All iPads The first iPads

[rui no onna]

Honestly if I went back in time and couldn't wait until the mini 2, I would pick an iPad 2 and skip the 3 and 4, I would pick the lighter weight over the retina display and the 4 was too close to the much ligher air 1 or retina mini 2. Of course knowing how things went I would leave it on iOS 6...

I went:

64GB WiFi iPad 2 > 64GB LTE iPad 3 > 128GB LTE iPad 4 > 16GB LTE OG Air

Honestly, the only thing I’d change in the above was to go with 128GB instead of 16GB on the Air. In those early years, there were must have improvements between generations that I wanted to get ASAP.

• iPad 3 - retina
• iPad 4 - 128GB storage and performance (A6X/1GB + iOS 6 was a match made heaven)
• iPad Air - universal LTE and the weight/size reduction meant it actually fits in my purses instead of needing to carry a separate bag

Of course, my frequent upgrades benefited family members who got my hand me downs. 😂

 

[FeliApple]

well in hindsight I do agree with everything you said.
Problem is back then it was hard to know...
So without using the device I only based my feel in the hand, and I almost bought the 2, as it was lighter and got it later used just to have it in my collection.
But iOS 9 destroyed it (got it on 9 already)
It was hard to predict RAM. On iOS 7 it was fine.
I had the air 1 and 2 and honestly I'd skip both and go directly to the 9.7 pro, was 1000 times better than the air 2 (I had both before selling the air 2)

Yeah, absolutely, back then we didn’t know.

Interesting that you say the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a lot better than the Air 2, why?


(I’ve mentioned this already, but it adds to the conversation)

I think that Apple’s improvement in that regard has been significant. I severely criticize Apple for severely impacting devices with updates (and I will until they 100% fix the problem, if they do), but they’ve really improved.

Three major iOS versions in, and the iPad 2 was hanging by a thread (iOS 7 was better than iOS 9... but it was still poor); the iPad 3 as well (iOS 8? Horrible). The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is very good on iOS 12 ignoring that 3-4 hour SOT loss (which still renders it totally usable), and the 3rd-gen iPad Pro is very good on iPadOS 15. We’ve come a long way in long-term usability, even if it isn’t perfect.

 

[FeliApple]

I went:

64GB WiFi iPad 2 > 64GB LTE iPad 3 > 128GB LTE iPad 4 > 16GB LTE OG Air

Honestly, the only thing I’d change in the above was to go with 128GB instead of 16GB on the Air. In those early years, there were must have improvements between generations that I wanted to get ASAP.

• iPad 3 - retina
• iPad 4 - 128GB storage and performance (A6X/1GB + iOS 6 was a match made heaven)
• iPad Air - universal LTE and the weight/size reduction meant it actually fits in my purses instead of needing to carry a separate bag

Of course, my frequent upgrades benefited family members who got my hand me downs. 😂

I completely agree about the iPad 4 on iOS 6 like I said earlier.

I recall the Air launch. I had gotten my first iPad (the iPad 4 on iOS 6) around 6 months earlier. I was in awe. I thought “what am I doing with the iPad 4 when that exists?”. It took me a few years to finally upgrade, but I do recall wanting the Air 1 immediately. I utterly loved the design.

The Air 2, interestingly, and unlike the other iPads (the iPad 2 and 3 especially), was immediately appealing. The tri-core A8X was, until then, one of the best experiences ever on iOS 8, perhaps slightly behind the iPad 4 on iOS 6. I recall knowing immediately (and the forums also commenting) that this was the long-term iPad to get. This hadn’t been the case before that.

Now, lines blur with newer models. Even a little older ones. The 1st-gen 12.9-inch iPad Pro isn’t much worse than the 2nd-gen, etc. But back then upgrades were massive.

The iPad Air was an absolutely beautiful device. Sleek design, powerful processor. It only needed 2GB of RAM, and the Air 2 was the Air 1 made perfect. Touch ID, 2GB of RAM, the same sleek design.

Funnily enough (and that’s why it is my favourite iPad), the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is the Ultimate Air 2. The only original-design iPad with Pro-level features. The complete version of the Apple’s original iPad idea. That’s why it is so appealing to me. It’s an idea made perfect.

I had it on iOS 9 and it was the perfect iPad, regardless of how much time or how many models went by. But the one that paved the way for it was the Air 2, and like I said, unlike what happened with the other models, people knew. Even back then.

 

[rui no onna]

Interesting that you say the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a lot better than the Air 2, why?

It's a lot snappier. The improvement in single core performance on A9X vs A8X is quite noticeable in a lot of tasks. Iirc, A9X performed similarly to Core 2 Duo E8500. Quite a feat for an ARM chip back in those days.

iPad Pro 9.7 + iOS 12 is still reasonably fast but iPad Air 2 + iOS 12 is noticeably laggier.

