iPad Air and iPad Air 2 buyers and owners (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Short answer: it's great.Longer answer: for my needs of watching TiVo shows and web and Facebook, my iPad 3 was fine and I could have gone another year before upgrading. But it was time to replace my wife's iPad 2, and I claimed the new iPad. My only disappointment is I haven't found a game that 'needs' the iPad air 2.

 

[Sam Posten]

So how are you guys enjoying your new iPads? any buyers remorse at all?

Nope, none. It's great. The weight reduction is subtle, only noticeable in long term use. Battery remains great. Screen is awesome, the anti glare is, again, subtle but there if you look for it. The removal of the air gap is great too.NOT missing the lock switch. Using the drag up works fine for me personally.

 

[Carlo_M]

Dave - I think the iPad Air 2 is good "future proofing" because of the new tri-core A8X chip. It's not surprising there is no game that needs it now, but having the three cores, and the better GPU, will keep your iPad relevant longer into the future.

 

[Pawl]

McPaul, having a long password took me longer to open up my former iPad. But, having the new Touch ID sealed the deal for me! Fast, light, and efficient best describes the new iPad Air 2.I just added a new Black cover for my Gold iPad, and the colors look pretty slick together.

 

[DaveF]

Nope, none. It's great. The weight reduction is subtle, only noticeable in long term use. Battery remains great. Screen is awesome, the anti glare is, again, subtle but there if you look for it. The removal of the air gap is great too.NOT missing the lock switch. Using the drag up works fine for me personally.

I'm not with you on the lock switch. I miss it "Click" was always easier than "swipe tap swipe", or "swipe swipe tap swipe" if in an app that blocks single-swipe access to the fast-menu.

 

[DaveF]

Dave - I think the iPad Air 2 is good "future proofing" because of the new tri-core A8X chip. It's not surprising there is no game that needs it now, but having the three cores, and the better GPU, will keep your iPad relevant longer into the future.

Yeah I tried Zen Garden, but it's a two-minute tech demo, and not an especially interesting one.Didn't Apple demo some amazing new game for the iPhone 6? Is that out for the iPad?It's probably for the best, I've got a multi-year iOS games backlog :d

 

[DaveF]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/10/the-ipad-air-2-a-host-of-hidden-upgrades-in-one-skinny-package/"For starters, say goodbye to the mute/rotation lock switch; those options now live in the pull-from-bottom menu in iOS 8. Muting has always been as simple as holding the volume-down button for a second, so we're more annoyed that we can't lock the rotation by way of a switch anymore. (Personally, I want to enable such a lock when my hands are on the device's edge while, you know, rotating the thing.)""After playing with the iPad Air 2 for a while, we wouldn't be shocked to learn that someone fumbled a handoff between the software and hardware teams at Apple. This iPad was built to enable a new level of productivity and mobile multitasking, but in spite of a snappy triple-core processor and doubled RAM, nothing within iOS 8 or the App Store has yet to tap into the boosts. The operating system doesn't scale with a newer, more powerful system of app multitasking, which we're starting to desperately want in our mobile productivity use. Plus, no major platform apps notice the A8X and enable crazy-powerful features"

 

[Clinton McClure]

I believe the word you're looking for here is "future-proof".

 

[Dave Upton]

Took advantage of Best Buy's trade-in program yesterday so I was able to trade my 32GB Air for a 64GB Air 2 for 300 dollars. Very happy with it. The decreased thickness really feels good in my hands, and i'm digging TouchID so far.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Got mine Monday, love it, to say it is night and day from my old iPad (3) would be the understatement of the year. Too busy enjoying it to post here

I have an (urgent) question about Family Sharing: I am giving my dad my old iPad, I've erased/set it up with his existing Apple ID and thought to use Family Sharing. Set that up on my iPad, entered the last 4 digits of my CC, acknowledged the invite on his iPad. Launched the App Store on his iPad and all my purchased Apps appeared in the Purchased tab. Clicked download on Pages and got "to download family member must have valid payment method" ???

Does that mean my dad's Apple ID must have its own CC (he doesn't have a CC - very old school crotchety old man) even though we are using my CC in Family Sharing? Anyone with first hand experience, please speak, as I have to give it to him later today.

