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iPad So does the 2GB of RAM fix Safari refresh?

macduke said:
I am a day one iPhone owner. I can tell you the issue has always existed to a certain extent. It has steadily gotten worse over time as the web advanced and iOS added more background features. But when did it get really bad? The A7. The 64-bit reduction in available ram on a retina iPad killed it hard. My iPhone 5 on iOS 8 smokes my iPhone 6 Plus when it comes to reloading tabs.

I was just in a chat asking an Apple rep a shipping question for the Air 2 and the thing crashed. Using a Mini 2. Seriously pisses me off and I can't wait to get my Air 2.

The thing that pisses me off is all the Apple defenders. I'm a huge Apple fan! Anyone who knows me would say so. But I don't sit there and make excuses for Apple. Everyone keeps saying that since iOS is so successful that it doesn't matter. Really? So let's just never improve on anything ever again. Just because something is popular doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. It just means their competitors are even worse. Unfortunately Apple makes the best tablets and phones. It's too bad that no company has come along and out-Appled the incredible design, aesthetic and ease of use. It's getting too glitchy.
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So one would be fine with a 32bit and 1gb ram? Is it really that bad on the iPad air? I own an iPad 4 and i find it rather unacceptable sometimes with the tab reloads.
 
Is there still a limit to the number of tabs opened before Safari start to close the oldest tab? Chrome in Android doesn't do that and essentially have unlimited tabs. With my old iPhone 5, I think it was about 10 tabs before the oldest one was closed upon opening a new tab.
 
Ev0d3vil said:
So one would be fine with a 32bit and 1gb ram? Is it really that bad on the iPad air? I own an iPad 4 and i find it rather unacceptable sometimes with the tab reloads.
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Well considering at this point 64-bit only added about 5% performance increase and we're dealing with much less than 4GB of RAM (64-bit allows over this) and for the most part non-pro apps and yeah, there wasn't much point since at the time since it reduced available RAM by 20-30%. For me it was about the same or slightly better going from the iPad 2 to the iPad Mini 2 because the iPad 2 is old and has 512MB of RAM. Don't get me wrong, the thing is much faster and responsive overall, I'm just talking about Safari tabs. So it was a marginal improvement. Going from the iPhone 5 to the 6 Plus was much more apparent in the reloads and errors in Safari, and both devices were running iOS 8. It would have been better if they had increased RAM when they decreased available RAM in 64-bit apps by moving to a 64-bit processor. And if they couldn't add RAM for some reason, then they should have waited on implementing 64-bit. Hardly any apps take advantage of this desktop-class processor. The result is you get bottle necked with RAM, kind of like how the iPad 3 wasn't well equipped to deal with the retina display and was quickly replaced.

I really can't wait until we arrive at the final resolution and can build from there. Honestly 326ppi is enough for me. I can barely notice the increase in my Plus. I think most of the benefit is the pixels feeling closer to the surface and the increased color accuracy. The bigger iPads are a little more noticeable at 264ppi. Ultimately they will be replaced with Retina HD. They might go down from 9.7" to 9.6" to match the 401ppi of the iPhone 6 Plus, and keep 326ppi on the iPad Mini like they did with the iPhone 6 as a less premium product. But once we arrive at the final size where absolutely nobody can discern more pixels then we can start building on pure speed and stop playing the catchup game with the ever increasing resolutions. 64-bit is a good foundation to build the next generation of apps on, it just came at a short-term expense for those who use their iPad to get work done. Although something tells me that the new limiting factor for speed increases will be how thin the device is. Eventually iPads will fold up into our pocket.
 
Motawa said:
My tabs are still reloading
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dcorban said:
I have yet to have a tab reload. It's a relief.
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Ummmm, I'm not sure how to say this politely. But these cant be any more useless posts even if you tried. It's like battery life posts. What brightness? Wifi or cellular? Bluetooth on or off?

Without context, these claims are POINTLESS. Tabs are designed to reload. So of course they will reload. When the system runs low on memory. If you load two tabs and nothing else, you'll probably never get a reload. Duh.
 
Is there still a limit to the number of tabs opened before Safari start to close the oldest tab? Chrome in Android doesn't do that and essentially have unlimited tabs. With my old iPhone 5, I think it was about 10 tabs before the oldest one was closed upon opening a new tab.
 
