iPad mini 1 - smoother than iPad mini 2

[XTheLancerX]

A friend of mine has an iPad mini 1. They left it on iOS 7 for the longest time as I advised because I didn't want them to cripple their device, and they didn't either. The other day they randomly updated it to iOS 9, and it performed better than I expected. Somewhat better than my iPad mini 2 in a couple areas...

Sliding down for spotlight-the blurring effect. Perfectly smooth, couldn't be better. On my iPad mini 2? It's pretty good, better than 8. But it hovers around 30-40 fps. Keyboard popping up is smooth on both as long as you don't slide down too fast. Now the big deal. The app switcher. Almost 100% smooth on the mini 1, scrolling is pretty good, going into the app switcher is fine, but going out of it can sometimes cause some stutter. My iPad however? Stutter everywhere, entering and exiting the switcher is the worst though. Probably 20FPS.

I just couldn't leave this out of mind. How does Apple let this happen??

 

[mconk]

A friend of mine has an iPad mini 1. They left it on iOS 7 for the longest time as I advised because I didn't want them to cripple their device, and they didn't either. The other day they randomly updated it to iOS 9, and it performed better than I expected. Somewhat better than my iPad mini 2 in a couple areas...

Sliding down for spotlight-the blurring effect. Perfectly smooth, couldn't be better. On my iPad mini 2? It's pretty good, better than 8. But it hovers around 30-40 fps. Keyboard popping up is smooth on both as long as you don't slide down too fast. Now the big deal. The app switcher. Almost 100% smooth on the mini 1, scrolling is pretty good, going into the app switcher is fine, but going out of it can sometimes cause some stutter. My iPad however? Stutter everywhere, entering and exiting the switcher is the worst though. Probably 20FPS.

I just couldn't leave this out of mind. How does Apple let this happen??

Surprised to hear that! I have an iPad Mini 2 in my bathroom as a media device...news/weather/sports etc while showering/shaving...had it on 8.4.1 up until the other day. After the update I was pretty disgusted at performance. Especially while switching apps. The animation lag looks and feels HORRIBLE! They have literally crippled these older devices! Needless to say, since this device doesn't utilize any of the iOS 9 fathers, I'll be rolling it back to 8.4.1 which will be a huge pain in the ass, seeing how it's literally affixed to the wall. Sigh. Here's to hoping future updates fix the severe and unnecessary lag on 'legacy' devices. Even the iPhone 6 side by side videos of iOS 9 and 8.4.1 are showing lag...Apple MUST have taken notice.

 

[Appleniphone6plus+]

I have notice same thing. I had ipad air 1 and it was so laggy that i gave up and sell it. Now i have old ipad mini 1 and it is better than my ex ipad air 1 and that is very strange.

 

[fat jez]

Mini 1 has a quarter of the pixels to shift. That will help performance, even on the older hardware.

 

[iOSUser7]

Just like animations are smoother on iPhone 5 than on the 5s in some areas.

 

[Sirious]

I've said it before in another thread, but its not too bad on the mini 1. I don't think Apple is silly enough to give us iOS 10 on it, but just in case, I'm gonna try and keep away from future updates on it lol.

 

[Stickharuhi]

iPad Mini 1 not use retina display!!
iPad Mini 1 has 1024 x 768 = 786.432
iPad Mini 2 has 2048 x 1536 = 3.145.728

4x more pixel than mini 1!! Therefore not perfect smooth

 

[iOSUser7]

iPad Mini 1 not use retina display!!
iPad Mini 1 has 1024 x 768 = 786.432
iPad Mini 2 has 2048 x 1536 = 3.145.728

4x more pixel than mini 1!! Therefore not perfect smooth

Mini 1 use A5 chip whereas Mini 2 use A7 chip. Sure there is a lot more pixels to push but there is also a lot more power to push those pixels. This is just unacceptable.

 

[Stickharuhi]

@iOSUser7 But the gpu in A7 is not 4x faster than A5 SoC. See benchmark

 

[newellj]

Mini 1 use A5 chip whereas Mini 2 use A7 chip. Sure there is a lot more pixels to push but there is also a lot more power to push those pixels. This is just unacceptable.

What do you mean "unacceptable"? It's just code. Everyone accuses Apple of deliberately handicapping older devices by slowing them down to make the older devices obsolete and boost sales. So now we've got someone complaining that an older device that's pixel-starved should get special coding to make it SLOWER? C'mon...

 

[iOSUser7]

@Stickhahuri : Still even the A6X handle retina fine on iOS 6/7. It's clearly bad coding in iOS 9.

