5 ms·

Real talk here : what makes an iPhone slow after 2 years? - the battery aging? - the apps using more ressources than before? - the newer OS version using mor

by EZ-E 8y ago

Real talk here : what makes an iPhone slow after 2 years? - the battery aging? - the apps using more ressources than before? - the newer OS version using more ressources than before? I've started using my old Android phone again after it being unused 3 years (Nexus 4), the apps are extremely slow now, the camera takes forever to open : what's going on? Computers don't age as much

BillinghamJ 8y ago
Of course you're missing out one option - perhaps they actually aren't actually that much slower, but you're just used to newer stuff being much faster. The definition of slow changes.
- digitaLandscape 8y ago
  This is clearly not the case: the C64 could respond to input faster than the a few-year-old iPhone.
  - badpun 8y ago
    Sadly, the C64 is also quicker than Apple's iCloud website. Frequently, when I type a new note or a reminder, the lag between my pressing a key and character appearing on the screen is in several seconds. This is on a 4-core machine with 16 GB of RAM that's not doing anything else.
    - Someone1234 8y ago
      It really does perplex me that the iCloud website is as bad as it is. I'd almost think it was abandoned-ware except that Apple continues to update it. Their whole cloud offering (iTunes store, Apple Music, iCloud) needs a MASSIVE overhaul. Everything should be available via the web and on a modern accessible website. I'd go as far as to say that they need a new point-person in charge of their Cloud Services because whoever is doing it now is completely out of touch. iTunes in particular is embarrassing, and I personally buy less stuff because I don't want to run it (instead use Vudu, Amazon Digital, etc).
      - rbrcurtis 8y ago
        iirc, icloud was written in sproutcore. version 2 of sproutcoure became ember which is now in version 3. there was no upgrade path from sproutcore 1 to ember, so likely its a case of needing a rewrite and that not being prioritized.
  - rosege 8y ago
    Are you sure you aren't remembering incorrectly? I had a friend who loved to show how he could type faster than it could process
- vbezhenar 8y ago
  I have iPhone 4S with iOS 6 and iPhone 8 with iOS 11. iPhone 4S is not slower.
sitkack 8y ago
Battery throttling, slow flash? Be hard to say without historical benchmarks.
ksec 8y ago
Optimisation, Apple only ever seems to have optimisation turned on / tested on their latest release of iPhone. So whenever there is a new iOS, it felt insanely great on your latest iPhone, but felt like a step backwards in older iPhone. Although they generally put back whatever optimisation they have in stages of iOS point release. Having these optimisation and software targeting latest iPhone also means Software aren't as well tested in previous iPhone hardware with less memory. We now have iPhone that spans from 2GB Memory to 4GB. Apps are also increasingly more resources hog.
- llampx 8y ago
  This is why, as an Android user, I prefer not to update unless I really have to. It would be ideal if there were two channels for updates - one for security and one for features and security. That way you could pick what you as a user wanted. So if you are happy with Android Oreo you don't have to upgrade to Pie to keep receiving security updates.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    > So if you are happy with Android Oreo you don't have to upgrade to Pie to keep receiving security updates. Of course there is: just buy a phone from a company that's not Google, and you'll never get an OS update every again /s
    - llampx 8y ago
      That is not true. I get regular updates and my phone is not a Pixel but from one of the top 3 smartphone makers in the world. Maybe in the US the situation is different since carriers have a say in the update cadence, which can also be good since there were a few models where the OEM agreed to a certain SLA for updates, so American consumers got updates where the rest of the world got shafted. I believe it was LG.
gabriel34 8y ago
I don't see why the battery would matter, unless you are forced to use power saving performance throttling. Flash memory degradation may be a factor, as well as increased expectations. Also, the perceived value of the product doesn't increase much if the device lasts longer than some average lifespan. For smartphones I believe after 1-2 years most users move onto a newer device, any cost that increases the life of the device past this point is wasted and will result in a more expensive, less competitive product, so market forces push for decisions that may be perceived as planed obsolescence.
bayindirh 8y ago
Run a benchmark on it and compare the numbers. If they are on par with the results obtained when the device was new, maybe your expectations have changed.
vbezhenar 8y ago
I had iPhone 4S, it was insanely fast and snappy with iOS 6, become a bit sluggish with iOS 7 and very slow with iOS 8 and 9, almost unusable. I jailbroken it and installed iOS 6 and apparently it was fast again, so it's not about battery or anything, it's purely software which expects very fast CPU and huge amounts of memory. Mobile hardware evolved significantly over the last years, so it's understandable that developers wanted to leverage that speed.
- llampx 8y ago
  Or, some software developers and/or PMs just got lazy with development and optimization, and greedy with the amount of data that could be harvested. A framework here, a library there and it adds up pretty quickly.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    Are you talking about Apple themselves, or third-party developers?
saagarjha 8y ago
I think it's really a combination of all of these. The only thing Apple really has control over is the last one, but even improvements there have measurable advantages as iOS 12 shows.
WalterGR 8y ago
the newer OS version using more ressources than before? My iPhone 6 (purchased April 2015) ran great with iOS 10. I stupidly upgraded to iOS 11 and it’s now so slow that I loathe using the thing at all. I know I should have less screen time. The degree to which iOS 11 destroyed my phone’s performance has made the prospect sound delightful rather than a chore. That I’d be gaining something rather than losing something. That Apple made iOS 11 installable on the iPhone 6 is the definition of a cynical planned-obsolescence money grab. It has single-handedly made me want to use my phone less, and to resent Apple enough that I have no intention of upgrading to a later model iPhone. Maybe iOS 12 fixes this.

