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iPad iPad Air 2 has 2 GB RAM and a three core A8x processor
- Thread starter Charliebird
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I'm really (really (really)) looking forward to this! Here is the pluses for me:
-3 core A8X CPU: best on the market
-6 core GPU
-2GB of RAM: Will be like the iPad2, keeps getting iOS updates and just doesn't get discontinued
-Anti Glare screen
-Much better camera, both in terms of resolution as well as aperture and slo mo
-TouchID
-Very, very thin and light but still keeps 10 hour battery life
-64GB for the price of 32GB
-Continuity
Last year, I never bought an iPad Air (as a first iPad) due to the lack of RAM (after 2 years of iPads having 1GB, jumping on the 1GB train at the end of a cycle won't end well). I will gladly buy a 64GB iPad Air 2!
If this is all legit, I'll be on board and my iPad 4 will be retired.
-3 core A8X CPU: best on the market
-6 core GPU
-2GB of RAM: Will be like the iPad2, keeps getting iOS updates and just doesn't get discontinued
-Anti Glare screen
-Much better camera, both in terms of resolution as well as aperture and slo mo
-TouchID
-Very, very thin and light but still keeps 10 hour battery life
-64GB for the price of 32GB
-Continuity
Also 802.11ac. Maybe most people won't care about it, but I'm glad its coming now since it'll be the high speed standard for the next few years. Would have been unfortunate if it didn't come with it.
I'm really (really (really)) looking forward to this! Here is the pluses for me:
-3 core A8X CPU: best on the market
-6 core GPU
-2GB of RAM: Will be like the iPad2, keeps getting iOS updates and just doesn't get discontinued
-Anti Glare screen
-Much better camera, both in terms of resolution as well as aperture and slo mo
-TouchID
-Very, very thin and light but still keeps 10 hour battery life
-64GB for the price of 32GB
-Continuity
Last year, I never bought an iPad Air (as a first iPad) due to the lack of RAM (after 2 years of iPads having 1GB, jumping on the 1GB train at the end of a cycle won't end well
Continuity?
That's a software feature, not an iPad Air 2 exclusive
Did anyone actually run the benchmark app from which the results are obtained? It's utterly horrible.
The app has been designed for 3.5 inch devices, probably running iOS 5 or lower. However it does support the iPads aspect ratio.
It's supposed to be an "onscreen" benchmark, but it doesn't really run "onscreen", as there are black bars on an iPhone 6. Also, both tests were running around 59.7 fps max which could indicate that the benchmark is limited to 60 fps.
Add to that, that the GPU test does some weird stuff, which doesn't accurately reflect actual performance. For example, the GFXBench Manhattan Offscreen test resulted in a 13.1 => 17.8 fps gain comparing iPhone 5s with iPhone 6, while "PerformanceTest Mobile" scores are almost exactly the same.
A standard, fair GPU test should be performed offscreen at 1080p. This doesn't reflect "real world" situations like games, but it is an accurate measure of the raw GPU throughput.
So what do these benchmarks actually tell us?
-To achieve this much CPU increase in a test like this, 3 cores are likely
-If there are indeed 3 cores, the single core performance would only be a 9% bump compared to the iPhone 6, so it's safe to say that this is indeed an "Enhanced Cyclone" with an additional core and some very minor ILP.
-We can't really tell whether a 4-core PowerVR GX6450 (as seen in the 6/6 Plus), a tweaked PowerVR GX6450, or a six-core PowerVR GX6650 is used
-If we look at the gains from iPad 2 to iPad 3rd Gen (factoring in the additional pixels), the gain is about 43% (with the amount of cores being doubled), and now the gain is 30% (with 50% more cores), this makes a 6 core GPU possible, but it's also possible that the GPU is simply running at a higher clock speed.
We'll have to wait for "real" benchmarks to show up, but this is certainly a surprise.
Try the benchmark app yourself: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/performancetest-mobile/id494438360?ls=1&mt=8
The app has been designed for 3.5 inch devices, probably running iOS 5 or lower. However it does support the iPads aspect ratio.
It's supposed to be an "onscreen" benchmark, but it doesn't really run "onscreen", as there are black bars on an iPhone 6. Also, both tests were running around 59.7 fps max which could indicate that the benchmark is limited to 60 fps.
Add to that, that the GPU test does some weird stuff, which doesn't accurately reflect actual performance. For example, the GFXBench Manhattan Offscreen test resulted in a 13.1 => 17.8 fps gain comparing iPhone 5s with iPhone 6, while "PerformanceTest Mobile" scores are almost exactly the same.
A standard, fair GPU test should be performed offscreen at 1080p. This doesn't reflect "real world" situations like games, but it is an accurate measure of the raw GPU throughput.
