My overall thoughts on my iPad Air 2 after a year owning it

Closingracer

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Let me list a few things...

Can't easily use it as a USB storage device.

Can't set app preferences.

Still no real-time widgets. The iOS desktop is still just a slab of icons, same as it has been since 2007. I can't even arrange them the way I want, like on the outer edge of the screen, so that my wallpaper isn't covered up with icons.

Here is another example...

I have a very large PDF, it is a shop manual for an ATV. Figured it would be nice to have on the larger iPad screen, so just copy it over, right?

On a Windows or Android device, it is simple. Plug in the device, it pops up on your PC like any thumb drive would, drag the PDF from your PC to the device, done. No apps, no uploading to the cloud and then downloading it to the device, drag, drop, walk away.

When you want to open it, you just click on the PDF and it automatically opens. If you have multiple apps that can open it, it asks you if you want to use one of those other apps from now on. If yes, it never asks you again. Every time you click it, it just opens with the app you want. All of this, the copying, the setting the preferred app and the opening, takes less time than it took you to read these past two paragraphs, literally. Set once and done.

On the iPad... Well, you can't just drag and drop a file. I have to download some sort of file manager app, then plug in, launch iTunes, and then use the two together to copy that file over.

Easy right? Wait, there is more. Now where is that PDF? As there is no visible file system to the user, I cannot simply have a "My Files" folder on the desktop... so what do I do? I have to launch that file manager app and go find it. Once I locate it, I can click on it. Unfortunately, iOS forces you to open it with whatever default app that Apple has mandated that you must use... because... nobody knows why, but Apple must surely know... Anyway, that app on my iPad Air 1, can only open a PDF up to 50mb in size, so after launching the first file manager app, and then loading the mandated app, which imports the file only to tell me it cannot access it, then and only then am I able to select the app that I want to use... so now I launch a 3rd app to open the file, which it imports and then I can use my large PDF.

Now the real kicker, or kickers, is that there are now 3 physical copies of that large PDF on my iPad! All three apps, because every app much be locked into its own file sandbox, has a copy of that large file, taking up 3 times the storage that it needs to.

But there is more!

iOS isn't intelligent enough to remember all those steps and just jump to the correct one next time. The next time I want to open it, I have to jump through all the hoops again, unless the app I want remembers where to find that file.

The point being, that this is anything but user friendly. This is an idiotic system, where Apple designed something and wanted to force people into a certain way of doing things, and in the end, their efforts to make it "***** proof", actually made it harder to use in many cases. They built system that is easy to use, so long as you stay within the very narrow scope of what they want you to do. As soon as you step outside that box, things are way more difficult than they need to be.

Apple has the reputation for being easier to use, but the reality is that it isn't. It's easier for people that have only every known Apple. To them, they don't see it as a limitation because they haven't really experienced anything else. It's just how it is, and so they don't see the problem with it.

To a caveman, he probably doesn't see a need for a car, until he sees one and realizes how much walking sucks. LOL

When you come from a more forward thinking OS that gives you the freedom to customize or just perform common tasks in 1 or 2 steps instead of 5 or 6, going to iOS is clearly a downgrade.

All that said, I enjoy my device, because I just use it as a glorified eReader, for email, browsing, a game or two... it's a toy, and it works VERY WELL in that arena.

When I need to get actual stuff done, I go to my Android, Windows or Linux machines.

Now, I will get the usual responses of people who "get real work done" on their iPad.

Of course. As an Apple fan, you have learned to adapt your usage habits around the limitations of the platform. But that isn't how technology is supposed to work. The platform should adapt and facilitate how YOU want to work, not the other way around.

Apple is realizing this, hence their migration to becoming more like Android... Larger screens, finally getting some sort of multitasking, an almost copy of Android's notification bar, etc...

It isn't the hardware. I *love* the hardware. What bothers me is seeing so much potential in this hardware, and then seeing them cripple it with a sub-par OS.




Ain't going to bother reading that wall of text but who cares about widgets.....I had Android and never used them
 

SquireSCA

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Ain't going to bother reading that wall of text but who cares about widgets.....I had Android and never used them

So you basically have no response, rebuttal or anything of value to add.. Glad I took the time to actually explain things and give real world examples, so that you could be lazy and read the first sentence and bail... iOS is probably the best choice for you.
 

SquireSCA

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Another example... Just reading this page... If I scroll up I go a page or so and it is then blank, and takes 3 seconds to load the above posts... If I scroll back down, I can scroll a page or two, and then it is blank and has to load that again, even though I was just there... It should already be loaded in RAM. That tells me that either the safari browsers sucks, or the system is running out of available memory, another issue with iDevices, is that they put the absolute minimum amount of memory in here...
 

Closingracer

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So you basically have no response, rebuttal or anything of value to add.. Glad I took the time to actually explain things and give real world examples, so that you could be lazy and read the first sentence and bail... iOS is probably the best choice for you.



Na I just have more important things to do in life then read all that during my free time. I already have to read 2 text books and a book for school so rather not read walls of text in my free time
 

Closingracer

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Another example... Just reading this page... If I scroll up I go a page or so and it is then blank, and takes 3 seconds to load the above posts... If I scroll back down, I can scroll a page or two, and then it is blank and has to load that again, even though I was just there... It should already be loaded in RAM. That tells me that either the safari browsers sucks, or the system is running out of available memory, another issue with iDevices, is that they put the absolute minimum amount of memory in here...



