iPad Does the RAM really limit you on a daily basis?

[syd430]

One day when you are out on your own you will find that are far bigger things to worry about!

Ha, actually I'm 25 and I've been "out on my own" since around 18.

Anyway, i'm fine with the 1GB RAM on my Air, I'm not having problems with it.

And yes, I do have bigger things to worry about, much bigger things, but when I'm on a Apple discussion forum I'm really just going to discuss Apple products.

 

[irnchriz]

I like the iPad. My only beef with it is the overly small text on some menu screens which is unfriendly to those with less than ideal eyesight.

On the issue of 64 bit and RAM - yes, it would be great if there was more and it would also be great if the iPad was a good multi-tasker. - The iPad is neither but it is what it is and does it reasonably well even if it is missing the most obvious item - a flash card slot.

I will be checking out the Mini retina when it is out. If it doesn't seem to knock my socks off I'll do what others have been doing and look to another tablet maker.

Under accessibility you can enlarge the text size, obviously the text will be even smaller on the Mini at default size but can also be enlarged. The text can also be emboldened and colour sets changed to help those with visual impairments.

 

[prism]

I understand there are some iPad owners just can't take the fact. Ipad 3 is the best example.

The major difference between the iPad 3 and the new air is that when the iPad 3 was released, the technology to run a retina display efficiency just wasn't available so they released a half baked product. In the case of the Air, the technology (i.e. more ram) is available and competitively priced so if limited ram becomes crippling down the road, this will be more like a case of planned obsolescence which is just bad business considering the premium price of the products.

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I fell into the iPad 3 "trap" and realized it just around the time the iPad 4 was announced. Thankfully I was able to sell it at minimal loss and bought the iPad 4 instead.
I kept the iPad 4 for about 12 months and sold it a couple of weeks before the air was released (again at minimal loss). Apart from this ram issue I must say that this iteration of the iPad is a piece of technological marvel.

 

[jjp007]

Without the ability to look at the "log" you would have never known it.

I looked to see why things were crashing

 

[gr8tfly]

I like the iPad. My only beef with it is the overly small text on some menu screens which is unfriendly to those with less than ideal eyesight.

On the issue of 64 bit and RAM - yes, it would be great if there was more and it would also be great if the iPad was a good multi-tasker. - The iPad is neither but it is what it is and does it reasonably well even if it is missing the most obvious item - a flash card slot.

I will be checking out the Mini retina when it is out. If it doesn't seem to knock my socks off I'll do what others have been doing and look to another tablet maker.

I sometimes have the same problem. I tried the Bold option, but it makes the black, larger text somehow look less elegant (I think it's the overuse of gray on white or light gray that hurts the smaller font sizes too).

Anyway, besides the "global" font size increase (which gets ignored on a lot of web sites and Apple's own Calendar app), there is a system wide zoom that does seem to work globally. It's similar to the OS X control-scroll zoom. It's in the Accessibility > Vision section. Enable zoom, and you can double-tap with three fingers anywhere to zoom in. Pan with three fingers, and double-tap three fingers and drag to change the zoom level (which it remembers, so you can just toggle between that zoom setting and normal with a three finger double -tap.

 

[irnchriz]

I find it hard to believe that apple might have overlooked something so crucial as ram right at a time when they are switching to 64bit.
Are we confident enough to say that because of this limitation, the user experience on the air and the rMini will worsen as more and more apps are rolled out in 64bit?
I hope not but reading uncle Anand's review is not very encouraging at all!

When you look at the results achievable with LESS than 1GB of RAM on both the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 (both 64bit architecture) you realise that iPad and iPhone users are spoiled with 1GB of RAM. Even if part of the ram is locked for the system and part for the GPU there is still plenty left for the application if it is written well. The last thing this generation of handhelds needs is a massive ram pool for lazy devs.

If anything Apple should add more memory for the GPU rather than have games upscaled (e.g. IB3 on iPad Retina displays)

 

[Davidkoh]

Saying its an "iOS7" issue doesn't necessarily mean its not due to RAM. It could simply be that iOS7 is a memory hog.

Of course. I might have expressed myself a bit unclear, what I mean is that I believe it is rather an iOS 7 issue and not an issue of the 64-bit SoCs making 1 GB of RAM too little. That iOS 7 issue could be related to RAM yes, but I find it unlikely that it would use significant more RAM to the point where it is supposed to crash apps. If it is RAM related it seems more likely there are memory leaks and such that Apple will eventually patch.

 

[iapplelove]

Not sure if it can be posted enough as it it a big limitation of the device for some prospective owner/buyers.

