iOS vs APPS built for the iOS

D

Dr Who

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I am hoping someone can answer this question I have:

I currently have an old iphone 4 ( which is in perfect working condition ) but as it gets older it just gets slower and slower. I assume this has something to do with the following 2 factors:

1) The new iOS's which have been released, maybe they use more overhead.
2) The new Apps built for the new iOS's or faster iPhones.

It is advised to hold off on iOS updates or is this just going to be counter productive as all the apps naturally get updated for the new iOS anyway and then you end up getting smacked either way?

Thanks
 
I've noticed on my iPad 2 that some of the newer games are starting to show it's performance limitations, my totally up to date OS is still as fast as it was on day 1. I did run into problems about 2 weeks ago but that came down to the device have no space.
 
My Ipad 2 is still very fast, but my Iphone 4 is far from what it was...
 
Dr Who said:
I am hoping someone can answer this question I have:

I currently have an old iphone 4 ( which is in perfect working condition ) but as it gets older it just gets slower and slower. I assume this has something to do with the following 2 factors:

1) The new iOS's which have been released, maybe they use more overhead.
2) The new Apps built for the new iOS's or faster iPhones.

It is advised to hold off on iOS updates or is this just going to be counter productive as all the apps naturally get updated for the new iOS anyway and then you end up getting smacked either way?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Okay two things:

1. Apple still support the iPhone 4 - it will run iOS7 too. However, Apple turns off some UI effects and fancy transparency effects to keep the speed up of the device as much as possible. There's no denying it - older hardware will show it's age sooner or later.

2. With APPS - us developers try support as many devices as possible - however, the older devices will run slower if the app uses the hardware extensively - CPU in the iPhone 4 is a lot slower than that of the iPhone 5 for example.

My advice to you?

Upgrade to a new iPhone when it is out and you will see just how fast these iPhones have gotten. Secondly - updating to iOS7 won't slow the iPhone 4 down - as I said earlier, Apple have "tweaked" their new iOS update to run as fast as possible on the iPhone 4. However, those tweaks come at a cost of the pretty effects in iOS7 that you won't see.
 
cool thanks for the reply, I am waiting for the 10 Sept to see what happens as right now it services my needs and I cant stomach paying a fortune for something I dont need.
 
Dr Who said:
cool thanks for the reply, I am waiting for the 10 Sept to see what happens as right now it services my needs and I cant stomach paying a fortune for something I dont need.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's something you need to decide. If your trust iPhone 4 still works and does what it needs to - and you don't want to upgrade, so be it. Just know iOS7 will run just fine on that puppy.
 
Tander said:
1. Apple still support the iPhone 4 - it will run iOS7 too
Click to expand...

Well, it'll at least state iOS 7 in the 'about' screen - so it looks pretty cool to you and your friends I guess
 
I'll rephrase ... it's iOS 7 - minus minus minus.

But on the plus side, we can all tell each other that even our old legacy devices get iOS 7 right?

EDIT : My iPad 2 was getting very laggy after almost 2 years - once formatted, it was as good as new again
 
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I have an iPhone 4 too, 32GB model.

Dr Who said:
1) The new iOS's which have been released, maybe they use more overhead.
Click to expand...

This is clearly a factor. Mine isn't as responsive as I remember it being when I just got it, but I also have to remind myself that this was a rocket with gorillas strapped on compared to the iPhone 3G I was used to. Interestingly mine's home button stopped working from all the running in the rain (I use Runkeeper) during the winter, so I took it in to the Apple store, and they offered me a refurbished one for £130 or so, which I took.

The performance didn't change at all, but they did tell me that something was messed up in my profile, which is causing it to be sluggish and apps to crash (a problem I was having). They suggested I set the phone up as a new device, and not restore my backup to it. I followed this advice [1] and it sure did make a difference. I can't complain about the phone's responsiveness. Just to test this, I restored from my old backup, and it was instantly sluggish. Wiped the phone, set it up as a new device, and I was back to responsiveness.

