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iPad Air 2 on iOS 9.3.5
- Thread starter MattMJB0188
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I’ve had my Air 2 for over 3 years and running 11.2.1 I don’t see any noticeable difference with 9.3. and enjoy split view, the new dock etc...
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I have the same experience with 11.2.1 on Air 2 - runs great, excellent performance (I also have a 10.5 iPP to compare it against).
I'm sure you see animation stutters. I did when playing with an iOS 11 AIR 2.
Not worth giving up slide to unlock.
Seeing it on one (or even multiple) does not extrapolate to existing on all.
I've got my 9.7 Pro on iOS 9.3.4. Works flawlessly. I like some iOS 11 features but I'm not giving up the flawless experience. Issues are not guaranteed but if they do show up I cannot do anything. And I have been generally unlucky with that. If I can avoid issues arising by not updating, then so be it.
I'm willing to accept app compatibility issues and lack of features in order to have a flawless experience.
I'm willing to accept app compatibility issues and lack of features in order to have a flawless experience.
Hate to say it, but “app compatibility issues” means a flawed experience.
My mini 4 works just as well on iOS 11 as it did on iOS 10, and iOS 10 felt faster than 9 just because of the animation speed. I would think the Air 2 would be the same but I don’t actually have one. Maybe it has something to do with the tri core processor that doesn’t handle single threaded loads as well?
You know I mean flawless in a different way. Yes, I don't like it, I hate to have to do that and it hinders the experience. I'll grant you that, but it would be far worse if the entire experience was hindered by updating. I can always seek workarounds, and I don't have major issues now, two versions behind. I still can download whatever I want. In iOS 12 or 13 I think I won't be able to say the same, but so far, so good. An iOS 7 iPad would be quite awful now, and it was not on iOS 9, for example.
Yours might be working really well, I do not question it, but I won't take that risk. Not after a few awful experiences.
I have an iPad Air that I kept on iOS 9.3.5 (use it for Netflix screenshots). Thus far, I have yet to encounter an app that is not compatible with iOS 9 albeit I do have a couple that just recently dropped support for iOS 7 and 8.
The Air 2, I have on iOS 10.3.3 (kinda hate how you need to slide nearly to the top of the screen to open the iOS 11 control center). Honestly, there seems sufficient processing power on the Air 2 (A8X) that for normal tasks, it feels indistinguishable from a Pro 9.7 (A9X) or Pro 12.9 (A10X).
Yeah, I would think the Air 2 should still perform well. It’s not super old.
I think it's great if you have an iOS version you know and love and will stick with. It sounds like those iOS 9 users who have posted at least did their research and figured out what they would be giving up and what the trade-off is - certainly better than upgrading automatically, then tossing the device to the side at the first sign of non-absolute-perfection performance!
I love seeing the different viewpoints!
I love seeing the different viewpoints!
I have an iPad Air - luckily not upgraded to iOS11 - on iOS10.3.3 and seems to run fine
Also have iPhone 4S and and another ipad running on 9.3.5 which seem to run very well but no iCloud drive (my reason for upgrading iPad Air)
I am curious - what is so great about the "Slide to Unlock" ??
At the same age with as many firmware updates, Air 1 and older iPads didn't really perform all that well.
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Lol, I actually delay installing firmware updates until it's near the release of the next major firmware update. That way, most of the early bugs are already fixed and most of the issues have already been discovered. Only major update I installed early was iOS 9. iOS 8 was crash city for me so figured 9 couldn't be any worse.
Do they match performance of the previous version piece by piece? Even if there are no bugs and issues are fixed, does, for example, the last version of iOS 10 match the best-working version - or the one you were happy with - of iOS 9?
Really depends on the hardware. For example, I haven't really made any scientific testing but for my normal use, the Pro 9.7 works just as well on iOS 10 as it did on iOS 9.
The Air 2 has been quite impressive. If it's slowed down, then the slow down is fairly negligible in day to day use. Like I mentioned previously, the Air 2 doesn't really feel any slower compared to the Pro 9.7 (A9X) and Pro 12.9 (A10X) for typical tasks.
