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Apple Special Event - 10.16.14 - "It's been way too long"

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M

MercuryLS

Banned
W

Wallach

Member
Shipped, woot!

Also that seems like a pretty great score considering Apple only claimed like 40% CPU performance over the Air.
 
A

AndTAR

Member
My first home-built gaming PC in 2010 had an i5-750 CPU (consuming 95W.) By GeekBench measures here, A8X is then 69% of that CPU power.

TheExodu5 said:
The question is, however...will apps make proper use of the third core?

With the majority of devices out there being dual-core, it's hard to think that we'll see much benefit, at least for a while.
Click to expand...

I guess simply the percentage of users actually using the latest hardware (about 15% for the Air 1 today, one year in, I believe?) also contributes to this real-world situation. Still, isn't the simple PR value of supporting the latest hardware enough to drive major developers in fairly quickly? That's always been my impression with these new releases here.
 
J

Jaxx

Banned
If that Geekbench report is correct, that's a nice tablet. Nice enough that it might hold me 2-3 years I think. Still waiting to see what others report as they get them tomorrow.
 
G

giga

Member
Looks like it's real.

https://twitter.com/primatelabs/status/524647876589125633

PsLHKm8.jpg
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Almost makes me want to get an iPad Air. But I really want a 6+. And I have an iPad Mini now. I'd hate to go bigger. Then again, I have a 5C and want to go 6+. Oh, I'm so confused and conflicted!
 
G

giga

Member
Ninja Dom said:
Off topic but why would the iPhone 5 get a higher score than the 5C even though they use the same parts clocked at the same speed?
Click to expand...
Geekbench browser uses either the mean or median of all scores to make charts. The difference between those two are insignificant and come from differences in the clock speed of the device when it ran the benchmark. Don't worry about it. They're the same.
 
A

AndTAR

Member
HylianTom said:
Pretty much.

Now it's time to shop for a case. This pad's going to be good for a while.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the opposite of last year's situation I guess, where (at least over here in the cold North) second-hand prices on the Air dropped considerably faster than previously. Though I guess most iPad buyers don't know about the RAM numbers, people maybe felt how Safari performed or something. (Maybe it was just the pre-iOS 7.1 situation...)

Getting quite curious about seeing this device in practice now - not just to see if these apparently very high performance numbers actually affect common stutters (like apps hanging upon being resumed, to what degree the purging of Safari tabs still happens, etc.) but also because journalists apparently noted slight differences in the version of iOS 8.1 running on the Air 2. (Expecting this to be a mistake though.)

Certainly some analysis from AnandTech to look forward to now. Maybe they did get early review access this time, otherwise it's a little week of waiting I guess.

The Real Abed said:
This makes me want to wait until next September for the 6+S.. er 6S+. I should just hold onto my 5C and iPad mini combination for now.
Click to expand...

I wonder how far they can actually drag these naming conventions. I've always wondered if it would be better to just hyper-simplify everything; Just an "iPad" or "iPhone", with two sizes available. (... as with the Apple Watch I guess.)
 
M

muu

Member
AndTAR said:
Pretty much the opposite of last year's situation I guess, where (at least over here in the cold North) second-hand prices on the Air dropped considerably faster than previously. Though I guess most iPad buyers don't know about the RAM numbers, people maybe felt how Safari performed or something. (Maybe it was just the pre-iOS 7.1 situation...)

Getting quite curious about seeing this device in practice now - not just to see if these apparently very high performance numbers actually affect common stutters (like apps hanging upon being resumed, to what degree the purging of Safari tabs still happens, etc.) but also because journalists apparently noted slight differences in the version of iOS 8.1 running on the Air 2. (Expecting this to be a mistake though.)

Certainly some analysis from AnandTech to look forward to now. Maybe they did get early review access this time, otherwise it's a little week of waiting I guess.
Click to expand...

I think market is saturated so much at this point that it'll be difficult for these to consistently hold as much value as they used to. I'm interested in the Air 2 coming from a ipad4, but seeing how they have enough supply to not have to slip ship dates like usual I suspect there will once again be deals in black friday.
 
G

Got the Shakes

Member
PAULINK said:
Those benchmarks are killing me... I wonder if I can sell off my ipad air for a good price.
Click to expand...

