First Ipad question

[pbgroover]

Looking for a little advice from those who use Ipad with Accordance, this will be my first Ipad...

 

I'm looking at either the new Ipad 128gb, which in UK is £429, or Air 2 128gb, which is either £469 new or £399 refurb.

 

The comparison between the new Ipad and Air 2 is well reported, my question is to do with the A9 over A8X chip and how future proof either will be when compared together. I thought I'd ask here as a strong IOS community who use the Ipad in a way I hope to. I would like to use the Ipad for Accordance study on the go, preaching/teaching from, as well as taking notes and the usual tablet use (web/video/audio).

 

I am drawn to the Air 2 as slightly cheaper refurb, slightly thinner/lighter, can get smart cover, but I am hesitant to purchase tech that is already 2.5 years old and has an older processor. Reading reviews they indicate that the new Ipad will outlast Air 2 by a year due to IOS updates, I am hoping this Ipad will last at least 5-7 years, hopefully longer, so am a little concerned if I need to already deduct 2.5 years as a 2014 product.

 

How long should I expect the Air 2 to be supported for? Am I being realistic in thinking it will last 5-7 years or longer? Is the anti reflective screen on the Air 2 better for preaching from? Would you consider the A9 chip a main 'over riding factor' in making a decision over the 8AX?

 

Thanks for any help / advice,

Paul

[Pastor Vinny]

When it comes to technology; the new is usually better.  I have an iPad Pro and love it.  It has been much better than the Air that I had in the pastor for speed and reliability.  BUT if cost is the issue; then I would go with the newest Apple model rather than the two year older one.  

[pbgroover]

Thanks Pastor Vinny, from what I've read the new Ipad is questionably inferior to the older Air 2 apart from the processor, which is an A9 rather than A8X. I've also read that the Air 2 has a better anti-reflective screen, like the Pro, do you find this helpful in use, especially preaching/teaching?

[ukfraser]

I went for the 9.7" pro with 256 when my ipad 2 pretended to die (now with my daugter and going strong).

 

Biggest advantage is the colour. Im on it nearly 24/7 and at night it goes warm which is meant to be good for sleep. Might be hype but i turn in at midnight and sleep soundly for 8 hours and dont get the delay i used to when working on mbp or ipad 2 so i tend to side with the scientists.

 

Also, i think the x9 is a bit more future proof. Dont use the apple pencil, my old boxwave stylus is still going strong and see no reason to change!!!!!!

 

I prefer thinner lighter pro over new ipad.

 

One thing im very particular about is the cover and for me it has to have 4 sections so it doubles over itself so is very easy to hand hold. I have used friends ipads with three section covers and really dont like them. So i would strongly recomend the invision case from amazon. Bit tacky, doesnt last long but is desperately cheap so when it becomes too tatty you can throw it away and get a new one.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invision-iPad-Superior-Features-Recommended-x/dp/B0151G1HQS/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1492267964&sr=8-6&keywords=Invision+ipad+cover

 

I use mine for sermons, music, scores, most of my accordance preparation, reading, surfing and email and only turn on my mbp for heavy lifting work with lightroom, accordance research and word these days.

 

The one thing i would say is that with a new box you get all the ios software, not sure if you get the mac office suite on a refurb. I like pages on my ipad and never subscribed to word but really dont like numbers.

 

I would still be using the ipad 2 if it hadnt pretended to die 2 days before i needed it for a service (i totally rely on them for leading which includes the music and all my scores are on it). But the latest ios doesnt work with an ipad 2 but having said that, nothing i use would have stopped working. It was lower resolution and no fancy anti reflection and i never found that an issue even when using it for taking notes or 'video' at greenbelt.

 

So i think you need to consider what software you rely on on the ipad and what the features are that you can live with then the ios is no longer supported and unfortunately, that not something we can see in the future. Having said that, i got everything i needed and wish i hadnt upgraded the ios to 10 but stayed on 9. So i wouldnt worry about your perceived loss of 2 years.

 

As my iPad 2 and iphone 4s (both with na5 chip) were both released in 2011 and are both still going strong though only use up to ios 9, 5 to 7 years sounds reasonable (though the original ipad stopped being supported by ios changes sooner than that). But i certainly wouldnt want to be without my pro now.

 

If you can see them both, see how they feel in your hands. Are you likely to need any heavy processing or how important is processing power?

 

;o)

Edited April 15, 2017 by ukfraser

[pbgroover]

Thanks Fraser, the true tone option of the Pro wasn't something I had considered, the Pro would certainly be more future proof as A9X chip.