I find iOS 9 on 3, 4 and Air to be faster than iOS 8. Fewer Safari crashes, too (or at least it was handled more elegantly instead of being allowed to go on a crash loop). Granted, iOS 7 was still a smidge faster. Mind, the iPad 3 (even on iOS 6) was almost unbearable when I tried using it again after getting used to just A7 level performance. The iPad 2 also.
We do still have the following in our household:
iPod Touch 4th gen: iOS 4 (now this was actually RAM starved - just 256MB)
iPhone 4: iOS 5
iPhone 4S: iOS 6
iPad 4: iOS 6
Quite frankly, while I remember these devices as being fast back in the day, side by side comparison with newer devices show that I'm remembering them with more fondness than actual performance warranted. A7 and newer are simply faster when it comes to generating thumbnails, webpage rendering, PDF rendering, etc. The older UI just doesn't happen to be prone to micro stutters like on iOS 7+.
I read the iOS 10 part back when it was current, but I refrained from updating because of the same reasons. In hindsight, I probably could have updated it back then without issues. The Air 2 was always referred to as the longevity model. I think that definition suited it perfectly. Working flawlessly on iOS 10 and working fairly well on 11? 4 updates without slowing to a crawl? That's far better than in the past. Do you know how's the iPad 4 on iOS 10? I read it was awful.
Agree on the iPod Touch 4G, have one on iOS 5. It works well, but the RAM deficiency is apparent. I envy your iPad 4. I'd buy one on iOS 6 in a heartbeat. That was my most regretted decision regarding updates. My cousin had the iPad 2 on iOS 6 until he had to restore it and lost it. I don't recall how it fared speed-wise but I don't remember it being slow. When he updated it to iOS 8 (I think it was 8) it was far slower.
But I cannot imagine how fast would a 9.7 Pro (I don't take into account the newer models because I don't have them) run on iOS 6. I would love to try it for a while. I agree with your last part of the A7, I never compared them, but I am sure my 9.7 Pro blows my iPod Touch 5G out of the water, even on iOS 6. It feels really faster, at least with the iPad on iOS 9.
I find something rare: Safari is faster on an iPod Touch 5G on iOS 9 than on mine on iOS 6. Mine is full and the iOS 9 one is almost empty, but it is only slower in Safari. On the rest of tasks it is massively faster.
I am rocking a iPad Air 2 and have had it for over 2 years now which it is still on iOS 9.3.4 and am definitely not looking to upgrade to iOS 11 or to any future new version of iOS.
I just love the smoothness and fluid and the animations running very fast on my iPad Air 2 and the performance while on iOS 9.3.4 is still ridiculously really really fast!!!
And I be happy to deal with any app compatibility issues but at luckily at the moment I am able to install anything that I want which will definitely be the case for a long time yet and it is definitely not worth the trade off getting the new features like The Dock, Files apps and improved multitasking.
I will definitely be waiting to get a new and better iPad to have those awesome iOS 11 features(The Dock, Files App, more).
Anyway I thought I was the only one that I am still on iOS 9.3.4 on my iPad Air 2 haha!!!
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Take it from me, iPad 4/iOS 6 doesn't really hold up all that well for web browsing, etc. Most modern webpages are quite glitchy on Safari. I've done side by side comparison of iPad 4/iOS 9 and iPad 4/iOS 6 and similar to your experience, Safari on iOS 9 actually rendered webpages faster than iOS 6. Apps may be loading more slowly than iOS 6 but for example, the last compatible version of Facebook for iOS 6 was just 100MB. The most recent updates? Iirc, they're always 200-400MB downloads now. I didn't really have much time with the iPad 4 on iOS 10 before I gave that iPad away but my impression was it wasn't significantly slower compared to iOS 9. Yeah, it certainly wasn't snappy but I'd still rather use an iPad 4 on iOS 10 than an iPad 3 on iOS 6. Mind, I did apply some tweaks (reduce motion enabled, background app refresh disabled, spotlight search disabled, etc).
