UPDATE: I solved all of my problems too!!
... yesterday I sold my Air.
First of all, since there are still folks claiming there are "good" and "bad" iPads out there, let's reiterate this:
I (and several other posters here) have NEVER seen an iPad Air which doesn't crash and/or isn't unstable and unreliable when "stressed" (i.e. actually USED like it's supposed to), it's NOT that it's a minority of iPad Airs that have problems, it's a minority of USERS that notice them.
It's exactly like the iPhone4's Antennagate and the iPad3's inadequate specs, these 2 products have what with hindsight EVERYONE today knows to be inherent design flaws. Apple admitted to Antennagate giving out free bumpers and even lost a class action suit IIRC and Apple implicitly admitted to the second by releasing the much improved and upgraded iPad4 few short months after the launch of the iPad3 (which had too slow CPU/GPU and too little RAM to handle Retina).
I remember threads just like this one at the time (I was just a lurker back then) with lots of folks defending Apple and saying their own iDevice was fine... well, as later admitted *by Apple itself*: B.S.! ALL of those iPhones and iPads were exactly the same, hardware-wise, and would behave exactly the same under the same conditions!! Some of those deniers were simply very light users who didn't (couldn't) NOTICE the flaws, some other ones had evidently other motives I don't want to speculate on, here...
I am more and more convinced that, iOS7's bugs aside, the first gen 64bit iDevices have hardware design flaws just like some other iPhones and iPads before. In this case, too little RAM (an absurdly constant issue with Apple) and the 64bit architecture which is not supported by mature and stable software. Fixing the latter I think will take quite a bit of time, fixing the former is of course not possible.
Also, it's NOT third party apps that are causing this because they happen also in perfectly stock iPads which have been set up as new.
Now, with this out of the way, this is my last post on this thread and I don't care what I will be called but let me tell you this: 2 days ago, when I put my Air up for sale, I also bought my new tablet, I am not going to say which brand or even which operating system it runs lest I be called a troll from the competition, the only thing that I am going to say is that it's ROCK STABLE, it's incredibly powerful, it has rid me of the anxiety of not knowing when something will go bad/crash/force close making me lose whatever I was doing and, simply, it's just a joy to use.
Its mobile operating system has REAL multitasking (and the benefits are HUGE), it has MUCH MORE than 1 lousy GB of RAM (and the difference in practical use is HUGE) and can be set up with multiple accounts (which for a tablet, that normally stays at home where there are normally other people too, can be a very useful thing), it has a USB host capability (can read and write USB pen drives and hard disks) and can use many more USB periferals, can exchange files with a PC with simple and fast drag'N'drop, has a flipping user manipulable FILE SYSTEM and can be connected to a mouse (via bluetooth, via wired USB or even with a proprietary USB dongle!)...
And you know what the saddest thing is? From my description you are not able to tell if I am talking about a Windows or an Android tablet because BOTH of them have all of these features!! The only mobile operating system living in the past, being left behind and being relegated to the less tech-savvy folks is iOS!
To all those suggesting partial "fixes" like CRIPPLING the features and SLOWING DOWN while using this supposed state of the art software and hardware combo called the iPad Air: are you listening to yourselves?!?
I switched to a different brand and operating system and I am actually doing (much) MORE and (much) MORE quickly thank you very much!!
Is this a rant? You bet it is! But the only thing that matters is: does this make anything that I have written here any less true.....?
I can imagine what kinds of reply I will get from some folks here but you simply cannot refute the facts I listed here, you can only shoot the messenger but don't worry, I won't let the door hit me on the way out...
Ciao e buona fortuna.