 

As you have the 256gb, how much of that space have you used? I could pick up a 32gb Pro for not much more than 128gb Air 2, I've read mixed thoughts on the space issue between 32gb and higher, not sure if 32gb will be sufficient.

 

As far as support goes, I would be concerned if in less than 5 years the IOS update was no longer supported by Apple and therefore Accordance would no longer work on the Ipad. This will be the main app I intend to use (at the moment)

[ukfraser]

My ipad 2 was only 16 gig and i found that mega frustrating and i had to keep deleteing mp3s. Currently my 256 is just over half full of music. I like having important music with me for when i need it.

 

Accordance still runs on 9 and although i couldnt update the ios on my ipad 2, it would have kept working with 9 (just as my iphone is).i have the latest version of accordance on my phone And can continue to update it as long as it runs on 9. At some stage 9 will no longer be supported but who knows when or even where accordance will be When that happens. Accordance does most of what i want right now so even if i was stuck with the current version, its certainly better than anything else but i may not be able to download future products i buy.

 

After 120 gig of music, accordance is the next largest resource and is over 2 gig and that includes loads of translations, wbc and nivac and original expositors commentaries. Not to mention lots of image heavy resources inluding photo packages and atlases as well as original language stuff. I am more selective on the iphone as i use it less but have virtually my entire library on the ipad.

 

32 gig is enough unless you have lots of storage intensive apps. Do you know what else you want to use it for? How much storage do you have on your phone and is that enough?

 

Im old school and dont like cloud storage, i like it stored on the device so im not dependent on wifi etc which is why i went for max storage. I also hoped to store photos but my camera takes large file sizes and currently have 3 126 gig cards and am planning on getting a couple more for when im on a trip so that will never happen. But i do put pdf presentations of my photos on, but acrobat will optomise the pdfs to reduce the file size quite dramatically.

 

It really depends on what you want to use the ipad for. Garage band?????

 

;o)

Edited April 15, 2017 by ukfraser

[pbgroover]

Garage band? Something else I hadn't considered... I hadn't thought of using it as a mini recording studio for home demos, this could be a possibility...

 

It's good to know how much space Accordance takes up for you, my Iphone 4s is only an baby 8gb and is maxed out, I can't take many pictures on it as never enough space. 32gb would quadruple my storage but I can imagine using that up on a bigger device, My wife's 16gb 5s is currently maxed due to photos.

 

I appreciate your advice Fraser, you've given me plenty to think about!

 

Any other users willing to share their experiences with Ipad (whatever version), I appreciate the communities advice.

 

Thanks Paul  

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi Paul,

My iPad mini 2 has 32 GB with an A7 chip. It has plenty enough power for word processing with Word, Pages, and Mellel. Mellel and Word handle documents over 1500 pages in iOS, mostly my own Unicode Bibles. I only have a few hundred songs on it, mostly classical music and relaxing nature sounds so I can work while listening.  But I do have a lot of productivity Apps. Besides the ones mentioned, I have the whole Office suite, several/many pdf editors/readers, Accordance and Logos, several other notes editors, Unicode Pad is worth mentioning, dozens of Unicode fonts, dozens of utilities, and a dozen miscellaneous ones. But with all my Apps and documents, I still have about 6 GB left right now.

So, I would say either of your choices would be ok with the A8 or 9 chip, and 32 GB is a lot for an iPad geared towards productivity.
I guess I'm basically agreeing with Fraser, and just mentioning my productivity experience vs his unique workflow with all those mp3s.
IPads are great products. I think Fraser and I have both said on the Forums that we use Acc on them more than on our desktops.

Regards,

Michel

[pbgroover]

Hi Michael,

 

This is helpful to know, if I knew 32gb would be sufficient then that would open up the possibility of going Pro. I have some video files (Ligonier and Credo Courses) I would like to play on there, as well as audio books and mp3s, but there is nothing saying I would need to keep them on the Ipad indefinitely. 6gb is quite a fair bit of space to still have free.

 

It boils down to storage vs premium product, I guess I can add some extra space using Dropbox and the like as well as iCloud?

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi again,

I use Dropbox, bc it's easier to transfer files, not bc of s storage issue. In my opinion, 32 GB is enough, especially if you are comfortable with the cloud. I'm old school like Fraser too. I prefer local storage, but, memory sure costs a lot on Apple devices.

Whatever you choose, if you have at least 32 GB, it will be a good product. I only wish I had bought an iPad mini 4 for the Split View.

Regards,

Michel