5 ms·

I'm typing this on my iPad & it strikes me that there's not a lot of motive to upgrade your iPad once you have one. It's a consumption device, as long as I can

I'm typing this on my iPad & it strikes me that there's not a lot of motive to upgrade your iPad once you have one. It's a consumption device, as long as I can continue easily browsing the internet, listening to podcasts and watching movies I have no reason to upgrade. My laptop I may want to upgrade to improve computing power and phone form factors continue to improve. Both of those things sort of affect the iPad but not nearly to the same degree. I carry my phone around in my pocket, if it's a tiny bit lighter it makes a huge difference. I mostly use my iPad at home, it's great for the things I use it for and there's no upgrade I can imagine that would significantly increase its utility.

ianai 9y ago
Does nobody game on their iPads? I enjoyed it in the past. Gaming does push hardware release cycles.
- _ph_ 9y ago
  I used to - but there are very few very good games based on touch controls only, and what really killed gaming on iOS is the flood of freemium games, which are focussed on getting people to pay more instead of offering good gameplay. For mobile gaming, this made me first get a Nintendo 3DS, and now a Switch. Not only is the hardware optimized for gaming, they still have a healthy market with full-priced pay-once games.
  - mordant 9y ago
    I have and enjoy a Switch. I also have and enjoy the MFi GameVice for my iPad Mini 4. It works quite well. And I use the Zagg Tough Book case with my iPad Mini 4 to essentially turn it into an iPad Mini ToughBook, which fits into the hip pockets of the 'business BDUs' I normally wear.
    - ianai 9y ago
      I love both my iPad mini and switch. I can't wait for Apple to release a hardware update....
- gurkendoktor 9y ago
  Apple loves to demo 3D games at WWDC, but I think most people stick to casual 2D gaming that doesn't require high-end hardware. From looking at the App Store charts and accidentally shoulder-surfing on the train, Candy Crush and Farmville clones seem to be the most popular. Some games like Clash of Clans claim to still support iOS 5.
tangue 9y ago
Here's why I upgraded my Ipad : webdesign. My Ipad 1 still works perfectly, unfortunately it cannot handle javascript heavy websites. People love to talk about planned obsolescence but React, Angular (and others frameworks), stupid parallaxes etc bricked my Ipad, not Apple.
- duncanawoods 9y ago
  Apple is not blameless. I use an iPad4 as a radio and the podcast app is a miserable laggy and unresponsive experience. 30s lag for tapping something is not unusual. The idea I have to replace a 2012 device to render a bloody list with start/stop buttons is pretty shameful.
  - tangue 9y ago
    Here's the bad news : even with a brand new Ipad, the stock podcast experience sucks. Indeed it declines with each version of iOS. (You can however install Overcast)
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >I use an iPad4 as a radio and the podcast app is a miserable laggy and unresponsive experience. So what about the other 10+ podcast apps out there?
- agumonkey 9y ago
  My favorite website is probably printfriendly.com, I pass most url through it, and enjoy my life back.
leppr 9y ago
I don't agree with this at all. Since the iOS 9 update my iPad 2 is a miserable piece of trash: everything is sluggish beyond saving, and the rendering has been butchered on those low dpi devices (the old iOS designs looked crisper). EDIT: Fix iOS version, whichever one ditched skeumorphism.
- Longhanks 9y ago
  iPad 2 never received iOS 10.
- givinguflac 9y ago
  You'd be just as upset if they didn't upgrade to the later iOS versions either. Gotta drop support somewhere; that hardware is getting old.
  - leppr 9y ago
    Not saying the contrary, just disagreeing with the "old iPads haven't been deprecated" opinion. iOS 9 was released in 2015, so 4 years after the iPad 2 release. I'd expect a $600 device to last a bit longer than that, and I'm sure the biggest IT firm in the world could easily create custom builds for their older devices: optimise font-rendering, properly convert assets to low-res versions, and disable (or degrade) the animations and transparency. If the internal OS architecture is sensible, these 3 adaptations shouldn't be that much work and shouldn't cause any bugs.

ianai 9y ago

Does nobody game on their iPads? I enjoyed it in the past. Gaming does push hardware release cycles.

_ph_ 9y ago
I used to - but there are very few very good games based on touch controls only, and what really killed gaming on iOS is the flood of freemium games, which are focussed on getting people to pay more instead of offering good gameplay. For mobile gaming, this made me first get a Nintendo 3DS, and now a Switch. Not only is the hardware optimized for gaming, they still have a healthy market with full-priced pay-once games.
- mordant 9y ago
  I have and enjoy a Switch. I also have and enjoy the MFi GameVice for my iPad Mini 4. It works quite well. And I use the Zagg Tough Book case with my iPad Mini 4 to essentially turn it into an iPad Mini ToughBook, which fits into the hip pockets of the 'business BDUs' I normally wear.
  - ianai 9y ago
    I love both my iPad mini and switch. I can't wait for Apple to release a hardware update....
gurkendoktor 9y ago
Apple loves to demo 3D games at WWDC, but I think most people stick to casual 2D gaming that doesn't require high-end hardware. From looking at the App Store charts and accidentally shoulder-surfing on the train, Candy Crush and Farmville clones seem to be the most popular. Some games like Clash of Clans claim to still support iOS 5.

tangue 9y ago

Here's why I upgraded my Ipad : webdesign. My Ipad 1 still works perfectly, unfortunately it cannot handle javascript heavy websites. People love to talk about planned obsolescence but React, Angular (and others frameworks), stupid parallaxes etc bricked my Ipad, not Apple.

duncanawoods 9y ago
Apple is not blameless. I use an iPad4 as a radio and the podcast app is a miserable laggy and unresponsive experience. 30s lag for tapping something is not unusual. The idea I have to replace a 2012 device to render a bloody list with start/stop buttons is pretty shameful.
- tangue 9y ago
  Here's the bad news : even with a brand new Ipad, the stock podcast experience sucks. Indeed it declines with each version of iOS. (You can however install Overcast)
- coldtea 9y ago
  >I use an iPad4 as a radio and the podcast app is a miserable laggy and unresponsive experience. So what about the other 10+ podcast apps out there?
agumonkey 9y ago
My favorite website is probably printfriendly.com, I pass most url through it, and enjoy my life back.

leppr 9y ago

I don't agree with this at all. Since the iOS 9 update my iPad 2 is a miserable piece of trash: everything is sluggish beyond saving, and the rendering has been butchered on those low dpi devices (the old iOS designs looked crisper). EDIT: Fix iOS version, whichever one ditched skeumorphism.

Longhanks 9y ago
iPad 2 never received iOS 10.
givinguflac 9y ago
You'd be just as upset if they didn't upgrade to the later iOS versions either. Gotta drop support somewhere; that hardware is getting old.
- leppr 9y ago
  Not saying the contrary, just disagreeing with the "old iPads haven't been deprecated" opinion. iOS 9 was released in 2015, so 4 years after the iPad 2 release. I'd expect a $600 device to last a bit longer than that, and I'm sure the biggest IT firm in the world could easily create custom builds for their older devices: optimise font-rendering, properly convert assets to low-res versions, and disable (or degrade) the animations and transparency. If the internal OS architecture is sensible, these 3 adaptations shouldn't be that much work and shouldn't cause any bugs.