So what do these benchmarks actually tell us?
-To achieve this much CPU increase in a test like this, 3 cores are likely
-If there are indeed 3 cores, the single core performance would only be a 9% bump compared to the iPhone 6, so it's safe to say that this is indeed an "Enhanced Cyclone" with an additional core and some very minor ILP.
-We can't really tell whether a 4-core PowerVR GX6450 (as seen in the 6/6 Plus), a tweaked PowerVR GX6450, or a six-core PowerVR GX6650 is used
-If we look at the gains from iPad 2 to iPad 3rd Gen (factoring in the additional pixels), the gain is about 43% (with the amount of cores being doubled), and now the gain is 30% (with 50% more cores), this makes a 6 core GPU possible, but it's also possible that the GPU is simply running at a higher clock speed.
We'll have to wait for "real" benchmarks to show up, but this is certainly a surprise.
Try the benchmark app yourself: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/performancetest-mobile/id494438360?ls=1&mt=8
I don't even care about the benchmarks at this point. I was more interested in the model and ram lol.
Exactly... RAM is what Apple leaves out and is what we wanted to know. Apple already detailed the CPU improvements, and the extensive GPU performance improvements, so I'm not as interested in that. A third CPU core would be interesting, but only processor-intensive apps would take advantage of that.
Yep. Slightly oddly, the ipsw files for both iPad Air 2 models are already available for download in the official Apple iOS Dev Center (I don't recall this happening previously for pre-release devices). The iPad Air 2 Cellular Model is indeed identified as "iPad 5,4" in the download link.
I've no idea whether the PassMark RAM stats linked to in post 1 are accurate but the iPad 5,4 is almost certainly the Air 2.
Attachments
So looks like it's pretty much confirmed with 2GB RAM?
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So...will Continuity be available in iPad ? I know this is a software made for iPhone but it's a big convenience if we can get it on iPad as well especially for those who uses iPad single-handedly.
Anandtech has Air 2 review up in their website. I search for "2GB" but nothing show up about RAM though. Might need to wait for iFixit.
The info they have on that is basically the PR stuff that Apple allowed when Anandtech got their hands on the devices at the event. Those are hands-on, and not a review.
I checked and did not see the Anandtech review. Only stuff about 8.1 & earnings. They did have the same hands on access during the announcement, but that wasn't the review.
http://www.anandtech.com/tag/apple
Do you have a link to the review? I'm certain they have a review model, but I don't see anything published yet.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8624/hands-on-apples-ipad-air-2-and-ipad-mini-3
It's not a review. It's just a hands on.
Interesting. If this is true, it sounds like we will be seeing multitasking in iOS 9 or maybe 10.
Good lord, you'd think an extra gig of RAM was a scrap of bread on the floor of a Turkish prison.
Half the people rejoicing over 2GB are just parroting what they've been told to want out of a iPad refresh. The other half think it's going to be some kind of magic bullet that will turn the iPad into a buttery smooth wonder tablet.
IF, that's IF, the Air 2 does in fact turn out to have 2GB, great. Actually, not great, but ok, whatever. The iPad will still run reasonably smoothly, like it does now, and it will probably still reload Safari tabs, because RAM isn't the main reason Safari tabs reload. It's mostly WebKit's fault.
Either way, 6 months from now, everyone will be clamoring for 4GB.
Half the people rejoicing over 2GB are just parroting what they've been told to want out of a iPad refresh. The other half think it's going to be some kind of magic bullet that will turn the iPad into a buttery smooth wonder tablet.
IF, that's IF, the Air 2 does in fact turn out to have 2GB, great. Actually, not great, but ok, whatever. The iPad will still run reasonably smoothly, like it does now, and it will probably still reload Safari tabs, because RAM isn't the main reason Safari tabs reload. It's mostly WebKit's fault.
Either way, 6 months from now, everyone will be clamoring for 4GB.
I view a 2gb as more future proof Imo. If they offered it now in the Ipad air 2 it woukd easily last 4 - 6 years Imo
Yes, because we know it's possible, samsung has a 8gb lpddr4 chip. We have 64 bit processors with 1 or 2gb of ram LOL
I guess your never getting a new phone again....
My sole reason of ditching apple was the 3. 5 inch screen and the 5.5 inch iPhone 6 plus makes me think about getting one if I can find one at t-mobile in the next 5 days
Even so, let's just assume that the WebKit improves, the Air 2 will still theoretically be able to keep a lot more webpages cached vs other 1GB RAM iOS devices. Think about it; it's doubling the memory. Even if Safari has very little benefit due to bad coding, think about how many more apps you will be able to switch between without reloading as well as being able to support multi-tasking eventually.
Any way you slice it, 2GB RAM would SIGNIFICANTLY improve the user experience.