Interesting....considering it's the fastest tab on the market right now with the deepest Eco system, lightest weight package with the longest battery life....and developers are still developing for the A5/512mb devices (the masses). We've got the iPad 4, mini, 2 and original. The Original iPad still works just fine for my 8 year old son's simple tasks.
So...you're considering saving a C note by purchasing the iPad 2?
Have you ever used an iPad? An iPhone? There is a 'large' difference. Pun. Intended. The cool thing is the iPad also comes with the option of almost a half million optimized tablet apps. I'm not sure how you inferred that from his review...but reading comprehension is definitely 'individual'
Nope. Not at all. In fact, quite the opposite. I got from the review 'best option on the market. Fastest option...best display, best Eco system, phenomenal battery life, first 64bit tablet and improving performance with each 7.0X update'. There are several other things I garnered for the review too. But if all you got was what you said, you may try going back and re-reading it. It's an excellent review
1GB?! You've got to be kidding me. I was using another iPad and it barely saved my webpages with a few apps open. Not to mention the Air doesn't have Touch ID.
Not sure what 'another iPad' means. But yes...if you were using the original, it's starting to show its age. The second edition, fourth and mini are excellent performers. The '3' was a transition (retina) device without an SoC quite ready to power the graphics. The '4' is a massive jump in performance over the '3'.
iPhones are one of the most stolen items in the country (America). The touch ID was a big improvement for security on the iPhone. The iPad will get it but it's completely unnecessary at this point IMHO (& I've got the 5s)
I think you'll be impressed. I, too, owned the 3 and made the move to the 4 for both myself and our business. There's a tremendous difference between the 2/3 & 4. The A5 and A5x are completely different than the A6(x) chipset...as well as the A7. That said, if you do get a surface pro, you can always put iTunes on it!
Amazing how my year old Nexus 4 has more RAM than this week old tablet. Pathetic.
Android needs more RAM than iOS to maintain its fluidity. That said, the 5s and iPad Air truly lay waste to your Nex4 when it comes to 'actual' perfirmance.
Not sure what you mean by 'lag' but dropping below 30fps on a fast transition or M/T pane isn't IMO 'Lag'. Again....if you were to have read the review, it's being slowly addressed with the point updates so far from Apple. Purely software related with the ground up re-write of iOS 7
I run the iPad 4 during shows with 4,000 folks + in the audience. Live. Never a glitch. Most people doing 'productive' tasks on their iPad aren't switching between games and their word docs or spread sheets. One can easily listen to music, take a call, send a text, look up locations all while on a call or typing a document without issue.
Why do I feel like NO ONE in this thread has actually used an iPad? 32 tracks on the new Air in GarageBand? That's absolutely amazing! These CPU scores rival the MBP from just 4/5 years ago. The graphic power is insane.....all the while maintaining its extraordinary all day battery life
Some of these comments are just plain silly
I'll be buying an iPad Air bright and early Friday morning... but no, it isn't wiping the floor with anything.
My Google Edition Galaxy S4 runs just as smooth as any iPhone 5S I've used.
I'm assuming here is where you'll say the A7 benchmarks higher than the Snapdragon 600 in my S4... yet when I tell you it had double the RAM of the iPhone 5S.. you'll say specs don't matter.
Android and iOS handle RAM in completely different ways. You know this. Especially if you're an Android fan lurking and responding to an iOS thread, right? There's still a thick layer of Java on top of that OS. Not so with iOS. It's been this way since day one. It's been this way with Apple computers as well. Apple is excellent at memory management in comparison to Windows and Android.
Specs aside....we represent less than a tenth of a percentage point of iPad users here at MR. NO other users have a clue about how much RAM is inside. They'll pick up the air. Be blown away by its form factor, weight and speed. By the way every app in the App Store works perfectly. And they'll enjoy the tablet for years to come. When they're done, they'll be able to recover 50% of the original purchase price and pick another up. Not a bad deal. It's tough to sell even a one year old 'droid tablet (I've got the Xoom and I've tried to sell it but have kept it due to complete lack of interest....this was when it was less than a year old )
iPad 3&4 have the same amount of RAM. But the performance differential is night and day. More RAM uses more power. Apple is adamant about maintaining battery life and balancing the power and needs of the development community. You don't have to restart an iPad 4 iPhone 5 or 5s to play infinity blade 3. It's the older devices with weaker SoCs. RAM is irrelevant
So. Silly. Innovation is doubling performance year in and year out with the best displays, most responsive touchscreen, largest optimized Eco system and the ABILITY to continue to use less RAM packaged in a smaller package while maintaining battery life and increasing user enjoyment. NOT about adding RAM
Again, there are less than .1% of the total iPad population that has a clue how much RAM is in the iPad. The Air will be the biggest selling iPad of all time...guaranteed
Seriously...the ONE chart from two or three dozen that Anand has serious questions about and mentions that real world perfirmance will have no impact on this study! Un. Real!
Did you look at the other 30 benchmarks where the 5s and Air dominate even the Google based Octane tests? Optimized for Google and Android?
LoL!
Do you have a 5s? I do...absolutely the opposite of disappointing. It's the best phone I've owned. And I own a Note 2 as well. If you're basing your entire tablet experience on the first three iPads, you have no idea what you're missing out on. None!
It wasn't until 2012 Apple found the need to go from 512mb to 1GB of RAM. This isn't Android. And the Note 3? POS! That 3GB of RAM is necessary just to get TouchWiz to run decently. Seriously. Not a fan of the Notes. I've had the first two. Went to play with the 3 to consider the upgrade and never will I buy another skinned Android phone. Ever! I absolutely screwed up with those Note purchases. My original was finally replaced in April with the Note 2 because of all the issues I had with the original.
Many better choices on the market if you're looking for an Android handset.
J