 

[Digitalguy]

Yeah, absolutely, back then we didn’t know.

Interesting that you say the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a lot better than the Air 2, why?


(I’ve mentioned this already, but it adds to the conversation)

I think that Apple’s improvement in that regard has been significant. I severely criticize Apple for severely impacting devices with updates (and I will until they 100% fix the problem, if they do), but they’ve really improved.

Three major iOS versions in, and the iPad 2 was hanging by a thread (iOS 7 was better than iOS 9... but it was still poor); the iPad 3 as well (iOS 8? Horrible). The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is very good on iOS 12 ignoring that 3-4 hour SOT loss (which still renders it totally usable), and the 3rd-gen iPad Pro is very good on iPadOS 15. We’ve come a long way in long-term usability, even if it isn’t perfect.

Several big reasons (at least for me):
- the screen was much nicer, much less reflective, brighter, more color accurate
- the speakers were way better, not even close
- while dual core vs 3-core it felt so much faster because of the much more powerful cores, the air 2 felt sluggish on IOS 12, while the 9.7 felt fast enough on the same OS.
- support for the Apple pencil was a very big deal for annotating documents
- native keyboard support was another big deal (the Apple keyboard was crappy, but the Logitec Create was soo good... while all the bloototh keyboard for the air 1 and 2 I could find were mediocre at best, including from Logitech).

The 9.7 was a massive upgrade over the air 2, but while people speak fondly of the air 2, a lot hate the 9.7 pro, mainly for one reason: it didn't get 4GB RAM like its bigger bother. Price was not really a big reason since it was only $100 more than the base air 2 with double the storage. But it came 1.5 years later and 2GB RAM was not well received at all. Other missing elements from the bigger bother were USB 3.0 and fast charging, but those were not as big issues as the lack of RAM.
If it had 4GB it would have gone down to history as one of the best iPads ever made (that role has probably gone to the 2018 pro, also somewhat RAM limited however, other than for the model I bought with 6GB RAM).

 

[Digitalguy]

It's a lot snappier. The improvement in single core performance on A9X vs A8X is quite noticeable in a lot of tasks. Iirc, A9X performed similarly to Core 2 Duo E8500. Quite a feat for an ARM chip back in those days.

iPad Pro 9.7 + iOS 12 is still reasonably fast but iPad Air 2 + iOS 12 is noticeably laggier.

Exactly, we essential said the same thing

 

[rui no onna]

The 9.7 was a massive upgrade over the air 2, but while people speak fondly of the air 2, a lot hate the 9.7 pro, mainly for one reason: it didn't get 4GB RAM like its bigger bother. Price was not really a big reason since it was only $100 more than the base air 2 with double the storage. But it came 1.5 years later and 2GB RAM was not well received at all. Other missing elements from the bigger bother were USB 3.0 and fast charging, but those were not as big issues as the lack of RAM.
If it had 4GB it would have gone down to history as one of the best iPads ever made (that role has probably gone to the 2018 pro, also somewhat RAM limited however, other than for the model I bought with 6GB RAM).

So true.

Mind, they had a dual RAM configuration with the 2015 Pro 12.9 while the 2016 Pro 9.7 only had single RAM. Would've been great if it had 4GB but even with 2GB, it's still one of my favorite iPads ever made.

 

[FeliApple]

It's a lot snappier. The improvement in single core performance on A9X vs A8X is quite noticeable in a lot of tasks. Iirc, A9X performed similarly to Core 2 Duo E8500. Quite a feat for an ARM chip back in those days.

iPad Pro 9.7 + iOS 12 is still reasonably fast but iPad Air 2 + iOS 12 is noticeably laggier.

Interesting to hear that the Air 2 isn’t great on iOS 12. I had thought that the cut-off for all of those models was iPadOS 13.

I can say that as somebody who runs original iOS versions when Apple allows me to, iOS 12 is still a pleasure to use on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro. They forced me out of iOS 9 but the end result isn’t too bad. 25% worse battery life and slight, negligible, and intermittent keyboard lag (so, once in a while).

I ran iOS 9 for three years and I’ve been running iOS 12 for almost the last five years. It’s good.

I assume that difference only grows as you install newer iOS versions.

But, glass half-full: no animation lag on iOS 12; no crashes; decent battery life; no app lag at all. It’s still a pleasure to use. Even with its shortcomings. Even if it has 2GB of RAM. At least on iOS 12.

I thought that despite the single-core difference (which I was aware of), the Air 2 maintained decency until at least iPadOS 13. Very interesting to hear that it hasn’t.

