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The iPad 1

marco.org

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Re: The iPad 1

#21

Post by CrazedGeek »

(warning: tangential)

"Knowing Apple, that sounds like a far more plausible explanation than the most popular theory I’ve heard: that Apple just wants to force iPad 1 owners to buy new iPads."

I totally believe this is true on the iPad front, but I can't imagine any other reason that iOS 6 would support the iPhone 3GS but not the 3rd generation iPod Touch. They have very nearly the exact same specifications, except one has a GSM radio in it and the other doesn't. I wouldn't mind if it didn't get further updates (three years is pretty decent update-wise), but the disparity is slightly irritating.

Re: The iPad 1

#22

Post by hermanhermitage »

sxcurry wrote: post #6
axx wrote: post #3

When the iPad 1 launched in germany, i bought a 64GB model with 3G. I payed more than 800 Euros. And now Apple tells me "it's to old, go and sell it on eBay for 150 bucks". Are you fucking kidding me? I'm a Apple user for ages, i have two Mac Pros, three MacBook Pros (family), one MacBook Air and all iPhones that Apple ever made. I sold every old piece of hardware or replaced it when i needed a faster or newer model.…

Funny, I have the original iPad as well, but I haven't yet gotten the official message from Apple to sell it on eBay. Maybe they're sending them to Europe first? Also, the strange thing is that it still runs as well as the day I bought it, and still does everything it did from Day 1, as well as new things that came with updates to iOS. I forget, why am I supposed to be angry at Apple?

Still runs as well? I'd love to know what set up you've got.

Since iOS 5 my iPad 1 has been utterly unusable - many multi second lags and endless application quits.

Even brand new out of the box the iPad 1 and also the original iPhone were incredibly unstable - particularly in safari.

Everyone turned a blind eye to it.

Re: The iPad 1

#23

Post by refulgentis »

pmjordan wrote: post #4

The RAM thing is a nice theory until you consider the 4th gen iPod touch has a similar number of pixels as iPad 1, also has 256MB of RAM and also gets iOS6 support. They're still selling it now (just about), so that's probably why. I'm sure with a bit of engineering effort, the memory footprint of iOS could be drastically reduced. (Hire some game programmers who have worked on console games! A 1st gen iPad has about…

Just because the dimensions are similar doesn't mean the number of pixels is sufficiently similar – in fact, an iPad 1 has 28% more. This is a significant difference to a programmer.

Re: The iPad 1

#24

Post by jaysonelliot »

The disappointment, to me, isn't with the iPad alone. It's with the new move in the industry to non-upgradable devices and internet-dependent software.

I've enjoyed my iPad 1 since the day I bought it, and I haven't seen any need to replace it with a newer model. Neither the Retina Display nor the camera were particularly important to me, and I didn't have much need for more storage or memory.

Would I like to use iOS 6 on my iPad? Certainly. Do I need to? Not right now.

Over the next year or two, though, I'm sure there will be plenty of software that I'd like to use, but won't be able to. It's possible that some apps, like Netflix or Spotify, or some games, will reach a point where older versions won't work anymore, as they roll out features that require some update or another to play nicely with their servers.

What will happen if I have to restore my iPad to factory settings, or just accidentally delete some app? Will I still be able to re-install the version I need in two years, or five, or more?

Every computer reaches a useful end to its life at some point in time. The acceleration of that process due to a closed system that allows no upgrade to RAM or storage, and no ability to install software except through a centrally-controlled repository, frankly sucks.

Windows 8 shows that it's more than just Apple headed for closed systems. If current trends prevail, how far out are we from the closed model of the iPad being the standard for the industry?

I hope there will be some consumer backlash, and a company with a commitment to great technical and experience design takes up the standard of more open hardware and software as a competitive differentiator. I'd vote for them with my dollars.

Re: The iPad 1

#25

Post by twelvechairs »

Apple are horrible for trying to make people upgrade - thats for sure, but really, what apps 'require ios 6'? I'm still using an iphone3 (last os upgrade was a stripped down version of ios4) and the only thing I haven't been able to download because it won't work on my phone was a some game once that was just a timewaster anyway.

