

New ClassKit API

In the mode of HealthKit and HomeKit, Apple also unveiled ClassKit for developers to plug into its new education platform.

Image: James Martin/CNET

iPad already has lots of education apps

Image: James Martin/CNET

Tools to help teachers

Image: James Martin/CNET

Shared annotations in Apple iWork apps

To compete with Google Apps, Apple also announced Smart Annotation so that students, parents, and teachers can collaborate on documents.

Image: James Martin/CNET

iWork now integrates with Apple Pencil

Image: James Martin/CNET

iWork has improved collaboration

Image: James Martin/CNET

Numbers app with Apple Pencil support

Image: James Martin/CNET

Apple templates in iWork

Image: James Martin/CNET

Creative apps now have extras for students

Image: James Martin/CNET

Horace Mann quote

Image: James Martin/CNET

Apple Schoolwork app

Again, Apple's Schoolwork app looks like a good experience in the initial demos.

Also see

• Apple unveils new $300 iPad, education IT software, promises to protect privacy
• Google unveils Chrome OS tablet for students, goes to war with iPad in education market
• Apple's Swift programming language: Cheat sheet
• How Apple, Google, Microsoft stack up in education technology: Hardware, software and deployment (ZDNet)
• Hands-on with the new iPad: Pencil support and more (CNET)
• Mobile device computing policy (Tech Pro Research)

Mobile Enterprise Newsletter

BYOD, wearables, IoT, mobile security, remote support, and the latest phones, tablets, and apps IT pros need to know about are some of the topics we'll address. Delivered Tuesdays and Fridays

Sign up today Sign up today

Image: James Martin/CNET