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iPad Air and iOS 8.1 Performance?
- Thread starter rhino89
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The issue is that since its inception, blurring effects have always been a very intense effect to pull off even on regular computers. Just try applying one in photoshop to a high-res image. If the system couldn't handle it they should have lessened it where they can to elevate resources. Apple still refuses to optimize these effects properly on iPad. 3D graphics are actually much easier for the iPad since they're not transparent and solid objects. Thats why they appear smoother on many games.
My suggestion. Allow us to turn off the transparency in apps but keep it everywhere else like control center and notification center. Ya know....they fact that I have to figure this out is a joke. Isn't this what we pay Apple for? The blurring has been a little choppy on iOS ever since the Air was introduced. I have another idea. Instead of making iPads thinner and eliminating their mute switches, how about they put that extra layer of polish on the product that makes it function at its peak, ya know? Like Apple used to do?
Steve jobs in 2007 bragged about buttery smooth scrolling on the iPhone. And here we are on iPads with random stuttering all over the place. Its not horrible but its definitely not buttery smooth.
So the keyboard shows no indication that a key was pressed??
Also, does selecting "reduce transparency" fix the other issues like safari jitters, rotation jitters, and lag when typing quickly on the iPad?
Is the concensus then to stay on iOS 7.1.2 for those who haven't updated?
Perfectly said. This needs to be sent to Apple over and over and over again. Fix the performance of iOS 8 on iPad Air/retina mini.
I expect more than "OK-ish" from Apple, especially on their flagship devices such as iPad Air (which wasn't perfectly smooth even with iOS 7.1.2).
I have tried good specs Android tabs and Chrome doesn't hang or lag or refresh by itself there. Even Google has regressed its Chrome UI by hiding refresh button and going for ultra minimalist style. But that is still tolerable to iPad Safari's tab refreshes and crash to home screen issues.
iPad Safari has regressed on iOS 8. iPad Air fails at its primary function that is Good web browsing.
Yeah I know. I pay the premium for Apple devices in part to get that silky smoothness of everything. The last year or so I've dealt with more lag and stuttering than ever before.
Yes, reducing transparency basically make the iPad feel as smooth as iOS 6. Further proving how taxing this special effects are on the iPad.
Absolutely true. Even though I'm still on 7.1.2, I just toggled "reduce transparency" on for the first time (didn't know this even existed), and the occasional iOS 7 jerkiness in safari and iMessages is gone. And seeing that the same observation is seen in iOS 8, this transparency nonsense is just wasteful taxing of system resources for a small visual benefit. Well, at least there's a small solution then.
Can anyone else confirm some improvements in iOS 8.0 or 8.1 after reduce transparency is on?
Edit: just noticed I'm even having less of those annoying safari tab refreshes now... Seriously? Transparency has been the root of the performance issues all along? Unbelievable.
Multi-Gesture Freeze Problem Not Fixed in IOS 8.1
My iPad Air is still experiencing the Multi-Gesture screen freezes and crashes with IOS 8.1. It started with IOS 8.0, continued with IOS 8.02 and still no fix in IOS 8.1. Apple needs to fix this! It is annoying to have to reboot multiple times a day. Turning off this feature obviously cures the problem, but what is the point of having the feature if it doesn't work.
My iPad Air is still experiencing the Multi-Gesture screen freezes and crashes with IOS 8.1. It started with IOS 8.0, continued with IOS 8.02 and still no fix in IOS 8.1. Apple needs to fix this! It is annoying to have to reboot multiple times a day. Turning off this feature obviously cures the problem, but what is the point of having the feature if it doesn't work.
I tried turning off transparency and it came very close to solving the problem. For one day I worked the multi-gestures hard trying to get it to crash. I was only able to get it to crash once. Much improved. Also performance much improved. Speed of response and scrolling was quick and smooth. It appears that IOS 8 has placed additional demands on the processor and graphics chips that has resulted in marginal performance on the iPad Air. I'm sure that the iPad Air 2 works fine with the improved chips. But this again illustrates the dangers of upgrading the OS when you are stuck with the limitations of the old hardware.
The smoothness and performance on iPad Air is greatly improved by reducing transparency. But it turns the dock into an ugly piece of +$%$3
Enough said. Thanks for your summary.
Considering that and every other post in this thread, I've decided to stay in the latest version of iOS 7. Luckily I was smart enough to have a look at these forums before updating to iOS 8.1 and assuming that it would have solved all the performance issues!
Unbelievable but true. I too was unaware of the existence of that option until now, and after turning it off in iOS 7 wow, mate. What a difference!
Now I have a more-than-decently-responsive but fugly as hell OS. I guess it's better than a nice-looking slow piece of garbage, though.
Yeah thats the tradeoff. Reduce transparency makes the iPad scream like it should. But the home screen looks like utter garbage. Wish we could just keep it turned on for the home screen.
Actually I've got used to it after 30-45 minutes of use, lol.
The only thing that I can't stand and I'll probably never get used to it is the black background of Notification Center, with that white line on the bottom. It's bsolutely hideous. The dock, folders background and Spotlight (until a certain point) are tolerable though.
Let clear up the fact that the iPad Air is a very very powerful device. Its just that Apple decided to overly use a very complex effect to tax the system.
Crippled in terms of RAM. CPU is plenty fast, but it's GPU is still weak for translucency effects.
The annoying thing is that the keyboard and animations were fine on the iPad Air on 7.1.2 with the transparencies enabled. I'm typing this post on my Air with transparencies disabled and the keyboard is noticeably more responsive.
This is nothing to do with the system being underpowered or old, this tablet can run some of the most graphically intense games on the App Store yet it can't show a keyboard with transparencies without input lag? Not buying it, it was fine before on 7.1.2, so get it sorted Apple.
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Absolute nonsense.
The iPad Air was super smooth on iOS 7.1.2 with these same effects.
It's laziness from Apple, but then again they've always been behind when it comes to iPad buikds of iOS. My iPhone 5s is an absolute dream to use on iOS 8.1.
This is nothing to do with the system being underpowered or old, this tablet can run some of the most graphically intense games on the App Store yet it can't show a keyboard with transparencies without input lag? Not buying it, it was fine before on 7.1.2, so get it sorted Apple.
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Absolute nonsense.
The iPad Air was super smooth on iOS 7.1.2 with these same effects.
It's laziness from Apple, but then again they've always been behind when it comes to iPad buikds of iOS. My iPhone 5s is an absolute dream to use on iOS 8.1.
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iPhone 5s has much lower resolution to render the screen with translucency effects.
iOS 8 introduces keyboard translucency at many places including Safari. This causes unnecessary keyboard lag. If you know your stuff, the translucency effects like Gaussian blur are very taxing on GPU. iPad Air's higher resolution makes things harder.
Aside from some not so smooth animations and occasionally wonky auto rotation, my Air performs as it did with ios 7.