iPad iPad 3 to iPad Air

[ebika]

Why are you returning it? Still love the iPad 3 better than the new mini after all?

Yes, unfortunately. I was really excited about the retina mini. I wrote about it here https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18374995/.

I'm going to look at the ipad airs at the store today to try to decide if it makes sense for me to upgrade to an air. Probably Faster, lighter, and sleeker does sound nice, but I'm having a hard time warming up to ios 7. It's a mixed bag, imo. I still have 6.1.2jb on my ipad 3.

 

[Elho]

Yes, unfortunately. I was really excited about the retina mini. I wrote about it here https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18374995/.

I'm going to look at the ipad airs at the store today to try to decide if it makes sense for me to upgrade to an air. Probably Faster, lighter, and sleeker does sound nice, but I'm having a hard time warming up to ios 7. It's a mixed bag, imo. I still have 6.1.2jb on my ipad 3.

Wauw, is it that noticable? ... You confuse me right now. I use my ipad3 a lot to look and edit pictures. Maybe the air is after all the better option...aargh!

 

[ebika]

Wauw, is it that noticable? ... You confuse me right now. I use my ipad3 a lot to look and edit pictures. Maybe the air is after all the better option...aargh!

The display on the mini is still amazing, it's just not as amazing as the ipad 3 or iPhone 5, or reportedly the ipad air, or the nexus 5, or the nexus 7 2013.

 

[Elho]

Hmm okay. Thanks for the insights...

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Is it really worth it? + Upgrade to iOS7

I don't think I need to upgrade my 3 either. As everyone has observed, the Air is lighter, thinner and faster. But its not that much lighter, thinner, and faster than the 3 such that I think my 3 needs replacing.

I run iOS7 on my 3, and it works fine. There is a (barely) perceptible lag on some of the transitions, but nowhere near enough to be significant.

When the next iPad Air comes out, next year I will reconsider things then.

I note that there has been some mention in this thread of a potential Spring release for the next Air. I do not think that is likely. The iPad release schedule has been an annual schedule with the exception of the 3. Many customers (including me) felt ripped off when they replaced the 3 within 6 months, particularly when the new iPad had twice the processing power. I don't think they'd make that mistake again.

My advice to the OP - Upgrade to iOS7, and enjoy your iPad 3 having a new lease of life. Forget about the perfectionist's complainants of lag in transitions. In the real world for almost all users, it still works brilliantly.

 

[richardbb85]

Yea, love the 3 n 4

I don't think I need to upgrade my 3 either. As everyone has observed, the Air is lighter, thinner and faster. But its not that much lighter, thinner, and faster than the 3 such that I think my 3 needs replacing.

I run iOS7 on my 3, and it works fine. There is a (barely) perceptible lag on some of the transitions, but nowhere near enough to be significant.

When the next iPad Air comes out, next year I will reconsider things then.

I note that there has been some mention in this thread of a potential Spring release for the next Air. I do not think that is likely. The iPad release schedule has been an annual schedule with the exception of the 3. Many customers (including me) felt ripped off when they replaced the 3 within 6 months, particularly when the new iPad had twice the processing power. I don't think they'd make that mistake again.

My advice to the OP - Upgrade to iOS7, and enjoy your iPad 3 having a new lease of life. Forget about the perfectionist's complainants of lag in transitions. In the real world for almost all users, it still works brilliantly.

 

[jbouklas]

I guess I'm a bit of an outlier here. I went from an iPad 3 to the Air, and while the Air is awesome, I can't say that the speed increase is stunning. The 3 was plenty fast, and I never really noticed any lag. And I would consider myself a power user.

The Air is great, especially how thin and light it is compared with the 3 (although the body flex is a bit disconcerting compared with previous iPads). But I wouldn't say it's a huge shift performance wise.

 

[redman042]

I guess I'm a bit of an outlier here. I went from an iPad 3 to the Air, and while the Air is awesome, I can't say that the speed increase is stunning. The 3 was plenty fast, and I never really noticed any lag. And I would consider myself a power user.

The Air is great, especially how thin and light it is compared with the 3 (although the body flex is a bit disconcerting compared with previous iPads). But I wouldn't say it's a huge shift performance wise.

Coming from the 3 to the Air myself, I'd call the performance increase massive. Even just surfing the web is many times better on the air.

I guess each person just needs to see for themselves.

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How does the Air handle animated GIF's?

Sites like this:

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/19-perfectly-looped-gifs-that-go-on-forever-and-ever-1461060951/@barrett

Make my iPad 3 choke balls.

Nice job finding a page to test the Air's web capabilities. I visit Gizmodo (another Gawker website) daily and had some serious lag on certain articles on my iPad 3. But the Air rendered this one with no issues at all. Now there was a little delay getting all the GIFs loaded (might be the same on a desktop), but once loaded they all animated seamlessly and there were no hiccups at all when scrolling. The Air wasn't even breaking a sweat.

Niiiice.