Educated guesses - next iPad?
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- KVRAF
- 5440 posts since 4 Aug, 2006 from Helsinki
Integration of the smartphone and the tablet is the next (or ongoing) developmet. E.g. Ipad mini was one step towards this, Nokia will launch a 6 inch hybrid (Win8) including 48 megapixel (?) camera and HD screen resolution later this year, etc. H.
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- KVRAF
- 1895 posts since 13 Oct, 2002
It all depends on what you need it for. I bought a refurbished 2 when the 3 came out because I didn't need fancy graphics, just a remote controller for my DAW. But it's also allowed me to access some really interesting sofsynths, experiment with new ways of controlling sound, do some multitrack recording, and to some degree experiment with Audiobus and concurrent music apps.
However it quickly becomes obvious that when you're experimenting with advanced scenarios that only an iPad 4 starts having the CPU required to start getting on with them. The 3 does slightly better than the 2 because it has double the RAM. The Mini as mentioned, is basically a 2. BTW, there's an updated 4 now with 128 GB of storage.
As things stand now for me, it makes more sense to toy with the stuff I have and wait for the next-gen iPad. There's still a lot I haven't explored in the apps I've collected to keep me busy for some time. My main work is still done on a workstation; the 2 allows me to export whatever textures I develop there and is still excellent as a remote controller. So I'm in no rush.
I haven't encountered a single app I couldn't run on the 2 though some like Neo Soul Keys have limited polyphony on the 2, and for sure the DAWs and other multi-instrument sequencers will hit the processing ceiling rather quickly over a certain amount of processing and tracks. Some of the synth constructor kits, like Audulus, will likely also require loads of CPU if things get too complex. But as long as demands are kept reasonable, the 2 seems to take the load with most of the current music apps.
Historically so far (though keep in mind it's a very short history!), every 2nd one has been more of a winner than the previous. Lots of stuff no longer works on the 1. The 3 was a sad victim of Apple's necessity to cast a shadow on the launch of the Windows 8 tablets, doubling the processing power of the 2 & 3 and using less power-hungry chips developed after the 3 came out, prematurely interrupting what seemed to be a yearly release schedule.
As for when the new full-sized one will come out, it's anyone's guess. The rumor mill has it between 4 and 8 months... I can't make any recommendations other than advise you to get one when you feel you need one and that when you do get one, get the largest storage capacity you can afford.
However it quickly becomes obvious that when you're experimenting with advanced scenarios that only an iPad 4 starts having the CPU required to start getting on with them. The 3 does slightly better than the 2 because it has double the RAM. The Mini as mentioned, is basically a 2. BTW, there's an updated 4 now with 128 GB of storage.
As things stand now for me, it makes more sense to toy with the stuff I have and wait for the next-gen iPad. There's still a lot I haven't explored in the apps I've collected to keep me busy for some time. My main work is still done on a workstation; the 2 allows me to export whatever textures I develop there and is still excellent as a remote controller. So I'm in no rush.
I haven't encountered a single app I couldn't run on the 2 though some like Neo Soul Keys have limited polyphony on the 2, and for sure the DAWs and other multi-instrument sequencers will hit the processing ceiling rather quickly over a certain amount of processing and tracks. Some of the synth constructor kits, like Audulus, will likely also require loads of CPU if things get too complex. But as long as demands are kept reasonable, the 2 seems to take the load with most of the current music apps.
Historically so far (though keep in mind it's a very short history!), every 2nd one has been more of a winner than the previous. Lots of stuff no longer works on the 1. The 3 was a sad victim of Apple's necessity to cast a shadow on the launch of the Windows 8 tablets, doubling the processing power of the 2 & 3 and using less power-hungry chips developed after the 3 came out, prematurely interrupting what seemed to be a yearly release schedule.
As for when the new full-sized one will come out, it's anyone's guess. The rumor mill has it between 4 and 8 months... I can't make any recommendations other than advise you to get one when you feel you need one and that when you do get one, get the largest storage capacity you can afford.
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- KVRist
- 63 posts since 27 Feb, 2013 from Nowhere near you!
The rule with Apple products is: always skip one generation.
As the poster above said, it depends what you expect from it and how you're going to use it - decide that, and it won't matter which generation you buy.
As the owner of four iPads, I was going to post a long winded explanation about how I use them, but decided to work on some music instead!
As the poster above said, it depends what you expect from it and how you're going to use it - decide that, and it won't matter which generation you buy.
As the owner of four iPads, I was going to post a long winded explanation about how I use them, but decided to work on some music instead!
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 2 Feb, 2007 from German Guy in Tokyo
this! Starting with the skip with the 1st generation of everything Apple introduces.St3rling wrote:The rule with Apple products is: always skip one generation.
So according to this, the iPad 2 was great and from the feedback here, iPad 3 is the one to skip and iPad 4 to get, that would make the next iPad 5 the one to skip.
(analogus to OS X 10.4 was great, 10.5 not, 10.6 was great, 10.7 not, now 10.8 is great again.
And thanks guys for correcting me with some real world experience, since I am still satified with my iPad 2, I did not pay too much attention to the iPad 4.
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- KVRAF
- 11327 posts since 18 Aug, 2007 from NYC
I have the iPad 2 and I'm waiting for iPad 5 to be released to see what the differences will be.mindnoise wrote:this! Starting with the skip with the 1st generation of everything Apple introduces.St3rling wrote:The rule with Apple products is: always skip one generation.
So according to this, the iPad 2 was great and from the feedback here, iPad 3 is the one to skip and iPad 4 to get, that would make the next iPad 5 the one to skip.
(analogus to OS X 10.4 was great, 10.5 not, 10.6 was great, 10.7 not, now 10.8 is great again.
And thanks guys for correcting me with some real world experience, since I am still satified with my iPad 2, I did not pay too much attention to the iPad 4.
I would be surprised if this release will be as underwhelming as the previous releases, simply because there's lots of competition, but then again... this is Apple, so who knows.
If it's a minor performance update (I don't care about cosmetic changes) then I'll just buy a discounted iPad 4.
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- KVRian
- 812 posts since 27 Oct, 2011 from Pacific Northwest
So far, the rumors on the 5 seem to be about the weight and form factor. Not much has been stated regarding anything (what I consider) functionally significant. The rumors right now even suggest a new chip may not be ready in time for Fall. I'm hoping the 5 is something more significant than a weight/size update.
There is of course iOS 7 which should have a release later this year.
There is of course iOS 7 which should have a release later this year.