I 'd just like to point out that my less than two year old iPad air which I had presumed would b...

[G+_ove hatlevoll]

I'd just like to point out that my less than two year old iPad air which I had presumed would be future proof as it was the first on the new 64 bit processor will get "upgraded" to iOS 9 minus the coolest new feature split screen dual app mode. Who is 'fragmented' now? This is just a money grab to obsolete such new hardware so soon!

[G+_Daniel Dur]

When you take into consideration the number of models, iOS is just as fragmented as any other software platform. We new that the moment the original iPhone missed an update for the first time. No surprises there, just marketing pushing the unwanted garbage under the carpet.

[G+_Philotech Mueller]

Oh how I can't hear this whining and arguing about fragmentation and alleged obsoletion of hardware any longer!

 

1) There is no such thing as being "future-proof" in technology. You knew your purchased hardware would not be (fully) supported by some later operating system when you learnt that technology started advancing a few million years BC.

2) The Air in particular will be two (=2!) generations old when iOS 9 will be released. That's a long time in IT. And it will still be fully supported by iOS 9 and receive the upgrade on day 1 (compare that with Android!). It will drop support for a single feature of iOS 9, and please first prove that the Air would be able to support it without you personally complaining about the lack of performance.

3) "Fragmentation" is not the same as technological progress (that's what you describe in your post). Fragmentation in this context means that for no purposes whatsoever current hardware does not get updated to the latest software / OS despite the hardware being perfectly capable of running the OS. You only get this in Android.

4) That (3) being said, fragmentation in Android is no longer such an issue (despite the actual number of OS versions co-existing) because Google has moved much of the core functionality from the OS to Google Play Services.

[G+_Bill G]

Apple has always been 2-3 years 'behind', low-tech, over-priced marketing genius.

[G+_Chris Topher]

Philotech Mueller

I agree, however that one missing feature is a pretty important one for iPad owners. Consider this vs. the even older nexus 7 android tablet which continues to get full 5.11 support with nothing taken out. Granted, Lollipop had a few glaring issues when it first came out but 5.11 seems to have hammered them all out now for me and I haven't noticed any difference in performance on the N7 from 2013 under Jellybean to now.

 

I also take into consideration that the N7 has given me the last 2 years for a $240 value.

[G+_Philotech Mueller]

Bill Gwrless You must be living in a secondary universe...

I do have my very specific preferences, but in a household with a Mac, a PC, a Chromebook, a Linux-based NAS, some iOS devices, some Android devices and a strong Blackberry past, these preferences pretty evenly spread out to all OSes depending of the respective area of interest.

[G+_R.C. Curtright]

Philotech Mueller? so complaining about getting soaked for an upgrade after only 2 years is 'whining' and you seriously think the Air has a hardware limitation preventing split screen? I don't know where to go from here. Sorry, whining or not when any of these companies takes a dump on customers they need to be called out. That even includes Android when the shoe fits.

[G+_R.C. Curtright]

Philotech Mueller??? first your comment directed at me then? this 'living in a secondary universe'? Are you capable of disagreeing without insulting the other person first?? Do you really think being delusional is the only way for him to have another viewpoint??

[G+_R.C. Curtright]

Khyler Drake?? exactly. Two full OS cycles would have seemed a bare minimum to me. That's what Android gets you if you go with a decent manufacturer.

[G+_Chris Topher]

R.C. Curtright can't really complain, I've been upgraded on both my tablet and phone to lollipop now and both were manufactured in fall of 2013. That about fits the 18 month upgrade cycle most manufacturers claim

[G+_L I]

I think complaining about Apple fragmentation is justified when Apple uses fragmentation of Android as a talking point. If they said nothing about it, then there's nothing much to complain about.

 

Though it's still annoying that a $500 (minimum) tablet bought 2 years ago is losing software support when my just-as-expensive computers aren't. But this is the consequence of the computing appliance world we're in now.

[G+_Philotech Mueller]

R.C. Curtright The wording might have been strong, and that's typically not my style. But writing Apple is two years behind and low-tech is not an opinion, that's trolling (that was not you)

.

And I agree, on Android, if you get updates at all, you sometimes get them as long it's technically feasible with some manufacturers regardless whether it makes sense.

But usually you don't get any updates or if at all really late. My Samsung S4 mini was updated to 4.4.2 when 5.0 already out and 4.4.4 was more than half a year old. It won't be upgraded to 5.x or anything at all. I got it when Kitkat was already released, and it was sold until well after the release of the S5 mini, probably until or shortly before Lollipop 5.x was released.

And it is sluggish in a way that Apple would never allow to but rather drop OS support entirely. Returning from an app to the start screen may take more than 15 seconds, and starting Hangouts until I can actually type can take 30 seconds. Even opening the phone app usually takes 15 seconds.

 

My (cheap) tablet, a Trekstor 7" with an Intel Atom CPU which has just been released and came with vanilla Lollipop 5.0 installed, isn't any faster really. I can literally watch the start screen icons being added one by one.

 

Apple has taken a different approach. Instead of allowing software with a really bad user experience to run on hardware not really capable of it, certain demanding features will just not be enabled. This is why Apple can't sell really cheap phones or tablets. Because they wouldn't be able to run current software in a way that Apple would accept for good user experience.

Of course the Air 1 would be able to somehow run two apps simultaneously. But the user experience would likely be as on the iPhone 4 when people installed iOS 5 (or 6?). - Of course I don't have any evidence as iOS 9 has not yet been released. 

[G+_Chris Topher]

Philotech Mueller That kind of sounds to me like apologizing for poor planning and Apple waiting so long to give up their idiotic love affair with 1GB of RAM on the Air1. Here we are just a mere 19 months after the Air was released and they've already pulled capabilities for iOS 9 in the name of "providing the best experience because we Scrooge on RAM". Meanwhile I'm running 5.11 on an equally old Nexus 7 and it's running faster than it did at release with zero features omitted. For a 3rd of the cost.

 

I can hardly wait to see how impressed $900 iPhone 6+ owners with their 1GB of RAM are going to be when iOS 10 arrives in a gimped down version of it for them.

[G+_R.C. Curtright]

Philotech Mueller??? that's where I am in a different boat. I tried to get the best chance of staying modern even if it means spending a bit more. Specifically avoided going with a10 inch Samsung tablet over the iPad because I got burned before by them. I realize 'future proof' is relative, just a little shocked at how soon this happened. The main selling point for me of the iPad over Android at the time was the updates. Supposing Apple is being honest about performance issues I have a few points here. 1) Maybe a footnote on Apple.com then. They will after all be selling the Air until the last minute before the Air 3 launches. When buying an Android device they at least tell you what OS it is on. 2) How is it possible that this works on 2 and 3 year old Android and Windows tablets? 3) Why not be honest and say the Air stops at iOS 8 and will still get security updates as needed. This is having both ways the way they do it now. Imagine if Google Play services rolled out a security patch and changed everyone's OS version number to 5.0 and just claimed everyone was on Lololipop but that some devices don't support the new features. Now they could show the world that all their devices are current.?