iPad 3 (retina) performance?

[darkgoob]

I realize beta performance is not representative of what the GM will be, but what are your impressions of how 9 runs on older iPads -- specifically 3rd gen (the first retina one)?

What chance do we have it's usable?

 

[Andres Cantu]

Usable as in back to iOS 7 levels is a possibility, but this won't change the fact that the A5X is underpowered (in terms of CPU and GPU) to drive the iPad 3's retina display, so in some cases, the iPad 2 will run better.

 

[Dokk]

I'm running it on mine and have to say that I think it runs better than iOS 8. Everything is a bit more responsive. Even typing is a bit better and more responsive than before. There are still some hiccups (e.g., no drawing in notes yet), but I'm glad I made the update and am looking forward to the full release.

 

[campyguy]

With a few caveats, I'm actually pretty happy with the B2 OS on my iPad 3, and I do prefer it over iOS 8.3 so far.
The caveats are there are several apps I use that don't work either well or at all (this will change over time), I have iCloud Drive and Photos (Stream, Sharing) turned off, and I still prefer to use it with the Reduce Motion option on.
My iPad is the VZW LTE version, and it works better than I expected so far but I have noticed the "signal bars" fluctuate quite a bit although not having lost a signal - I streamed music via Amazon Music and the Music apps for about 6 hours yesterday with no issues.

I'll be trying out a couple of BT styli later with some Adobe apps.

B2 is far snappier than B1; I installed B2 over a clean B1 install using the OTA option. B2 didn't change the crashing of the apps that crashed under B1. B2 battery life is much better than I expected, but B1 was excellent too (4 days of light usage took it from 100% to 66% last week).

 

[joejoejoe]

Usable as in back to iOS 7 levels is a possibility, but this won't change the fact that the A5X is underpowered (in terms of CPU and GPU) to drive the iPad 3's retina display, so in some cases, the iPad 2 will run better.

I can't really agree with you.

My iPad 3 sang on iOS 6, and has gone downhill with every maajor OS update since.

Sure there are instances where the 2 might run better because of what you're saying, but let's not forget how great it was on iOS 6. More than usable, it was GREAT.

Now, I can barely use the thing without going a bit crazy due to lags. Wish there was a way to downgrade to iOS 7 (would love to use iPhoto again!)

 

[oldmacs]

I can't really agree with you.

My iPad 3 sang on iOS 6, and has gone downhill with every maajor OS update since.

Sure there are instances where the 2 might run better because of what you're saying, but let's not forget how great it was on iOS 6. More than usable, it was GREAT.

Now, I can barely use the thing without going a bit crazy due to lags. Wish there was a way to downgrade to iOS 7 (would love to use iPhoto again!)

But are you running iOS 9 on yours?

I found that my Mum's iPad 3 runs iOS 7.1.2 about as well as it ran iOS 6, but I haven't updated it to iOS 8 as I know it will suffer. I'm hoping that iOS 9 slightly improves over iOS 8 as then I'll skip 8 and wait till 9 for her.

 

[Andres Cantu]

I can't really agree with you.

My iPad 3 sang on iOS 6, and has gone downhill with every maajor OS update since.

Sure there are instances where the 2 might run better because of what you're saying, but let's not forget how great it was on iOS 6. More than usable, it was GREAT.

Now, I can barely use the thing without going a bit crazy due to lags. Wish there was a way to downgrade to iOS 7 (would love to use iPhoto again!)

I'm still optimistic about iOS 9. Plus, even if performance is not the best, the amount of features that Apple has added since iOS 6 is worth it.

 

[MacMartyr]

iOS 8 is so painfully slow on my 3.. I'm hoping that 9 will be better but I'm not holding my breath since people aren't reporting much of a difference.

 

[Andres Cantu]

iOS 8 is so painfully slow on my 3.. I'm hoping that 9 will be better but I'm not holding my breath since people aren't reporting much of a difference.

It's only been 2 betas so far, so there's still time

 

[Tubamajuba]

I can't really agree with you.

My iPad 3 sang on iOS 6, and has gone downhill with every maajor OS update since.

Sure there are instances where the 2 might run better because of what you're saying, but let's not forget how great it was on iOS 6. More than usable, it was GREAT.

Now, I can barely use the thing without going a bit crazy due to lags. Wish there was a way to downgrade to iOS 7 (would love to use iPhoto again!)

It's always been underpowered, it just became more noticeable when a more taxing operating system was installed on it. The iPad 2 used the A5 processor with a dual-core GPU. Apple quadrupled the number of pixels on the iPad 3, but only doubled the GPU power (to a quad-core version of the same chip). As a result, effective graphics performance on the iPad 3 is lower than on the iPad 2.

 

[dogslobber]

I'm running it on mine and have to say that I think it runs better than iOS 8. Everything is a bit more responsive. Even typing is a bit better and more responsive than before. There are still some hiccups (e.g., no drawing in notes yet), but I'm glad I made the update and am looking forward to the full release.

I've just found there is no drawing in the notes app on the beta! I find that really annoying as that's why I installed the beta.