Pretty sure the iPad 3 had Retina…
It did, I owned one before my iPad Mini 2.
The 3 was basically a refreshed iPad 2 with a retina screen and a faster video processor to handle the extra pixels.
Unfortunately though, the GPU didn’t have the horsepower for the Retina display. My Mum’s iPad 3 coped with iOS 6 and iOS 7 worse than my iPad 2 on the same operating systems. However it does have double the ram, which means a bit less reloading, though a lot of that ram would go towards shared graphics memory.
True, my iPad 3 used to stutter and stall quite a bit more than any of the other iPads we’ve owned.
The GPU upgrade gave about more GPU power but as you say not enough to compensate for the (roughly) 4 times as many pixels.
It was well and truly out classed by the original iPad Air and it had one of the shortest product cycles of any of the iPads (no doubt because of the issues mentioned).
Yes, I don’t think the iPad 3 was very well thought out at all. It took forever to charge, was thicker and had less battery life than the iPad 2 - that being said, I know numerous happy iPad 3 owners.
I’d like a 6C if it was 4 inches or a 6S Mini.
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Don’t you mean, the 4th gen was basically a refreshed iPad 3 that fixed the sluggish performance issues and added a lightning port?
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The 4th Gen (ie the original iPad Air) was basically an all new design.
The iPad 3 retina was a 2 with alterations (that’s ‘refreshed’ or ‘updated’ design in my book).
YMMV
No, there was an iPad inbetween the 3rd gen and the original Air. The 3rd gen was only on the market for about 6 months. The 4th gen was a minor revision and spec bump (to resolve performance issues) and had a lightning port and supported our LTE spectrum (as Apple got shitcanned for advertising it here)d
Ahhhh my bad, I do remember that ‘update’ happening.
However I’d assumed it was just a running update to the 3rd generation, not that it was regarded as the 4th generation.
This is correct. Apple called both of them “The New iPad” at stages, then “iPad With Retina Display”, but they are referred to as the iPad 3 and 4.
(1st Generation) iPad 1 (January 2010) - A4
(2nd Generation) iPad 2 (March 2011) - A5
(3rd Generation) iPad 3rd Gen/The New iPad (March 2012) - A5X
(4th Generation) iPad 4th Gen/iPad with Retina display (October 2012) - A6X
(5th Generation) iPad Air (1) (October 2013) - A7
(6th Generation) iPad Air 2 (October 2014) - A8X
All good. Depends on how you look at them I guess.
Definately my iPhone 6 Plus. The iPad 4 is good but a bit on the heavy side.
The iPad Pro will be a favourite when it comes out. Of that I’m sure.
Agree. Larger screen real estate for more tv watching. 
I’m waiting for the iPad Pro to be shrunk down into the iPad Air 3 - late next year will be the time to finally replace what will be my 4.5 year old iPad 2 and I’d like to get something that will last just as long 
Favourite iPad is hands down the current Air2 with 128GB. I also had the first gen and the 3 and liked them well enough at the time. I expect that the pro will replace the Air2 and my Macbook.
Favourite iPhone… 3GS. Its funny, I had no qualms at all about spending $1049 on that 32GB model at the time, but here I am baulking at the 6s/+ Oh well, the difference between having a job and being on a pension. I’ve had the first iPhone, a bloke in Sydney imported a bunch of them. it was only the 8GB but you know, its still going strong and its battery is in better shape than my 3GS (which is a replacement from Apple). ON the matter of the 3GS… if it had a bit more juice and a retina screen I would have used it as my main phone for longer than I did, but, that said, I did keep using it for 3 years, with a short flirtation with a 4 in the middle. Then I had a 4S and now a 5S. I liked the 3GS because of its curved back case. Smooth, easy in the hand. I dont like the edges of the phones I’ve had since then, no matter how good they may look. Hoping the 6 series will be just as comfy as the 3GS was.
I like my iPhone 6 but I’d still be happy with the 5. In terms of user experience the biggest jump was from a succession of disappointing nokias combined with Palm Pilots (remember those?!) to the 3G. And I agree with @kyte there was something pleasing about the feel of the 3G.
The mini is the best iPad form factor for me. My original mini is getting a bit long in the tooth and slow but not enough to replace it yet.
iPhone 2G had the best hand hold ability. It’s was a gorgeous ergonomic triumph to use. iOS 1.1.4 was beautifully quick.
iPad Air 2 128GB is current favorite. Light, powerful and holds all my pictures.
As far as favourite iPhones go, in terms of design I loved the 3GS the most (so nice to hold!) but in terms of functionality, the 5S is my favourite. I recently went back from a 6S to a 5S because the form factor is so much better IMHO. 
I’ve never really been that into iPads. I like the design of the original, but love how much the Air2 is the ultimate realisation of the original vision.
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