Upgrade iPad iOS 5.1.1 to iOS 6

It's a fact of life with all technology - your desktop, tablet, laptop, phone, cable box, etc. They eventually lose support and must be updated. Why is this such a big deal? If you want to keep a device for 8 years, don't upgrade anything and it should remain usable.

My very first mac (512k) still "works", but I don't find it useful for anything. I accept that. My iPad 1 works and it's still useful.

Yes my iPad 'works' but it crashes whenever I want to look at any pages with lots of pictures on.

You sound like you're trying to insult our intelligence???

Ok let's put it this way: 2009 I paid £299 for my Windows laptop. It crashes if I don't update it regularly.

2011 I bought an iPad 1 for £399 expecting it to serve me well for at least the same time as the laptop. I can still update the laptop. I can no longer update the iPad. Get it?

The 'Genius' suggested to me I either buy ANOTHER (refurbished) iPad 1 for £200 or buy a new one. Thanks for that, 'expert'. Oh and I had to drive 30 miles each way to get that advice.

IT IS NOT OUR FAULT that Apple decide that our product (which served perfectly well until the last update) is obsolete and cannot keep in touvpch with the updates.

IT IS NOT OUR FAULT that we were amazed with the technology that comes with a reputation like Apples to be fooled off with rubbish excuses after 2.5yrs of owning their product.

Why shouldn't we be able to update our products? That's what we bought them for!

Since we are all about examples and comparisons today:

So what you're saying is, death is a part of life and if there is a cure for a fatal disease and the caveat is that I have to be under 5 years old to consume the medicine that cures me, then I wouldn't force the drug companies to innovate a cure for people like me over 5 years old but rather accept death as an understood destination to my life?

We all want the maximum out of everything, these days not all of us can afford to go after the next iPad that ships out.

Not trying to insult your intelligence. Your iPad should work - especially considering that it is only ~3 years old. Mine still works - it has a few issues here and there with crashes, but it still works pretty well. I updated it to 5.1.1 and then stopped updating everything, because I bought an iPad 4. The 4 is great and updated to iOS 7, but my 1 still streams video constantly and flawlessly for my toddler. THe apps on the 1, including mail, browser, youtube, calendar, and others are still great and useful. It sounds like you are haveing particular Safari issues. You could restore it to see if that clears some issues or possibly try downloading a different browser.

Considering the iPad 4 has the same hardware specifications as the iPhone 4, and the iPhone 4 is update to ios 6 and 7.

Um, the iPad 4 and iPhone 4 are not similar at all in specs.

The iPad 4 was released after the iPhone 5.

Yes, but many (not all) of the "bugs" are related to the later operating systems. That means they won't effect you on the earlier ones.

Someone said to me, when it crashes go into the settings, then about, then diagnostics & usage. In there are details about why/what the crash was about. Now i know nothing about the workings or language of these things but MY iPad 1 details the doings of an iPhone running 5.1.1....???

did i say ipad 4? how stupid.
I meant ipad 1.

Sorry

Money doesn't seem to be an issue for you. Buy me a new IPad once every "4 to 5 years".

My iPad 1 was purchased February 2012 just before the 2 came out. It now has constant safari and google chrome shut downs. I have researched fixes and found lots of other people with the same problem. I have tried lots of the so called fixes. Total shut down, emptying history, etc. nothing can solve the issue. I understand the whole "new innovations" thing but why a new operating system that puts paid to the old one? To say that it isn't a computer is misleading as that is what most people, myself included, were told by salespeople that it was.. I paid $900 for this devise. Sounds like a computer price to me. It should last longer than this. Yes I can still use my iPad. But not like I want to.

The iPad 2 was released in 2011, iPad 3 was released March 2012.

For $900 you must have purchased yours outside of the US or you got a really bad deal because it was 2 years old when you got it.

Doesn't matter! The fact is he/we bought something (my ipad 1was £399, purchased when iPad 2 released) that now apparently isn't worth or can't be updated.

I just bought a refurbished ipad 4 which is very nice and I like it a lot but it STILL crashes when I use Safari to look at Facebook. The genius at my local appl store suggested only using the Facebook app but it's pants! It doesn't show things in recent order. I now use Safari to browse and the app to look at individual things which works but is a pain in the butt.

We paid a lot of money (which I had to save up hard for) on something which doesn't do what it's supposed to do! Yes the other features are brilliant but when it comes to browsing the net it crashes.

Apple seem to think we can just recycle it and buy a new one.

I totally agree with you. Apple just thinks that we can roll over our wallets for something that it's software only lasts 3 years. Never again will I purchase another iPad from apple.

Be prepared to find issues on any tablet brand that you consider. This is not just an Apple thing, in fact you may find the lifespan of other brands to be shorter than the iPad.

I own an iPad 1 and an iPad 4 - I know the 1 can't do what the 4 can, so it has become my toddlers iPad and works great for that.

My old MacBook Pro got a little slow, so now it's relegated to my little music studio and is perfect for that.

This is life with technology from a hardware standpoint to maintain it's compatibility with more demanding software and from a business standpoint to maintain a revenue stream to continue building improved hardware. You won't be able to avoid this. Three years may seem short for a tablet to you, but if you're not demanding the most cutting edge apps, you shouldn't really be having too many problems. If you are, maybe there's something wrong with your device.