Bye-bye iPad2, welcome back iPad4

[pl001]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I would question the validity of your statement that "The iPad hardware itself is nothing all that special", given that there doesn't actually appear to be any alternative choice, should one desire the particular combination of hardware that the iPad provides.

That's one interpetation, but it's not what I intended by "special". What I meant is the components are not of a higher quality as implied by the car analogy. If I use your interpetation of "unique" = "special" and apply it to the car analogy, I could to say Nexus 7 is more of a Mercedes and Apple is a Ford because the Nexus has a particular combination of software, aspect ratio, and size that Apple does not offer. Same with a Galaxy Note with its stylus. Or a Surface with its kickstand and keyboard. That's a terrible analogy, but so was the original claiming Apple to be like Mercedes which is what led me to this point.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

And if it weren't enough, you could add 64GB with a meenova mSD card reader, bringing the total up to 96GB.

Thanks; that's a nifty device. I never liked the cable option, but this is something I'll consider.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

At the end of the day you get what you pay for and for what I need a small iPad for Android just doesn't have the apps.

I see. So the $500 I paid for a Surface makes it the equivilent of a $500 iPad, and a $550 Galaxy Note is obviously superior to an iPad.

[HarryT]

Different tools for different jobs. I have a Surface Pro and an iPad. They both get used every day, but for different tasks.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I too have tried various Android tablets, but always come back to the iPad. Its OS may (in the view of some) be "simplistic and outdated", but it gets the job done, whereas Android (for me personally) doesn't. It's good to have the choice.

Yes, choice is good. That's one thing I would hope everybody can agree on.

Funny thing is, it's the lack of choice which prevents me from going back to Apple's ecosystem. But if it offers you what you want at a price you are willing to pay that's all that's important.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by pl001

Yes, choice is good. That's one thing I would hope everybody can agree on.

Funny thing is, it's the lack of choice which prevents me from going back to Apple's ecosystem. But if it offers you what you want at a price you are willing to pay that's all that's important.

That it does. I have a few apps on iOS that I use daily that do not exist on Android, plus I am used to iOS and it works seamlessly for me.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

And if it weren't enough, you could add 64GB with a meenova mSD card reader, bringing the total up to 96GB.

I just got one and keep it on my keychain. It works great.

[tempura]

Well either way, I am not changing my iPad 2 for a iPad 4, it's still usable like any other product though I still do not have ios 7 on it, but I use it for reading books and surfing the internet anyway so not much loss there.

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's good to have the choice.

Exactly. I like having choice, and my mixture of hardware reflects that: a PC desktop, an Apple laptop, and an Android tablet. I'm happy with what each has to offer, and would be unhappy with their competitors. In my case, upgradable and maintainable hardware is important in a PC since I like having high performance at a low price. I like being able to run Unix software on my laptop and have fully supported hardware, which is tricky to do with PC laptops. Androids offer better performance per dollar and are much more customizable than their Apple counterparts. Now any given person may disagree with my decisions individually or collectively. That's okay. They can get what they want and I can get what I want.

(That being said, I do gag at the prices of Apple tablets. The reintroduction of the iPad 4 doesn't change that.)

[mycurlylocks]

I'm in the group that would pay more for quality and something that consistently works.
I've got tablets for IOS, Android and Windows, but I return to the iPads more often than anything else. I like the feel of them, and the fact that they always work for me. I can honestly say I have never had one of my iPads crash.
I've no regret for the amount of money I have spent on my iPads, I can't say the same for the other tablets.

[alicepattinson]

the older iPad mini is even better than iPAd 2 in my opinion. It's handy and easier to use.

[Jessica Lares]

Surprised the 3rd generation wasn't the one they brought back. Must have had a lot of issues with the A5X. Although I'm glad to see A5 getting the boot, the other month I experienced my first lag due to it on my iPod.

Hopefully they'll make it into the refurbished section soon. Saving even more money would be nice for those that want to.

[jersysman]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

And if it weren't enough, you could add 64GB with a meenova mSD card reader, bringing the total up to 96GB.

It doesn't look like I can use this on my Kindle Fire (isn't listed in compatible devices). It does look like a nifty little device.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Surprised the 3rd generation wasn't the one they brought back. Must have had a lot of issues with the A5X. Although I'm glad to see A5 getting the boot, the other month I experienced my first lag due to it on my iPod.

Hopefully they'll make it into the refurbished section soon. Saving even more money would be nice for those that want to.

The 3rd gen iPad was the botched generation. Retina display driven by the underpowered A5X. It was laggy, ran hot, battery life not the best, very poor (relatively speaking).

It's great that the iPad 4 is back. I bought a 64GB model about a year ago. Wonderfully smooth with iOS 6.1.3. That combination was the best performing tablet I've owned (and I've owned and still own a LOT of tablets)

I held off installing 7.x until 7.0.6 (with the fix for the SSL bug). 7.1 is better than 7.0.6 but not as good as 6.1.3.

[Sregener]

Originally Posted by mycurlylocks

I can honestly say I have never had one of my iPads crash.

Thanks to the memory leak in the last IOS version for the iPad1, I can honestly say that I remember Windows 3.1 applications being more stable. Apps crash constantly on that thing, unless they avoid using virtual memory entirely. Safari uses virtual memory...