ipad 3 compared to iPad Air 2

[lopri]

I don't know how the iPad Air 2 compares to the iPad 3, but iPad Air 2 is literally the fastest tablet in the market as of now other than Windows stuff. There isn't anything faster.

 

[Oyeve]

I don't know how the iPad Air 2 compares to the iPad 3, but iPad Air 2 is literally the fastest tablet in the market as of now other than Windows stuff. There isn't anything faster.

Yeah, altho I sorta dislike apple, the ipad air 2 is a beast. I set up a few for my users and loved it. I just cant deal with its file system and lack of codecs as I rip tons of dvds to view on my tabs.

 

[rudeguy]

I don't know how the iPad Air 2 compares to the iPad 3, but iPad Air 2 is literally the fastest tablet in the market as of now other than Windows stuff. There isn't anything faster.

I use an i7 Yoga and I would recommend an Air 2 for 90% of people over it. I don't know how the specs break down but I'm willing to be the Air 2 would give my Yoga a run for its money due to the lack of Windows bloat.

 

[mmntech]

Yeah, altho I sorta dislike apple, the ipad air 2 is a beast. I set up a few for my users and loved it. I just cant deal with its file system and lack of codecs as I rip tons of dvds to view on my tabs.

Yeah, unfortunately the latest version of iOS 8 hasn't been jailbroken yet. Being able to install Kodi greatly improves media playback support.

 

[2is]

Jail breaking is a dying practic. iOS is getting more feature rich which reduces the need/want for jail breaking. It's also getting more difficult to jail break and taking a lot longer to come out with the cracks.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I use an i7 Yoga and I would recommend an Air 2 for 90% of people over it. I don't know how the specs break down but I'm willing to be the Air 2 would give my Yoga a run for its money due to the lack of Windows bloat.

I tested the crap out of mine when I got it and basically it is EXACTLY as powerful as my 2010 Macbook Pro. The CPU is right near a 2.4ish GHZ Core 2 Duo, and the GPU was basically a GT 430. Which is all amazing.

I mean this thing is the first ARM ANYTHING I have seen that can decode my biggest Blu Ray rip on the CPU. Its power-per-pixel is below my old Macbook Pro, but overall this is the first "good enough" mobile compute device.

Yeah, unfortunately the latest version of iOS 8 hasn't been jailbroken yet. Being able to install Kodi greatly improves media playback support.

Amen, mine isn't getting updated until the next jailbreak window. I use too many jailbreak apps (Kodi, f.lux, file managers, SSH, etc.).

 

[zerogear]

I hate bothering with cat and mouse game that Apple plays with Jailbreak. So Surface Pro 3 and Android phone for me. Much more versatile than iPad. (Not to mention I can also play many many desktop games on my Surface Pro). iPhone is not even worth considering.

 

[Eug]

Yeah, altho I sorta dislike apple, the ipad air 2 is a beast. I set up a few for my users and loved it. I just cant deal with its file system and lack of codecs as I rip tons of dvds to view on my tabs.

Have you tried Infuse Pro? That's what I use. (Infuse Pro is the full version of Infuse 3.)

http://firecore.com/infuse
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id577130046?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4

 

[mmntech]

Amen, mine isn't getting updated until the next jailbreak window. I use too many jailbreak apps (Kodi, f.lux, file managers, SSH, etc.).

F.lux is one of those things that you don't miss until it's gone. It really helps with nighttime computer use. I think every device should include it or a similar feature by default.

My biggest beef with the App Store and their walled garden is the long and continued hostility towards open source software. Firefox, VLC, and Kodi should all be official apps. Two of which are freely available on Google Play. The DRM requirement needs to be shelved. It should be up to the developer whether to use it or not.

 

[Eug]

vlc's issue was licensing I believe. It's supposed to be back on the iTunes store soon, after certain things were rewritten, and they dropped Dolby Digital support.

Programs like Infuse have DD support, because they pay for it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

F.lux is one of those things that you don't miss until it's gone. It really helps with nighttime computer use. I think every device should include it or a similar feature by default.

My biggest beef with the App Store and their walled garden is the long and continued hostility towards open source software. Firefox, VLC, and Kodi should all be official apps. Two of which are freely available on Google Play. The DRM requirement needs to be shelved. It should be up to the developer whether to use it or not.

I think the issue with VLC and Kodi is that they don't pay to use Dolby and DTS. For the most part open source projects are left alone on that, but Apple kinda makes it an issue so they stay away (at least in the US store).

Play is more ambiguous, Google will act if someone complains. That is why SPMC was made- to test the Play Store's willingness to play along. If no copyright holder asks it to be pulled then they might put Kodi in there.

I hate the iOS walled garden. I wish this thing ran Android, that would be cool. But with jailbreak I have found a way to get most computing tasks I need back, and if jailbreak gets too hard I will flip this thing for most of it's value (unlike my Android stuff).

