iPad What is the deal with this keyboard stutter?

[XTheLancerX]

Sending longer messages in ongoing conversations with the keyboard up (especially in landscape) results in a good amount of stutter. Same with using control center or notification center over the keyboard. Lastly, turning with a keyboard open stutters a good amount as well. Why?? It even happens with third party keyboard which lack translucency completely. Apparently it's just a software issue rather than a weak GPU in my iPad mini 2, so hopefully it will get fixed?? Your thoughts and experiences..?

 

[oldmacs]

Sending longer messages in ongoing conversations with the keyboard up (especially in landscape) results in a good amount of stutter. Same with using control center or notification center over the keyboard. Lastly, turning with a keyboard open stutters a good amount as well. Why?? It even happens with third party keyboard which lack translucency completely. Apparently it's just a software issue rather than a weak GPU in my iPad mini 2, so hopefully it will get fixed?? Your thoughts and experiences..?

My iPad Mini 2 is more jittery than my iPad 2 under iOS 8.3 Its a nightmare. The iPad 2 I can understand a little jitter here and there, but the iPad Mini 2 has constant lag while typing, stuttering while opening and closing things, weird UI bugs. Ugh.

iOS 8 needs to be trimmed down to fit better in 512 MB of ram, then it will run much better with 1 GB of ram.

 

[XTheLancerX]

My iPad Mini 2 is more jittery than my iPad 2 under iOS 8.3 Its a nightmare. The iPad 2 I can understand a little jitter here and there, but the iPad Mini 2 has constant lag while typing, stuttering while opening and closing things, weird UI bugs. Ugh.

iOS 8 needs to be trimmed down to fit better in 512 MB of ram, then it will run much better with 1 GB of ram.

Exactly, finally someone understands. I always say that the iPad 2 and 3 are smoother than my mini 2 as I have used both side by side and people always deny this. The mini 2 definitely has the edge in general speed of tasks and less crashes due to faster CPU and more RAM but the mini 2 is bogged down by HORRIBLY executed translucency effects. I think that Apple could get the translucency to be stutter-free, but they just haven't optimized anything.

Take a mini 2 (mini 3 or iPad Air) and an iPad 2 side by side and use the Control Center and Notification Center over the keyboard. It's perfectly smooth on the iPad 2 and 3 but it's a stuttery mess on the A7 iPads, especially with a split keyboard. Tapping the URL bar in Safari is really stuttery on the A7 iPads, smooth on the 2 and 3. Control center and Notification Center stutter when used on lock screen or over an open folder for A7 iPads but are again, perfectly smooth on the 2 and 3. Same can be said for Siri animation as well.

The only difference is the translucency being absent on the 2 and 3. Yes, the effect is much more taxing than the transparent overlay used in the 2/3 but still, 3 AND 4 YEAR OLD IPADS SHOULD NOT RUN THE UI BETTER THAN 1 YEAR OLD IPADS. It is so aggravating.

 

[oldmacs]

Exactly, finally someone understands. I always say that the iPad 2 and 3 are smoother than my mini 2 as I have used both side by side and people always deny this. The mini 2 definitely has the edge in general speed of tasks and less crashes due to faster CPU and more RAM but the mini 2 is bogged down by HORRIBLY executed translucency effects. I think that Apple could get the translucency to be stutter-free, but they just haven't optimized anything.

Take a mini 2 (mini 3 or iPad Air) and an iPad 2 side by side and use the Control Center and Notification Center over the keyboard. It's perfectly smooth on the iPad 2 and 3 but it's a stuttery mess on the A7 iPads, especially with a split keyboard. Tapping the URL bar in Safari is really stuttery on the A7 iPads, smooth on the 2 and 3. Control center and Notification Center stutter when used on lock screen or over an open folder for A7 iPads but are again, perfectly smooth on the 2 and 3. Same can be said for Siri animation as well.

The only difference is the translucency being absent on the 2 and 3. Yes, the effect is much more taxing than the transparent overlay used in the 2/3 but still, 3 AND 4 YEAR OLD IPADS SHOULD NOT RUN THE UI BETTER THAN 1 YEAR OLD IPADS. It is so aggravating.

I agree. The Mini 2 is certainly faster, but the iPad 2 stutters less predictably. I feel its something to do with 64 bit iPads... The iPad 4 I think is reasonable?

