iPad 2 on iOS 9

[joeblow7777]

I see a lot of comments here about planned obsolescence, and not updating OSs more than a generation or two beyond what the device shipped with because it "cripples" them, but I have to say that this doesn't seem consistent with what I've seen in my (admittedly limited) use of older iPads.

I found this video interesting in that it shows a 4 year old iPad 2 performing quite well on iOS 9.1. Doesn't keep up with an Air 2, obviously, but still quite usable.

 

[AFEPPL]

The one we have runs nothing like that... YMMV

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Mine runs like crap too. I could live with it being slow but not incredible slow as now, and the constant crashing apps and iPad locking up for 30+ seconds at a time, that is pretty f****** annoying.

 

[joeblow7777]

The one we have runs nothing like that... YMMV

Mine runs like crap too. I could live with it being slow but not incredible slow as now, and the constant crashing apps and iPad locking up for 30+ seconds at a time, that is pretty f****** annoying.

So what do you guys suppose causes some devices to run so poorly given that the hardware is obviously still capable of running the OS?

 

[eyeseeyou]

Mine is almost unbearable to use. Almost feel bad for my 7 year old. Tap and stare waiting for something to happen.

 

[joeblow7777]

So what's the difference between iPad 2's that are running fine and ones that are practically unusable??

 

[rui no onna]

So what's the difference between iPad 2's that are running fine and ones that are practically unusable??

The person using it.

That's a serious answer. Some people just have more patience than others. Also, if someone has never used faster devices, then there's no point of reference to say that the iPad 2 is slow. Indeed, if the point of reference is an old Windows desktop or laptop still running on HDD, the iPad 2 might seem quite fast in comparison.

 

[oldmacs]

I found this video interesting in that it shows a 4 year old iPad 2 performing quite well on iOS 9.1. Doesn't keep up with an Air 2, obviously, but still quite usable.

Depends what you find usable I guess. I'm ok with mine, but iOS 9 was shocking for it. It struggles keeping one safari tab open, let alone two. My Dad's iPad 2 on iOS 7 is much better. iOS 8 was somewhere between the two. iOS 9 seems to have less than half the available (Free) RAM that iOS 7 had when idle.

I think also the number of apps you have plus other things like the number of mail accounts, what your iCloud settings are etc have a massive impact. I had hope that iOS 9 would return to iOS 8.4.1 speeds after a few updates, but sadly it hasn't, and honestly, besides security I would have a hard time justifying suggesting to someone else to upgrade from 7 or 8 to 9.

I hope to get another year out of mine given the disappointment that the Pro 9.7 is. If you don't expect it to cope with multitasking and you don't do much web browsing the iPad 2 is ok.
[doublepost=1460174390][/doublepost]

"cripples" them, but I have to say that this doesn't seem consistent with what I've seen in my (admittedly limited) use of older iPads.

The iPad 2 has also been one of the best ageing iPads. Mine was fine with iOS 5,6,7 and only started getting slow with 8 - 9 has been the real killer. I think my annoyance with 9 is that it adds so little especially to these devies that should make it slower, yet it is, with apps taking longer to load every time, animations jittering even more and more reloading of tabs and apps in multitasking. Other iPads (like the Mini 2 and iPad 3) have aged worse.

 

[jeremiah256]

Yep, iPad 2 with iOS 9.3.1 and still usable, but obviously time for an upgrade. Those talking planned obsolescence are expecting a 5 year old device to run an OS designed for modern devices as fast as their original OS. There have been 4 iPads, 4 iPad Minis, 2 iPad Airs, and 2 iPad Pros. Only the original iPad cannot run 9.3.1.

 

[joeblow7777]

The person using it.

That's a serious answer. Some people just have more patience than others. Also, if someone has never used faster devices, then there's no point of reference to say that the iPad 2 is slow. Indeed, if the point of reference is an old Windows desktop or laptop still running on HDD, the iPad 2 might seem quite fast in comparison.

