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Apple Announces Thinner, Lighter iPad Air With 64-Bit A7 Processor

Starting to hate this company. Luckily, as we've seen with the 13" rMBP pricing, people speak with their wallets.

Too bad Apple, with all their resources, can't see all the bad decisions that they make.
 
They've done a great job overall, especially the mini. It makes the choice between mini and Air pretty difficult now.

It comes down to a preference in screen size, weight and price only. They seem to have equalised their resolutions and processors.
 
KylePowers said:
I like it a lot, but I think I'll be holding out for Touch ID and 802.11ac (though MIMO was a nice addition). Hopefully iOS 8 will bring a UI that takes better advantage of the iPad's screen real estate.

Better Wi-Fi is always welcomed. Not everything is done through the internet. Access to my in-home server, amongst other same network devices, will see improvement. And I appreciate that.
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No 802.11ac means no sale for me! Also shame on me for upgrading my Time Capsule to get 802.11ac in preparation of a new iPad that supported it.
 
diegogaja said:
Maybe they aren't holding it right...LOL

But in all seriousness, like any OS there are different work processes involved. Does it work exactly like a laptop? No. Different OS. I do 90% of my work, hobbies, school, and play on my iPad. As when I moved from Windows to Mac, I had to learn new processes that worked for my needs. Same situation here.

During a recent 4 day trip I grabbed my ipad thinking it would be fine. 45 days later (family medical emergency during the trip) I learned that it can do everything I needed. Not just good enough, but as good as a laptop in almost all aspects.

I think that is what holds people back...they assume the work processes/work flows should be the same. It's not.
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The only thing I miss when I use my iPad is downloading torrents, etc... Otherwise, I never use my MBP.

W1LLk said:
The iPad 3 just let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you iPad Air for taking up the mantle of being the new red-headed step child of the iPad family."

-Unnecessary new name
-No Touch ID
-Unnecessary WiFi bump with no 802.11ac spec to match family
-A grossly overpriced tag-a-long little brother that should not be bought.

I think we are at another iPad skip generation. My gut says the next iteration will surely get Touch ID and 802.11ac, making this seem wasteful.
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I disagree...

iPad 3:
-Retina display was the only significant upgrade

iPad Air:
-New form factor
-Thinner
-Lighter
-Processor Upgrade

IMO, those 4 are pretty big. Everyone seems to be focusing on comparing it to the iPhone... Might as well complain they didn't offer a gold one while we're at it.
 
Great CPU, sorry and stingy storage

To introduce a new tablet, all costing close to $500 bucks with only 16GB in 2103. Jaw dropping.

Consider the extra 170.00 price over competitors, going 32gb at base would make it a total no-brainer.

I'll bet it does fine but it kills me.
 
I don't get why Apple still uses so little storage. They should by now starts at 32 then 64 and 128.
Really cheap on their end stifling these great products with so little storage.
 
portishead said:
What were you expecting besides incremental? Do you want it to have X-ray vision and a .1mm flexible OLED see through display? Also your "crippling base storage" comment is off base. WTF are you putting on your iPad that you need 256GB of storage?
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Bigger and/or more increments? I would have expected more than a 2x performance bump. We don't know if there was a RAM bump (do we?), but I would have expected one. I expected a camera bump, not because I care about a tablet camera, but just because that's pretty standard. Honestly, I'd like a flash, but for the flashlight, not picture-taking. Fingerprint id should have been in every new iOS device going forward.

And the base storage is crippling. iOS 7 is fatter than older iOSs. Average app sizes, especially games, are significantly larger (AAAs often 1GB each). Apps now shipping retina+non-retina+32bit+64bit+phone+tablet compatible binaries means more wasted bits, of which any given device doesn't need all of. iBooks now encouraging interactive media-books that requires 100s of MBs instead of KBs. Ever-growing camera rolls with pictures in ever-higher (except this time) megapixels that can't be resized on the device.

16GB was the base back when apps were all 32bit and non-retina graphics were the only option. Your gigs just don't go as far as they used to. The user experience of 16GB present day is more akin to the 8GB experience of yesteryear. Sure, you can make do, but you compromise a lot more often.

Edit: And have you ever tried to update one the 1GB+ apps? You have to have like 2-3GB free just to get and run the update. So not only can 16GB barely hold this apps, you have to keep over 20% of your measly space constantly unused just so you can get updates. It is a poorer user experience than Apple should content themselves with.
 
