That sounds odd, gotes.
My iPad 3 runs a lot better on iOS7 than it did on 6, and battery life is still phenomenal. Haven't updated to iOS8 yet, only received notification of it from Apple a couple of days ago — which might explain why many others still haven't installed the new iOS either. Me, I'm temporarily in the boondocks where I don't have access to decent WiFi, just LTE, so won't be able to update for a while, but certainly will when I get the chance. Hear [Mobile] Safari is much improved.