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How are they going to make you buy shiny new iPads otherwise? Edit: Why the downvote? I still have an iPad mini (1st gen), and I don't get to play with Swift P
by k_sze 10y ago
How are they going to make you buy shiny new iPads otherwise?
Edit: Why the downvote? I still have an iPad mini (1st gen), and I don't get to play with Swift Playground because iOS 10 requires iPad mini 2 or newer. Look, I'm as much an Apple fanboy as the next person: I use a MacBook Pro, I have an iPhone 6s Plus, and my wife will be getting an iPhone 7 Plus, but you can't deny that Apple, just like other companies, build arbitrary obsolescence into their products.
- stevetrewick 10y agoiOS 10 will run on the shiny iPad you already have. All the way back to the iPad 2, IIRC.
- hh2222 10y agoHope so, but Swift Playgrounds isn't compatible with iPad 2.
- stevetrewick 10y agoNo, you're right, iPad mini 2 appears to be the hardware floor for Playgrounds - I can never keep the iPad SKUs straight. IIRC (and I may not, see above) that the 2 was the last 32 bit big shiny rectangle. But the point is there are multiple generations of existing devices that will run Swift Playgrounds.
- JeremyBanks 10y agoEven if you want to be cynical, the far more important strategic value in this is in developing more developers for their platform long-term. They wouldn't compromise that for the purpose of marginally more device sales.
- k_sze 10y agoThat's a sensible argument. I can neither agree nor rebute until I get to play with Swift Playground. I can borrow my mom's shinier iPad Air when I see her. It'll all depend on how Swift Playground plays and feels. For example, there are some questions that will help me decide whether I'm being too cynical: will Swift Playground be only suitable for teaching kids or will it be good for advanced adult programmers coming from other programming languages as well? How much of Apple-specific API will it introduce, if at all?
- menckenjr 10y agoI've been using Swift Playgrounds on my iPad Air since the second iOS10 beta. It's been really stable, plays well with my bluetooth keyboard and the error feedback on it is excellent. My wish list for the next version would include (a) the ability to create and edit files in *.playground/Sources and (b) a project navigator view to let me move assets around the folders inside a Playground or Playground Book on the device. That said, it's a great tool for education as well as prototyping.
- 9935c101ab17a66 10y agoThis isn't 'arbitrary obsolescence'. Your four year old ipad works just as well as it did yesterday I'm sure. You just can't run swift playgrounds.
- simonh 10y agoiPad Mini 2 has 1 GB of RAM where the original had half as much. Typically Apple has only deprecated old iOS device models from new OS support due to hardware requirements.
- wiredfool 10y agoThe mini 2 is also a 64 bit processor, basically a shrunken ipad Air or 5s, where the mini 1 was a shrunken ipad 2. They're completely different machines in practice.
- simonh 10y agoApple can't win here though. If they allow an iOS version to be compatible with an under powered device that can barely run it they'll get criticized for slowing down older machines or even accused of deliberately crippling them down to force upgrades. If they don't allow new iOS versions to run on older machines with lower specs, they get accused of deliberately deprecating older models to force upgrades.
- wiredfool 10y agoYeah. They wound up selling the iPad2/mini1 guts far longer than I would have thought smart. My iPad2 was feeling long in the tooth well before it stopped being sold new. (And I'm not the most demanding iOS user).
- nicky0 10y agoWhy the downvotes? Your comment was low-grade snarky flamebait and and added very little to the discussion. (And furthermore the 3-year-old iPad mini 2 is probably stretching the definition of "shiny new"...)