 

[Eug]

Actually, Android apps like MX Player no longer natively support DD either.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Actually, Android apps like MX Player no longer natively support DD either.

That is because MX Player tried to monetize it. A XBMC fork connected to a third party media box was pulled for the same reasons. But normally Dolby doesn't come down unless someone is making money. In fact Dolby True HD has a great open source decoder that wouldn't exist if they didn't want it to probably. They normally leave the non-profits alone. SPMC (aka Android Kodi) can decode AC3 or even Dolby True HD, just like the iOS (jailbreak) Kodi can.

 

[dagamer34]

Yup those are the two iPads I have bought too.

A "deal" in iOS-land is buying the products on the correct cycle. That is what I keep telling everyone who buys those dead end iPhone 6+'s.

The 1GB RAM on the iPhone 6+ pains me. I should have kept my iPhone 5 and waited another year. Sigh.

Like you said, yes, there are absolutely certain iOS devices you should not buy brand new if the name of the game is longevity. iPhone 5c and 6+ are probably the first iPhone devices to reach that level (immediately gimped in some way out the gate), but several iPads have that moniker (iPad 1 - too little RAM, iPad 3 - lack of CPU upgrade, thick, got warm, iPad 4 - minor upgrade vs. 3). The iPad Air was an ok upgrade if you only had an iPad 1 or 2, but the iPad Air 2 to me is very clearly a device built to last several years. I don't see how they significantly improve upon the Air 2 to convince anyone but spec geeks to buy if they already have an Air 2.

Sigh, 1GB RAM in 6+. Sigh. :'(

 

[Zodiark1593]

The 1GB RAM on the iPhone 6+ pains me. I should have kept my iPhone 5 and waited another year. Sigh.

Like you said, yes, there are absolutely certain iOS devices you should not buy brand new if the name of the game is longevity. iPhone 5c and 6+ are probably the first iPhone devices to reach that level (immediately gimped in some way out the gate), but several iPads have that moniker (iPad 1 - too little RAM, iPad 3 - lack of CPU upgrade, thick, got warm, iPad 4 - minor upgrade vs. 3). The iPad Air was an ok upgrade if you only had an iPad 1 or 2, but the iPad Air 2 to me is very clearly a device built to last several years. I don't see how they significantly improve upon the Air 2 to convince anyone but spec geeks to buy if they already have an Air 2.

Sigh, 1GB RAM in 6+. Sigh. :'(

Watch, the only improvement for the iPhone 6s is 2 GB RAM.

 

[TheStu]

Watch, the only improvement for the iPhone 6s is 2 GB RAM.

Maybe other little spec bumps (A9 instead of A8 for example), but for the most part, the 4s and 5s were both tocks.

 

[luv2liv]

so your ipad3 was working perfectly fine. and then it slowed down after an update?
and there's no way you can revert the update?

i was in the same boat as you but some people think im delusional as seen here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2422335

let us know how the ipad air 2 performs just for web browsing after 2 years. i wouldnt be surprised if it slows down after a mysterious update. gluck

 

[poofyhairguy]

let us know how the ipad air 2 performs just for web browsing after 2 years.

It will be fine. Its power-per-pixel is higher than almost any mobile the device on the market (only the Shield tablet maybe competes), and its 2GB of RAM is more than any other iOS device. Next year the iPhone will catch up to that so it will be fine, and the year after there is no way they will obsolete the year-old iPhone they will still be selling at a lower price Tier. Suffice to say the iPad Air 2 logically has three years minimum, I expect 4+ though.

That is what drives me nuts about all this- it is not hard to figure out people. It has been VERY obvious on iOS which devices were duds and which one were studs. Especially compared to Android where you never know what some future OS update will optimize for.

I think it comes down to people don't want to listen. That new retina iPad hits, or that five and a half inch iPhone, and the logic of it might being a poor purchase goes out the window because that person wants the new shiny.

All of the REALLY solid iOS purchases have been boring incremental updates on the surface:

-the great iPad 2 had a new form factor and a camera, but with the same screen resolution it seemed like a boring update for everyone who doesn't get off on offscreen GPU benchmarks

-the iPad Air 2 seems like a barely updated iPad Air 1 on the surface, which itself was a HUGE form factor update over the iPad 4. Smaller and lighter is easy to see, twice the RAM and 40%+ more SoC power is hard to see.

-The 3GS was an increment on the 3G and looked just like it, but it had a power-per-pixel that carried it well beyond any iPhone before it.

-The 4GS was a direct increment off the 4, and lacked LTE. Nothing about the phone screamed "four year device" other than the SoC power which takes research to discover.

The only obviously good iOS device was the iPhone 5- not only was the screen bigger but it had a more powerful SoC and still has the most effective RAM of any iPhone. Normals could see the bigger size, but I think when we look back the iPhone 5 will stand out as a good product.

