Q: Upgrade iPad iOS 5.1.1 to iOS 6

As I said I also own an Original iPad and all the Apps I have on it are still fully functional. Just because you can't update doesn't mean Apps cease to work. I have yet to see an App I have installed on my Original iPad simply stop functioning. I did update it to iOS5 and it works just as well as it did before.

If App Developers no longer support their older Apps and require and update for them that is not something Apple has any control over. 

Its entirely up to the App developer whether they want to support older iOS versions or not.  Apple simply releases newer versions with improvements to maintain a customer base.  Its the App Developer that chooses to deploy improved App versions that require features only found in newer iOS versions.

If Apple decided never to update anything then people would complain about why they never do, and there devices are obsolete because they don't compete with other products that do get updated.

Baz70 wrote:

 

While your facts on technology my be correct, the issue is with Apple. My iPad1 is still under its original 3year Apple warrenty (Xmas gift 2010),

The iPad comes with a 1 year warranty. If you had purchased AppleCare, it would have extended the warranty for another year. What makes you think your iPad has this extra year of warranty?

I bought the iPad 1 that I am using just now, used, for $200.  I am an experienced senior software engineer, and this is my first apple product.  The friend from whom I bought it talked quite a lot about "the experience".

It is convent to be able to carry the Internet about in my hand and lie in bed with it, and battery charge management is pretty good.  It is a styling' little device.  But...

- I can't plug in a USB drive to get image (or for anything else).  Apple is above all that.

- Safari crashes CONSTANTLY.  I downloaded Chrome - same thing.  Like all apple crashes, you don't know why, and you can't address it.  No wait, you can lay out hundreds of $$$ for a newer iPad.

- A great many features in common software are just not available.  There must be a million things I can do in Linux or Windows or Android that I can't do on my iPad.

- I can't upload a picture to Facebook (at least I don't THINK I can - the process gets "stuck").

- if I have some network connectivity problem, forget about diagnosing it from the iPad!  Ping?  Not on the iPad - that's an app!

- if you seek tech support from apple, well, you are in for real fight (you stoopid paying customer!)

So, what kind of "experience" is this for me?  The kind that I will never have again.  Apple worshippers are legion, but is THIS their altar?  I don't get it.  I recently bought a Nook (new, $150) for someone as a gift and I wish I had bought one for myself instead if this iPad.  Yes, MS/Windows is flawed too, Android a little less so, and Linux is little more than a kit.  All software is buggy, believe me I know.  I read these posts, and none of this stuff is worth arguing about.  I won't change or even penetrate applethink.  I will simply never again buy another Apple.  I have a $200 Apple solitaire game.  And I won't be checking back for any response.  I said what I had to say, it can be read by apple, and I just... Do. Not. Care.

Jeff Lloyd wrote:

 

So, what kind of "experience" is this for me?  The kind that I will never have again.

Good, thanks for sharing. By the way, what does this have to do with this topic?

The orignal ipad 1 still works great.  Its not obsolete as far as hardware is concerned.  I do not care that it is 4 years old, it still works.

Since he said he's not coming back,, this is just for people reading the thread in the future He's quite wrong on  many counts.

Jeff Lloyd wrote:

 

- I can't plug in a USB drive to get image (or for anything else).  Apple is above all that.

- Safari crashes CONSTANTLY.  I downloaded Chrome - same thing.  Like all apple crashes, you don't know why, and you can't address it.  No wait, you can lay out hundreds of $$$ for a newer iPad.

- A great many features in common software are just not available.  There must be a million things I can do in Linux or Windows or Android that I can't do on my iPad.

- I can't upload a picture to Facebook (at least I don't THINK I can - the process gets "stuck").

- if I have some network connectivity problem, forget about diagnosing it from the iPad!  Ping?  Not on the iPad - that's an app!

- if you seek tech support from apple, well, you are in for real fight (you stoopid paying customer!)

Not knowing how to do things is not the same as not being able to.

1. You can totally plug in a usb drive to get an image off of it as you can plug in an SD card from a camera to do the same thing.

The Camera connection Kit provides such a feature for the iPad.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A/apple-ipad-camera-connection-kit

2. Try resetting the iPad. It can help clear crashing issues. Hold down the Home and sleep buttons at the same time until the Apple logo appears.

3. An iPad is not a computer, it is not advertised as such and should not be intended to be one. Its a tablet. Its going to be limited, its the nature of tablets. Even Windows own surface is more limited than its more powerful Full Windows cousins.

4. What's wrong with it being an App??    Again its not a computer, its a tablet. It cannot do everything a computer can, nor is it purported to be able to out of the box. Applications help devices do more things. Just like in Windows or Linux you install additional applications to do things the OS can't do out of the box.

5. You have these forums. And if you are inside the 1 year warranty, or the extra year Apple care plus provides you an get replacements and free support at any apple store. Not sure what you are complaining about.

Then there's no convincing you, you've already made up your mind without knowing about a product at all. Good for you. Nobody needs you complaining about a product you know nothing about.

And it still runs applications built for iOS 5.1.1 and older too.  It will not stop running the apps built for it, just because it can't load a newer iOS.  If you really want to complain, complain to the application developers who are no longer supporting iOS 5.1.1, they are the ones making it so that you can't upgrade to newer versions of their apps, although their older versions will probably still work for for a while longer...