I have not met a single person yet who needed more RAM in their iPads lol

 

[phrehdd]

Under accessibility you can enlarge the text size, obviously the text will be even smaller on the Mini at default size but can also be enlarged. The text can also be emboldened and colour sets changed to help those with visual impairments.

I appreciate your offering but alas, when you go to certain menus, the fonts remain small and they are part of the system itself.

Even the iPhone has tiny fonts where larger can be used. It seemed really amusing that the iPad, with all of its screen real estate, fell victim to form over function. Somehow, Apple thinks everyone has great vision or should put on glasses to use their i-devices. Really a bad show for me and many others.

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I sometimes have the same problem. I tried the Bold option, but it makes the black, larger text somehow look less elegant (I think it's the overuse of gray on white or light gray that hurts the smaller font sizes too).

Anyway, besides the "global" font size increase (which gets ignored on a lot of web sites and Apple's own Calendar app), there is a system wide zoom that does seem to work globally. It's similar to the OS X control-scroll zoom. It's in the Accessibility > Vision section. Enable zoom, and you can double-tap with three fingers anywhere to zoom in. Pan with three fingers, and double-tap three fingers and drag to change the zoom level (which it remembers, so you can just toggle between that zoom setting and normal with a three finger double -tap.

I thank you for your suggestions. I'll be candid, I have tried pretty much everything Apple makes available. The reality is - Apple insists on form over function. One would think that submenu systems should be CLEAR and fast read to the user but if you don't have 20/20 vision or better, you are screwed. There really is no reason they cannot address this issue other than people (like me) keep buying so it never gets to the front of the queue of complains or hopeful improvements. - Mea culpa

 

[Sir Ruben]

My experience with the Air has been nothing short of lightening fast no matter what Im doing.

 

[AppleRobert]

My experience with the Air has been nothing short of lightening fast no matter what Im doing[/B].

+1.

And I have no screen defects! I went and said it here even though there are multiple threads already!

 

[DFZD]

It's not crippled, Apple is simply diverging it's product line.
iPad Air for light users (Think macbook air)
iPad [Pro] for heavy/power users. (Think macbook pro)

 

[prism]

It's not crippled, Apple is simply diverging it's product line.
iPad Air for light users (Think macbook air)
iPad [Pro] for heavy/power users. (Think macbook pro)

If that is the strategy, it seems odd that they didn't release a pro at the same time as the air for the iPad. Also, since the hardware on the rMini is the same as the air shouldn't it also have the "air" wording somewhere?

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If that is the strategy, it seems odd that they didn't release a pro at the same time as the air for the iPad. Also, since the hardware on the rMini is the same as the air shouldn't it also have the "air" wording somewhere?

Coming to think of it, you are probably right. Anything is possible considering that really messed up with the iPad nomenclature: iPad->ipad2->iPad->iPad->ipad Air

 

[DFZD]

If that is the strategy, it seems odd that they didn't release a pro at the same time as the air for the iPad. Also, since the hardware on the rMini is the same as the air shouldn't it also have the "air" wording somewhere?

Come on, cut apple some slack, they just made the iPad so much lighter and thinner. It along with iOS7 blows out any other tablet in the market fair and square. Not forgetting that they have been busy working hard on the Mavericks and iOS 7. It has been a very hard and busy year for Apple employees. Ive got so much flak for the first preview of iOS 7.

They will release a power house of a tablet, and call it iPad Pro, just give them some time.

 

[prism]

Come on, cut apple some slack, they just made the iPad so much lighter and thinner. It along with iOS7 blows out any other tablet in the market fair and square. Not forgetting that they have been busy working hard on the Mavericks and iOS 7. It has been a very hard and busy year for Apple employees. Ive got so much flak for the first preview of iOS 7.

They will release a power house of a tablet, and call it iPad Pro, just give them some time.

Don't get me wrong, the air is an amazing tablet, I just don't want to have regret in a couple of months because they really should have doubled the ram!
With regards to Mavericks, in my experience it is the most incredible operating system ever to be released compared to previous versions of OSX but also windows 8.1 which I use on a daily basis and is light years behind.

 

[DFZD]

Don't get me wrong, the air is an amazing tablet, I just don't want to have regret in a couple of months because they really should have doubled the ram!

You know what, they are going to sell millions of iPad Air, simply because its so light and thin, and the 4 was thick, heavy and unbalanced.

But that's not it, do you really think apple is going to let these millions of people suffer?
No they're not, they're going to release an update immediately to iOS 7, in less than a month, and all this would be behind us.