On the flip side we have a few iOS device that counted on a gee-wiz feature for sales, even if they were poor choices long-term:

-the iPad 1 which seemed magic but was making the 3GS SoC drive a ten inch screen

-the iPad 3 whose retina screen seemed magic, but didn't have the power to drive it

-the iPad Mini 1 which came with an old SoC, and was relying on price and size for sales

-the iPad Air 1 which was lighter and thinner but is crippled by 1GB of RAM and a so-so power-per-pixel long-term

-and king of them all the iPhone 6+, which gave the world the iPhone Note but did it with an SoC that is barely a bump over the iPhone 5s that was driving a WAY lower resolution screen

The only iOS device I can think of that LOOKED like a bad product, but wasn't, is the iPhone 4. I thought for sure its power-per-pixel long-term would hurt it, but thanks to the extra RAM and the fact that the developers ripped out some of the iOS 7 eye-candy it had a long life. Outside of the iPhone 4 the bad devices have been easy to spot.

I think people just don't want to look.

 

[rudeguy]

It will be fine. Its power-per-pixel is higher than almost any mobile the device on the market (only the Shield tablet maybe competes), and its 2GB of RAM is more than any other iOS device. Next year the iPhone will catch up to that so it will be fine, and the year after there is no way they will obsolete the year-old iPhone they will still be selling at a lower price Tier. Suffice to say the iPad Air 2 logically has three years minimum, I expect 4+ though.

That is what drives me nuts about all this- it is not hard to figure out people. It has been VERY obvious on iOS which devices were duds and which one were studs. Especially compared to Android where you never know what some future OS update will optimize for.

I think it comes down to people don't want to listen. That new retina iPad hits, or that five and a half inch iPhone, and the logic of it might being a poor purchase goes out the window because that person wants the new shiny.

All of the REALLY solid iOS purchases have been boring incremental updates on the surface:

-the great iPad 2 had a new form factor and a camera, but with the same screen resolution it seemed like a boring update for everyone who doesn't get off on offscreen GPU benchmarks

-the iPad Air 2 seems like a barely updated iPad Air 1 on the surface, which itself was a HUGE form factor update over the iPad 4. Smaller and lighter is easy to see, twice the RAM and 40%+ more SoC power is hard to see.

-The 3GS was an increment on the 3G and looked just like it, but it had a power-per-pixel that carried it well beyond any iPhone before it.

-The 4GS was a direct increment off the 4, and lacked LTE. Nothing about the phone screamed "four year device" other than the SoC power which takes research to discover.

The only obviously good iOS device was the iPhone 5- not only was the screen bigger but it had a more powerful SoC and still has the most effective RAM of any iPhone. Normals could see the bigger size, but I think when we look back the iPhone 5 will stand out as a good product.

On the flip side we have a few iOS device that counted on a gee-wiz feature for sales, even if they were poor choices long-term:

-the iPad 1 which seemed magic but was making the 3GS SoC drive a ten inch screen

-the iPad 3 whose retina screen seemed magic, but didn't have the power to drive it

-the iPad Mini 1 which came with an old SoC, and was relying on price and size for sales

-the iPad Air 1 which was lighter and thinner but is crippled by 1GB of RAM and a so-so power-per-pixel long-term

-and king of them all the iPhone 6+, which gave the world the iPhone Note but did it with an SoC that is barely a bump over the iPhone 5s that was driving a WAY lower resolution screen

The only iOS device I can think of that LOOKED like a bad product, but wasn't, is the iPhone 4. I thought for sure its power-per-pixel long-term would hurt it, but thanks to the extra RAM and the fact that the developers ripped out some of the iOS 7 eye-candy it had a long life. Outside of the iPhone 4 the bad devices have been easy to spot.

I think people just don't want to look.

I'm going to try to sound as nice as possible saying this:

Apple owners tend to be fiercely loyal to their purchases. Pride is a huge part of the decision to buy an Apple product. If you spend $600 on a tablet, you are going to naturally want to justify the expense. Admitting you bought a dud or for some, admitting Apple made a dud, is unthinkable. Its much easier to defend your purchase than admit you made a mistake.

 

[Midwayman]

I'm going to try to sound as nice as possible saying this:

Apple owners tend to be fiercely loyal to their purchases. Pride is a huge part of the decision to buy an Apple product. If you spend $600 on a tablet, you are going to naturally want to justify the expense. Admitting you bought a dud or for some, admitting Apple made a dud, is unthinkable. Its much easier to defend your purchase than admit you made a mistake.

I think there is alot of that, but it doesn't explain why they buy it in the first place. I think its more that Apple tends to attract a less technically inclined crowd (Ease of use first!) and that having the latest apple product is somewhat of a status symbol. (Wooo loook at me!) Both types probably never look at the detailed specs. The ipad mini 1 and 3 would never have been made if they thought many people looked at the specs.

