iPad Pro problem - lockup

[Dave2002]

My iPad Pro has locked up - now seems totally unresponsive to touch at all. I was using it a few hours ago - and it was fine.
It went to sleep and I was able to wake it up (and can still do so), but anything involving touch fails. I can't even power it off.

There is a procedure mentioned in a note from Apple to press the volume up button, then the volume down button, then the power button, but all that does is take the thing back to the power off screen.

This is a real pain.

[johnb]

Dave, have you tried doing a hard reboot? For me, that is holding down the On/Off button at the top edge while holding down the Home button until the device closes down (say 10 seconds). It should then restart, with the Apple logo temporarily appearing on the screen.

[Dave2002]

Thanks. I finally did that and it worked. Is that a hard reboot or a soft one?

I don’t know what caused the problem. I thought it might have been due to a software update, but no obvious sign of one.
It’s a while since I’ve had to do that, and probably most often on earlier generation machines.

Fingers crossed it won’t happen again for a very long while.

[antongould]

Thanks. I finally did that and it worked. Is that a hard reboot or a soft one? ......

Depends how hard it was .... I am wearing my coat .....

[richardfinegold]

Thanks. I finally did that and it worked. Is that a hard reboot or a soft one?

I don’t know what caused the problem. I thought it might have been due to a software update, but no obvious sign of one.
It’s a while since I’ve had to do that, and probably most often on earlier generation machines.

Fingers crossed it won’t happen again for a very long while.

This frequently happens with my 5 year old iPad mini and the hard reboot works, but yes, it is annoying

[french frank]

My iPhone froze - for the third time - this morning. The battery was down to 9% but I thought I had time to finish something before recharging. It took a combination of holding down the On/Off/sleep button and the Home button for several seconds. Connecting it to the power didn't seem to work straightaway either i.e. it wasn't charging. When I finally resurrected it there was a message which I'd never seen before:

This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to help prevent this from happening again.

No idea what the second sentence means. Exactly.

[Stunsworth]

Basically the phone's processing power has been reduced to make sure the battery lasts a reasonable length of time. You should be able to see this, and check the battery's performance under settings.

[french frank]

Basically the phone's processing power has been reduced to make sure the battery lasts a reasonable length of time. You should be able to see this, and check the battery's performance under settings.

Yes, I've read up all the tips, though I don't know if as a result of the freeze it altered anything like Auto-brightness or Low Power Mode until I'd recharged.

[richardfinegold]

I now use an Android phone, and my 5 year old iPad Mini is showing signs of impending demise. Does anyone have experwith Android tablets? Do they compare to the Apple offerings. I tried a Visio tablet about 8 years ago and it worked quite poorly, but that is an eternity in digital

[Dave2002]

I have an Amazon Fire HD which is not quite an Android tablet, and also an Android phone. They are a lot cheaper than iPhones and iPads, but the memory structure is useless for my purposes. Although the memory can be extended by using additional memory cards, in practice it turns out (for me at any rate) to be next to useless as the memory is segmented. Perhaps if the models have sufficient memory to get most of the wanted apps to run, then having the option to add extra storage could actually work - but that's not been my experience so far. The Amazon Fire is sometimes useful - it's small enough so that it's possible to read it while standing up on a tube or commuter train, and it's quite good for reading Kindle books. Partly my motivation for the Fire was to take on trips with the view that it was so much cheaper than a good Apple one that if it got damaged or stolen it wouldn't be a total disaster.

We also have another Android tablet - a Next - used to read the Newspapers. It is now living on borrowed time, as it has been pushed to the limit re software upgrades. That seems to be an issue with those. Every so often the Android version has to be updated to keep things working, until eventually the upgrade systems detect that the hardware is too out of date. Before embarking on the upgrades - a series of 5 or 6 versions I think - the tablet was beginning to behave very erratically, which prompted trying to revive it by trying upgrades. Those worked for a while.

Some of my friends have newer Android phones and tablets, and they do seem reasonably good for some things - such as taking photos. Today I took photos on my iPad Pro - which is very unwieldy for that kind of thing, but I just happened to have it with me. I might find an Android phone with sufficient memory and a modest camera useful enough.

[LezLee]

Which? has a couple of Lenovos as Best Buys:
Lenovo Tab 4 10plus £193.75

Lenovo Tab P10 £200 - Good screen, fast performance, incredible battery life, can be used as voice assistant.
Can't buy smart dock separately. Slippery backside (?)

Also Samsung Galaxy Tab A £99.99

It really depends on which criteria are most important to you. Which? won't let me copy anything but I could check out some possibilities for you.