But that's why I included the video. We can all see that THAT iPad 2 runs pretty well. It lags behind the Air 2 by just a few seconds, which some may consider an unbearable delay, but I think it's pretty good considering it's 4 generations behind.

 

[spiderman0616]

I hope to get another year out of mine given the disappointment that the Pro 9.7 is.

Yes, what a disappointing piece of crap the 9.7" iPad Pro is.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I can make a video showing nothing happening..... After I tap settings on my iPad 2 on iOS 9.

 

[ahostmadsen]

Mine is almost unbearable to use. Almost feel bad for my 7 year old. Tap and stare waiting for something to happen.

Ha! Yes exactly the same for my 9 year old son. I have given up on it. Buying iPad Pro and giving him my air 2.

 

[rui no onna]

But that's why I included the video. We can all see that THAT iPad 2 runs pretty well. It lags behind the Air 2 by just a few seconds, which some may consider an unbearable delay, but I think it's pretty good considering it's 4 generations behind.

But it's not. There was noticeable lag in keyboard input. That's something that would drive me batty as I'd end up retyping stuff if I don't get immediate feedback.

Also, while the video showed the homescreen UI being generally responsive, there's no demo of web browsing particularly on multimedia heavy webpages. Loading Settings took a long time (it looks like he cut some of the video so viewers don't have to watch it load in real-time). The video also showed loading times for games to be pretty long. On the iPad 3, loading the App Store takes so long and it just displays an empty white canvas that it makes me wonder if the app hanged or if my internet got disconnected.

As an aside, video is actually one thing that old iPads are good for. Video playback relies on dedicated hardware for decoding so it works okay regardless of iOS version you're running. Only thing is newer devices might support newer standards/codecs.

 

[eyeseeyou]

But it's not. There was noticeable lag in keyboard input. That's something that would drive me batty as I'd end up retyping stuff if I don't get immediate feedback.

Also, while the video showed the homescreen UI being generally responsive, there's no demo of web browsing particularly on multimedia heavy webpages. Loading Settings took a long time (it looks like he cut some of the video so viewers don't have to watch it load in real-time). The video also showed loading times for games to be pretty long. On the iPad 3, loading the App Store takes so long and it just displays an empty white canvas that it makes me wonder if the app hanged or if my internet got disconnected.

My experience resembles this

 

[oldmacs]

Yes, what a disappointing piece of crap the 9.7" iPad Pro is.

It is a disappointment to me. Its $350 more expensive than the iPad Air 2 (for me in Australia) and it doesn't have 4GB of ram, and thus I'm not buying it because I know it won't last as long as my iPad 2. If my iPad 2 had the 256MB of ram that was still ok in early 2011, then it wouldn't have lasted like it has.

It all depends on what your priorities are with the iPad. If they were pencil support + the speakers and keyboard then the iPad Pro 9.7 is great. For me, I care about longevity and having the best specs possible, and the 9.7 inch iPad Pro just doesn't' do it for me.
[doublepost=1460180833][/doublepost]

Also, while the video showed the homescreen UI being generally responsive, there's no demo of web browsing particularly on multimedia heavy webpages

Yes this - My iPad 2 has days where the home screen will run fine, then others where it won't, but the point is some days it does. Its multitasking, switching between things and we browsing that really really brings it down.

It can't even keep Macrumours forums open with out reloading.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

The Macrumors forums crashing is in part due to a webkit bug, according to Arn.

The person using it.

That's a serious answer. Some people just have more patience than others. Also, if someone has never used faster devices, then there's no point of reference to say that the iPad 2 is slow. Indeed, if the point of reference is an old Windows desktop or laptop still running on HDD, the iPad 2 might seem quite fast in comparison.

This, and perhaps he has just reset his iPad 2. That usually gives it a smaller speed boost the first 30 minutes of use, until everything goes bonkers again.

Keeping the iPad 2 in the market for so long, was a stupid marketing mistake. And not living up to the promise of making iOS9 (And 10.11 for that matter) an optimization release, is a cruel lie on their part.

Edit: It won't allow me to edit out the double quote?