 

[FeliApple]

Several big reasons (at least for me):
- the screen was much nicer, much less reflective, brighter, more color accurate
- the speakers were way better, not even close
- while dual core vs 3-core it felt so much faster because of the much more powerful cores, the air 2 felt sluggish on IOS 12, while the 9.7 felt fast enough on the same OS.
- support for the Apple pencil was a very big deal for annotating documents
- native keyboard support was another big deal (the Apple keyboard was crappy, but the Logitec Create was soo good... while all the bloototh keyboard for the air 1 and 2 I could find were mediocre at best, including from Logitech).

The 9.7 was a massive upgrade over the air 2, but while people speak fondly of the air 2, a lot hate the 9.7 pro, mainly for one reason: it didn't get 4GB RAM like its bigger bother. Price was not really a big reason since it was only $100 more than the base air 2 with double the storage. But it came 1.5 years later and 2GB RAM was not well received at all. Other missing elements from the bigger bother were USB 3.0 and fast charging, but those were not as big issues as the lack of RAM.
If it had 4GB it would have gone down to history as one of the best iPads ever made (that role has probably gone to the 2018 pro, also somewhat RAM limited however, other than for the model I bought with 6GB RAM).

You also mentioned iOS 12 on the Air 2. Very interesting, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard this. I thought iPadOS 13 had been the end for all 9.7-inch compatible iPads, not iOS 12 for some.

Yeah, those reasons you mentioned are great. Especially speakers. I do notice the screen advantages when compared to the 6th-gen iPad... but honestly, as much as I value them, I wouldn’t necessarily consider those features crucial. In fact, a family member has a 6th-gen iPad on iOS 12, and I think I value more the 3-3.5 hours of battery life that I lost over the screen features. I think that, at least subjectively, a 6th-gen iPad on iOS 12 has more value than a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12.

I think you can adjust to the screen, I use headphones, and I don’t have the 1st-gen a Apple Pencil nor the keyboard. I appreciate the screen because I have it though, like I said.

The A9X on iOS 9 is a different story. One of the best iOS-chipset combos ever. I had both and Apple took that away from me, but it was great. I enjoyed it while I had it (both on the iPad and the iPhone 6s).

I agree: people have historically misjudged this iPad due to RAM. But RAM was fine. RAM was fine until (and including) iOS 12. It’s like the 4GB of RAM you mentioned... RAM-starved, but not on iOS 12. The iPhone 6s’ 2GB of RAM were widely praised back on iOS 9.

 

[rui no onna]

Interesting to hear that the Air 2 isn’t great on iOS 12. I had thought that the cut-off for all of those models was iPadOS 13.

It's not too bad but I often wished I'd kept the Air 2 at iOS 10.

Now Air 2 + iPadOS 15 is another story.

 

[Digitalguy]

So true.

Mind, they had a dual RAM configuration with the 2015 Pro 12.9 while the 2016 Pro 9.7 only had single RAM. Would've been great if it had 4GB but even with 2GB, it's still one of my favorite iPads ever made.

I didn't know that A9X was dual channel in 4GB and single channel in the 2GB variant. I learnt something

 

[Digitalguy]

You also mentioned iOS 12 on the Air 2. Very interesting, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard this. I thought iPadOS 13 had been the end for all 9.7-inch compatible iPads, not iOS 12 for some.

Yeah, those reasons you mentioned are great. Especially speakers. I do notice the screen advantages when compared to the 6th-gen iPad... but honestly, as much as I value them, I wouldn’t necessarily consider those features crucial. In fact, a family member has a 6th-gen iPad on iOS 12, and I think I value more the 3-3.5 hours of battery life that I lost over the screen features. I think that, at least subjectively, a 6th-gen iPad on iOS 12 has more value than a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12.

I think you can adjust to the screen, I use headphones, and I don’t have the 1st-gen a Apple Pencil nor the keyboard. I appreciate the screen because I have it though, like I said.

The A9X on iOS 9 is a different story. One of the best iOS-chipset combos ever. I had both and Apple took that away from me, but it was great. I enjoyed it while I had it (both on the iPad and the iPhone 6s).

I agree: people have historically misjudged this iPad due to RAM. But RAM was fine. RAM was fine until (and including) iOS 12. It’s like the 4GB of RAM you mentioned... RAM-starved, but not on iOS 12. The iPhone 6s’ 2GB of RAM were widely praised back on iOS 9.

Honestly there is not much performance difference between iOS 9 and 12, if any. Air 2 on iOS 8 is a different story, but iOS 8 is totally unusable today, it would be a nightmare to use.
Performance in iOS 11 suffered quite a bit, including for A9X 4GB, only A10X was fine. But iOS 12 restored the performance of iOS 9 and 10, while keeping all the improvements that iOS 11 brought.

To be honest the real issue is "perceived speed", that is nobody complains about something if they are not used to something faster... It's not just OS updates and sometimes it's not OS updates at all (some have reduced performance, other have even improved it like 12 over 11).