As for how fast the A7 and newer are on iOS 6, they're at the point where you likely wouldn't notice a difference unless you're benchmarking. The A6 was remarkably well suited for iOS 6. Kinda like an Intel Core 2 Duo on Windows XP. The CPU was more than fast enough for the operating system that even if one upgraded to a Core i7, you wouldn't really notice a difference performing normal tasks (unless your normal tasks include video encoding, 3D rendering, etc). Granted, the iPad 4 could certainly have benefited from more RAM, though.
Agree on Web browsing. iOS 6 is slow compared to iOS 9 on my iPod Touch 5G. Really slower. I did not compare - because the iPod Touch on iOS 9 is empty other than a game that is not compatible with iOS 6, and it is not mine - third party apps, but every single native app was faster on iOS 6.
I am though really fond of the design of iOS 6, and I recall it being flawless performance-wise on my iPad 4, feature I lost when updating to iOS 7. Yes, the Pro 9.7 might blow the iPad 4 on iOS 6 out of the water, but it doesn't render the iPad 4 slow. On the other hand, iOS 7< do render the iPad far slower than what it should be.
Yeah, probably an A7 on iOS 6 wouldn't make a large difference compared to the iPad 4. If there is, it would be minimal. And I am unsure - as you say - whether iOS 6 would be faster than iOS 9 on my 9.7 Pro. It really is very fast.
Funny thing is perception.
I disabled ProMotion on my iPad Pro 12.9 because after weeks of getting used to ProMotion, my Pro 9.7 and Air 2 started feeling a bit laggy. The thing is these iPads were just as fast as they were before I got the Pro 12.9. It's just my perception that has changed after prolonged exposure to ProMotion.
Another example, after upgrading to an SSD and getting used to its performance for months, computers that don't have SSD's now feel super slow.
Mind, I have to support some Windows 98 computers with Pentium III 1GHz at work running some old equipment that would cost ~$500K to replace. It's hard to believe I used to think a P3 1GHz was fast. Now those computers feel like absolute dinosaurs.
Exactly the same as Retina displays. The first experience I had with an iPad was with my cousin's iPad 2 I told you earlier. The screen was incredible. I got my iPad 4, and after getting used to it, the iPad 2's screen seemed awful. When you get used to something better, even though the worse one isn't necessarily awful, it certainly feels like it is.
I already had an iPhone 4 with retina so by the time I bought my iPad 2, I was already spoiled. I only used the iPad 2 for manga (Japanese comics) and PDF. I much preferred to do my web browsing and ebook reading on the iPhone 4's 3.5" retina display. Despite its slow performance, I used the iPad 3 far more than the iPad 2 thanks to both retina and built-in LTE.
Ugh, just discovered a new "feature" on iOS 11.
When transferring epub files over AirDrop, it automatically opens with iBooks. If you don't have iBooks installed, it's gonna ask you to install iBooks even if you have plenty of other epub reader apps installed on the device. Of course, that's compounded by the issue that there's no way to export epubs within iBooks to other apps.
As epub AirDrop transfers is something I do frequently, looks like I won't ever be updating to iOS 11. I expect it'll be iOS 12 or newer before Apple starts allowing changing default apps (that is if they ever do). So glad I haven't updated the Pro 12.9 and Pro 9.7 yet. It's good that I had an iPhone 5s I was able to use as guinea pig for iOS 11.
When transferring epub files over AirDrop, it automatically opens with iBooks. If you don't have iBooks installed, it's gonna ask you to install iBooks even if you have plenty of other epub reader apps installed on the device. Of course, that's compounded by the issue that there's no way to export epubs within iBooks to other apps.
As epub AirDrop transfers is something I do frequently, looks like I won't ever be updating to iOS 11. I expect it'll be iOS 12 or newer before Apple starts allowing changing default apps (that is if they ever do). So glad I haven't updated the Pro 12.9 and Pro 9.7 yet. It's good that I had an iPhone 5s I was able to use as guinea pig for iOS 11.