Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight • Hacker News Board

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#61

Post by s_henry_paulson » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 3:40 PM UTC

jcromartie wrote: post #38

It's still the same thing it was when it came out, and that is: amazing. You're talking about a 10" handheld touchscreen with wifi and a battery that will last a month when sitting on the coffee table or bedside stand. It puts the entire internet at your fingertips and it can be used to do almost anything you want. It's freaking Star Trek, but since it's 2 years old and it won't get some OS updates we think it's garb…

I own a first gen iPad, and I can tell you it won't be the same.

Apps will slowly stop working, and updates will be restricted to newer firmware only, meaning my only option is to delete the apps that I had been using and paid for... or heaven forbid I need to do a restore and get all of my apps back. Then it's just a lottery of luck on how many I'll be allowed to download, and that number will decrease with time.

I can understand dropping support for legacy products, but I've only had the thing a year and a half or something.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#62

Post by dpark » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 3:49 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #16

It's sad. For a lot of iPad buyers, 500 dollar or Euro is a lot of money. One can only hope that the majority of them will be recycled, or it is an ecological disaster as well. (If mining of the necessary resources isn't already.) Of course, it's not just Apple. Many Android phones are neglected by their vendors as well. At some point we have to consider, whether we are willing to waste that many resources and money…

> where we previously used computers and dumbphones that lasted for years and years.

Those are some seriously rose-colored glasses you're wearing. Computers have always been replaced rapidly. For tax purposes, they depreciate to zero in 3 years, reflecting their short lifespan. From what I've seen, most people have replaced their PCs every 3 or so years and phones (including dumb phones) every 2-3 years. It's only the last few years that this cycle has slowed for PCs, as speeds have begun stagnating.

With that said, I do think it's crappy that Apple is abandoning the 1st gen iPad so rapidly, especially since they apparently don't have a meaningful story for out-of-date devices with respect to apps. There seems to be no way to provide a separate version of an app for an older OS. Instead, the user is prompted to update the app, at which point they are told that the app needs the new OS, and then it's removed. (I had this happen to my phone when iOS 5 arrived and I delayed upgrading.)

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#63

Post by mpyne » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 3:54 PM UTC

jcromartie wrote: post #46

kyriakos wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the problem is that your apps no longer work because most of them are based on online services which changed their interfaces and communication protocols by now but won't install on an older version of iOS. This is the case with iPhone 3GS too.

True, apps backed by web services will die off. But that's been a risk at any time, even on the latest device. Those services don't exist for you . They can (and do) pull the plug at any time. I think the way forward for old devices like the iPad 1 is through a stable OS, jailbreaks and web apps.

So iPad 1 users should have to jailbreak their iPad to get to fully utilize it longer than 2 years? I agree completely that they could at least give it a stable OS (and apps!) but "jailbreak" should never be on a list of generic end-user steps to use your hardware.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#64

Post by Scramblejams » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 3:57 PM UTC

There's nothing new here -- this is always the story when you've got resource constrained devices. When PCs make the jump from 2 GHz to 3 GHz, it's not a big deal because the 2 GHz machines still run well. But in the same period of time, tablets have gone from 256 megs to a gig of RAM and from one core to four, so of course you get left behind.

When tablets boast computing capabilities similar to today's PCs, they'll last far longer.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#65

Post by pktrnd » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

fr0sty wrote: post #17

sneak wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big reveal of the article is that iOS6 is _not_ supported at all (and indeed won't install) on the iPad 1. He goes on to say that as apps are updated to require version >= 6, your iPad 1 stuck at 5.x will become useless. I think his conclusion is bullshit (e.g. I can still word process on a 286 just as well as I could the day I got it - brick it is not). Did you even read TFA?

> "Did you even read TFA?" Yes. Did you miss this? >"If you update an app to an iOS 6 version in iTunes on your computer and then try to sync your iPad 1, the old version of the app will just get removed from your iPad 1. The home screen on my iPod Touch 1G is pretty barren."