The most important thing by far on a phone/tablet is the web. It doesn't care about your OS version... It was like this on the iphone1 and it will be on the ipad10.

Re: The iPad 1

#26

Post by jsz0 »

pmjordan wrote: post #4

The RAM thing is a nice theory until you consider the 4th gen iPod touch has a similar number of pixels as iPad 1, also has 256MB of RAM and also gets iOS6 support. They're still selling it now (just about), so that's probably why. I'm sure with a bit of engineering effort, the memory footprint of iOS could be drastically reduced. (Hire some game programmers who have worked on console games! A 1st gen iPad has about…

You have to take into account the larger memory footprint of iPad apps as well. No doubt they could have run the base OS without much trouble but there wouldn't be a lot of memory left over for apps. So an iPad 1 with iOS5 and enough free RAM to run apps is better than an iPad 1 with iOS6 that can't do much more than run the OS. Apple learned their lesson from the iPhone4/3G thing.

Re: The iPad 1

#27

Post by mythz »

I bought the 1st gen iPad knowing it was only going to be a stop gap measure until a newer version with a Camera came out (which I thought was going to be the killer feature - turns out I rarely use it) so I only bought the baseline version. I found the $499 baseline price a steal which quickly turned into my most used device. The value of Apple's products go way down the higher up the range of models you go, so I can see why iPad 1 owners may be upset - but it shouldn't be unexpected that the resale value of top range models depreciate faster than the baseline.

So I can't complain, I've got a lot of utility out of the iPad1 whose experience led me to buy the top of the line Retina iPad 3 when it came out. I was keeping the old iPad 1 around for compatibility (as an iOS dev) but I guess this means I wont need to hold onto it for much longer :).

Re: The iPad 1

#28

Post by bergie »

pmjordan wrote: post #7
axx wrote: post #3

When the iPad 1 launched in germany, i bought a 64GB model with 3G. I payed more than 800 Euros. And now Apple tells me "it's to old, go and sell it on eBay for 150 bucks". Are you fucking kidding me? I'm a Apple user for ages, i have two Mac Pros, three MacBook Pros (family), one MacBook Air and all iPhones that Apple ever made. I sold every old piece of hardware or replaced it when i needed a faster or newer model.…

While I'm as annoyed at Apple as you are (environmentally friendly my arse), Android devices don't exactly have a history of frequent and timely software updates. The saving grace is that new apps often still support ancient OS releases.

Android in general has a quite bad version update track record, but that doesn't include the Nexus line of devices

Re: The iPad 1

#29

Post by Firehed »

pmjordan wrote: post #4

The RAM thing is a nice theory until you consider the 4th gen iPod touch has a similar number of pixels as iPad 1, also has 256MB of RAM and also gets iOS6 support. They're still selling it now (just about), so that's probably why. I'm sure with a bit of engineering effort, the memory footprint of iOS could be drastically reduced. (Hire some game programmers who have worked on console games! A 1st gen iPad has about…

> But let's face it, that's not going to improve their bottom line, whereas telling everyone to buy a new iPad every 24 months is.

That kind of short-term thinking is what gets companies into trouble. No, it won't help the bottom line now, but when the next purchase rolls around, don't you think premature obsolescence (or the lack thereof) of the device being upgraded will factor into what replacement to get? It's certainly a major reason I won't buy an android device (at least one not made by google, which tend to get long term support like apple)

Re: The iPad 1

#30

Post by pohl »

pmjordan wrote: post #4

The RAM thing is a nice theory until you consider the 4th gen iPod touch has a similar number of pixels as iPad 1, also has 256MB of RAM and also gets iOS6 support. They're still selling it now (just about), so that's probably why. I'm sure with a bit of engineering effort, the memory footprint of iOS could be drastically reduced. (Hire some game programmers who have worked on console games! A 1st gen iPad has about…

The RAM thing is a nice theory until you consider the 4th gen iPod touch has a similar number of pixels as iPad 1

4th generation iPod touch is 960 x 640 = 614,400

1st generation iPad is 1024 × 768 = 786,432

Those extra 172,032 pixels could have been enough to prevent something from performing adequately.

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