Not sure what price you are looking for, but Best Buy is currently offering $302 for my 64 gb WiFi one. Probably just going to trade it in there since that's where I pre-ordered. Basically will cover half of the upgrade to an Air 2, and I'm fine with that. Could probably get a bit more if I sold on something like Craigslist, but for me a Best Buy trade in would be so convenient since I already need to go there to pick up my order. Also have a $305 offer locked in through Gazelle in case Best Buy in store quotes me something less than their website currently states.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
AndTAR said:
Pretty much the opposite of last year's situation I guess, where (at least over here in the cold North) second-hand prices on the Air dropped considerably faster than previously. Though I guess most iPad buyers don't know about the RAM numbers, people maybe felt how Safari performed or something. (Maybe it was just the pre-iOS 7.1 situation...)

Getting quite curious about seeing this device in practice now - not just to see if these apparently very high performance numbers actually affect common stutters (like apps hanging upon being resumed, to what degree the purging of Safari tabs still happens, etc.) but also because journalists apparently noted slight differences in the version of iOS 8.1 running on the Air 2. (Expecting this to be a mistake though.)

Certainly some analysis from AnandTech to look forward to now. Maybe they did get early review access this time, otherwise it's a little week of waiting I guess.



I wonder how far they can actually drag these naming conventions. I've always wondered if it would be better to just hyper-simplify everything; Just an "iPad" or "iPhone", with two sizes available. (... as with the Apple Watch I guess.)
Click to expand...

They'll keep specific names as long as it works for them. I think there's a sales benefit to the differentiation. With the watch, it's just a different size with nothing else.

The Real Abed said:
This makes me want to wait until next September for the 6+S.. er 6S+. I should just hold onto my 5C and iPad mini combination for now.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was really happy I got a 4S, and since the 6 was a design departure I'm kind of tempted to try hanging on another year for the 6S... but considering I think I'm still paying for the phone in my mobile contract makes no sense to keep hanging on with this phone. The jump to the 6 will be excellent, no reason to be upset if the 6S has 2GB of RAM, and such.
 
G

giga

Member
DarkFlow said:
I would at least wait till K1 Denver is benched.

Edit, NM I found a Nexus 9 Bench. Continue mocking it lol.
Click to expand...
The Denver isn't bad. It outperforms the A8X CPU in single threaded performance. (Not by much, but it's there.) But what makes the A8X CPU more impressive to me is that it's only clocked at 1.5ghz, compared to the Denver's 2.5ghz.
 
M

Marco1

Member
I was thinking of selling my 6 and jumping over to android for the nexus6 but I seems apple have their ecosystem and hardware really covered for the future.
If you're invested in apple then why would you ever want to leave? I think this A8X proves that their roadmap must be very impressive.
 
P

phxxBullet

Banned
AndTAR said:
I wonder how far they can actually drag these naming conventions. I've always wondered if it would be better to just hyper-simplify everything; Just an "iPad" or "iPhone", with two sizes available. (... as with the Apple Watch I guess.)
Click to expand...

Apple has never offered so many different devices (on their homepage).
Pods: Touch, Nano, Shuffle
Phones: 5C, 5S, 6, 6+
Pads: Mini, Air
Books: Air, Pro
Macs: iMac, iMac 5k, Pro, Mini

I'm curious about next Fall's phones. Maybe they'll drop the C, and keep the S? I'm quite sure they won't get rid of the 4" phones.
 
D

DarkFlow

Banned
giga said:
The Denver isn't bad. It outperforms the A8X CPU in single threaded performance. (Not by much, but it's there.) But what makes the A8X CPU more impressive to me is that it's only clocked at 1.5ghz, compared to the Denver's 2.5ghz.
Click to expand...

Really I doubt you'll see much of a difference in real world use. Yeah it's nice to make big numbers on a bench app, but at the end of the day none of that really matters. I do think Denver has a leg up in the GPU department.
 
M

MercuryLS

Banned
Marco1 said:
I was thinking of selling my 6 and jumping over to android for the nexus6 but I seems apple have their ecosystem and hardware really covered for the future.
If you're invested in apple then why would you ever want to leave? I think this A8X proves that their roadmap must be very impressive.
Click to expand...

With continuity and handoff apples got me fully into their ecosystem. The seamless way everything now works together is fantastic.
 
L

leng jai

Member
The only thing stopping me from getting the Air 2 is the woeful UI. After switching to Android a few years ago the lack of customisation is hard to swallow.
 
J

Jaxx

Banned
leng jai said:
The only thing stopping me from getting the Air 2 is the woeful UI. After switching to Android a few years ago the lack of customisation is hard to swallow.
Click to expand...

I tried switching recently and couldn't do it. I like customization, but I hated how so many different aspects of the Android UI clash with one another. There's a happy medium somewhere between iOS and Android, but I haven't found it yet.
 
