iPad A rare beauty: iPad 3 WiFi+Cellular

[AhmetRyzen]

Hey guys. Today, İ'll introduce you to the device I have. I have got an iPad 3 Wi-Fi Celullar. My dead grandfather and my dad were bought in 2012, March. İ'm 4 years old in this years. Friends, as we know, iPad 3 was released on March 17, 2012. And 11.5 years have passed. But if a person uses it with pleasure and bought it with legitimate earnings, nothing will happen even if it falls from the 10th floor. Now this device weighs 662 grams and an aluminum-based case is used. Since it is aluminum, it is normal for it to be heavy. It has dimensions of 241.2 × 185.7 × 9.4 mm. 9.4 mm thickness is a very good value compared to 11 years ago.

The thickness is like this. As for the screen features, a 9.7-inch IPS screen produced by Samsung is used. The tablet has a screen-to-body ratio of ~65.1%. However, thinner frames could have been used. It has a resolution of 1536x2048 pixels. It's probably a little higher than 1080p. It has a density of ~264 PPI and a screen ratio of 4:3. A very comfortable and eye-healthy screen was used. I don't know if such screens are produced today.

The screen is as solid as the first day. There are no dead pixels. There isn't even a scratch on the screen, guys. I swear there are no scratches on the screen.

As for the system features, the Apple A5X processor with 45 nm transistor distance is used. This processor has dual cores and a speed of 1 GHz. It was a very adequate processor for that time. It has Cortex A9 architecture. A GPU called PowerVR SGX543MP4 was used in the GPU. It is a GPU with 4 cores and much more advanced than that of its time. As we know, the tablet has 1 GB LPDDR2 RAM. God knows its frequency, I don't know. But my guess is 800 MHz. The memory I have is 16 GB. There are 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB options. A level that was quite appropriate for that period. We should also point out that the RAMs are produced by Hynix.

We are faced with a very surprising performance in the battery. This tablet, which has a 11560 mAh Lithium Polymer battery, provides 9 hours of screen time according to official data. It charges slowly, but filling it up is just as troublesome. Yes, it goes from 0-100 in about 5 hours.

As for the camera, there is a 5 MP camera that can shoot 1080p 30 FPS. There are no great features, but they are good features for a tablet. It also has the feature of shooting 480p 30 FPS video.

There is no radio anyway, now let's come to the Cellular issue. Friends, this tablet has a Micro-SIM slot. 4G supported. However, there is no search support. It's more like today's Superboxes, only for Internet use. If you buy a data line and add 60 GB of internet to it per month, it can't be beat.

Bluetooth 4 destekli ve GPS navigasyon özelliği var.

As for charging equipment. Our cable, friends, is the cable that comes in the box. It's leathery, but it works, let's be thankful.

When there was a 7.6 double earthquake in Turkey, I had to stay in the factory for 2 months. During this time, I renewed the cable, removed all the tapes and installed new tapes because the cable was torn. It works as well as on the first day.

At the same time the tablet has a 10W adapter. One of those puzzle adapters like Apache. Solid and still strong 🙂

Everything in the box, including booklets, warranty documents, SIM pins, etc., is still intact. Those labels are still there, but I pasted one of them on my own PC glass. 😁

Friends, the tablet is under GENPA (Turkey) warranty and the warranty expired in 2014. But we ignored the warranty and continued to use the tablet gently. We used the tablet at work, so the box is dirty. We wiped it with a wet wipe, but the stains did not disappear. Let us also mention that we wiped the charging cable thoroughly.

The charging tip is the famous iPhone 4 tip. There is also a 3.5 mm jack slot on it. 🙂

Coming to the software features, when it was first released, it came out with iOS 5.1. The current version is iOS 9.3.6. Friends, the software was not tampered with, there was no jailbreak, and we used whatever software came in the box.

Also, I used to play Hugo a lot in this. He was riding on the wagon like this. I loved it so much I don't know if it still exists.

