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iPad I bought an iPad Air thinking that the 4th Gen was "weak". Turns out it was iOS 7.

hamiltonDSi

hamiltonDSi

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2012
1,616
293
Romania
So in April (last month) I bought a second hand iPad 4 (16GB WiFi + LTE / full box + another 4 months left on warranty, mint condition - like new) and it was my first iPad, I was so happy !
After using it for a couple of weeks I saw that the OS (7.1) lagged at basic tasks (opening NC, rotating orientation in the Messages app, closing apps in the Multitasking UI, scrolling in some apps like IMDb and 9Gag, etc.) and that drove me insane because my 5s was smooth.
A quick fix was to turn on the increased contrast option but hey, I like the transparancy !
Anyway, I thought that the A6X was not powerfull enough to handle the transparancy & animations at that resolution (2048-by-1536) so the next day I bought a brand new iPad Air (16GB WiFi + LTE) from my local Apple Reseller and guess what? Same problem !

C'mon Apple ! I like the look and feel of iOS 7 but this is pathetic !

My old iPad 4 is now used by my father. It was a gift from me so no way I will take it back from him to sell it and get some of my money back.

I own an iPhone 5s and there is no lag with the OS. It truly seems that iOS 7 isn't finished for the iPad.

Of course, before purchasing the Air I did some research and everybody said that the A7 chip is so damn powerfull that nothing can stop it. It really is, I know it, so i thought that upgrading to the latest and greatest will solve my problem. It didn't.
Apple really needs to get iOS 8 just right for the iPad this year.

I was really happy with the 4th Gen and I had no real reasons to upgrade to the Air. Sure, I like the new design , the improved FaceTime camera and the A7 "future proof" 64bit CPU, but that is not enough to justify an upgrade. For me, at least.

Now I'm sticking with the Air for 2 years. I love it (besides the lag, of course, but that will be fix in fall with iOS 8. I hope)
This is my upgrade plan for the next couple of years : 2016 - iPhone 6s / 2016 - iPad Air 3 / 2015 - Apple TV 4 / 2015 - rMacbook PRO 15".

BTW, both iPads were set up as new, I did not restore from any back up.
 
Last edited:
IOS 8.1 may further strain hardware or with new hardware may be equal to current hardware and ios 7, a step sideways, lacking usage improvements.
After Mavericks, and very long delayed updates, I am getting to feel apple is the new microsoft.
 
hamiltonDSi said:
So in April (last month) I bought a second hand iPad 4 (16GB WiFi + LTE / full box + another 4 months left on warranty, mint condition - like new) and it was my first iPad, I was so happy !
After using it for a couple of weeks I saw that the OS (7.1) lagged at basic tasks (opening NC, rotating orientation in the Messages app, closing apps in the Multitasking UI, scrolling in some apps like IMDb and 9Gag, etc.) and that drove me insane because my 5s was smooth.
A quick fix was to turn on the increased contrast option but hey, I like the transparancy !
Anyway, I thought that the A6X was not powerfull enough to handle the transparancy & animations at that resolution (2048-by-1536) so the next day I bought a brand new iPad Air (16GB WiFi + LTE) from my local Apple Reseller and guess what? Same problem !

C'mon Apple ! I like the look and feel of iOS 7 but this is pathetic !

My old iPad 4 is now used by my father. It was a gift from me so no way I will take it back from him to sell it and get some of my money back.

I own an iPhone 5s and there is no lag with the OS. It truly seems that iOS 7 isn't finished for the iPad.

Of course, before purchasing the Air I did some research and everybody said that the A7 chip is so damn powerfull that nothing can stop it. It really is, I know it, so i thought that upgrading to the latest and greatest will solve my problem. It didn't.
Apple really needs to get iOS 8 just right for the iPad this year.

I was really happy with the 4th Gen and I had no real reasons to upgrade to the Air. Sure, I like the new design , the improved FaceTime camera and the A7 "future proof" 64bit CPU, but that is not enough to justify an upgrade. For me, at least.

Now I'm sticking with the Air for 2 years. I love it (besides the lag, of course, but that will be fix in fall with iOS 8. I hope)
This is my upgrade plan for the next couple of years : 2016 - iPhone 6s / 2016 - iPad Air 3 / 2015 - Apple TV 4 / 2015 - rMacbook PRO 15".

BTW, both iPads were set up as new, I did not restore from any back up.
Click to expand...

Down count on it. The efficiency and responsiveness of iOS6 left with the oversight of Scott Forstall.

Welcome to the new guard where 'pretty' weighs high over usability.
 
The iPad Retina models are pushing A LOT MORE pixels than an iPhone. It is kind of hard to compare an iPad to an iPhone for that reason.

I love my Air.
 
I have tried exactly what the OP I accusing iOS 7.1 of doing in those specific apps. I experience zero lag, especially in the Messages app which I use daily. Orientation flipping is very smooth. I have an iPad Air.

The OP mentioned something about "Opening NC"? What is NC?
 
TWO2SEVEN said:
My guess is Notification Center.
Click to expand...

Yes.

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HenryDJP said:
I have tried exactly what the OP I accusing iOS 7.1 of doing in those specific apps. I experience zero lag, especially in the Messages app which I use daily. Orientation flipping is very smooth. I have an iPad Air.
Click to expand...

Weird. What could cause my lag ?
NC indeed is smoother on the Air, but scrolling and orientation changing lags.

EDIT : Please make sure that you have increased contrast "off". If I turn that option "on" everything is fine and smooth.
And in Messages it lags only when the keyboard is present.


