My iPad 2

[Braders88]

Good Evening Mac Community,

I just wanted to shout out in to the community and see how many of you guys and gals are still using the famous and legendary 2011 classic iPad 2?

When did you buy your awesome iPad 2?
What do you use it for and what are your most used apps?
How do you rate the battery life after all this time?
Are you looking to trade it in soon?
Your iPad 2 Pros and Cons?

For myself I use my iPad 2 in the morning and evening after work, I tend to use my iPad a lot more than I use my iPhone.
A mixture of YouTube, Safari, Email, Social Media and a small bit of gaming take up my time when using the device. The only downside now to my iPad 2 would be the performance under the latest iOS.
The latest version stutters and lags on my iPad 2 especially when navigating between apps and the Home Screen. Battery life has also taken a hit as it can drop significantly for no real reason (already lost 4% in writing this post). However I tend to get around 10 hours of useage and around 48 hours standby on average.
With all this aside I still love my iPad 2 and it will probably take another few years before I even consider an upgrade.

Very keen to hear all your thoughts!

 

[joeblow7777]

I'm not an iPad 2 owner, but if it still does what you need it to do, keep enjoying it! Good for you for not feeling like you have to have the newest shiniest thing just because.

 

[rui no onna]

Passed along my iPad 2 to my mom 4 years ago. After that, it went to my grandmother around 3 years ago and it has served her well looking at Facebook photos and FaceTime/Skyping with grandkids. Personally wouldn't be able to stand the lag for my own usage but hey, it's great if it still works for you.

 

[brand]

As iPad get slower for general usage they can be transitioned into great digital photo frames or other purpose specific appliances.

 

[jeremiah256]

We bought it as soon as it came out. Currently, it's the family iPad and sits in the living room. Mainly, it's the go-to device my son uses for his elementary school work. The schools don't generally buy class books anymore, so we've run into situations where the story was read in class, and he has to answer the questions at home. How are we supposed to help him when we don't know the story? Luckily, so far all the stories have been read and posted to YouTube, so we grab the iPad, find the video, and AirPlay it on the TV. There are also homework apps the students use to submit work. Lastly, we load music and movies on it when we travel to keep him entertained. Battery life - honestly haven't had to test it in a while. It's plugged in every night, and even if we're traveling in the car, it's plugged in. It's slow now, so we'll be replacing it (this weekend, in fact) with the 9.7" iPad Pro. He draws a lot on my Surface 3, so also getting the pencil. My expectations are to duplicate our experience with the iPad 2 and get 4-5 years of use out of this iPad.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I ended up getting an Air 2 in September when Staples had the $150 off sale. I had an iPad 2 from launch day 2011. It was definitely on its way out. Safari crashed after every 30 seconds, nothing would load. That is after countless restores as new. Couldn't be happier with my Air 2. I would consider upgrading if I were you.

 

[Devvy]

I owned an iPad 2 for 4 years, bought it when the 3rd gen was just released. Moved to an Air2 a couple of weeks ago.
We have used the iPad 2 for so many things and so intensively, we have never owned a device that we used so much. And after four years it was still functioning as new, and looking as new; apart from the iOS 9.2 that killed its performance, mainly in the Safari browser.
I find the battery life amazing, after four years of so much use. Excellent piece of hardware overall!

 

[Newtons Apple]

If the iPad 2 suits you, stick with it. No need to change.

 

[Tobias Funke]

My iPad 2 is still serving my parents well.

But when I do use it to fix a problem they have or show them something I notice it is very slow.

 

[DougFNJ]

I call it a classic! My wife still has and uses hers. I had gotten her the iPad 2 when there were great sales going on upon the iPad 3 release. I personally upgrade through generations, she loves hers and has no desire to upgrade.

I call it a classic because it basically upgraded the design between the flat back and the strategically placed magnets inspiring the designs they still use today.

It was also the last iPad Steve Jobs introduced.

 

[bufffilm]

Still using my ipad2, bought in May 2011.

Kept it on ios7...no slowdown except with browser. Had to switch to puffin to get reasonable performance.

Safari, chrome, dolphin and others did not work well...I've tried them all. Only puffin...check it out for anyone with similar problem with Internet browsing.

Battery life is still good.

 

[masotime]

If you like it, you should be fine. My dad and a colleague still uses the iPad 2 and they see no reason to upgrade.

I wouldn't be satisfied with a non-retina display and (relatively) sluggish performance, but if you are, there's really little reason to upgrade.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Love this thread!

iPad 2 has to go down as one of Apple's all time classics. It was one of those legendary 2nd gen products that Apple released where you thought, "This is what they actually envisioned the product to be in the first place." Every iteration of the iPad since then, up to the Air 2, has simply been an iterative upgrade to the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 was my first iPad, I bought two at launch as I was waiting for an iPad with cameras, intenting for it to replace mine and my wife's personal laptops completely, even back then in 2011 . I had just become an Apple convert, choosing an MBA offered to me by my then employer, and was extremely impressed having come from clunky and slow Windows XP and Vista laptops for years. I had a vision of only having my home media server and ATV's alongside iPads and iPhones, and it materialised. We both loved the setup right away. I used iMovie for the first time on it to create and edit home videos we had collected of our then 1 year old baby girl, and film new ones in then incredible 720p - our portable handheld camera then only capable of SD and 4:3 aspect ratio.