[1] Small caveat: Everything on my phone is syncable via internet - mail, notes, and all the apps I use. But SMS messages isn't. It took me a while but I figured out how to get them out of my old profile and into the new, but I managed that, and all is good now.

Dr Who said:
2) The new Apps built for the new iOS's or faster iPhones.
Click to expand...

This is probably it. The facebook application, for instance suck donkey balls. It takes about 9 seconds of showing a blank white screen before the app starts drawing. Once it gets drawing, it takes forever to download images, conversations, etc, even on wifi with a really fast internet connection (100mbit Tier 1). It's not much better on my Galaxy S2 either, for what it's worth.

One app I loved was Camera Awesome from Smugmug. It worked great on the iPhone 4, but after an update (to Camera Awesome) in December, it got really slow. It takes 6 or so seconds to start up, several more to lock focus, and the shutter lag makes it impractical. I wrote to them, and they responded that the app was only released for the first time when the iPhone 4S was already around, and was never designed with the iPhone 4 in mind. Too bad.

Another app I find incredibly sluggish lately is Google Chrome. So much so that I'm back to using Safari. The Podcast app is pretty sluggish too.

For my part I'm holding out until the next announcement. I'm hoping for a 128GB iPhone 5S :)
 
Dolby said:
I'll rephrase ... it's iOS 7 - minus minus minus.

But on the plus side, we can all tell each other that even our old legacy devices get iOS 7 right?

EDIT : My iPad 2 was getting very laggy after almost 2 years - once formatted, it was as good as new again
Click to expand...

1. You don't "Format" and iDevice - you "Restore" the OS on it.
2. No - the only thing that has changed on the iPhone 4 is transparency. All the cool new features are there - excluding airdrop which is only on an iPhone 5.

So until you've actually ran iOS7 on an iPhone 4 - please do so before making up silly comments about it.
 
Tander said:
1. You don't "Format" and iDevice - you "Restore" the OS on it.
2. No - the only thing that has changed on the iPhone 4 is transparency. All the cool new features are there - excluding airdrop which is only on an iPhone 5.

So until you've actually ran iOS7 on an iPhone 4 - please do so before making up silly comments about it.
Click to expand...

He goes on about this around every iOS software update.
 
There have only been 2 major software 'updates' over the past 2 years anyhow?

I just find it a little off when Apple folk complain that Android only goes to a certain version but even older legacy Apple devices get the latest iOS. They don't - they get a very limited filtered version, but they can at least SAY that they have iOS 7 ...


9043769198_cbcd82191f_z.jpg

I can't wait to get iOS 7 on my iPad 2 and tell me friends I'm running the latest and greatest - minus 80% of the features
 
Tander said:
1. You don't "Format" and iDevice - you "Restore" the OS on it
Click to expand...

I'm not really an Apple person - apologies for the differences in wording :/

Look - I don't hate Apple and I think they're heading in the right direction with their updates. I just really feel they shouldn't call it iOS 7 with so many features lacking on certain models. Same with iOS 6 - again, limited to models.

Why not a 6.1.5 or a 6.2 ... ? With them limiting the features, one needs to search to see what will be added/ignored with every firmware release.

I can't believe everything is hardware related looking at the features - it seems some were just not included.
 
My iPhone works great on the latest iOS. Can't wait for my upgrade though.
 
Dolby said:
I can't believe everything is hardware related looking at the features - it seems some were just not included.
Click to expand...
You're right not all of it is hardware related but not all models will be able to run the same version as the latest and greatest.

I'm a bit pissed off that iPad 3 isn't getting Air Drop for example, that's not a hardware omission rather one which Apple is using to make people buy newer hardware. If they gave you everything you'd only buy a new model of the device every 4/5 years and that's not profitable, so they need to differentiate to force you to upgrade your hardware.
 
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