----------
richwoodrocket said:
i have no issues with lag on my iPad air on ios 7.1.1 or my iPhone 5c.
Click to expand...

My old iPhone 5 only lagged when changing orientation in Messages with the keyboard displayed on the screen.
Now I have a 5s and it's perfect and smooth.

----------
darngooddesign said:
I have 7.1 on my Mini 1 and its fine, no lag here.
Click to expand...

That is normal, because the first gen iPad Mini doesn't have a Retina Display so the A5 chip doesn't have to drive that insane resolution.
The same with iPad 2.
 
hamiltonDSi said:
Yes.

----------



Weird. What could cause my lag ?
NC indeed is smoother on the Air, but scrolling and orientation changing lags.

EDIT : Please make sure that you have increased contrast "off". If I turn that option "on" everything is fine and smooth.
And in Messages it lags only when the keyboard is present.
Click to expand...

I'm like you I prefer the transparency so I never turn on the increased contrast. I do notice in Messages the orientation lags a bit with the keyboard on screen but I wouldn't call iOS 7 "weak" and I wouldn't have given up the iPad 4 over that. Everything else for me is perfectly fine including Notification Center. Every OS that I have tried, Mac OS, Windows 7 and 8 lag in some things depending on what graphic intensive program is being used. All OS's could always use some update tweaks.

You may want to try erasing iOS 7 and reinstalling and/or also make sure to not have too many apps open. There's only 1GB of ram in the iPad as is in the iPhone 5s and iOS has to generate bigger images since the screen is much larger on the iPad.
 
HenryDJP said:
I'm like you I prefer the transparency so I never turn on the increased contrast. I do notice in Messages the orientation lags a bit with the keyboard on screen but I wouldn't call iOS 7 "weak" and I wouldn't have given up the iPad 4 over that. Everything else for me is perfectly fine including Notification Center. Every OS that I have tried, Mac OS, Windows 7 and 8 lag in some things depending on what graphic intensive program is being used. All OS's could always use some update tweaks.
Click to expand...
That's been my experience with operating systems as well... except for the iPad. I've owned an iPad1 from day-1, iPad2, (skipped the 3), now iPad4. I have never experienced lag on any combination of iPad and iOS.... until iOS 7. That is one reason why I never took exception to Steve Jobs referring to the iPad as "magical". :) I was so delighted with the performance that I was willing to accept "magic" as an explanation.
 
hamiltonDSi said:
Yes.

----------



Weird. What could cause my lag ?
NC indeed is smoother on the Air, but scrolling and orientation changing lags.

EDIT : Please make sure that you have increased contrast "off". If I turn that option "on" everything is fine and smooth.
And in Messages it lags only when the keyboard is present.


----------



My old iPhone 5 only lagged when changing orientation in Messages with the keyboard displayed on the screen.
Now I have a 5s and it's perfect and smooth.

----------



That is normal, because the first gen iPad Mini doesn't have a Retina Display so the A5 chip doesn't have to drive that insane resolution.
The same with iPad 2.
Click to expand...

I can see some pretty horrific lag with reduced transparency turned off in the message app with the keyboard up on my ipad 4 :(
 
I own a 5s and an iPad 4 and both are butter smooth on iOS 7 in terms of UI animations. For you to feel the A6X can't handle transparency effects is strange.

I only see lag when I switch orientation with the keyboard on screen on iPad 4. Other than that it's smooth everywhere else.
 
hamiltonDSi said:
And in Messages it lags only when the keyboard is present.
Click to expand...


Exactly the same with my Air, it also lags horribly in the IMDB app and the tab reloading is ridiculous (though iOS 8 will fix the memory leaks). Considering taking it back and getting an Air 2 in November.
 
blueroom said:
OP are your iOS devices running the latest iOS 7.1.1? Have you tried a DFU restore?
Click to expand...

iOS 7.1.1. The latest & "greatest".

----------
joshisaboss said:
Exactly the same with my Air, it also lags horribly in the IMDB app and the tab reloading is ridiculous (though iOS 8 will fix the memory leaks). Considering taking it back and getting an Air 2 in November.
Click to expand...

Finally someone who has the same problem as me !
 
I believe that a lot of the memory issues are related to the UI change. The animations and transparent layers of iOS 7 require much more memory than the skeumorphic iOS 6. I much prefer the "stale" look of iOS 6 than an extremely buggy iOS 7 with a new UI.
 
hungx said:
I believe that a lot of the memory issues are related to the UI change. The animations and transparent layers of iOS 7 require much more memory than the skeumorphic iOS 6. I much prefer the "stale" look of iOS 6 than an extremely buggy iOS 7 with a new UI.
Click to expand...

And just what is so extremely buggy about iOS 7?
 
HenryDJP said:
And just what is so extremely buggy about iOS 7?
Click to expand...

Before the latest 7.1.1 update, I experienced frequent springboard and Safari crashes. Animations would also frequently lag. And this was on an iPhone 5s.

The new update fixed most of those issues, but now Safari keeps reloading tabs. iOS 7 uses a lot of memory for these useless animations. It seems like Apple pitted visual appearance against usability.
 
Neither my Air nor my rMini have any lag problems. My wife has been complaining of some stuttering within apps (specifically Numbers) on her 1st gen mini - but she says it only happens when she's at home on our wifi versus out and about (with no internet connection).

We have a 60 Mbps connection at home, so the speed isn't the issue. I just chalk it up to older hardware. A full restore would probably fix any issue though.
 
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