People here speak highly of a dog like the first iPad with A4, which was never fast even on iPhoneOS. But there was nothing before it to compared with. And it open the world to the tablet experience. Personally, I never complained about A7 performance, because that was my first iPad. Same with A8X, but when I got used to A9X and then went back to A8 or A8X that thing felt slow in comparison. I had raised my standards.

But that's not linear. When I got used to A10X, A9X was still decent, while slower. But 2GB RAM made it harder and when I pushed the device the 9.7 pro started crashing, with the 12.9 with A9X hanged a bit but hardly ever crashed.

Today I am a bit less comfortable with the 9.7 pro than I used to. Has it slowed down? No, I haven't even updated it since iPadOS 13 in 2019. But I am too used to A12X and M1 that I am less patient when A9X makes me wait to open a webpage, maximise a video on safari etc. That's purely standard being raised and perceived speed, not the device changing...

 

[MajorFubar]

My first iPad was a 6 m/o iPad 2. Loved it, tbh. Along with it I owned an iPhone 4S and and 27" 2011 3.4GHz iMac. They all complimented each other. I could visualise the clearly-defined uses-cases for each. There were no arguments from people in those days that iPads were useless because they didn't run MacOS. Not least because they were cheaper than a Mac, and the A-series chips were no match for the Intel CPUs in Macs, nor did iPad buyers expect them to be.

Then Apple started to blur the lines with the 'your next computer is not a computer' advertising campaign (which I bet now they deeply regret), which gave some of us computer-centric folk false hopes about what iPad Pros were actually going to be able to do. But for my use-cases, those hopes never materialised, even in current times when you can spend the same money on an iPad as you can on a Mac Studio (crazy).

I currently own an base-model iPad 9 and see absolutely no point in buying a better one, because 14 years after launch, iPads are still nowhere near being able to replace a computer, for my use-cases.

 

[Digitalguy]

My first iPad was a 6 m/o iPad 2. Loved it, tbh. Along with it I owned an iPhone 4S and and 27" 2011 3.4GHz iMac. They all complimented each other. I could visualise the clearly-defined uses-cases for each. There were no arguments from people in those days that iPads were useless because they didn't run MacOS. Not least because they were cheaper than a Mac, and the A-series chips were no match for the Intel CPUs in Macs, nor did iPad buyers expect them to be.

Then Apple started to blur the lines with the 'your next computer is not a computer' advertising campaign (which I bet now they deeply regret), which gave some of us computer-centric folk false hopes about what iPad Pros were actually going to be able to do. But for my use-cases, those hopes never materialised, even in current times when you can spend the same money on an iPad as you can on a Mac Studio (crazy).

I currently own an base-model iPad 9 and see absolutely no point in buying a better one, because 14 years after launch, iPads are still nowhere near being able to replace a computer, for my use-cases.

I don't think Apple advertising has made any difference, although people like to quote that. I think that advertising was pretty good and I agree with it.
What made people want to try to replace their laptops was the combination of the Magic keyboard, M1 and all the talk from Apple about desktop class apps that have barely materialized so far. Plus the fact that contrary to Windows (which has its own issues) Apple prevents touch and pen on MacOS, and any form of converibility, while the iPad has that "fun" factor due to touch, pen and being converible when detached from the keyboard, so (some) people would like the best of both world

 

[FeliApple]

Honestly there is not much performance difference between iOS 9 and 12, if any. Air 2 on iOS 8 is a different story, but iOS 8 is totally unusable today, it would be a nightmare to use.
Performance in iOS 11 suffered quite a bit, including for A9X 4GB, only A10X was fine. But iOS 12 restored the performance of iOS 9 and 10, while keeping all the improvements that iOS 11 brought.

Yeah, perhaps the Air 2 fared worse, but the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is great on iOS 12, provided you can ignore the 3.5-hour SOT loss that it incurred when compared to iOS 9, that is...

To be honest the real issue is "perceived speed", that is nobody complains about something if they are not used to something faster... It's not just OS updates and sometimes it's not OS updates at all (some have reduced performance, other have even improved it like 12 over 11).

People here speak highly of a dog like the first iPad with A4, which was never fast even on iPhoneOS. But there was nothing before it to compared with. And it open the world to the tablet experience. Personally, I never complained about A7 performance, because that was my first iPad. Same with A8X, but when I got used to A9X and then went back to A8 or A8X that thing felt slow in comparison. I had raised my standards.

But that's not linear. When I got used to A10X, A9X was still decent, while slower. But 2GB RAM made it harder and when I pushed the device the 9.7 pro started crashing, with the 12.9 with A9X hanged a bit but hardly ever crashed.