Friends, this tablet has been passed down from generation to generation. I will leave it as a legacy to the future by using it actively for another 10 years.

The tablet has never been repaired.
But it warms up like an animal.



Friends, how did you like my review? Feel free to leave your comments, I won't be offended. 🙂

Thanks for ready 🙂

 

[erikkfi]

It's always nice to see a piece of older tech continuing to get good use. It's even better to see someone content with what they already have instead of chasing the next new thing.

I believe this was the first iPad introduced after Steve Jobs' death. There was some controversy around the speed of this device but not everyone will have that experience. Yours is in remarkably good shape, and I'd say that even if it were half as old as it is. The charging cord, perhaps, not so much.

I didn't get my first iPad until four years after this one, and I still have it and use it every day. I do plan to replace it this year, finally. Seven years is a good long time to keep an iPad, and I could go on longer with it but I need it for heavy media editing and it's getting slower than I can handle with each new app update.

 

[JustinKent]

Friends, I don't have the time to write a beautiful review like this, but I'll give a quick one of my own.

I too have this 3rd generation iPad with cellular, and it's still running like a champ.

My 6 year-old is thrilled with it. She calls it "Mom's old iPad." She sets it up in her room like a PC, and is so proud to have her very own iPad.

There are quite a few apps that still run. Many of them even work pretty well, although some of them are hit-and-miss. Of course we can't install any new apps, but that's what we use the newer iPads for.

I feel good that we can still get a bit of use out of it, and like OP said, pass it down from generation to generation.

My 30-pin cable seems to have faired slightly better, although I've gone through a number of them.

 

[spyguy10709]

deleted.

 

[FeliApple]

Yeah, agree with @erikkfi, it’s always nice to see older iOS devices in active use.

Like many users have repeatedly stated, 32-bit iPads retain great battery life even when updated, and I don’t see that changing.

I had an iPad 4 (which died after some kind of power issue while charging), and it retained great battery life until it died. Health was slightly below 80% and cycles were around 700 I think, so not too many, but battery life remained unchanged throughout.

If iPads are spared from iOS updates’ obliteration, their lifespan is extremely high, battery life won’t drop. 32-bit iPads have been spared in terms of battery life, so even if they aren’t the smoothest, as long as support is there for a user’s needs and they can tolerate the speed (which isn’t great), then it’ll be fine for many years.

 

[saudor]

Still using my ipad 2! At 64gb storage, it's pretty overkill as an e-reader!

 

[mectojic]

You need to spend more time on Macrumors. Non-clickbaity positive content seems strangely out of place here.

 

[AhmetRyzen]

Thanks for your nice comments, friends. In our Turkish culture, we have a tradition of looking after old items carefully and still using them if they are intact. We also have two iPhone 5s (in good condition without scratches), a stainless steel case iPhone 4S, LG V10, Nokia N92 and many more phones. Even though we don't use it actively, we like to play with it from time to time. I'm currently using 14 Pro Max. And what I remember is, as I wrote above, we bought our LG Studioworks monitor as a Mac Pro 12 years ago when I was only 3 years old. 2010 model. I remember that we used our new monitor for 2 months because we had not received it yet. 🙂

 

[F27]

I have also still been actively using an iPad 3 Wi-Fi model, the build quality feels so much more superior to the iPad’s today. Back when Apple actually cared about the line!

 

[Richard8655]

The iPad 3 was the worst iPad of all time. Performance was horrible from the get go, and only got worse after each update. I know, I had one and was glad to get rid of it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I went all over Europe with an iPad just like this one

Great memories and a great device

 

[JustinKent]

I have also still been actively using an iPad 3 Wi-Fi model, the build quality feels so much more superior to the iPad’s today. Back when Apple actually cared about the line!