[richardfinegold]

I have an Amazon Fire HD which is not quite an Android tablet, and also an Android phone. They are a lot cheaper than iPhones and iPads, but the memory structure is useless for my purposes. Although the memory can be extended by using additional memory cards, in practice it turns out (for me at any rate) to be next to useless as the memory is segmented. Perhaps if the models have sufficient memory to get most of the wanted apps to run, then having the option to add extra storage could actually work - but that's not been my experience so far. The Amazon Fire is sometimes useful - it's small enough so that it's possible to read it while standing up on a tube or commuter train, and it's quite good for reading Kindle books. Partly my motivation for the Fire was to take on trips with the view that it was so much cheaper than a good Apple one that if it got damaged or stolen it wouldn't be a total disaster.

We also have another Android tablet - a Next - used to read the Newspapers. It is now living on borrowed time, as it has been pushed to the limit re software upgrades. That seems to be an issue with those. Every so often the Android version has to be updated to keep things working, until eventually the upgrade systems detect that the hardware is too out of date. Before embarking on the upgrades - a series of 5 or 6 versions I think - the tablet was beginning to behave very erratically, which prompted trying to revive it by trying upgrades. Those worked for a while.

Some of my friends have newer Android phones and tablets, and they do seem reasonably good for some things - such as taking photos. Today I took photos on my iPad Pro - which is very unwieldy for that kind of thing, but I just happened to have it with me. I might find an Android phone with sufficient memory and a modest camera useful enough.

My new phone is LG 40, and Audiophile approved phone with an awesome screen (same screen that LG uses on their OLED TVs). I find it works better for most things than I phone 8, and it has a headphone jack. Problem is that my texts are split between my iPad and the Android, and since the iPad is dying, might as well have both feet in same universe...

[Dave2002]

This page seems to recommend Samsung Galaxy models - one wonders how unbiased it is. However, I have heard that they are good. https://m.bestreviews.com/best-android-tablets

The Samsungs range from fairly modest price to much higher.

Amazon appears to stock Samsung, Lenovo and Huawei - the last firm currently of “interest’ in the U.K. for security concerns.

If you go for an Android tablet, and your reasons do make sense, then try to get a good balance between price and functionality. As I mentioned earlier, the memory structure with Androids can present big problems. The cheaper models may not have enough main memory for all the work you may want to do - they’’ll start off well enough, and then you hit a wall some time later. OTOH if you buy a more expensive model you may be paying for a lot of memory you’ll never use.

One of my serious complaints about Apple is that they have tried to persuade people that it’s OK to buy devices with smaller memory and that the iCloud can compensate for lack of memory in the devices. It can’t, and that locks people into Apple’s walled garden. Their low end small memory models are way over priced IMO. However the more, expensive Apple models mostly work very well, and it’s not I believe essential to do everything with iCloud, which I still try to avoid as much as possible. Some people love clouds, always on connectivity, “we always know where you are” and “we always know who you’re with, and what you are writing ... etc” - I don’t. I don’t know if Androids are similarly invasive - perhaps they are, just different.

I believe that some people like the hand off features within the Apple system - start working on an iPhone - the activities and data are then available on tablets and sometimes on Mac computers - though that will use the iCloud. It’s not something I’ve bothered with, and I’ve managed without it for years.

I like the higher end Apple models - they work well (except when they lock up ), but others may have concerns about price, or want the devices to work cooperatively with other devices.

Maybe that helps a bit.

[Dave2002]

I’ve had an Apple Pencil problem a few times - not sure if I mentioned it here before. I’ve left it charging on a separate charger for a while, and then it doesn’t work with the iPad Pro. After this the first time I gave up for a while, but eventually I phoned Apple looking for help, and to my surprise with some suggestions I was able to get it working again. This has happened again since that. I did wonder if it was caused by iOS updates of the iPad Pro.

If this happens it looks as though a solution might be found by the following.

1. Charge up the pencil if not already charged. There is no easy way to know if this works if the iPad doesn’t see it, so just assume it’s charged enough.
2. Plug the pencil into the iPad for a few minutes.
It might then work. If not carry on to 3.
3. Make sure Bluetooth is on. If it works OK. If not then 4.
4. Turn Bluetooth off, then on, then wait to see if the pencil is recognised. As before, else 5.
5. If the pencil is still in the Bluetooth list click on that, and ask the iPad to forget it. Then 6.
6. Turn Bluetooth off, then on and see if the iPad discovers the pencil again. This might take a minute or two. With luck it’ll work now.

Until the next time!