Today I am a bit less comfortable with the 9.7 pro than I used to. Has it slowed down? No, I haven't even updated it since iPadOS 13 in 2019. But I am too used to A12X and M1 that I am less patient when A9X makes me wait to open a webpage, maximise a video on safari etc. That's purely standard being raised and perceived speed, not the device changing...

This, I think, depends on usage. How much you push your devices is the question. I think that for some tasks a device should never be slow.

I use my iPads for content consumption. It is unacceptable for me if they are even a little slow. If they can’t do the basics perfectly, what happens when I want to edit a video or play a game or whatever?

Perceived speed for demanding tasks is one thing (and I agree with that), but I think that there is no perception for the basics. If you open up Notes, type something, and the keyboard lags, that’s iOS, not the processor or your perception. It’s just slow because updates make it slow. For an example, see any number of 32-bit devices (all of them, if updated far enough). My 6s on iOS 13 lags sometimes, in a way my 6s on iOS 10 and my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 do not (let alone my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12). It is very perceivable - and objective - if you’re used to running good devices.

A person’s experience will be warped if all they’ve used is an iPad 2 on iOS 9, an iPad 4 on iOS 10, and an iPad Air 2 on iPadOS 15. You give them a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iPadOS 15 and it will be Wonderland, but it doesn’t mean it actually is.

I’ve been running iOS devices on original iOS versions since 2011. I know by now how they should run and how good battery life should be. If a device updated a quadrillion times is slow, I know that sometimes it’s not a matter of perception.

There is a point for modern apps, but the funny thing is that modern apps don’t support older iOS versions. Which makes for an interesting exercise: an app that lags on iPadOS 16 on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro... what if you were to rewrite it so as to make it compatible with iOS 9? Perhaps it would be fast.

I do disagree with the example you gave: maximizing a video on Safari should always be fast. Worse case scenario is iOS 9 is incompatible and the website loads a blank page, but if it runs, it should be immediate. If that’s slow, it’s iOS updates. I’m unsure about webpage rendering, perhaps there you do have a point. I should test it, but I think my Air 5 is a little faster than my 6s on iOS 10. I will test that, sounds interesting.

And like I’ve mentioned, I think the only comparison that matters is with the original iOS version. iOS 12 is definitely a LOT better than the garbage that iOS 11 was, but it is slightly slower than iOS 9. Still, honestly? Maintain battery life unlike what happened and I can tolerate this performance loss (which is minimal). They did well on iOS 12.

If updated, you do have a point with the A10X. It aged a lot better than the A9X. Funnily enough, I don’t think that happened with the standard A9 and A10. The iPhone 7 is bad on iOS 15. Battery life is atrocious and performance leaves a lot to be desired. A friend had one... on a trip, it had to be charged three times a day. It was ridiculous.

 

[Digitalguy]

Yeah, perhaps the Air 2 fared worse, but the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is great on iOS 12, provided you can ignore the 3.5-hour SOT loss that it incurred when compared to iOS 9, that is...





This, I think, depends on usage. How much you push your devices is the question. I think that for some tasks a device should never be slow.

I use my iPads for content consumption. It is unacceptable for me if they are even a little slow. If they can’t do the basics perfectly, what happens when I want to edit a video or play a game or whatever?

Perceived speed for demanding tasks is one thing (and I agree with that), but I think that there is no perception for the basics. If you open up Notes, type something, and the keyboard lags, that’s iOS, not the processor or your perception. It’s just slow because updates make it slow. For an example, see any number of 32-bit devices (all of them, if updated far enough). My 6s on iOS 13 lags sometimes, in a way my 6s on iOS 10 and my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 do not (let alone my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12). It is very perceivable - and objective - if you’re used to running good devices.

A person’s experience will be warped if all they’ve used is an iPad 2 on iOS 9, an iPad 4 on iOS 10, and an iPad Air 2 on iPadOS 15. You give them a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iPadOS 15 and it will be Wonderland, but it doesn’t mean it actually is.

I’ve been running iOS devices on original iOS versions since 2011. I know by now how they should run and how good battery life should be. If a device updated a quadrillion times is slow, I know that sometimes it’s not a matter of perception.

There is a point for modern apps, but the funny thing is that modern apps don’t support older iOS versions. Which makes for an interesting exercise: an app that lags on iPadOS 16 on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro... what if you were to rewrite it so as to make it compatible with iOS 9? Perhaps it would be fast.

I do disagree with the example you gave: maximizing a video on Safari should always be fast. Worse case scenario is iOS 9 is incompatible and the website loads a blank page, but if it runs, it should be immediate. If that’s slow, it’s iOS updates. I’m unsure about webpage rendering, perhaps there you do have a point. I should test it, but I think my Air 5 is a little faster than my 6s on iOS 10. I will test that, sounds interesting.