The way I see it is that the iPad 2 didn't really get jittery till iOS 8.0 (there was a bit in 7.0, but that was rectified with 7.1). So it got through its first and second updates (5.0, 6.0) with no problems, where as the Mini 2 is on its FIRST update and already a jittery mess.

I've found that 8.3 made my Mini 2 even worse, but generally sped up my iPad 2 ,so I actually prefer to use my iPad 2 at the moment, as it does some jitters, but they are not predictable and I know its because the iPad 2 is 4 years old its semi acceptable.

Whats even crazier is that this would be the same on the iPad Mini 3 as it have the same internals as the iPad Mini 2 - so essentially their top of the line mini must be a wreck as well.

It really annoys me that iOS 8 is such a wreck. Was iOS 7 the same? I only bought the Mini 2 a month ago so I didn't experience iOS 7 on it

 

[XTheLancerX]

I agree. The Mini 2 is certainly faster, but the iPad 2 stutters less predictably. I feel its something to do with 64 bit iPads... The iPad 4 I think is reasonable?

The way I see it is that the iPad 2 didn't really get jittery till iOS 8.0 (there was a bit in 7.0, but that was rectified with 7.1). So it got through its first and second updates (5.0, 6.0) with no problems, where as the Mini 2 is on its FIRST update and already a jittery mess.

I've found that 8.3 made my Mini 2 even worse, but generally sped up my iPad 2 ,so I actually prefer to use my iPad 2 at the moment, as it does some jitters, but they are not predictable and I know its because the iPad 2 is 4 years old its semi acceptable.

Whats even crazier is that this would be the same on the iPad Mini 3 as it have the same internals as the iPad Mini 2 - so essentially their top of the line mini must be a wreck as well.

It really annoys me that iOS 8 is such a wreck. Was iOS 7 the same? I only bought the Mini 2 a month ago so I didn't experience iOS 7 on it

iOS 7 and 7.1 were about the same in terms of UI smoothness, perhaps 7.1 was a bit better but nothing major from what I remember. Anyway, 7.0.x was HORRIBLE with stability and the UI animations were just really slow. Also, the pinch to close gesture for apps was extremely weird looking, the apps would come in as you were still pinching to close, but they did so in a very stuttery way. Also, the dock would look glitchy as that was sliding up. iOS 7.0.x also had tons of springboard crashes, I probably saw the thing crash to the Apple logo several times a week. (Was an issue with all 64 bit devices at the time)

Anyway, the glorified iOS 7.1.2 was still far from finished. It had the same stutter with anything involving the keyboard, turning slide to power off, turning the App Store, turning spotlight search, Siri animation was still iffy, control center and Notification Center still were a mess on the lock screen and over open folders. iOS 8 pretty much intensified all of these, with a couple new ones. The animation for sending a message is a bit stuttery if the conversation is already filling the whole screen or more, and if I'm sending a longer message, it was much smoother in that regard in iOS 7, if I remember correctly. Oh, and after I have been using an app for awhile (or the app is intensive) the "App to home screen" animation is really stuttery, or it skips almost the entire animation so you just see the last split second of it. Pretty weird. Haven't had anyone else report this, but I have done a full DFU restore and it's still there. It isn't as bad as it was, but it... Definitely is still there. I believe iOS 7 would just hesitate, and then leave the app perfectly smoothly.

 

[oldmacs]

iOS 7 and 7.1 were about the same in terms of UI smoothness, perhaps 7.1 was a bit better but nothing major from what I remember. Anyway, 7.0.x was HORRIBLE with stability and the UI animations were just really slow. Also, the pinch to close gesture for apps was extremely weird looking, the apps would come in as you were still pinching to close, but they did so in a very stuttery way. Also, the dock would look glitchy as that was sliding up. iOS 7.0.x also had tons of springboard crashes, I probably saw the thing crash to the Apple logo several times a week. (Was an issue with all 64 bit devices at the time)

Anyway, the glorified iOS 7.1.2 was still far from finished. It had the same stutter with anything involving the keyboard, turning slide to power off, turning the App Store, turning spotlight search, Siri animation was still iffy, control center and Notification Center still were a mess on the lock screen and over open folders. iOS 8 pretty much intensified all of these, with a couple new ones. The animation for sending a message is a bit stuttery if the conversation is already filling the whole screen or more, and if I'm sending a longer message, it was much smoother in that regard in iOS 7, if I remember correctly. Oh, and after I have been using an app for awhile (or the app is intensive) the "App to home screen" animation is really stuttery, or it skips almost the entire animation so you just see the last split second of it. Pretty weird. Haven't had anyone else report this, but I have done a full DFU restore and it's still there. It isn't as bad as it was, but it... Definitely is still there. I believe iOS 7 would just hesitate, and then leave the app perfectly smoothly.

