Thinking about getting an ipad air. First off, i see theres few generations of ipad and theres only ipad air and ipad air 2. I know back then when first ipad came out, i heard about it but never cared for it. I also see theres ipad 2, 3 then 4 etc and i have few questions.
Is Ipad Air probably the best one to get? I heard ipad air 2 is thinner but honestly i dont even care about something like that. I dont really care about having the newest version as im not someone that needs to get a new one every time a new thing is released.
I assume 32gb is the best to get? 16gb seems to be way too little. I just plan to web browse, youtube and play music mostly. I don’t plan to play any games at all. I mean i might watch some movies but i dont have any of those netflix plans so i might just transfer 1-2 movies from my laptop to it. So if thats the case, is 32gb probably the best option still? I read you can’t upgrade the gb and thus isn’t 16gb always going to be really little? I will also skype and chat and google voice as well but mainly i want to use it for web browsing, youtube.
Is there a reason why the prices i see on amazon for the ipad 1, 2, 3 and 4 seem to be close to the same price as the ipad air? I would figure they should cost a lot less… but i dont see that. However if u check ebay, then its a lot less but those are used ones and i dont want a used ipad.
Is there a reason why a new ipad 3 or 4 cost around the same price or even more than an ipad air 2 when its the same GB?
Why do i see ppl making reviews on amazon for the ipad 4 and buying it new when the price cost more than an ipad air?
How much does an ipad air 32gb cost? I checked some sites and some are 400 plus whereas some are 400, some are 350. Whats the market price for it?
I see some ipads have those carrier capability such as verizon or ATT. I know an ipad is suppose to be used via wifi. But assuming one will never use those data plans, getting one of those is pointless than right? Another question is aren’t those plans really expensive? I mean i took a look and the amount of data u pay for one of those carriers is a lot of money for data. What type of ppl are paying this much money to have data on their ipad? I mean paying that amount for data is a lot. Im curious but where are ppl using this data for their ipads? I mean paying 50 dollars for 5gb of data just for ipad when you already have data on your iphone seems kinda ridiculous dont you agree? Thus if u watching lot of youtube video or just web browsing sites while on data, it should eat lot of data so just curious on this. To me, it seems like getting a data plan for an ipad is a huge luxury and expense.
Would you ever go with a samsung galaxy tab? I had looked at it and its cheaper but i read its android and its best to avoid android. Thoughts on this? I did have an android phone a while back and i will never ever use that phone again. I personally never liked the android icons. With my iphone even though its an older version, it just looks really clean.
The Air 2 has double the RAM, a faster processor, and touch ID. The extra RAM is the most important change : it means that you’ll be able to keep more apps open, and that in a few years as apps get more bloated, they won’t crash from lack of RAM as often. I know from experience with a 512 meg iphone that this is a serious issue.
If you’re going to go Apple and pay the premium, don’t cheap out.
SSD storage, unlike RAM, is much less of an issue. For web browsing/youtube/google voice/skype, it does not matter how big the storage is. For videos, this is an issue : a decent quality movie can eat 4-10 gigabytes, especially one that is downsampled from 4k to be viewed on the ipad’s high res screen. Even at low quality, it’s 1 gigabyte per movie. The operating system and your apps take up at least 8 gigs after a few years, so that means you cannot have more than 6-8 movies with the 16 gigabyte model. That might be a problem if you want to watch movies on an airline flight, and/or get annoyed with having to delete and transfer stuff back all of the time.
Apple isn’t manufacturing the old models any more. So on Amazon you’re seeing listings for old stock, which is why they are so expensive.
Sometimes people wait a while before they review something on Amazon.
It’s not going to be hugely different from site to site because almost all the money for a new Ipad goes to Apple. Profit margins for a store are razor thin.
Don’t get a cellular data plan or cellular capable model. It doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense for almost all users. Most people use their ipads as a convenient web browsing/reading/note taking device at their homes and offices, where there is wi-fi. If you are on the road and need directions, etc, you use the wireless plan for your phone. If you wanna chill in starbucks or mcdonald’s, and bring your ipad, they have wifi there and even if you have to pay for it, it’s a ton cheaper than a wireless plan.
Android is, on average, a lower quality user experience. That is, you have more freedom with Android and the tablets are slightly cheaper, but they are lower quality and the most common tasks are optimal on Apple devices.
The main reasons to go Android are :
1. You are on a strict budget and $100 price difference for the device means a lot to you.
2. You want to do hacker things. You want to control a custom built drone or some other embedded system, etc. This is much easier on the Android where you have much more control over the OS, source code, and can easily run unsigned code.
3. You want to be cool because you think Apple is lame.
Note that the Air 2 does not come in 32Gb, only 16, 64 and 128. I observed a thread on another forum which claimed that the 64 and 128Gb models were using “Triple-Layer Cell” flash storage, which may not last as long as older double or single layer storage.
I would definitely advise getting an Air or Air 2 over an earlier model, because the Airs use the 64-bit CPU: the system will advance for them more than for the older 32-bit models, and app updates next year will start to put in 64-bit binaries, which should make them a tad faster and more energy efficient.
Probably avoid any model older than the iPad 4 because they switched to a different connector, so finding accessories to fit the older ones will start to become difficult.
I’d disagree with these two points based on my specific uses I put my iPad Air to:
[ul]
[li]SSD storage: ~ 40 GByte on my iPad are photographs - I was relieved when the 128 GByte model became available. Another thing that may east into your storage space is music - ~ 15 GByte on my iPhone and iPad but if space on the iPad gets close I’ll delete it from the iPad and just listen on the iPhone. [/li][li]Cellular capability: I often find it more convenient on the move to look up timetables etc. on the iPad rather than the iPhone (or taking the time to set up tethering of the former to the latter). Also I often sit in cafés w/o WLAN access and download my daily paper &c - cellular access definitely is convenient for me.[/li][/ul]
I want to agree with this point. Even places that say they have WiFi often have such crappy WiFi that it is unusable. I’ve found this very often in hotels. I have an iPad 1 with cellular capability and I OFTEN use cellular on it.
Additionally, the text on my iPhone is often too tiny to see, and… Well, it’s just more convenient to have the larger text on the iPad.
Two things to consider wrt cellular models: the wifi-only model does not have GPS, so if, for instance, you are using it in your car to figure out where you are, you kind of might like to have that. The cell feature costs $160.us, you could get yourself a separate hotspot unit that gives you cell access to a wifi unit for half that price, or less. These hotspot units are typically smaller than a phone, so you could easily carry one in your pocket and use absolutely any carrier, including, say, Tracfone (I think, anyway).
If you were to go the hotspot route, you have to be aware that the iPad will not know that it is on cell. With a regular cell-enabled iPad, it is very easy to restrict data flow so that apps or the system are not chewing down huge files or updates through the cell link without you being aware of it; with a hotspot this become a little more of a hassle.
Yeah, there’s stand alone hot spot/GPS systems, or you can tether it to your iphone and get the same thing. This is why I have been recommending against wireless for your ipad.
Specifically, if you already have smartphone service through AT&T, it’s this :
You already pay for data for your iphone. Just share it with your ipad when on the road. You can also share GPS information with an iphone app if you want to use the ipad’s bigger screen for navigation. (or you can purchase a stand-alone gps device that your ipad can connect to for about $50).
If you buy the cellular ipad, it’s going to cost, over 2 years, $160 for the additional parts and $240 for the $10 monthly fee that AT&T wants to have another device connected to their network. (since you’re connecting a whole separate cellular modem to them)