And like I’ve mentioned, I think the only comparison that matters is with the original iOS version. iOS 12 is definitely a LOT better than the garbage that iOS 11 was, but it is slightly slower than iOS 9. Still, honestly? Maintain battery life unlike what happened and I can tolerate this performance loss (which is minimal). They did well on iOS 12.

If updated, you do have a point with the A10X. It aged a lot better than the A9X. Funnily enough, I don’t think that happened with the standard A9 and A10. The iPhone 7 is bad on iOS 15. Battery life is atrocious and performance leaves a lot to be desired. A friend had one... on a trip, it had to be charged three times a day. It was ridiculous.

"I do disagree with the example you gave: maximizing a video on Safari should always be fast."
What's fast and what not maybe subjective, but the 9.7 pro, even on iOS 12, was often struggling with maximizing, minimizing youtube on safari (I don't use the youtube app), especially if I was multitasking (slide over, split screen etc), sometimes even crashing. The dual core 12.9 hanged a bit, but much less and but never crashed. The A10X was much better at that and still is even on 17. Of course A12X is even better. Other than that, for regular OS navigation and basic apps the 9.7 pro is very usable... at least on iPadOS 13, despite me using A12X and M1 regularly.

 

[FeliApple]

"I do disagree with the example you gave: maximizing a video on Safari should always be fast."
What's fast and what not maybe subjective, but the 9.7 pro, even on iOS 12, was often struggling with maximizing, minimizing youtube on safari (I don't use the youtube app), especially if I was multitasking (slide over, split screen etc), sometimes even crashing. The dual core 12.9 hanged a bit, but much less and but never crashed. The A10X was much better at that and still is even on 17. Of course A12X is even better. Other than that, for regular OS navigation and basic apps the 9.7 pro is very usable... at least on iPadOS 13, despite me using A12X and M1 regularly.

I tried it and it wasn’t too bad, a bit slower than the app, but I don’t see a reason to use YouTube on Safari anyway. In fact, I also tried it on my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 (perhaps the best combo ever made, at least in 64-bit), and there wasn’t any difference. The website itself is far slower than the app on mobile.

No crashes on either, however. Rather than fast, I should have said smooth. Grab an iPhone 5c on iOS 10 and the whole experience is choppy. On the other devices, the animation is smooth, but it takes a little to start (regardless of the processor), signaling that the website itself is slow. Like I said, the only YouTube website crashes I’ve seen have been on a 5c on iOS 10 which is already intolerable, especially for me.

By my own standards, I’d call the 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 almost perfect (very close to iOS 9), and the iPhone 6s on iOS 13 mediocre.

Perhaps battery life is an issue on iPadOS 13 onwards? I’d call the iOS 12 battery life significantly worse but not poor. I know fully updated 1st and 2nd-gen Pros have awful battery life. The Air 2 as well. I don’t know whether the Air 1 on iOS 12 has a decent battery life, though. @rui no onna thoughts?

 

[Digitalguy]

I tried it and it wasn’t too bad, a bit slower than the app, but I don’t see a reason to use YouTube on Safari anyway. In fact, I also tried it on my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 (perhaps the best combo ever made, at least in 64-bit), and there wasn’t any difference. The website itself is far slower than the app on mobile.

No crashes on either, however. Rather than fast, I should have said smooth. Grab an iPhone 5c on iOS 10 and the whole experience is choppy. On the other devices, the animation is smooth, but it takes a little to start (regardless of the processor), signaling that the website itself is slow. Like I said, the only YouTube website crashes I’ve seen have been on a 5c on iOS 10 which is already intolerable, especially for me.

By my own standards, I’d call the 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 almost perfect (very close to iOS 9), and the iPhone 6s on iOS 13 mediocre.

Perhaps battery life is an issue on iPadOS 13 onwards? I’d call the iOS 12 battery life significantly worse but not poor. I know fully updated 1st and 2nd-gen Pros have awful battery life. The Air 2 as well. I don’t know whether the Air 1 on iOS 12 has a decent battery life, though. @rui no onna thoughts?

No reason to use Youtube on Safari? How about no ads? I don't know if you watch youtube a lot (I do) or have premium (I don't) but I can't stand the amount of ads they put on the videos. Plus you can use picture in picture (I think it's premium with the app). Also you can select and copy comments (you can't on the app, not even premium).

 

[rui no onna]

Honestly there is not much performance difference between iOS 9 and 12, if any. Air 2 on iOS 8 is a different story, but iOS 8 is totally unusable today, it would be a nightmare to use.
Performance in iOS 11 suffered quite a bit, including for A9X 4GB, only A10X was fine. But iOS 12 restored the performance of iOS 9 and 10, while keeping all the improvements that iOS 11 brought.

