All iPads iPad Air - how severe is the RAM problem?

[Plutonius]

Don't have an iPad Air, so I'm more curious than anything. What what hardware aspect of the iPad is defective that leads it to reloading tabs?

Apple is not saying. They are only replacing some iPads which seems to make a difference. I can't see it being bad components so I believe that it's a design issue (probably timing and in one of the chips (A7 ?)). Most of the iPads seem to have minor tab reloading issues while some have chronic (1-3 tabs cause a reload) or no reloading issues.

Overall, I think it's just a minor annoyance for most people.

 

[VFC]

Apple is not saying. They are only replacing some iPads which seems to make a difference. I can't see it being bad components so I believe that it's a design issue (probably timing and in one of the chips (A7 ?)). Most of the iPads seem to have minor tab reloading issues while some have chronic (1-3 tabs cause a reload) or no reloading issues.

Overall, I think it's just a minor annoyance for most people.

I wonder if Apple has shipped different versions of the iPad3 (and that would apply to all their h/w products) without any easy to spot identifier in the settings area? That would explain the varying symptoms using a common s/w version.

I work with an OEM that does that all the time. They do it to avoid the rework cost of upgrading all the hardware that is already sold. Once people find out that there is a newer revision of hardware (due to a design deficiency) most would want their hardware replaced with the newer version.

 

[Count Blah]

Give me the link please because that is simply not true in my daily experience
...

It's not a jailbroken iPad. Straight 7.1, never restored from a previous version even.

I've been working insane hours, but I'll try coming up with a scenario. It's usually not the same exact sites every time, but I'll try.

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Nana, it is money. If you save even 1 dollar per device manufacture cost that's a ton of extra cash made per quarter.

And if you purposely ship with less that optimal amount of ram, you sell millions more units as the low ram ones become obsolete sooner.

$WINNING$

 

[s2mikey]

I never see any responses about how one is accessing the internet for browsing. Is not possible the network one is on may have something to do with it since some have tried to reproduce reloads with the same sites and are not having problems?

That's an interesting point. It is quite possible that a shady internet connection would add to any abnormalities with safari. I dunno. This just never affected me. I'm a 2-3 tab user though so I don't qualify as data for the test case.

 

[blackNBUK]

Apple is not saying. They are only replacing some iPads which seems to make a difference. I can't see it being bad components so I believe that it's a design issue (probably timing and in one of the chips (A7 ?)). Most of the iPads seem to have minor tab reloading issues while some have chronic (1-3 tabs cause a reload) or no reloading issues.

Overall, I think it's just a minor annoyance for most people.

That just doesn't make any sense to me. Hardware issues with the CPU or RAM wouldn't be limited to just Safari, they would make their effect known all over the OS. They effects would also be much more serious and would probably be visible as random crashes and data corruption in all sorts of different apps. Tab reloading is far more likely to be limitations of the software rather than defective hardware.

The reasons that people are seeing tab reloading to different extents are probably down to difference in the software environment. Different apps loaded in the background, different data stored in the cache, different amounts of free storage possibly. There may also be differences in the pages being loaded. Different adverts may require different amounts of RAM for example.

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I never see any responses about how one is accessing the internet for browsing. Is not possible the network one is on may have something to do with it since some have tried to reproduce reloads with the same sites and are not having problems?

Some cell carriers are known to recompress images in order to save bandwidth. That will also reduce the RAM that they use so that could have an effect on tab reloads. I would have thought the effect would be minor however as the images would have to be uncompressed before being displayed and the uncompressed image is normally much larger.

 

[Fruit Cake]

It's not the number of tabs you open, more so the content loaded. More graphics And video displayed means more memory usage. No page file makes it either crash if its the same tab or try to free resources by closing other apps, tabs etc. at the end of the stay you need more memory, be it virtual pagefile or physical.

I've had iPad original with 20tabs open once, had the pagefile tweak installed though (jailbreak).

 

[Zombolo]

I've had iPad original with 20tabs open once, had the pagefile tweak installed though (jailbreak).

What's the name of the tweak? Is it compatible with iOS 7?

 

[Max(IT)]

It's not a jailbroken iPad. Straight 7.1, never restored from a previous version even.

I've been working insane hours, but I'll try coming up with a scenario. It's usually not the same exact sites every time, but I'll try.

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Take your time .... But the simple fact that you have to "come up with a scenario" says a lot about the issue.
You have to design one, it's not on a typical daily usage ... I tried several sites, all very rich in multimedia contents, and there is no way I had reloads with 3 tabs opened.
I think you are just overly critic on the iPad Air ...
I'd like to have more ram, for sure, but I'm not limited in my use by 1 Gb right now ... It was iOS 7.0 64-bit very poor in memory management.
Now the situation is much better and I can wait for the next generation iPad ...

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That's an interesting point. It is quite possible that a shady internet connection would add to any abnormalities with safari. I dunno. This just never affected me. I'm a 2-3 tab user though so I don't qualify as data for the test case.

There are people claiming three tabs are enough to have "continuous reloads", so you are absolutely qualified for the test case

There is one user that gave me the three websites that caused his iPad to reload, and with mine there weren't any at all.
So maybe part of the complainers just have a defective unit.