Thats a shame. My iPad 2 was practically perfect with iOS 7...

 

[XTheLancerX]

Thats a shame. My iPad 2 was practically perfect with iOS 7...

Yeah I've used iPad 2's on iOS 7 and they were buttery smooth compared to my iPad, although much slower in performing general tasks.

If iOS 9 doesn't fix any of this, I will be very upset. My iPad has been in an awkward state of smoothness between the iPhone 4S and the 5 ever since I bought it, back when it was the newest of the new in terms of hardware... People deny that their iPad Air, mini 2, or mini 3 stutter AT ALL, but I've observed the same behavior on every A7 iPad I've ever used. It's a matter of whether someone notices frame drops very well or is bothered by it.

The most frustrating part of all this, is that it all just makes no sense... Why does sending a message stutter so much, even with a third party keyboard that has no translucency? Why does simply tapping the URL bar in safari stutter so badly? So much optimization needs to be done, it isn't even funny... I wish I could tolerate "increase contrast" because it fixes so many issues, but everything just looks disgusting.

 

[Kal-037]

Both my Air 2 and mini 2 stutter... and it gets annoying as i have to close the app, reopen it, then close it again, and then open it again and usually it works somewhat. I hope iOS 8.4 fixes the keyboard lag and freezing issues.


Kallum.

 

[Narcaz]

iOS 7 and 7.1 were about the same in terms of UI smoothness, perhaps 7.1 was a bit better but nothing major from what I remember. Anyway, 7.0.x was HORRIBLE with stability and the UI animations were just really slow. Also, the pinch to close gesture for apps was extremely weird looking, the apps would come in as you were still pinching to close, but they did so in a very stuttery way. Also, the dock would look glitchy as that was sliding up. iOS 7.0.x also had tons of springboard crashes, I probably saw the thing crash to the Apple logo several times a week. (Was an issue with all 64 bit devices at the time)

Anyway, the glorified iOS 7.1.2 was still far from finished. It had the same stutter with anything involving the keyboard, turning slide to power off, turning the App Store, turning spotlight search, Siri animation was still iffy, control center and Notification Center still were a mess on the lock screen and over open folders. iOS 8 pretty much intensified all of these, with a couple new ones. The animation for sending a message is a bit stuttery if the conversation is already filling the whole screen or more, and if I'm sending a longer message, it was much smoother in that regard in iOS 7, if I remember correctly. Oh, and after I have been using an app for awhile (or the app is intensive) the "App to home screen" animation is really stuttery, or it skips almost the entire animation so you just see the last split second of it. Pretty weird. Haven't had anyone else report this, but I have done a full DFU restore and it's still there. It isn't as bad as it was, but it... Definitely is still there. I believe iOS 7 would just hesitate, and then leave the app perfectly smoothly.

Nice summary. iOS 7.1.2 was probably the last version apple cared about iPad performance. Probably the main reason people glorify it around here. iOS7 was a major overhaul and i expected it won't be a fast transition. I thought they would polish it even more with iOS8, because iO7 wasn't really tailor made for tablets (9 icon folder lol). Instead they dropped an unreliable feature bomb and made everything worse. The performance difference between my 5S and my rMini 2 with iOS 8.3 is just ridiculous. Actually i am not interested in the underlying reasons (transparency, higher resolution, 64bit) anymore. I hope that iOS 9 will solve most problems. If not i am done with iPads.

 

[sanke1]

If my iPad Air 2 shows EVEN A SLIGHTEST hint of stutter on iOS 9, I am dumping Apple's a$* for good. I have noticed that Android has gotten far better with Lollipop. None of he high/mid end Andriod devices running stock Lollipop 5 ROM show any signs of stutter.

 

[thelead]

If my iPad Air 2 shows EVEN A SLIGHTEST hint of stutter on iOS 9, I am dumping Apple's a$* for good. I have noticed that Android has gotten far better with Lollipop. None of he high/mid end Andriod devices running stock Lollipop 5 ROM show any signs of stutter.

Software quality control has gone downhill (and FAST) since Jobs' departure.