 

[jeremiah256]

Keeping the iPad 2 in the market for so long, was a stupid marketing mistake.

Nope. A crap ton of businesses bought the iPad 2. Especially after the price dropped with introduction of the newer iPads.

 

[rui no onna]

Keeping the iPad 2 in the market for so long, was a stupid marketing mistake. And not living up to the promise of making iOS9 (And 10.11 for that matter) an optimization release, is a cruel lie on their part.

I don't think it's a cruel lie. We've got an iPad 3 and 4 that definitely saw significant performance improvements going from iOS 8 to 9. More likely than not, Apple has already done all it could given the iPad 2's hardware limitations. Honestly, I'm surprised they can even get it working as in the video on iOS 9 considering the weak CPU and paltry 512MB RAM. I believe the last computer I owned that had that little RAM was running Windows 98 and was built in 1999/2000. And the CPU's, what, 8x slower compared to the A9X?

Alas, I don't think Apple could win this one (unless they allow firmware downgrades). They could have stopped providing iOS updates earlier while hardware can still easily (relatively speaking) handle software but then instead of people complaining about slowdown, you'd just have people complaining about Apple killing support too soon.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Nope. A crap ton of businesses bought the iPad 2. Especially after the price dropped with introduction of the newer iPads.

That still makes it a marketing ploy, and something that was good for the buyers.

 

[spiderman0616]

It is a disappointment to me. Its $350 more expensive than the iPad Air 2 (for me in Australia) and it doesn't have 4GB of ram, and thus I'm not buying it because I know it won't last as long as my iPad 2. If my iPad 2 had the 256MB of ram that was still ok in early 2011, then it wouldn't have lasted like it has.

It all depends on what your priorities are with the iPad. If they were pencil support + the speakers and keyboard then the iPad Pro 9.7 is great. For me, I care about longevity and having the best specs possible, and the 9.7 inch iPad Pro just doesn't' do it for me.
[doublepost=1460180833][/doublepost]

The RAM thing is far overblown and has made little difference in testing.

 

[azentropy]

I still use my old iPad 2 as a browser, small games player in my upstairs/office bathroom. Like in the video it had been passed along the family and then back to me as typically I would upgrade each year and pass my previous one to family members. This one was Me->Dad->Niece->Me

For most things it is ok. Doesn't really bother me that some apps take a while to open, as they kinda did before. We only notice them now because the newer iPads are much faster. But for other things it is very frustrating now. You would think "fixing" the dreaded keyboard lag would have happened. That is something that has become worse it seems with each iOS. It is slow to open and even turning off predictive/auto correction it really lags on typing anything. Again you would have thought Apple would pay more attention to the usability factor.

Also while I'm complaining, it is a shame that Safari plugins for ad blockers don't work with the iPad 2. That is one device that would really benefit from it the most!

The RAM thing is far overblown and has made little difference in testing.

To be fair most "testing" does not stress memory usage.

 

[oldmacs]

The RAM thing is far overblown and has made little difference in testing.

2GB of ram is fine for now, but will not last me the time I want to get out of my next iPad. If I'm paying more than I did for my Macbook, It better last a damn long time, and 2GB of ram ain't gonna cut it for me.

As I said, had Apple put 256MB of ram in the iPad 2 (which was probably ok for 2011) it would have not lasted till now.

 

[rui no onna]

As I said, had Apple put 256MB of ram in the iPad 2 (which was probably ok for 2011) it would have not lasted till now.

It wasn't enough even back then. Even the iPhone 4 which had slightly lower resolution than the iPad 2 had 512MB RAM back in 2010.

Mind, we have an iPad 3 on iOS 9.3.1 and it's doing better than the iPad 2 shown in the video. Of course, it does have Reduce Motion enabled. Granted, iPad 3+iOS 6 still performs better (although a lot of apps have stopped supporting it at this point in time). Got to say, smoothest/snappiest performance I've gotten from iOS devices is A6/A6X+1GB RAM+iOS 6.

 

[SuperKerem]

Just downgrade the iPad 2 to iOS 6. Problem solved