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huffcw said:
I fully agree - Apple keeps holding back some key features that would provide some great improvements for users. I have had every version of the iPad, and now am using a Surface RT more and more for a few key reasons:

1. Multiple user accounts - apps, settings, etc. specific for each member of the household, switch quickly between accounts and you have a tailored experience, full integration with your own SkyDrive storage, etc.

2. Flexibility provided by the USB port and microSD (e.g., add additional storage easily, grab a USB thumb drive full of movies and playback directly from drive - no need to mess around with transferring, etc.)

3. The touch cover! Works surprisingly well - without a separate battery or need for charging (which is why I hate bluetooth keyboards), doubles as a cover for the screen, folds around back when you want a pure tablet experience, and super thin so doesn't add much bulk at all.

(Also, one more...a full browser experience - mostly for the kids since there are a bunch of Flash-based games they like to play online.)

I still have an iPad, but it now mostly gets used by my wife to check email and play Hay Day. The iPad still shines in terms of app selection, but for me I have all I need with what's available in the Microsoft store. Plus the Microsoft Office apps are a great bonus and FULLY compatible when I need to occasionally work on documents for my job on the Surface.
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3) The Touch keyboard cover sucks. Horrible.

2) No one wants to monkey around with loading movies onto a tablet via a USB drive sticking out. I sure don't. And the sd card thing isn't too appealing either. At the same time you can buy a connection kit if you really want that stuff on the iPad.

1) I can't even give you user accounts because managing files over different accounts is a pain in the ass especially given the current state of tablet sized storage.

But I admit sometimes I would at least like to quickly hide my email/messages/bookmarks/photos when turning over a device to my kids.
 
b3ats said:
I feel very underwhelmed at this.

I was hoping for an iPad with TouchID, A7X processor, upgraded A/C Wi-Fi, better screen, 8MP camera.

This thing is less powerful than the iPhone! Not once during my ownership of the original iPad and my current iPad 3rd Gen have I complained about it being too heavy.

On a more positive note, I notice that Apple trumped the 2013 Nexus 7's PPI with 226 compared to 223. Must be a nice screen.
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Again with A7X stop it already! It's almost like you guys never you bother to look at the specs and the performance of A7 chip
 
Sigh

I got a refurb ipad 4 about 2 months back.

How much additional money will I end up spending if I gave it up and get an iPad Air? I paint quite a bit on the iPad, and that 30% lighter weight is a huuuuge draw...
 
tigres said:
Big, huge, monstrous mistake.

Rename your flagship product, are you kidding me.

'iPad' was not good enough?
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iPad isn't their flagship product. The iPhone is. And no one seems to have a problem with 5S 5C, or MacBook Pro or Macbook Air for that matter.
 
Rizzn said:
Starting to hate this company. Luckily, as we've seen with the 13" rMBP pricing, people speak with their wallets.

Too bad Apple, with all their resources, can't see all the bad decisions that they make.
Click to expand...

Given that they possess said resources, and you don't, can you honestly give a useful counterpoint as to why they shouldn't do what they do?
 
fishmoose said:
So what are other people with iPad 2's planning to do? iPad Air or iPad Mini? I have a hard time deciding.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I hardly see anymore why people would get an iPad Mini now. The biggest argument for it was that it was light and you could hold it in one hand. The same is now true for the fullsize iPad.
 
Razeus said:
Oh, well good for you. Yes, I've owned every iPad since they debuted so I can talk about missing features that need to be on a TABLET device. Mulit-user accounts. Touch ID should have been added. Period.

iOS STILL doesn't optimize the iPad's display. I'm a troll? If that means voicing my concerns over a $500 device, so be it.
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Multi user accounts were needed back when computers were big, expensive, shared devices.

iOS devices are personal. They are cheap enough that you can buy 2-3 (or 4-5) and not break the bank. My kids saved their mowing money and bought their own iPads.

Multi-user accounts obviously are not "must have".


Now TouchID... I agree that should have been there. A missed opportunity by Apple to really begin to do something about authorization. (TouchID to unlock your phone is only the smallest part of what I think is great about what TouchID can become.)
 
Wow, once again Apple F's up the simple.

Why is the iPad 2 not $199 at this point?

Why is 16gb still the starting point for memory?

Why change the name of your tablet to create even more confusion?

Why is there no innovation left in this company?

Why did Steve Jobs have to die?

Why?
 
Why in the world do they keep selling devices (iPhone 4S and now the iPad 2) which still use the 30-pin connector?
 
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