Recommendation of cheap jailbreakable iPad on latest OS version?

[mickael28]

Hello guys,

I was thinking about getting an old iPad model and jailbreak it to see how it all works and I was thinking about the iPad 1 model, as it's the cheapest and the one I've seen with larger storage for the price, but after reading a few posts here I think the hardware in that model is not upgradeable to the latest ipad OS, so I was wondering, which cheap model would you recommend that's upgreadable to one of the latest OS versions?

And, once it's jailbroken, can you still use itunes to install some of the apps? or it's all, 100%, done with a different app store, because if that's the case, does this app store has all the official apps?

Many thanks!!

 

[scifan57]

I'm afraid that the latest version of iOS, iOS 8.3 has no available jailbreak. There has been no news of when we can expect a jailbreak to be released.

On the question of iTunes and the App Store, you can still use them in the normal way on a jailbroken iPad.

 

[twerppoet]

The iPad 1 can only be upgraded to iOS 5.1.1, and I believe that can be jailbroken.

Any model after than can be upgraded to iOS 8.3, but as SciFan said, iOS 8.3 can not be jailbroken. Hold in mind that the iPad 2 and original iPad Mini are struggling under the most recent iOS update. They are unlikely to get the iOS 9 update due (most likely) this fall, unless the rumors about iOS 9 being primarily a bug fix/optimization release come true.

Jailbroken or not, you can always download apps from the App Store; as long as you have an iTunes account; though there isn't much left in the store that is still compatible with iOS 5 and the iPad 1.

At this point in time I wouldn't buy anything older than an iPad 3, and only then if I expected to use it for less than a year, or had some special project it was needed for.

 

[mickael28]

At this point in time I wouldn't buy anything older than an iPad 3, and only then if I expected to use it for less than a year, or had some special project it was needed for.

At this moment in time, I mainly need it to install a couple of apps that don't exist on Android, but I'd like the device to last a few years at least (for the basics of installing new apps and keep using it, ie, nothing demanding like streaming, videos, editing, etc). What would you think it'd be good in that case?

I didn't want to check the latest iPad Airs because I know that I'm barely going to use it, good to have it to use some apps sporadically but I didn't want to spend too much.

Not sure if iPad 3 would be ok for this kind of usage, or iPad 4 better instead? Because if iPad 4 is too pricey compared to 3 and 3 might just be usable for a year, I'm tempted to go with 2 so that the waste is not that big after such a short period of usage...

Thanks both for your views, really useful!!

 

[scifan57]

You're welcome.
Come back if you have any more questions or problems.

 

[twerppoet]

Here's how I see the models, in more detail. How you weigh the utility vs price isn't something I can help you with. I have an original Nexus 7, and despite the fact that it is fully up to date I don't consider it a fair way to evaluate Android's current abilities and reliability. Also, I barely use it.

The iPad 2 would work, if you never expect to update those apps or the iPad again. I don't think it's a good platform to evaluate iOS for the same reason that an eight year old computer won't be a good choice to evaluate Windows 10. You're likely to mistake problems and limitations of the hardware for problems with iOS.

The original iPad Mini is pretty much the same device as the iPad 2, only smaller.

The iPad 3 and 4 were released the same year, within months of each other, and this is where the screens were upgraded to retina displays; a double edged sword. The displays look much better, but it blunted what would have otherwise been huge GPU and CPU speed gains. They are stills significantly faster than the iPad 2. The iPad 4 is only a slight speed bump and port change (from 30 pin to Lighting) over the iPad 3. The specs are otherwise the same. I expect either will be slow, but workable for a couple more years.

The iPad Air should be a good device for at least two more years, and usable for another year or two beyond. The platform is starting to mature with this model (in my opinion), and have a longer life cycle.

The iPad Mini 2 is almost identical in specs to the iPad Air. It's a smidge slower and it's screen has slightly less color range. That's all. Well, besides being smaller.

The iPad Mini 3 adds a fingerprint sensor tot he iPad Mini 2, and very little else.

The iPad Air 2 doubled the RAM. This is a pretty big deal, more so than the speed and other upgrades.