I dunno. iOS 12 was an improvement over 11 but to me, 10 still felt a bit faster than 12. Plus I had very good standby time on 10. I think 11/12 pretty much iPad killed standby time.

To be honest the real issue is "perceived speed", that is nobody complains about something if they are not used to something faster... It's not just OS updates and sometimes it's not OS updates at all (some have reduced performance, other have even improved it like 12 over 11).

People here speak highly of a dog like the first iPad with A4, which was never fast even on iPhoneOS. But there was nothing before it to compared with. And it open the world to the tablet experience. Personally, I never complained about A7 performance, because that was my first iPad. Same with A8X, but when I got used to A9X and then went back to A8 or A8X that thing felt slow in comparison. I had raised my standards.

I guess for me, my basemark at the time is quad-core Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge/Haswell with SSD so even A7 and A8X felt slow particularly when browsing Tumblr pages with tons of gifs.

A9X was the first iPad chip I used where I thought browsing performance was as fast as on my desktop/laptop. The improvements made to Safari on iOS 9 & 10 and the web moving away from Flash helped, too. Also, I think A9X is when they switched to storage controller on SoC + NAND flash chips instead of eMMC.

 

[rui no onna]

Perhaps battery life is an issue on iPadOS 13 onwards? I’d call the iOS 12 battery life significantly worse but not poor. I know fully updated 1st and 2nd-gen Pros have awful battery life. The Air 2 as well. I don’t know whether the Air 1 on iOS 12 has a decent battery life, though. @rui no onna thoughts?

At least on my devices, I don’t notice updates having much impact on onscreen time. It does seem to make a big difference to standby time though.

The OG Air never had good onscreen battery life to begin with especially when compared to the tank that was the iPad 4. Iirc my Air lost around 1-2 hours of onscreen time during the period it was in active use (2013-2016).

My OG Air/iOS 9 and mini 4/iOS 10 have standby time of 3-4 weeks (circa 2018-2020). They’re both in drawers now and haven’t been charged in years so no idea what the batteries are like on those now.

 

[Digitalguy]

I dunno. iOS 12 was an improvement over 11 but to me, 10 still felt a bit faster than 12. Plus I had very good standby time on 10. I think 11/12 pretty much iPad killed standby time.




I guess for me, my basemark at the time is quad-core Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge/Haswell with SSD so even A7 and A8X felt slow particularly when browsing Tumblr pages with tons of gifs.

A9X was the first iPad chip I used where I thought browsing performance was as fast as on my desktop/laptop. The improvements made to Safari on iOS 9 & 10 and the web moving away from Flash helped, too. Also, I think A9X is when they switched to storage controller on SoC + NAND flash chips instead of eMMC.

I do agree, standby time was much better on 10, no questions about this. I was only talking about performance. I actually compared my mini 2 on 10 and an air 1 on 12 and I couldn't see much difference in performance.

And yes from end of 2012 to 2017 my main device was a quad core Ivy Brige and my laptop was a dual core Sandy Bridge, but an i7 with 35w, an M chip instand of a U chip, so as fast as a Haswell/Broadwell dual core, both with a SATA SSD. And indeed iPad pro was when iPad started feeling as fast as the dual core laptops of the same period, while A10X was even faster but in 2017 laptops started moving to quad core, but then the 2018 caught up with that performance too.
Today my main computer is a Ryzen 5 desktop and my main laptop is an 11th gen Thinkpad nano.
A12X and M1 feel just as fast. I also use a 2017 i7 12" Retina Macbook for youtube, and that one feels clearly slower, but usable... still technically faster than a 9.7 pro but not much faster.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

I remember waiting and getting the ipad 1. I thought its curved, bulbous back panel and nice wide edge were at once quite elegant and comfortable to hold, and was disappointed when they disappeared on V2 and became a flat sharp blade digging into my hand. The Skype app had come out, so i sold my iPhone 3GS switched to skype on my ipad s my only phone. It even worked in those years too. I’d pull up a stool at the bar for lunch every day in San Diego, set this giant ipad up there with & my keys & wallet sitting on it, and no one ever messed with any of it. I seem to remember selling it to buy the v2 and only losing about $20 on it after a years worth of use. When the minis came out, + the pencil, it was the end of big ipads for me. I still have this big orig IPP, but its pretty impractical for anything other than a 2nd display/tv. Still, i sort of wish i still had that original iPad & iPhone, there was a simple beauty, something exciting about the beginning of these things.

 

[FeliApple]

No reason to use Youtube on Safari? How about no ads? I don't know if you watch youtube a lot (I do) or have premium (I don't) but I can't stand the amount of ads they put on the videos. Plus you can use picture in picture (I think it's premium with the app). Also you can select and copy comments (you can't on the app, not even premium).

Yeah, no ads is a valid reason. Interestingly, Picture-in-Picture was something I thought I’d use a lot when I got my 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and I don’t use it much. I appreciate the fact that it’s there, but that’s all.