The build quality on iPad 3 was great, but I feel that same way about the new ones, too. I also have an iPad Pro (2018) and an iPad Air (2022), both with the new design language and Apple Pencil 2, and the build quality is top-notch. I even dropped the Pro a couple times and it survived intact. Personally, I prefer the new squared off edges and the full-screen display. The other thing I really like is the Magic Keyboard case. With all these improvements over the years, I'm having a hard time connecting with your point that Apple no longer cares about the line!

 

[Richard8655]

I think people admire the build quality of early iPads like this because Apple wasn't under the later intense pressure to build smaller, thinner, and lighter. The Air was the forerunner of that direction. It seems a bit obvious and contradictory at the same time.

To this day, I prefer the standard (base) iPads for this reason. They're still built a bit thicker, heftier, and more solid than the super thin higher end models, whose features I don't really need anyway. And more cost effective as well.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

To this day, I prefer the standard (base) iPads for this reason. They're still built a bit thicker, heftier, and more solid than the super thin higher end models, whose features I don't really need anyway. And more cost effective as well.

I have a 2022 iPad Air and a 2018 Pro here and I love them, the build quality is great and I use them for (almost) everything I used to use a laptop for.

But.

My partner has a gen 6 or 7 base iPad and something about the heft of that thing just feels great. The screen isn't as nice and it's not as fast and all, but... I pick it up every now and then and I'm tempted to get one myself 😂

 

[mectojic]

The iPad 3 was the worst iPad of all time. Performance was horrible from the get go, and only got worse after each update. I know, I had one and was glad to get rid of it.

I also had an iPad 3 and I loved it. Performed perfectly for everything I threw at it, and got me through school. Retina display stunned my classmates. It only started to have poor performance around iOS 8, IMO, and by that point I had graduated to a Macbook.

 

[AhmetRyzen]

I went all over Europe with an iPad just like this one

Great memories and a great device

We used this iPad in industry. We managed the machines through this device. We used professional shock absorbing covers and thick window films against work accidents. We retired it in 2020 after using it for exactly 8 years. When I brought it home, I took it out of the case and removed the window film. I installed a thin daily use window film and cleaned it thoroughly. I bought a cover made of cowhide for the back and it is now on the bookshelf in the room. If God allows, I will buy the iPad 11th generation.

 

[AhmetRyzen]

I was downloaded Flappy Bird 2 years ago. İ'm playing this

 

[F27]

The build quality on iPad 3 was great, but I feel that same way about the new ones, too. I also have an iPad Pro (2018) and an iPad Air (2022), both with the new design language and Apple Pencil 2, and the build quality is top-notch. I even dropped the Pro a couple times and it survived intact. Personally, I prefer the new squared off edges and the full-screen display. The other thing I really like is the Magic Keyboard case. With all these improvements over the years, I'm having a hard time connecting with your point that Apple no longer cares about the line!

I have to disagree, the iPad Air 5 had almost universal critism of its build quality when it launched. This followed other complaints such as iPad’s bending in 2019 as well as endless screen inconsistency issues like the Mini LED blooming and Jelly Scrolling. The casing and glass has become so ridiculously thin and they started using all sorts of cheaper parts suppliers and assemblers that the build quality has suffered.

Apple doesn’t care about the line anymore because iPad sales have declined hugely since the peak of 2012 and even declined again last year. This is reflected in their lazy approach to modernising and improving iPadOS with meaningful change which has been called for for years. It’s just not a buzz product these days and Apple puts all its energy into other things.

I own an Air 5 and honestly it’s put me off buying another iPad again. Feels like a $200 Andriod Tablet, especially next to the built like a tank iPad 3.

 

[leifp]

The iPad 2 remains my reference point, he says writing this on his M2 12.9” iPP. If Apple were to release an iPad with that original 9.7” screen size, in a similar body to that (but smaller and lighter so that the bezels are similar in size to those on their modern Air/Pro iPads) and with a magnificent screen (e.g. the mooted OLED or uLED screens) I’d be a day one buyer.