@newellj : By unacceptable I mean that an iPad Mini 1 should not handle some parts of the OS better than Mini 2. Also even if some animations are smoother on Mini 1 doesn't mean it run iOS 9 perfectly, it's still **** compared to previous iOS releases.
By the way, sorry but you are really ignorant if you can't see Apple's (and others companies too) planned obsolescence.

 

[Stickharuhi]

@Stickhahuri : Still even the A6X handle retina fine on iOS 6/7. It's clearly bad coding in iOS 9.

@newellj : By unacceptable I mean that an iPad Mini 1 should not handle some parts of the OS better than Mini 2. Also even if some animations are smoother on Mini 1 doesn't mean it run iOS 9 perfectly, it's still **** compared to previous iOS releases.
By the way, sorry but you are really ignorant if you can't see Apple's (and others companies too) planned obsolescence.

Then use iOS 9.1 BETA

 

[TC03]

iOS 9 and A7 is a no go. iPhone 5s, Air and Mini 2 are all ruined.

 

[Stickharuhi]

iOS 9 and A7 is a no go. iPhone 5s, Air and Mini 2 are all ruined.

no use iOS 9.1 beta 3. Please test.

 

[XTheLancerX]

no use iOS 9.1 beta 3. Please test.

Umm. I just loaded into 9.1 beta 3 on my mini 2 and it is WORSE. For the first time in the history of my iPad mini 2, sliding down for spotlight was almost 100% smooth, about 40-50FPS a for the blurring and a 100% smooth keyboard animation on 9.0.x. Now with 9.1 EVERYTHING with spotlight is worse. The entire thing is like 20FPS. All the rest of iOS is largely the same. *Maybe* opening and closing apps is a little smoother/faster, but it's not enough for me to say anything. The app switcher is still absolutely awful, entering and exiting it is like 20FPS and scrolling past the home screen results in dropped frames.

 

[XTheLancerX]

Is it still worth it to buy the air 2? I am so sick of this iPad, it has been laggy from the beginning (iOS 7.x.x) and it has never been fixed. I want a new one.

 

[George Waseem]

A friend of mine has an iPad mini 1. They left it on iOS 7 for the longest time as I advised because I didn't want them to cripple their device, and they didn't either. The other day they randomly updated it to iOS 9, and it performed better than I expected. Somewhat better than my iPad mini 2 in a couple areas...

Sliding down for spotlight-the blurring effect. Perfectly smooth, couldn't be better. On my iPad mini 2? It's pretty good, better than 8. But it hovers around 30-40 fps. Keyboard popping up is smooth on both as long as you don't slide down too fast. Now the big deal. The app switcher. Almost 100% smooth on the mini 1, scrolling is pretty good, going into the app switcher is fine, but going out of it can sometimes cause some stutter. My iPad however? Stutter everywhere, entering and exiting the switcher is the worst though. Probably 20FPS.

I just couldn't leave this out of mind. How does Apple let this happen??

I think I know how you feel, but apple is preparing the iPad mini for being obsolete as I believe it won't get iOS 10, my brothers iPad mini 1 app switcher animation feels way so other than my iPad, my iPad 4 which is the closest to the iPad mini 2 in terms of performance feels great in performance but drops frames when going in and out of the app switcher. Other apps feel great on my iPad 4, I don't really notice much frames dropping except for going in and out of the app switcher.

 

[Stickharuhi]

@XTheLancerX
I said again the GPU in A7 is not 4x faster than in A5. iPad Mini 2 use 4x more pixel.
Why you not use bug report? Has you wait on indexing from spotlight search? Wait 1-2 days.
or disable spotlight search in your ipad mini 2. has you reset your ipad clean install without iTunes backup

 

[jtrue28]

Hmmm. Thanks for the notice. Now I will hold off upgrading Air 1 and two ipad 2 minis to 9.

 

[George Waseem]

Hmmm. Thanks for the notice. Now I will hold off upgrading Air 1 and two ipad 2 minis to 9.

You are doing the right thing.

 

[XTheLancerX]

I think I know how you feel, but apple is preparing the iPad mini for being obsolete as I believe it won't get iOS 10, my brothers iPad mini 1 app switcher animation feels way so other than my iPad, my iPad 4 which is the closest to the iPad mini 2 in terms of performance feels great in performance but drops frames when going in and out of the app switcher. Other apps feel great on my iPad 4, I don't really notice much frames dropping except for going in and out of the app switcher.

Yeah this is because the iPad 4+ gets ALL transparency in iOS 9, including app switcher blurring in background. iPad mini used to get all blurring, but now it has been removed from the app switcher, which means a much smoother app switcher than even the two generations of devices ahead of it.