2GB of ram is fine.....And now all new ios devices has at least 2GB. If Android is so better go back to it
 

SquireSCA

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It's barely adequate.

And I do have Android. And Windows. And Linux.

So I am in a pretty good position to compare the pros and cons of each...
 

Closingracer

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It's barely adequate.

And I do have Android. And Windows. And Linux.

So I am in a pretty good position to compare the pros and cons of each...

So stop complaining? Ios isn't trying to be Android and vise versa....you don't like ios there is other devices out there
 

SquireSCA

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This is the problem I have with fanboys that don't know the other product lines. I could take the time(again) to explain myself, but you will just ignore it(again)... Have a nice day, son...
 

SquireSCA

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Ironically, for someone who "doesn't have the time" to read my other post, you have even more time to argue about why you can't, shouldn't or won't read it, apparently... LOL
 

Closingracer

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This is the problem I have with fanboys that don't know the other product lines. I could take the time(again) to explain myself, but you will just ignore it(again)... Have a nice day, son...



Fanboy? I'm no Apple fanboy.....I had plenty of Android devices and prefer windows over Apple any day of the week. I'm telling out to deal with it or change to a different os.....
 

Closingracer

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Ironically, for someone who "doesn't have the time" to read my other post, you have even more time to argue about why you can't, shouldn't or won't read it, apparently... LOL

I don't bother reading it because it's a forum and I'm not going to bother reading that wall of a post throughly.... Keep it simple
 

SquireSCA

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I do deal with it.

I even pointed out where it works well and why I still have it, and I said that I wouldn't go into details unless anyone wanted me to...

To which you replied, "Err what? I've had Android in the past and went with iOS for a few reasons.... It's not that restrictive"

At which point I clarified by giving specific examples of where it is limited, why, etc...

It is restrictive, unless you stay in the very narrow box that Apple puts you in, which you would know if you spent 1/5 the time you have spent arguing about a post that you haven't read, instead of actually reading it. ;-)

And in that post you would also have read why I have the iPad Air 2, what I do like about it, etc...
 

Closingracer

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I do deal with it.

I even pointed out where it works well and why I still have it, and I said that I wouldn't go into details unless anyone wanted me to...

To which you replied, "Err what? I've had Android in the past and went with iOS for a few reasons.... It's not that restrictive"

At which point I clarified by giving specific examples of where it is limited, why, etc...

It is restrictive, unless you stay in the very narrow box that Apple puts you in, which you would know if you spent 1/5 the time you have spent arguing about a post that you haven't read, instead of actually reading it. ;-)

And in that post you would also have read why I have the iPad Air 2, what I do like about it, etc...

And it's not that restrictive....it's a. Opinion you think that it is....
 

SquireSCA

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Which I also addressed in the post that you are so intent on not reading. LOL

If it is just "what you know", meaning you don't know of another way to do something, then you often won't recognize it as a limitation.

eg. Hand writing a letter, addressing and sealing an envelope, putting a stamp on it and handing it to the post person... It's not "broken"... it still works the same way it did with the Pony Express, and if that is all that you knew, you might not see a problem with it.

However, we have email, skype, text, etc... All things that can more quickly and reliably communicate to people.

Going from those newer, better ways to the old way, would seem like a huge PITA and step back, whereas the person that never really left the old ways, wouldn't think it was that big of a deal.

All a matter of perspective. If you don't understand that, or cannot be bothered to even read it, I don't know what else to say...
 

SquireSCA

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You and your niece regularly use 362 apps?

I wonder the same thing... How do you even locate what you want to run, with 47 home pages of icons, or a gazillion folders with multiple pages each?

Sounds like a digital version of Hoarders. haha
 

Channan

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Well, I guess if you don't have 3 minutes to spare...

Just wanted to let you know your post didn't go to waste. I read it. Though it didn't quite take three minutes to read.

Luckily I'm not really a power user and I don't need to get "real work" done so an iPad is more than enough for me. I've been using my MacBook Pro more since El Capitan came out (I really like the split screen multitasking on OS X now) but almost everything I need to do I can do on an iPad, which is mainly just web browsing, listening to music, making phone calls and texts, reading, watching movies, TV shows, and YouTube, and email.
 

SquireSCA

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Just wanted to let you know your post didn't go to waste. I read it. Though it didn't quite take three minutes to read.

Luckily I'm not really a power user and I don't need to get "real work" done so an iPad is more than enough for me. I've been using my MacBook Pro more since El Capitan came out (I really like the split screen multitasking on OS X now) but almost everything I need to do I can do on an iPad, which is mainly just web browsing, listening to music, making phone calls and texts, reading, watching movies, TV shows, and YouTube, and email.

And when I use it in that scope, my iPad works fine for me too. Like I said, I was expecting more of a PC experience in tablet form, which is what Windows and Android deliver, and the iPad is simply not that.

Once I adjusted my expectations, I was fine with it.

My negative feelings have more to do with how Apple does things in general. They take years to catch up to the competition and when they do they claim they did something new, even though everyone else had been doing it for years. I just don't get it. The hardware is there, just let us the consumers decide how we want to use it. Let me pick what freaking app I want to use by default, you know? Don't make me copy and paste links between apps in this day and age.

That stuff is enraging, because there is no practical need to lock the devices down like that.
 

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