Apple iPad 11-inch (A16) Review: A Reading Tablet, Judged as One

The reading case is won or lost on size and weight. Apple lists the iPad 11-inch at 248.6 mm tall, 179.5 mm wide and 7 mm thick. It weighs 477 grams in the Wi-Fi version and 481 grams with cellular.

A 6-inch or 7-inch e-reader typically weighs between 170 and 220 grams, so the iPad has roughly two to three times the mass. That mass is also spread over a much larger area, which puts more load on your wrist than the weight alone suggests. Holding 477 grams in one hand for a chapter is hard on the wrist. Propped on a table, on a knee or in a case that stands up, it is fine.

That makes the iPad a two-handed or supported reading device. If you read lying on one side in bed, or standing on a train, a dedicated e-reader wins on physics, and nothing in the software changes that.

The upside of those dimensions is an 11-inch display that shows a full A4 or Letter PDF page at close to readable size without zooming. A 6-inch e-reader cannot do that at all. For academic papers, sheet music, comics and technical manuals, that page size is the whole argument.

The enclosure is aluminum, and Apple sells it in four finishes: Silver, Blue, Pink and Yellow.

Apple specifies an 11-inch Liquid Retina display, an LED-backlit IPS panel at 2360 by 1640 pixels and 264 pixels per inch. It has True Tone and a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.

On paper, 264 ppi is good. It is sharper than most 300 ppi claims suggest, once you allow for the greater distance a tablet is held at. Text edges will not be the limiting factor in how the page looks. True Tone shifts the white point toward the room's light, which is a real comfort feature for reading at night. E-readers do the same job with a warm front light.

The cost is the light source, and it is the basic split between the two technologies. An e-reader reflects room light off its page, and the iPad emits all of its own light, at a maximum of 500 nits. That is comfortable in a bright room. In direct sunlight it is not, and no tablet at this brightness is. A Kindle in the same conditions gets easier to read as the light gets stronger.

Apple does not state whether the panel is laminated directly to the cover glass, which affects how deep the text looks and how much internal reflection you get. It also does not say whether there is an anti-reflective coating, and this review will not infer either one. If you read in a room with a window behind you, look at one in person before committing.

If you read for work, Pencil support is the part to look at closely, and Apple's specification is precise about it.

The iPad 11-inch supports Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Apple Pencil (1st generation). The first-generation model needs a USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter to pair and charge, which Apple sells separately. Apple does not list support for Apple Pencil Pro or Apple Pencil (2nd generation) on this model. Those are the models with pressure sensitivity, squeeze and the other features people associate with drawing on an iPad. If annotation is the reason you are buying, check which Pencil you need before ordering.

The supported Pencils handle margin notes, highlighting and signing documents very well. On an 11-inch page at that pixel density, marking up a PDF here is better than on any current E Ink tablet with a stylus. The refresh is instant and the color is real. E Ink tablets are slower, but they have the better writing feel and no backlit screen an inch from your eyes.

The Pencil attaches magnetically to the side of the iPad, so it stays with the tablet. On this model that connection does not charge it, which is a small daily annoyance.

Apple publishes all four of the practical facts that decide how this iPad fits into a reading life.

Storage comes in 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB, with no microSD slot. For text the capacity is irrelevant, because a large library of EPUB files runs to hundreds of megabytes. For scanned PDFs, art books and comics, it decides which model to buy. The base capacity fills faster than people expect once a few hundred scanned volumes are on board.

The USB-C port is the surprise. Apple states that it supports charging, DisplayPort and USB 2.0 at up to 480 Mb per second. That is the same data rate as a USB port from 2000. Moving a 40 GB comic library onto the iPad over that link takes a long time. If you plan to sideload a large collection by cable, know this before buying.

The battery is a 28.93 watt-hour cell. Apple rates it at up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi, or 9 hours over cellular. Reading with the screen dimmed will do better than web browsing. An e-reader's battery is measured in weeks, though, and this is a tablet you charge most nights. Apple includes a 1 meter USB-C cable and a 20 W power adapter in the box.

A stand changes the reading experience more than any other accessory. The three Smart Connector pins on the long edge take a keyboard folio, and any folio that props the iPad up removes the weight problem entirely. If you are buying this to read, budget for a case that stands.

All models have Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. Cellular models are eSIM only and take no physical SIM, so check this against your carrier if you want library downloads away from Wi-Fi. The comparison of running Android on an E Ink reader makes the same app-access argument from the other direction.