ZBoater said:
No, it is not obvious. If other browsers can do it and not Safari, that points to a software problem, not lack of RAM.
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then it is even worse thing! during all these years when people were complaining and hoping that the next "big release" would fix it.. but no.. if you blame the software, why apple ever didnt fix it? i sold my air1 after six months on summer, because it was clear from the beginning, it should have been shipped with 2gb ram...

as a customer who has(had) the device, i dont care if it is a software problem or a lack of ram. i want it to work. i cannot fix either of them and apple didnt bother to fix it either (as you said it is a software problem), so only way to fix it was to get rid of it...
 
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macduke said:
Well considering at this point 64-bit only added about 5% performance increase and we're dealing with much less than 4GB of RAM (64-bit allows over this) and for the most part non-pro apps and yeah, there wasn't much point since at the time since it reduced available RAM by 20-30%. For me it was about the same or slightly better going from the iPad 2 to the iPad Mini 2 because the iPad 2 is old and has 512MB of RAM. Don't get me wrong, the thing is much faster and responsive overall, I'm just talking about Safari tabs. So it was a marginal improvement. Going from the iPhone 5 to the 6 Plus was much more apparent in the reloads and errors in Safari, and both devices were running iOS 8. It would have been better if they had increased RAM when they decreased available RAM in 64-bit apps by moving to a 64-bit processor. And if they couldn't add RAM for some reason, then they should have waited on implementing 64-bit. Hardly any apps take advantage of this desktop-class processor. The result is you get bottle necked with RAM, kind of like how the iPad 3 wasn't well equipped to deal with the retina display and was quickly replaced.

I really can't wait until we arrive at the final resolution and can build from there. Honestly 326ppi is enough for me. I can barely notice the increase in my Plus. I think most of the benefit is the pixels feeling closer to the surface and the increased color accuracy. The bigger iPads are a little more noticeable at 264ppi. Ultimately they will be replaced with Retina HD. They might go down from 9.7" to 9.6" to match the 401ppi of the iPhone 6 Plus, and keep 326ppi on the iPad Mini like they did with the iPhone 6 as a less premium product. But once we arrive at the final size where absolutely nobody can discern more pixels then we can start building on pure speed and stop playing the catchup game with the ever increasing resolutions. 64-bit is a good foundation to build the next generation of apps on, it just came at a short-term expense for those who use their iPad to get work done. Although something tells me that the new limiting factor for speed increases will be how thin the device is. Eventually iPads will fold up into our pocket.
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326ppi may be enough for you, but it sure as heck isn't enough for a lot of us. I can see the ppi difference a foot away from an iPhone 5s/iPhone 6 and my 6 Plus.
 
mrex said:
then it is even worse thing! during all these years when people were complaining and hoping that the next "big release" would fix it.. but no.. if you blame the software, why apple ever didnt fix it?
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Because, maybe, Apple doesn't think it's as big of a deal as people make it out to be. Maybe Apple thinks most people don't care whether their tabs reload or not. Maybe.

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WilliamG said:
326ppi may be enough for you, but it sure as heck isn't enough for a lot of us. I can see the ppi difference a foot away from an iPhone 5s/iPhone 6 and my 6 Plus.
Click to expand...


You can see it, but most normal humans can't. Apple is not going to design its products for the superhuman vision fringe element.
 
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mrex said:
then it is even worse thing! during all these years when people were complaining and hoping that the next "big release" would fix...
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People complaining and hoping. Apparently not enough people because Apple has indeed not fixed it. It may seem like an issue to some here, but for the majority of Apple's customers it's not an issue. So, no Apple fix.
 
ZBoater said:
People complaining and hoping. Apparently not enough people because Apple has indeed not fixed it. It may seem like an issue to some here, but for the majority of Apple's customers it's not an issue. So, no Apple fix.
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are you saying that apple can be arrogant until masses say something? actually i have felt that for awhile - apple seems to be abit arrogant (check the latest news and comments from tim cook when couple of companies left apple pay out)... well let see what happens... i saw today, the screen issue was in the main digi-newspaper here today...
 
ZBoater said:
People complaining and hoping. Apparently not enough people because Apple has indeed not fixed it. It may seem like an issue to some here, but for the majority of Apple's customers it's not an issue. So, no Apple fix.
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Exactly how do you know it's not an issue for the majority?
 
donnaw said:
Exactly how do you know it's not an issue for the majority?
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Because it would've been fixed.

How do you know it's an issue for the majority? Because of what's posted here?

LOL!

No, this site is a tiny tiny tiny tiny slice of the Apple customer base. And I'm not trying to offend anybody. It's just a fact. Most people just don't care that a tab reloads. They just use the iPad and enjoy it.

If the problem was so widespread an terrible as some here make it out to be, Apple would have fixed it. It's not that hard. iCab figured out a way, so Safari can too. But many here think that because it's a issue for THEM, Apple is somehow obligated to "fix" it.