Thank you!!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'm tempted to go to an Air2, it's really Nice but I have a 128gb Air 1 , and I can't bring myself to spend the money, Plus maybe next year we will get all the same perks of the Air 2 and a Higher res screen

 

[Sam Posten]

Why would you want an even higher rez screen? MAJOR diminishing returns.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I'm tempted to go to an Air2, it's really Nice but I have a 128gb Air 1 , and I can't bring myself to spend the money, Plus maybe next year we will get all the same perks of the Air 2 and a Higher res screen

You should wait a year: you'll get yet another leap in CPU/GPU, possibly better storage options per $$ and you will see how the much rumored iPad Pro pans out.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I have an (urgent) question about Family Sharing:..."to download family member must have valid payment method" ???

Long story short - after a long call with AppleCare which got escalated up the ranks, the solution was as simple as logging out and logging back in my dad's AppleID from his iPad to be. Then after I downloaded a few apps, a new equally bogus and bizarre error started happening. I repeated the procedure above - minus the phone call - and that got fixed as well. Bottom line -- Family Sharing == bug factory at this point. Oh, and at one point it wouldn't let me download an app until I added the "hacker red carpet" aka (in)security questions to his Apple ID. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Dear Apple: I have tons of relevant experience in QAing stuff - not to mention clear ability to hit a bushel of your bugs. Hire me. Also, as a long time customer I know exactly where the pain points are. Hint: make merging Apple IDs a priority for your next release.

 

[DaveF]

I believe the word you're looking for here is "future-proof".

From years of hard-spent money, I've learned that "future proof" is a lie enthusiasts tell themselves to justify their purchases

 

[DaveF]

Got mine Monday, love it, to say it is night and day from my old iPad (3) would be the understatement of the year. Too busy enjoying it to post here I have an (urgent) question about Family Sharing: I am giving my dad my old iPad, I've erased/set it up with his existing Apple ID and thought to use Family Sharing. Set that up on my iPad, entered the last 4 digits of my CC, acknowledged the invite on his iPad. Launched the App Store on his iPad and all my purchased Apps appeared in the Purchased tab. Clicked download on Pages and got "to download family member must have valid payment method" ??? Does that mean my dad's Apple ID must have its own CC (he doesn't have a CC - very old school crotchety old man) even though we are using my CC in Family Sharing? Anyone with first hand experience, please speak, as I have to give it to him later today. Thank you!!

You've already gotten some answers, but I'll add my understanding: Family Sharing requires the "family" to have apple ids all using the same credit card. In essence, all apps bought with the same credit card can be shared by all users of that credit card. This makes sense to me and seems reasonable.Confusing things at times, many free apps don't support "Family Sharing", which leads to weird and inexplicably difficult to fix download problems.To my annoyance, Family Sharing doesn't include in-app purchases. ( like its pre-cursor, Home Sharing).

 

[Ted Todorov]

From years of hard-spent money, I've learned that "future proof" is a lie enthusiasts tell themselves to justify their purchases

I'd agree with you totally, if it wasn't for my 2009 Mac Pro. That thing is future proof. I can see myself using it for another 5 years... And I'd see myself buying a CPU maxed out used 2012 Mac Pro before I get a "trash can". Presumably in the future one will be able to buy a graphics card that supports Display Port 1.3 (5K displays) for "cheese grater" Mac Pros, while the current "trash cans" will never be able to...

 

[Ted Todorov]

You've already gotten some answers, but I'll add my understanding: Family Sharing requires the "family" to have apple ids all using the same credit card. In essence, all apps bought with the same credit card can be shared by all users of that credit card. This makes sense to me and seems reasonable.Confusing things at times, many free apps don't support "Family Sharing", which leads to weird and inexplicably difficult to fix download problems.To my annoyance, Family Sharing doesn't include in-app purchases. ( like its pre-cursor, Home Sharing).

Yeah, the one CC thing is fine, but I'm pretty sure I hit the "free apps don't support "Family Sharing", which leads to weird and inexplicably difficult to fix download problems."

At home my wife and I simply use the same Apple ID for all purchases on all devices, and that has been problem free.

 

[DaveF]

At home my wife and I simply use the same Apple ID for all purchases on all devices, and that has been problem free.

You've got a stronger bond and deeper love than I do for my wife

I don't understand sharing an appleid. Doesn't that mean you've got a shared iMessage account, Safari bookmarks, and other services mashed together? I don't get it.

 

[McPaul]

You've got a stronger bond and deeper love than I do for my wife

I don't understand sharing an appleid. Doesn't that mean you've got a shared iMessage account, Safari bookmarks, and other services mashed together? I don't get it.

Yeah. Definitely strange. Me either.