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Don't have an iPad Air, so I'm more curious than anything. What what hardware aspect of the iPad is defective that leads it to reloading tabs?

It could be the ram ... Or the CPU ... Or maybe just a crippled installation of the iOS, or a jailbroken device that has stability problems ...

Two months ago a friend of mine was complaining about continuos restart of his iPhone, and I took my time to examine it. Well it was jailbroken with a tons of hack installed and he was bashing Apple for a mess he did.
Restored as new and every restart gone.

 

[iPodJedi]

there is no RAM problem on the iPad Air nor the iPad mini 1 and 2. The problem is just the people complaining about the RAM because they would prefer 2GB or more. The iPad doesnt really need a lot of RAM, especially for your uses of note taking and PDFs which doesnt require much RAM

 

[petvas]

I think we can continue arguing forever and nothing will change, so I guess there is no real point in doing that. Fact is, that the iPad will frequently reload tabs, depending on web site content, and running apps (in the background). Users with light usage experience no to minor issues, and others with more usage, experience more problems.
Of course the iPad would be much better if it had more RAM, but still that fact alone wouldn't solve the tab reloading issues. Apple should also change the way Safari works.

Some people are happy with their iPad and others not that much. Let's leave it like that..

 

[cynics]

A lot of people settle for sub par quality huh?

For the people that have problems if it's still under warranty return it and get your money back. Obviously you aren't happy get something else. That's what I did, I just went back to my old iPad 3 and Motorola Xoom.

My Xoom is archaic but you can have 20+ tabs open without reloading. When I got to 43 tabs the browser crashed. That's about 39 more then my Air could handle lol.

 

[HenryDJP]

A lot of people settle for sub par quality huh?

For the people that have problems if it's still under warranty return it and get your money back..

That's really unfair for you to say that. It's not about people settling for subpar quality. What are people supposed to do? We can't make our own iPads. I won't speak for anyone else here but I use my iPad for work purposes. Not all of us here use an iPad just to play Tetris and surf on Facebook.
I have an iMac, iPad Air and an iPhone. The Apple ecosystem works for me. So it's not just as simple as returning it and getting our money back or trying something else.

 

[cynics]

That's really unfair for you to say that. It's not about people settling for subpar quality. What are people supposed to do? We can't make our own iPads. I won't speak for anyone else here but I use my iPad for work purposes. Not all of us here use an iPad just to play Tetris and surf on Facebook.

I have an iMac, iPad Air and an iPhone. The Apple ecosystem works for me. So it's not just as simple as returning it and getting our money back or trying something else.

Actually it is. It's your choice to use an iPad. So it is as simple as that, if you aren't happy with it then return it. Unless you are actually trying to say you absolutely can not live without an iPad.

I use one for work too. They supply it and it uses proprietary iPad software. Even with all that I can still remember the world pre iPad.

My Air's browsers would crash so often it was near useless (on 7.0.x). So I returned it. Why would I (or anyone) pay a premium price for a device that at the time was (and still is as far was tab reloading) subpar compared to the competition?

I don't get it, people get defensive because *I* wasn't happy so I returned it vs keeping it and complaining on Internet forums non stop. If that doesn't work for you I understand and I'm sorry you spent hundreds on something you aren't happy with.

 

[HenryDJP]

Actually it is. It's your choice to use an iPad. So it is as simple as that, if you aren't happy with it then return it. Unless you are actually trying to say you absolutely can not live without an iPad.

I use one for work too. They supply it and it uses proprietary iPad software. Even with all that I can still remember the world pre iPad.

My Air's browsers would crash so often it was near useless (on 7.0.x). So I returned it. Why would I (or anyone) pay a premium price for a device that at the time was (and still is as far was tab reloading) subpar compared to the competition?

I don't get it, people get defensive because *I* wasn't happy so I returned it vs keeping it and complaining on Internet forums non stop. If that doesn't work for you I understand and I'm sorry you spent hundreds on something you aren't happy with.

Oh, did I say I was unhappy? Did you see me complaining about the tab reloading? You didn't read any of that, now did you? I was speaking in general because you're telling people of an oversimplified solution and frankly it was unnecessary.

 

[cynics]

Oh, did I say I was unhappy? Did you see me complaining about the tab reloading? You didn't read any of that, now did you? I was speaking in general because you're telling people of an oversimplified solution and frankly it was unnecessary.

What does this have anything to do with iPads?

If you are happy then why did you reply to my original comment? You were "speaking in general" on behave of everyone that is/was unhappy including myself?

My solution was "oversimplified"? Easy answer to an easy problem is wrong? What's the overly difficult solution? Is that better?

Then you say my "solution" is "unnecessary"? Do you read what you are typing? How is a solution to a problem incorrect? Ohhh because YOU don't like it!

 

[HenryDJP]

What does this have anything to do with iPads?

If you are happy then why did you reply to my original comment? You were "speaking in general" on behave of everyone that is/was unhappy including myself?

My solution was "oversimplified"? Easy answer to an easy problem is wrong? What's the overly difficult solution? Is that better?

