I'm really getting sick of this "throw-away hardware" culture that Apple is enforcing.
Just because iPad 1 can't run iOS 6 doesn't mean it's suddenly "trash".
Also, the first iPad is woefully underpowered – thanks to the display, it's quite memory and graphics constrained. It's entirely possible Apple wasn't willing get new iOS features working well on that hardware, especially considering iPad 1's install base is a rapidly decreasing percentage of the overall iPad market.
Lots of iOS 6 features doesn't require more processing power. They could have easily turned off the features that did, just like they did with iOS 5 on the iPhone 3G / 3GS.
But they don't have an incentive to do that, and it would mean more work for them supporting a shrinking user base.
However, customer loyalty may have been increased quite a bit by providing updates for more than 2 years. I'd have much less of a problem with Apple dropping iOS 7 support on the iPad 1, for instance.
I could see that being confusing to people. "iOS 6 includes Ultra Photos! But not on your device. Yes, you do have iOS 6, just not the good iOS 6."
My parents have an iPad one, and I've used an iPad 2 at work. I've got to say I'm not that surprised, as the thing is clearly constrained as it is. It's over 2 years old, so it's not like they just suddenly abandoned it. And you can still get iOS apps for it for quite a while. I know there are apps I use that still support iOS 3.
Dramatically lower resolution. That's the key – iPad's larger display puts far more pressure on its GPU and, because there's no dedicated VRAM, it also increases the system's memory usage and reduces the amount of free RAM usable by apps. The latter issue is really a serious problem on the first iPad.
Agreed. I hated browsing the web on the iPad one because it could only hold one tab loaded at a time, and refresh the others when you moved between them.
iPad 3, sorry, 'new iPad' is vastly improved. iPad 1 is now kid's iPad: iView & jigsaw puzzles. :)
I don't care about new iOS features, or any of their iCloud nonsense, I know it won't support Siri (ipad1 lacked a microphone).
What I do care about is the web browser on my iPad not receiving any software updates... ever. That's a serious problem. Without any software upgrades ever, the iPad will become the future IE. In fact, this is worse because of Apple's closed system they also won't allow 3rd parties to upgrade the software either. That means no new web browsers, audio players, or any other new type of software which might threaten their platform.
Apple wants to pretend that software can't be upgraded because you're using old hardware, which not only is completely retarded, it defeats the purpose of software.
Without any software upgrades ever, the iPad will become the future IE. In fact, this is worse because of Apple's closed system they also won't allow 3rd parties to upgrade the software either.
Huh? Citation needed. Apple didn't suddenly cut off App Store updates to iPad 1. Developers are free to support (or not support) iOS 5, just as they were with other iOS updates.
Furthermore, are you remotely surprised by this? iPhones prior to iPhone 3GS aren't supported by iOS 5.
Do you have the same issues with Android? There's a platform that's destined to be the "future IE". How many Android users are stuck on 2.2 or 2.3, with a horribly crippled browser?
Finally, Apple does allow other browsers, audio players and other new types of software. They don't threaten Apple's platform, the bolster it.
I'm not sure where you're digging up this FUD, but it's way off base.
Apple doesn't allow third parties to upgrade iOS's built-in apps. If you're running Windows XP you can replace IE6 with a modern Firefox, but if you're running an iPad 1 it's WebKit version whatever for the rest of time. (The only "browsers" allowed by Apple are basically thin shells around the built-in WebKit.)
I suggest we add Apple/Android criticisms to Godwyn's law. whenever anything negative is said about Apple, someone inevitably turns it into an Android bash instead. The same applies in reverse.
In this instance, the grandparent was spreading FUD about Apple, so the usual Apple/Android digs have come out.
"Do you have the same issues with Android? There's a platform that's destined to be the "future IE". How many Android users are stuck on 2.2 or 2.3, with a horribly crippled browser?"
You do realize that there are third party browsers on Android that have their own rendering engines that you can install right? You don't have to ever use the built in Android browser if you don't want to. I've found Firefox works quite well actually.
Apple doesn't pretend anything. You're just making reasons up. They didn't state any reason for not providing iOS 6 for the first iPad. They are a company. Common sense dictates that if they saw a viable reason to invest the resources into the first iPad, they would have.
The processor has to wavelet compress the audio and ship it off to Siri for processing. Apple might not be happy with the performance on the original iPad.
I recall that someone got it running on a jailbroken device. I don't remember how well it worked.
Recording is easy. Dump the ADC output to a buffer and call it a WAV file. Or an AU.
Sending it to Siri requires chunking the audio into small pieces, compressing them with a wavelet table (I'm assuming here, my DSP knowledge is a bit dated), and shipping them off to North Carolina.
If this can't be done quickly, Siri appears to suck. Apple is religiously conservative about enabling features on hardware that might cause the experience to suck.
Audio compression was a slow thing on desktop computers when desktop computers had similar specs to the first iPad. I'm no authority, but this seems like a relevant detail to me.
I too have a first model iPad and it sucks, but I also kinda expected it. Other developers also don't seem that much surprised/disappointed. The problem is RAM: The iPhone 3GS and the iPad have the same amount of RAM, but the iPad has twice the resolution and almost 5 times the amount of pixels to push to screen.
I suspect Apple and third party App developers will support the second Generation iPad exceptionally long, because it is still selling (obviously), it has much better hardware specs and it outsold the first Generation over 3:1. It makes sense to make the cut now with iOS 6.
Oops, I've actually never used it. So I guess Siri should be able to work on iPad 1 also. Anything Apple says about the hardware being incapable of using Siri sounds is probably a load of their typical bullshit.
Just because iPad 1 can't run iOS 6 doesn't mean it's suddenly "trash".
Also, the first iPad is woefully underpowered – thanks to the display, it's quite memory and graphics constrained. It's entirely possible Apple wasn't willing get new iOS features working well on that hardware, especially considering iPad 1's install base is a rapidly decreasing percentage of the overall iPad market.