The thing changed my world, and I never looked back!!! We had both of them up until just a couple of weeks ago, after our kids had been using them without trouble for 3 years with no problems, just the typical slow down with updates to the OS. They were both running on 9.3.1 when we sold them for the equivalent of $100 each and have to say I was quite impressed with how well they held up for 5 years.

For me there is nothing that is a more clear cut classic iOS device, maybe the iPhone 4.
[doublepost=1461348925][/doublepost]

As iPads get slower for general usage they can be transitioned into great digital photo frames or other purpose specific appliances.

Grammar police!! Fixed that for you.

 

[masotime]

Interesting stats: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ap...ed-when-steve-jobs-was-still-alive-2015-11-06

 

[Fuzzball84]

I'm not an iPad 2 owner, but if it still does what you need it to do, keep enjoying it! Good for you for not feeling like you have to have the newest shiniest thing just because.

I still have my original iPad lying around and its battery life is still amazing. Granted its stuck on iOS5 but for some very basic tasks, movies and email it still works great. The screen, despite its low res is still pretty good for colors and brightness.

 

[joeblow7777]

I think that the iPad 2 is the Windows XP of iPads. It gained massive popularity which it maintained well after it stopped being the most advanced model. Both the iPad 2 and Windows XP had an immediate successor that was largely seen as a dud (iPad 3 and Windows Vista respectively), which only served to reinforce their own popularity. It's possible that The Air 2 may be the Windows 7 of iPads; the next iteration with major staying power.

 

[Fuzzball84]

I think that the iPad 2 is the Windows XP of iPads. It gained massive popularity which it maintained well after it stopped being the most advanced model. Both the iPad 2 and Windows XP had an immediate successor that was largely seen as a dud (iPad 3 and Windows Vista respectively), which only served to reinforce their own popularity. It's possible that The Air 2 may be the Windows 7 of iPads; the next iteration with major staying power.

I agree completely! I'm still really happy with my Air 2 and since it was one of the first devices with 2 GB RAM and quite a powerful CPU and GPU for its time, it seems it will have similar staying power. One of the best purchases I made.

 

[Stevi]

When did you buy your awesome iPad 2? On release day I stood in line and waited with all the other nuts - I mean forward thinkers.

What do you use it for and what are your most used apps? Now I use it mostly to play games, but I have used it for photography - photo processing, writing, meetings email and web browsing and the like. I have been off work due to multiple chronic illnesses since Oct 2010 so the iPad 2 has been my constant companion since I have had it. I had to fight the insurance company to accept my diagnosis so I used it to track my medical appointments and documents I needed during my appeal process. It was a lifesaver during a 5 week hospital stay!

How do you rate the battery life after all this time? So so. I think it might have been my knock-off cover as it would every once and a while look like the battery had completely discharged, but I think the cover wasn't turning it off rather than the battery not holding a charge.

Are you looking to trade it in soon? Sort of. I already invested in a 12.9" 256GB Wifi only IPP. So the new IPP has become my portable unit. The iPad2 now lives in it's floor stand by my bed. I am not ready to part with it.

Your iPad 2 Pros and Cons? I bought my iPad2 at launch and it was my first Apple purchase. Depending on your perspective, the iPad2 was the slippery slope that turned me onto Apple. I started messing around with computers in the late 1970s but always never with Apple - except with a brief go while in High School when the school was Apple only. Now I have everything Apple. But back to the iPad2. It is now slow and not so reliable. It frequently crashes and requires a reboot (not necessarily at the same time. So it is not at it's best,however it doesn't owe me a thing and has helped preserve my sanity especially when I have been quite ill.

 

[stevemiller]

People love to dump on the 3 for being underpowered, but there really were no issues with it on ios5/6. And the screen was insane at the time. My only regret was updating it past ios6, I have a friend who kept his there and it never gave him any problems (beyond dwindling support for any new apps)

 

[tarasis]

May daughter (9) has our old iPad 2, and my son (nearly 11) the old iPad 4. Installing the latest OS onto the iPad 2 was a mistake as its downright horrid and makes the device quite unpleasant to use at times. It does still work, and baring the odd thing that dies for memory reasons my daughter is happy with it.

That said, the plan was to upgrade the kids so my daughter is going to get my iPad Air 2 (while I get the iPad Pro 9.7"). Then at a later point my son will get upgrade (whether thats this year with another iPad Air 2, or next year if I get the next 9.7" iteration remains to be seen).

 

[Andres Cantu]

The iPad 2,4 model with a 32nm A5 chip at $399 was a much better value than the iPad 3 at $499 that was both thicker and heavier (and had worse battery life).

If I could go back in time and choose two iPad models, I would have bought an iPad 2,4 in early 2012 and an iPad Air 2 on Black Friday in 2014.

 

[ibookg409]

My wife still has her iPad 2. She bought it within the first month it came out. Since then I have had 4 different ipads, the latest being the iPad Pro 12.9 that I picked up last Saturday.