Then you say my "solution" is "unnecessary"? Do you read what you are typing? How is a solution to a problem incorrect? Ohhh because YOU don't like it!

You may want to tighten up on your reading comprehension. Your answer was oversimplified. I wasn't giving you props for it. "If you're unhappy just return it and get your money back!". That type of solution is not as cut and dry as you think for most people. You saying a lot of people "settle" for subpar quality. That's the part that was unnecessary.
I was pretty clear in what I wrote, I thought you would've figured that out. Guess not. :roll eyes: Let's just end this because this will be my final post towards you no matter which way you respond, and I'm not sure why you're on this particular thread. You've put people (or me) down calling them defensive and saying they settle for subpar quality. Bye.

 

[Count Blah]

Take your time .... But the simple fact that you have to "come up with a scenario" says a lot about the issue.
You have to design one, it's not on a typical daily usage ... I tried several sites, all very rich in multimedia contents, and there is no way I had reloads with 3 tabs opened.
I think you are just overly critic on the iPad Air ...
I'd like to have more ram, for sure, but I'm not limited in my use by 1 Gb right now ... It was iOS 7.0 64-bit very poor in memory management.
Now the situation is much better and I can wait for the next generation iPad ..

More of a question of time. I've had to work a ton since 7.1 dropped(even doing this on the phone and not on air).

My latest disappointment was when researching new cars. So I'll look to try with that. I've saddled myself to browsing with only 2 tabs at once so I don't feel like throwing the air against the wall.

 

[s2mikey]

More of a question of time. I've had to work a ton since 7.1 dropped(even doing this on the phone and not on air).

My latest disappointment was when researching new cars. So I'll look to try with that. I've saddled myself to browsing with only 2 tabs at once so I don't feel like throwing the air against the wall.

Count - you still having issues with safari after 7.1?

 

[Count Blah]

Count - you still having issues with safari after 7.1?

Haven't had a chance to use it much(on the phone here again). The crashing has been vastly improved, but the tabs still reload a ton with no other apps open and with <=5 tabs open.

I said earlier on that I was researching cars(selection criteria, sorting, etc...) on four tabs to show the misses, and after the first tab, they all reloaded. By that is better than 7.0.x where I had nothing but safari open with ONLY TWO tabs, macrumors and one other tab to research for quotes, and macrumors would reload when I tab back. Did that three times in a row, and then safari blew up on the fourth attempt.

Hopefully I'll get to work with it this weekend, since I'm still looking for a car.

 

[Max(IT)]

Haven't had a chance to use it much(on the phone here again). The crashing has been vastly improved, but the tabs still reload a ton with no other apps open and with <=5 tabs open.

I said earlier on that I was researching cars(selection criteria, sorting, etc...) on four tabs to show the misses, and after the first tab, they all reloaded. By that is better than 7.0.x where I had nothing but safari open with ONLY TWO tabs, macrumors and one other tab to research for quotes, and macrumors would reload when I tab back. Did that three times in a row, and then safari blew up on the fourth attempt.

Hopefully I'll get to work with it this weekend, since I'm still looking for a car.

Let us know the sites you are browsing, and I'll try to reproduce your issue on my iPhone and my iPad Air.
Yesterday I had the first crash since iOS 7.1 installation, and I was browsing the web with 4 tabs opened, three apps in background (and Dropbox was uploading 50 photos !) and the active tab of Safari was playing a video !

 

[Count Blah]

Let us know the sites you are browsing, and I'll try to reproduce your issue on my iPhone and my iPad Air.
Yesterday I had the first crash since iOS 7.1 installation, and I was browsing the web with 4 tabs opened, three apps in background (and Dropbox was uploading 50 photos !) and the active tab of Safari was playing a video !

Had my first blow up with 5 tabs and looking at one car site that was very "busy". No other apps open.

 

[TechGod]

First let me tell you that using iOS 7.1 makes a big difference.
If you use your iPad to surf heavily, switching tabs all the time, then you will probably hate the iPad. Is it a memory problem? Probably. I don't know, but it seems like it.
If you use apps that need lots of memory, then you will see lots of refreshing when switching between these apps.
Of course more memory would be great and would make the iPad future proof, but unfortunately we are stuck with 1GB.
Apple optimizes iOS heavily so that it doesn't need a lot of RAM, so the issue isn't that big, as it would be on an Android tablet having 1GB of RAM, but still, memory will be a limiting factor going forward with new iOS versions.
I would say, the iPad works very well (with iOS 7.1), but the refreshing tabs issue is still there and doesn't seem to go anywhere. If that doesn't bother you, then you will love your iPad..

Someone hasn't seen the memory footprint of KitKat with most tablets.

 

[petvas]

Someone hasn't seen the memory footprint of KitKat with most tablets.

I don't care about Android

 

[Max(IT)]

Someone hasn't seen the memory footprint of KitKat with most tablets.

And your point is ?

 

[TechGod]

I don't care about Android

But what you said is factually wrong and I merely corrected you. I absolutely do not care if you like Android or not but you are spreading false information.

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And your point is ?

Correcting his mistake.