 

[gr8tfly]

I thank you for your suggestions. I'll be candid, I have tried pretty much everything Apple makes available. The reality is - Apple insists on form over function. One would think that submenu systems should be CLEAR and fast read to the user but if you don't have 20/20 vision or better, you are screwed. There really is no reason they cannot address this issue other than people (like me) keep buying so it never gets to the front of the queue of complains or hopeful improvements. - Mea culpa

Sorry for the slight hijack here:

I couldn't agree more. It's so hard to believe no one with a hint of graphic design under their belt wouldn't have caught some of the glaring (pun intended) no-nos. Aside from colors either fading into nothing (Notes' yellow), or the NEON choices, basic system and app readability degraded by - not the thin font - as much of the percent gray used. Traditionally, those have been reserved for inactive windows, which doesn't really apply in iOS. So, I'm also mystified how those choices were made.

Calendar Month view is a good example: not only are the daily events difficult to pick out at a glance (gray on white or almost white), then, to go on to game level 2, we have gray on slightly darker gray for our weekends.

I've been suggesting a virtual cut and paste of these posts to iPad/iPhone Feedback (I haven't found a specific iOS one yet). They really do listen. It might take a few minor or even a point one update to address the, well, bugs, IMO. And, judging from past experience in OS X, they will listen and most likely make some tweaks. For a lot of users the translucent menu bar was a real mess. Can't have UI elements colored when working on images or video where you are trying to make subtle adjustments. Besides, it kept changing from opaque to translucent and back, depending on the app.

All we can do is report as much as possible (and be accurate and factual - rants get bypassed), and keep our collective fingers crossed.

 

[daneoni]

I suggest you guys turn "Automatically send diagnostics" on in every iOS 7 device you own so Apple know whenever your device crashes and why

That way iOS 7.1 can quash all these bugs.

 

[Tysknaden]

I understand, there are people, having a life too comfortable, having much too much luxury.

I understand there are some iPad Air owners just can't take the fact. Ipad 3 is the best example.

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Me is not getting you wrong. I am fully on your side. Already feeling a little agitated, because the iPad Air is not made of gold and the screen is not cut from one huge diamond :-(

Don't get me wrong, the air is an amazing tablet, I just don't want to have regret in a couple of months because they really should have doubled the ram!
With regards to Mavericks, in my experience it is the most incredible operating system ever to be released compared to previous versions of OSX but also windows 8.1 which I use on a daily basis and is light years behind.

 

[AdeFowler]

Does iOS7 use the SSD as virtual memory? It seems so obvious, especially on the larger capacity devices.

 

[Lucille Carter]

I looked to see why things were crashing

"Things" should crash no more often on the Air than previous iPads.

 

[zhenya]

Hmm. A couple of days into Air ownership and I do fear that the memory is noticeable. Tabs are definitely reloading more frequently than on my 4. With the 4 I had pretty much abandoned my habit of copying my posts before moving to another tab. I've gotten burned a bunch already on the Air with lost posts when it reloads my tab with the draft in place. Grrr.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Yes, both. And no, the 5S and Air both have the same 1 GB. Do you even know what you're talking about or are you just parroting the claim made by others in here? I don't believe 64 bit iOS apps consume 30% more RAM, that's outrageous. Even still, you fail to mention how it is wrecking your experience with the device.

Excuse me? Don't accuse someone when they are intact putting it in simpler terms for the "lesser" minds. The RAM within the iPhone 5S and iPad Air are DDR3 1Gb. The real amount one that RAM is around the 990Mb mark. The RAM in the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 are DDR2 and in real terms come with 1015Mb. So there is a drop there. And I have tested the difference between 32&64 bit and iOS7 with all 64bit processes takes up around 600-750Mb.

So...do you know anything

 

[zbarvian]

Excuse me? Don't accuse someone when they are intact putting it in simpler terms for the "lesser" minds. The RAM within the iPhone 5S and iPad Air are DDR3 1Gb. The real amount one that RAM is around the 990Mb mark. The RAM in the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 are DDR2 and in real terms come with 1015Mb. So there is a drop there. And I have tested the difference between 32&64 bit and iOS7 with all 64bit processes takes up around 600-750Mb.

So...do you know anything

That's lovely, and I retract my question, but is anyone going to reply to me with practical insight or technical insight? I'd like to know why this matters, why it's such a big deal.

 

[rui no onna]

Does iOS7 use the SSD as virtual memory? It seems so obvious, especially on the larger capacity devices.

Nope. No page file. Everything is in RAM.