I’m not a fan of the website when compared to the app, though.

 

[FeliApple]

At least on my devices, I don’t notice updates having much impact on onscreen time. It does seem to make a big difference to standby time though.

The OG Air never had good onscreen battery life to begin with especially when compared to the tank that was the iPad 4. Iirc my Air lost around 1-2 hours of onscreen time during the period it was in active use (2013-2016).

My OG Air/iOS 9 and mini 4/iOS 10 have standby time of 3-4 weeks (circa 2018-2020). They’re both in drawers now and haven’t been charged in years so no idea what the batteries are like on those now.

Standby time has worsened with newer iOS versions, inherently (i.e., regardless of updates). My Air 5 has significantly worse standby time on iPadOS 15 (original iOS version) than my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 (forcibly updated through three major versions). iPhones exhibit similar symptoms starting with iOS 12.

The iPad 4 was great, but only two hours ahead of the two future 9.7-inch iPads on original iOS versions I’ve tested (16 vs 14 hours, 9.7-inch iPad Pro and 6th-gen iPad). The Air 5 is ridiculous on iPadOS 15 with light use, getting north of 25 hours.

Yeah, that’s the thing about running old iOS versions. If enough time passes by, compatibility is too compromised for it to be useful. I have an iPhone 6s on iOS 10 and it’s not useful for web browsing, and app compatibility has been significantly curtailed. Sadly, there is a limit, a point in which older iOS versions (and older iPads by extension) are old enough, even when not updated.

I doubt a 32-bit iPad can do much today (and they get to iOS 10), and that applies to newer iPads left behind.

An iPad Air 1 on iOS 7 is great... but for what? It can basically use Netflix and not much else.

Sure, there’s a specific subset of things that will work, mostly content-consumption oriented (iBooks, Netflix, Music, etc), but if you want to use it for a bit more than that, you can’t. Even some games from back then have been removed from the App Store.

It’s a little sad to think that there will be a point in which all iPads derived from Apple’s original design idea (the 9.7-inch design) will be obsolete. Even the current state isn’t great, with the alternative being awful too. Update them and they result in an awful experience. Sadly, this has been the case for all 9.7-inch iPads.

The 4 32-bit iPads are gone when updated, they work too horribly. Air 1 and Air 2? Not great. 9.7-inch iPad Pro and 6th-gen iPad? A little better, but still bad, and like @Digitalguy said, nowhere close in terms of performance to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

 

[Digitalguy]

Standby time has worsened with newer iOS versions, inherently (i.e., regardless of updates). My Air 5 has significantly worse standby time on iPadOS 15 (original iOS version) than my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 (forcibly updated through three major versions). iPhones exhibit similar symptoms starting with iOS 12.

The iPad 4 was great, but only two hours ahead of the two future 9.7-inch iPads on original iOS versions I’ve tested (16 vs 14 hours, 9.7-inch iPad Pro and 6th-gen iPad). The Air 5 is ridiculous on iPadOS 15 with light use, getting north of 25 hours.

Yeah, that’s the thing about running old iOS versions. If enough time passes by, compatibility is too compromised for it to be useful. I have an iPhone 6s on iOS 10 and it’s not useful for web browsing, and app compatibility has been significantly curtailed. Sadly, there is a limit, a point in which older iOS versions (and older iPads by extension) are old enough, even when not updated.

I doubt a 32-bit iPad can do much today (and they get to iOS 10), and that applies to newer iPads left behind.

An iPad Air 1 on iOS 7 is great... but for what? It can basically use Netflix and not much else.

Sure, there’s a specific subset of things that will work, mostly content-consumption oriented (iBooks, Netflix, Music, etc), but if you want to use it for a bit more than that, you can’t. Even some games from back then have been removed from the App Store.

It’s a little sad to think that there will be a point in which all iPads derived from Apple’s original design idea (the 9.7-inch design) will be obsolete. Even the current state isn’t great, with the alternative being awful too. Update them and they result in an awful experience. Sadly, this has been the case for all 9.7-inch iPads.

The 4 32-bit iPads are gone when updated, they work too horribly. Air 1 and Air 2? Not great. 9.7-inch iPad Pro and 6th-gen iPad? A little better, but still bad, and like @Digitalguy said, nowhere close in terms of performance to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

I agree on everything except "Update them and they result in an awful experience". M-series iPads have so much headroom that their performance won't be affected in any noticeable way by updates. Stand-by time took a big hit after iOS 11 and to a lesser extent with iPadOS, but has remained stable over the past updates. I don't expect it to worsen significantly with updates, it could even get better since it depends on what happens in the background. So what you said can apply to older devices that came before iPadOS but doesn't seem to apply to newer ones.