You should be yelling at the developers who are requiring iOS 6. There are usually ways to incorporate new OS features, without requiring the new OS - kind of like html5 websites that are still visible and functional. It's laziness on the developers part to require a brand new OS.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#66

Post by microtonal » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 5:19 PM UTC

nicholassmith wrote: post #45

microtonal wrote: post #16

It's sad. For a lot of iPad buyers, 500 dollar or Euro is a lot of money. One can only hope that the majority of them will be recycled, or it is an ecological disaster as well. (If mining of the necessary resources isn't already.) Of course, it's not just Apple. Many Android phones are neglected by their vendors as well. At some point we have to consider, whether we are willing to waste that many resources and money…

According to the internet, iPad 1 16Gb WiFi was £429. Currently you can sell it on eBay for between £175-200, so there's a loss of £200-225 over the life time from brand new, so if you're unhappy you can sell it and cover at least half the cost of a new iPad if it's on the upgrade path. It's an expensive toy, and it is a lot of money, but no one made anyone buy one.

I do agree. But it would be nice to know up-front what to expect with respect to security updates.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#67

Post by lloeki » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 6:21 PM UTC

s_henry_paulson wrote: post #58

kyriakos wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the problem is that your apps no longer work because most of them are based on online services which changed their interfaces and communication protocols by now but won't install on an older version of iOS. This is the case with iPhone 3GS too.

I agree with your first sentence, but Apple is supporting IOS6 on the 3GS.

Then s/3GS/3G/ and since it didn't get iOS5 you get a better picture of what will the iPad 1 will look like in one year.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#68

Post by threedaymonk » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 7:35 PM UTC

kyriakos wrote: post #51

kyriakos wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the problem is that your apps no longer work because most of them are based on online services which changed their interfaces and communication protocols by now but won't install on an older version of iOS. This is the case with iPhone 3GS too.

i believe this is what makes the difference with android though. there's always a strong community that usually comes up with roms a long after the OEM quit. Even on obscure chinese-made CPUs you can find today ROMs running the latest versions of android.

That's true to some extent, but old Android devices fall by the wayside too. I took my old HTC Hero up to Android 2.3 with third-party ROMs, but it can't run anything newer: it doesn't have enough flash space, and it's limited by its CPU and RAM in any case.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#69

Post by rograndom » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 8:39 PM UTC

kyriakos wrote: post #48

jcromartie wrote: post #38

It's still the same thing it was when it came out, and that is: amazing. You're talking about a 10" handheld touchscreen with wifi and a battery that will last a month when sitting on the coffee table or bedside stand. It puts the entire internet at your fingertips and it can be used to do almost anything you want. It's freaking Star Trek, but since it's 2 years old and it won't get some OS updates we think it's garb…

how would you feel if you bought a car 7 years ago and tomorrow they tell you they stop selling petrol for it cause cars today moved to a different kind of fuel?

Well the iPad G1 still run, they're not changing the type of electricity that's running into your house. Safari, Mail, etc will run forever, most 3rd party apps will move to require iOS6 and those will stop running.

Parts for cars is a better analogy:

My last car had a U-joint on the driveshaft start to go. The entire driveshaft had to be replaced, but I could not find a OEM replacement for my specific model of car anywhere in the country. They were all on back order and had been for months. I could get a custom, carbon fiber driveshaft made for $2000, for a car with a KBB value of $3500... I don't think so.

That was a 2002 model year car, not 7 years old but close enough. I said screw it and leased a new car and put the old one on craigslist (where it sold for 2x the KBB value, but that's neither here nor there).

My wife's car is even worse, one of the wipers is "special" and can only be changed by the dealer. Same thing with the driver's side headlight. 1/5 of the moveable parts of the engine needs to be removed to change the bulb.

Re: Why iOS 6 Just Turned Your iPad 1G Into a Paperweight

#70

Post by mannkind » Tue, Oct 02, 2012, 8:57 PM UTC

Too wrote: post #52

mannkind wrote: post #11

What did it do before that it doesn't do now? Did it suddenly stop working; wifi, bluetooth, etc ... dead? Are all the apps suddenly iOS 6 only? No. Stop being so damn dramatic.

> If you update an app to an iOS 6 version in iTunes on your computer and then try to sync your iPad 1, the old version of the app will just get removed from your iPad 1.

It's certainly true that Apple even allowing such a thing to happen is broken (the device should reject app updates it can't run).

But that something like that could happen still doesn't make the iPad a paperweight. People will happily use their first generation iPads long into the future, despite what the FUD.