Erebus

Erebus

Member
Fuchsdh said:
They'll keep specific names as long as it works for them. I think there's a sales benefit to the differentiation. With the watch, it's just a different size with nothing else.

Yeah, I was really happy I got a 4S, and since the 6 was a design departure I'm kind of tempted to try hanging on another year for the 6S... but considering I think I'm still paying for the phone in my mobile contract makes no sense to keep hanging on with this phone. The jump to the 6 will be excellent, no reason to be upset if the 6S has 2GB of RAM, and such.
Click to expand...
I think it would be highly surprising if the 6s don't end up having 2GB of RAM.
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Holy shit. I was maybe considering going for an Air after my 3 but there's no way I can pass the Air 2 up now.
 
DOWN

DOWN

Banned
Normally Apple doesn't like to mention specs since it sounds lower than Android, but dang they really should have screamed louder about how well Air 2 benchmarks.
 
Hatty

Hatty

Member
Jaxx said:
I tried switching recently and couldn't do it. I like customization, but I hated how so many different aspects of the Android UI clash with one another. There's a happy medium somewhere between iOS and Android, but I haven't found it yet.
Click to expand...

WebOS died too young :(
 
A

AndTAR

Member
There went the review embargo, it looks like:

http://recode.net/2014/10/21/review-apples-ipad-air-2-is-better-but-is-it-better-enough/
In fact, in one key metric, battery life, the Air 2 actually regressed from the original Air. In my tough battery test*, it lasted 10 hours and 37 minutes, exceeding Apple’s 10-hour claim. That’s quite good, better than most other tablets. But in 2013, the original iPad Air turned in the best tablet battery life I’ve ever seen on my test: 12 hours and 13 minutes — about 90 minutes longer. And earlier this year, Samsung’s latest similar-sized slate, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5, lasted 11 hours and 14 minutes in the same test.
Click to expand...

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/21/ipad-air-2-mini-3-review/
Not only does the new panel save vertical space by eliminating any gaps of air between the display layers, but it also makes the screen significantly less reflective. This is meant to reduce the amount of glare hitting the screen, whether you're reading in direct sunlight or watching movies under harsh fluorescent lights. I'm happy to report that it works as advertised; I was able to read text and look at photos much better on the Air 2 than the previous version. Tapping on the screen also doesn't feel as hollow on the new tablet as it did on last year's. Still, Apple seems to have achieved this at the expense of white balance, which seems slightly colder than on the first Air.
Click to expand...

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/21/ipad-air-2-review/
In practice, you get the usual feeling that comes with every new generation of Apple processor that the device you thought was cutting edge until now just isn’t quite up to snuff. The previous iPads are still great devices, and extremely usable even years after their launch (which could account for slower upgrade cycles) but the new iPad Air 2 handles the visual flourishes and animations of iOS 8 with such aplomb that you’ll never even pause to think about them.
Click to expand...

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/21/7027485/apple-ipad-air-2-review
It’s ridiculously fast — noticeably faster to load web pages and launch apps than my iPad Air, and it has so much graphics headroom that I’m eager to see how game developers take advantage of it. But that might take a while: Apple still sells a full lineup of iPads with A7 chips (and the original iPad mini with an A5!), and it’s hard to see the incentive for developers to optimize iPad apps for the A8X until the installed base of Air 2s makes it worthwhile.

(...)

Just consider something as simple as browsing the web. On raw benchmarks the iPad Air 2 is comparable to a 2011 MacBook Air — which, again, is crazy — but the MacBook’s version of Safari is vastly more feature-rich and flexible. That MacBook will also allow me to run multiple apps alongside Safari and be far more productive than the iPad; we’re well past the point when Apple needs to figure out proper multitasking on its tablet.
Click to expand...
 
K

KorrZ

Member
Really awesome to see these benchmarks and 2GB of RAM YES!!! I picked a good time to jump back on board the iPad train..now if only Apple would send me a damn shipping notification :\
 
Liberty4all

Liberty4all

Banned
I am thinking of upgrading. The thing is though, I have an original iPad. I heard they will replace it (battery replacement program) for 100 bucks. I wonder if I'd get back an iPad 2 (or even better)?!
 
G

Gamerloid

Member
Jaxx said:
I tried switching recently and couldn't do it. I like customization, but I hated how so many different aspects of the Android UI clash with one another. There's a happy medium somewhere between iOS and Android, but I haven't found it yet.
Click to expand...

The between is iOS jailbroken. My time with this jailbroken ipad has been great. I'm not looking forward to going without my cydia apps until iOS 8.1 gets a jailbreak :l
 
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