What if there's nothing to fix? What if Safari is doing EXACTLY what the Safari developers intended it to do?

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mrex said:
are you saying that apple can be arrogant until masses say something? actually i have felt that for awhile - apple seems to be abit arrogant (check the latest news and comments from tim cook when couple of companies left apple pay out)... well let see what happens... i saw today, the screen issue was in the main digi-newspaper here today...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I'd call it arrogance. It's responding to their user base. The majority of it, not a fringe element. They build these things for the masses, not for the geeks. Apple just can't please everyone. The iPad would cost $5000 and not sell very well. They have to make compromises. Make something most people would want. And their sales figures prove they are doing it right.

I think it's arrogant to think that just because I don't like it Apple has to change a billion dollar production line to accommodate my want which 99% of their other paying customers don't care about. That's arrogance right there, and there's plenty of posts here rife with it.
 
ZBoater said:
Because it would've been fixed.

How do you know it's an issue for the majority? Because of what's posted here?

LOL!

No, this site is a tiny tiny tiny tiny slice of the Apple customer base. And I'm not trying to offend anybody. It's just a fact. Most people just don't care that a tab reloads. They just use the iPad and enjoy it.

If the problem was so widespread an terrible as some here make it out to be, Apple would have fixed it. It's not that hard. iCab figured out a way, so Safari can too. But many here think that because it's a issue for THEM, Apple is somehow obligated to "fix" it.

What if there's nothing to fix? What if Safari is doing EXACTLY what the Safari developers intended it to do?
Click to expand...

Sorry, not buying your circular logic. I think it affects everyone who uses Safari in conjunction with other apps or several tabs. I doubt that 'the majority' says much because they think that's how it 'just is' and/or don't even know about tech forums.

But that doesn't matter because I do agree that Safari is doing exactly what Apple coded it to do, and that's what some of have been saying all along. It's not a bug or even bad code. It's exactly how Apple wants it. So the fix is more RAM.

Whew, glad we finally agree.
 
donnaw said:
Sorry, not buying your circular logic. I think it affects everyone who uses Safari in conjunction with other apps or several tabs. I doubt that 'the majority' says much because they think that's how it 'just is' and/or don't even know about tech forums.

But that doesn't matter because I do agree that Safari is doing exactly what Apple coded it to do, and that's what some of have been saying all along. It's not a bug or even bad code. It's exactly how Apple wants it. So the fix is more RAM.

Whew, glad we finally agree.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but no, we don't. 🙂

There is no fix. Another GB of RAM just lets me load a little more. Aggressive tab purging is still there. Apple should make it a user selectable option, like it's in iCab. But not unless they think a large portion of their users care. And trust me, most people just don't.
 
ZBoater said:
Sorry, but no, we don't. 🙂

There is no fix. Another GB of RAM just lets me load a little more. Aggressive tab purging is still there. Apple should make it a user selectable option, like it's in iCab. But not unless they think a large portion of their users care. And trust me, most people just don't.
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Putting in a user option most certainly isn't the answer. And tab purging isn't the whole problem. It's just symptomatic.

Guess we will never agree. Personally I've been quite happy with the performance of my Air2 and I attribute it to the additional RAM. So as far as I'm concerned Apple can purge away.
 
scaredpoet said:
Welp, I'm on my iPad Air 2, and I had two tabs open: this forum, and this web page. Two things happened:

1. The tabs reload when I switched between the two pages.
2. The first time I tried to reply to this thread, Safari froze when I tried to add the link above, wouldn't respond to anything. I had to force quit safari, respring, and then I was able to post to this thread the way I wanted.

Ironically, I don't ever remember having that bad of a problem on my Air, which my significant other now uses. And it didn't have a problem with reloading these two tabs.

I still think there's a bug in Safari. Having 2GB is a bandaid that gets around the poor memory management, in SOME cases, FOR NOW. But it's not the real fix.
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I've just tried your test, opened the T-Mobile page you linked to (along with this thread and 5 other tabs also open). I can click between them, and then reply here without a problem.

I actually typed the above and then clicked across all 6 of the tabs and then back here.

No problem whatsoever, no reloading, and my reply box remained as it should.

The ONLY bug I encounter in Safari is when there are 2 similar shortcuts and predictive text chooses a similar word and it freezes on the selection. After removing all similar keyboard shortcuts and turning the keyboard predictive text option off it seems to have solved that bug. Hopefully Apple solve that bug properly in 8.1.1.

Tab reloading problems? Nope...
 
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