I'm not saying some of those people aren't on android too. They probably buy the latest Samsung Galaxy phone religiously. Just on android there is so much variation on spec that you have to pay at least a little attention.

To be fair I doubt many android people look at the phone specs and try to figure out if its good generation to buy or skip either.

 

[poofyhairguy]

To be fair I doubt many android people look at the phone specs and try to figure out if its good generation to buy or skip either.

I think in the Android world it is different. Part of that difference is unlike with Apple the market mavens (aka the advocates that push less-caring family or friends one direction or another) in Android are usually techy. I mean the Moto X 1 was basically the first iPhone-ish Android phone (experience over specs, polish over performance, etc.) and it was a sales bomb because all of us techies squawking early on "who would consider that phone, its weaker than a S4?!?" Many of us later learned it was a better experience than an S4, but that kind of backlash would never happen in the Apple community (or it would have happened this year).

Another key difference is that Android users are often more price sensitive. I mean most Apple users are paying a $200+ upgrade fee without blinking, while on Android the difference between being the $199 model and the $99 model is huge. I think this leads people to comparison shop a little more, which naturally leads to them comparing specs they know nothing about. Sometimes that is bad-its the reason Qualcomm has given us many cores instead of fewer and faster cores- but often that pressure is good as it keeps the hardware curve moving.

 

[Midwayman]

I think in the Android world it is different. Part of that difference is unlike with Apple the market mavens (aka the advocates that push less-caring family or friends one direction or another) in Android are usually techy. I mean the Moto X 1 was basically the first iPhone-ish Android phone (experience over specs, polish over performance, etc.) and it was a sales bomb because all of us techies squawking early on "who would consider that phone, its weaker than a S4?!?" Many of us later learned it was a better experience than an S4, but that kind of backlash would never happen in the Apple community (or it would have happened this year).

Another key difference is that Android users are often more price sensitive. I mean most Apple users are paying a $200+ upgrade fee without blinking, while on Android the difference between being the $199 model and the $99 model is huge. I think this leads people to comparison shop a little more, which naturally leads to them comparing specs they know nothing about. Sometimes that is bad-its the reason Qualcomm has given us many cores instead of fewer and faster cores- but often that pressure is good as it keeps the hardware curve moving.

Sure, on a same generation basis. However what you quoted was about looking ahead and saying "I'll get a phone next year." 2015 for instance seems to be shaping up to be a 'skip year' for android in terms of important tech to me. Mediocre processor upgrades, WQHD displays, which I think are overkill, etc, etc.

I don't know that techies had a ton to do with the x1 failing. It probably had a lot to do with Samsung just being the 800 gorrila in android and the X trying to steal market share. Then the X1 was a dual core had an uphill battle on the spec sheet from the uninformed people you mention. I usually tell people what they should buy, but I'm the only one who ends up with off brand phones most of the time.

 

[rudeguy]

I think in the Android world it is different. Part of that difference is unlike with Apple the market mavens (aka the advocates that push less-caring family or friends one direction or another) in Android are usually techy. I mean the Moto X 1 was basically the first iPhone-ish Android phone (experience over specs, polish over performance, etc.) and it was a sales bomb because all of us techies squawking early on "who would consider that phone, its weaker than a S4?!?" Many of us later learned it was a better experience than an S4, but that kind of backlash would never happen in the Apple community (or it would have happened this year).

Another key difference is that Android users are often more price sensitive. I mean most Apple users are paying a $200+ upgrade fee without blinking, while on Android the difference between being the $199 model and the $99 model is huge. I think this leads people to comparison shop a little more, which naturally leads to them comparing specs they know nothing about. Sometimes that is bad-its the reason Qualcomm has given us many cores instead of fewer and faster cores- but often that pressure is good as it keeps the hardware curve moving.

It's actually much simpler than that.

The majority of cell phone customers don't do research at all. At most they know what brand they want but the vast majority only know what price they want. They walk into a cell phone store and the clerk tells them what phones are in their price range, the customer spends less than a minute looking at them, then choses one they like the look or feel of. Maybe the clerk tells them one has a better camera or another has a better battery but it's not a spec debate.

 

[poofyhairguy]

2015 for instance seems to be shaping up to be a 'skip year' for android in terms of important tech to me. Mediocre processor upgrades, WQHD displays, which I think are overkill, etc, etc.

Amen, but I think it was obvious to see that coming for a while too.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I would think power per pixel isn't an issue at all nowadays. What the hell is the UI doing that requires near-PS3 compute power in it anyhow.

Instead of pushing resolution further, I'd love to see some 120 hz action in the mobile world. I'd bet Apple is waiting for the right moment to bust that out.