Is it Apple's fault if FaceBook requires you to have iOS 6 or iOS 7 to load the newest release of the FaceBook App?  I doubt it, it is most likely FaceBook's fault.  Your real complaint is with the application developers who are requiring you to upgrade your iOS version to use their applications even though your hardware is perfectly fine.  You can still run iOS 5.1.1 on your iPad first generation for as long as your iPad will work.  Apple is not forcing you to upgrade your hardware or software.

I have an iPod Touch 3rd Generation, which is newer than the iPad 1st Generation, and it won't upgrade past iOS 5.1.1.  It still works for playing music and running the few apps I run on it, even though it can't load iOS 6 or iOS 7.  I just don't try to upgrade my apps on the device, and it still works, even though the app developers have release newer versions of the apps that won't run on my device because they require a newer iOS.  I'm not forced to upgrade it, and it still works fine for me.

I have an IPad 1 and IPhone 3G. While these both do exactly what I bought them for, I find it quite annoying that most of the apps I would like to use now don't work because I can't upgrade to a newerversion IOS. My TV provider used to offer me a app to allow me to watch tv on the move, it now no longer works. It is totally wrong to say that the original apps still work. Most of the apps I used need to be updated, or they stop working, but I can't update as I can't get a newer iOS version.

This is really annoying to me.....

I started out looking to upgrade my 1st gen because some of the newer apps would give me an error,my os was too old, and found I couldn't.  I was disappointed more because these apps would streamline some of the learning materials for my children.  I did find that some of the apps offered an older version that worked well with my os.(thank you app developers!)  My iPad works for what I bought it for and I will continue to use as long as it functions. 

With iOS 7 and all apps updated to support it, some of the apps I purchased stopped working on my original iPad with iOS5.1.1, so do I get a refund on all apps that dont work on my original Ipad ?

I have an ipad 1 and an iphone 4. I have no loyalty to apple and it will be the last ipad I buy. I just feel for what I paid I expected at least a 5 year lifespan with latest OS supported on it. Not for it to become an expensive frisby. Apple has no interest in suckers who dont buy their latest product and support their multi billion dollar balance sheet. Apple products are not cheap to buy so I wrongly assumed they would engineer support of their products over and above cheaper alternatives. How wrong I was. Anyway good luck to them and the rest of you poor suckers who continue to buy their hugely overpriced products. They are only getting richer and more arrogant.

To be honest I cant see much difference between apples os and windows 3.11 for workgroups in terms of workspace and tasking. All I can see is icons that can only be used one at a time. I'll check back in 10 years when the os resembles windows 95 multi tasking ability at the very least.

Meek123 wrote:

 

I have an ipad 1 and an iphone 4. I have no loyalty to apple and it will be the last ipad I buy. I just feel for what I paid I expected at least a 5 year lifespan with latest OS supported on it.

Why exactly did you expect a 5 year life span?  Where did you get that arbitrary number? 

Why do you think a 3 or 5 year old device should still be capable of running the latest OS which demands more resources that the hardware can't provide?

Meek123 wrote:

 

Apple products are not cheap to buy so I wrongly assumed they would engineer support of their products over and above cheaper alternatives.

And they do exactly that.  They are way above other manufacturers in terms of product lifespan.

Good luck finding any other electronics maker that supports their devices as long as Apple does.

Meek123 wrote:

 

To be honest I cant see much difference between apples os and windows 3.11 for workgroups in terms of workspace and tasking. All I can see is icons that can only be used one at a time. I'll check back in 10 years when the os resembles windows 95 multi tasking ability at the very least.

A tablet is not a computer. Even current Android Tablets and Windows tablets (bar a few exceptions)  are limited in relation to computers.

I think you expected something from a product that never said it was going to deliver it.

Also I have an iPad 1. It still does exactly what it did the day I bought it. Its in no way a Frisbee, or obsolete. It still fulfills the tasks it was bought to do. The fact it can't update does not in any way mean its suddenly unusable.

If you bough a tablet expecting a computer then the mistake was yours.

Go buy a computer instead of a tablet if you need more features.

And by the way, implying those of us who like these devices are suckers or have poor judgement just shows how little respect you have for other people and what they may or may not like. If you don't like Apple products that's fine go buy something else. But don't insult the people that like them because you fail to see the reason behind the decisions Apple makes.

The Arc and Meek123 I agree with you 100%. All of us were early adopters who spent hundreds on a product that Apple does not support for more than a few years. And for others who say that it is not obsolete, they should try running a slew of current apps on the iPad 1 - they don't work. Time to do some comparison shopping. Fool me once .......

Apple needs to ensure that the app developer base builds or updates their apps keeping all versions of the iPad/iPhone or at the very least support all  minimum versions of iOS that's available to its customer base like iOS 5.1.1. We all understand hardware restrictions and processing speed but if a product is still being supported it should be supported fully especially since we all paid for these apps. I personally don't care if the free ones don't work. Apple is doing a great job maintaining the Apple apps (Pages/Numbers) to be compatible with the original iPad why not influence the developer base to meet that same standard before the updates are made available to the public?

COMPLETELY agree...

My girlfriend got an ipad 1 just before the ipad 2 came out... 2 years later, software support was discountinued.

Can she still use it? well... technically yes, but there are increasing bugs and security issues, and there's no access to updates as apps start to only support newer versions, OR the newer versions of apps are buggy on the older IOS.

I personally believe that the older ipad could completely run the os with minor modifications. It's not a "different" os, it just has a few new features.

make it easy and just don't compile these features for older code, and give app devs the hooks to check and see if these features are enabled.

but apple instead chose to make ipad 1 purchasers from 2010 feel like suckers. And we now lose faith in them (for the first time!!!)