@XTheLancerX
I said again the GPU in A7 is not 4x faster than in A5. iPad Mini 2 use 4x more pixel.
Why you not use bug report? Has you wait on indexing from spotlight search? Wait 1-2 days.
or disable spotlight search in your ipad mini 2. has you reset your ipad clean install without iTunes backup

Haven't tried 9.1 with a clean install but I can't do a clean install really with public beta, has to be OTA. I just did a clean install of 9.0 like a couple weeks ago.

And yes, I'm aware about the mini 2 having 4x the pixels to handle, but the GPU isn't 4x as powerful. That still doesn't change the fact that a newer device should perform better than an older device in all aspects, whether they need to adjust some things (remove blurring from newer device) or not. I'm not a believer in planned obsellescence, devices just generally get slower when they have more to handle in the background from new features of new OS iterations in my opinion.

I just find it completely and totally unacceptable that an older device is smoother than a newer device. Adjustments need to happen so everything performs to its best. The app switcher animations are so innefficient

I filed bugs about how laggy the app switcher was WAY back in iOS 9.0 public beta 1. They said it was fixed. -_-

You are doing the right thing.

Definitely. iOS 9 is worse in every way, contrary to Apple's promise of smoother animations. If they wouldn't have promised smoother animations, I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed. Still annoyed though.

 

[Stickharuhi]

@XTheLancerX
Then open new bug report with more facts and prove. Wait on Apple answer.
I think the say. Please more details or use tool from Apple and send the file etc...

Or open features request bug report e.g Apple please delete blurring effect for A7 device with high pixel (2048 x 1536). Then say all your facts,prove,video prove etc...

For Clean install go to settings and use iOS complete reset options.

 

[magicman32]

By the way, sorry but you are really ignorant if you can't see Apple's (and others companies too) planned obsolescence.

Other then the fact that it does nothing but make the customers' user experience terrible with every device they buy expect them to buy your product again... And again? Sorry doesn't make sense or hold up.

<Customer buys device. Loves said device. 2 software updates later device runs like crap. Customer says this thing is junk, let me buy another from the same company. And then continue to do it over and over again because customer love feeling ripped off?>

I'm know people using iPhone 4's, but that can't be, they're "obsolete." How can they continue to use them? iPad Mini 1 performs better on iOS9 than Mini 2, per thread. Planned obsolescence so everyone can sell their Mini 2 and buy the Mini 1, right?

Oh there definitely ignorance here but not at who you directed it at.

 

[TommyA6]

@XTheLancerX
I said again the GPU in A7 is not 4x faster than in A5. iPad Mini 2 use 4x more pixel.
Why you not use bug report? Has you wait on indexing from spotlight search? Wait 1-2 days.
or disable spotlight search in your ipad mini 2. has you reset your ipad clean install without iTunes backup

Actually it is more than 4x faster than A5.
A5X was 2x faster than A5.
A6X was 2x faster than A5X.
A7 was 1.5x faster than A6X.

So, all in all, A7 is roughly 6x faster in GPU than A5. So yeah, it is unacceptable for it to run the same or worse compared to mini 1. 9.1 doesn't improve a thing over 9.0.2 as far a performance is concerned. I've been using it on my Air 1 since the beginning.

 

[TommyA6]

Yeah this is because the iPad 4+ gets ALL transparency in iOS 9, including app switcher blurring in background. iPad mini used to get all blurring, but now it has been removed from the app switcher, which means a much smoother app switcher than even the two generations of devices ahead of it.

Haven't tried 9.1 with a clean install but I can't do a clean install really with public beta, has to be OTA. I just did a clean install of 9.0 like a couple weeks ago.

And yes, I'm aware about the mini 2 having 4x the pixels to handle, but the GPU isn't 4x as powerful. That still doesn't change the fact that a newer device should perform better than an older device in all aspects, whether they need to adjust some things (remove blurring from newer device) or not. I'm not a believer in planned obsellescence, devices just generally get slower when they have more to handle in the background from new features of new OS iterations in my opinion.

I just find it completely and totally unacceptable that an older device is smoother than a newer device. Adjustments need to happen so everything performs to its best. The app switcher animations are so innefficient

I filed bugs about how laggy the app switcher was WAY back in iOS 9.0 public beta 1. They said it was fixed. -_-

Definitely. iOS 9 is worse in every way, contrary to Apple's promise of smoother animations. If they wouldn't have promised smoother animations, I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed. Still annoyed though.

Where did this "information" come from?

EDIT

Starts at 10:46