Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Continuity in iPad 3rd Gen
- Thread starter watson10
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
My devices have all been ringing together when I get iMessages, so pretty much used to it by now.
Continuity (receiving calls across multiple devices, sending SMS texts with iOS 8.1) should be supported across all devices. Handoff, which Apple has deemed a feature of Continuity and which requires Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy support, will not work with the iPad 3rd generation. The iPad 3 doesn't have Bluetooth 4.0 support, which is also why it can't use Airdrop. Handoff is the feature that allows you to start an email or other supported document on one device, and then continue it on another.
Thanks for the correction, but it doesn't support the "low energy" profile of Bluetooth 4.0. Again, this explains why it doesn't work with Airdrop, nor with Handoff.
Isn't LE part of Bluetooth 4.0 spec? Apple purposely omits certain features in older models not necessarily because the hardware can't support it but because they want to entice you into upgrading.
You're correct, which is partly why I was surprised to read that it had a chipset that did have Bluetooth 4.0. It doesn't work either way: there's no option for AirDrop on my iPad 3, and while I can get Handoff working nicely between my iPhone 5S and my iPad mini 2, the iPad 3 doesn't pick up on it.
I suspect you're also right in suggesting that this could be an artificial limitation imposed by Apple. After all, they're doing something similar with their Mac line, too. Systems with Bluetooth 4.0 LE chipsets made in 2011 have Handoff disabled; it's possible to modify some system files to remove your system from the "blacklist," and then Handoff works wonderfully. It's quite possible they're doing something similar with their iOS devices. I'd like to think that Apple did this because the features are unstable on the devices they disable them on, but of course, the view of greed is as you said: they do it to force you to upgrade for the newer features.
The Pebble works fine with Bluetooth LE on an iPhone 4S which was released before the iPad 3. I'm thinking lack of AirDrop and Handoff is most likely an artificial limitation. If you look at this list (http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Bluetooth-Smart-Devices-List.aspx), the iPad 3rd gen is included which means it should have Bluetooth LE.
I was really suprised to find that handoff doesn't work on ipad 3. If there is a technical reason, well fine. Imposing artificial limitations as a sales tactic may work short term, but customers long-term can get pretty tired of it and move on. SalesForce is famous for this. I hope this is not the case with Apple.