by EZ-E 8y ago

BillinghamJ 8y ago

Of course you're missing out one option - perhaps they actually aren't actually that much slower, but you're just used to newer stuff being much faster. The definition of slow changes.

digitaLandscape 8y ago
This is clearly not the case: the C64 could respond to input faster than the a few-year-old iPhone.
- badpun 8y ago
  Sadly, the C64 is also quicker than Apple's iCloud website. Frequently, when I type a new note or a reminder, the lag between my pressing a key and character appearing on the screen is in several seconds. This is on a 4-core machine with 16 GB of RAM that's not doing anything else.
  - Someone1234 8y ago
    It really does perplex me that the iCloud website is as bad as it is. I'd almost think it was abandoned-ware except that Apple continues to update it. Their whole cloud offering (iTunes store, Apple Music, iCloud) needs a MASSIVE overhaul. Everything should be available via the web and on a modern accessible website. I'd go as far as to say that they need a new point-person in charge of their Cloud Services because whoever is doing it now is completely out of touch. iTunes in particular is embarrassing, and I personally buy less stuff because I don't want to run it (instead use Vudu, Amazon Digital, etc).
    - rbrcurtis 8y ago
      iirc, icloud was written in sproutcore. version 2 of sproutcoure became ember which is now in version 3. there was no upgrade path from sproutcore 1 to ember, so likely its a case of needing a rewrite and that not being prioritized.
- rosege 8y ago
  Are you sure you aren't remembering incorrectly? I had a friend who loved to show how he could type faster than it could process
vbezhenar 8y ago
I have iPhone 4S with iOS 6 and iPhone 8 with iOS 11. iPhone 4S is not slower.

sitkack 8y ago

Battery throttling, slow flash? Be hard to say without historical benchmarks.

ksec 8y ago

Optimisation, Apple only ever seems to have optimisation turned on / tested on their latest release of iPhone. So whenever there is a new iOS, it felt insanely great on your latest iPhone, but felt like a step backwards in older iPhone. Although they generally put back whatever optimisation they have in stages of iOS point release. Having these optimisation and software targeting latest iPhone also means Software aren't as well tested in previous iPhone hardware with less memory. We now have iPhone that spans from 2GB Memory to 4GB. Apps are also increasingly more resources hog.

llampx 8y ago
This is why, as an Android user, I prefer not to update unless I really have to. It would be ideal if there were two channels for updates - one for security and one for features and security. That way you could pick what you as a user wanted. So if you are happy with Android Oreo you don't have to upgrade to Pie to keep receiving security updates.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  > So if you are happy with Android Oreo you don't have to upgrade to Pie to keep receiving security updates. Of course there is: just buy a phone from a company that's not Google, and you'll never get an OS update every again /s
  - llampx 8y ago
    That is not true. I get regular updates and my phone is not a Pixel but from one of the top 3 smartphone makers in the world. Maybe in the US the situation is different since carriers have a say in the update cadence, which can also be good since there were a few models where the OEM agreed to a certain SLA for updates, so American consumers got updates where the rest of the world got shafted. I believe it was LG.

gabriel34 8y ago

I don't see why the battery would matter, unless you are forced to use power saving performance throttling. Flash memory degradation may be a factor, as well as increased expectations. Also, the perceived value of the product doesn't increase much if the device lasts longer than some average lifespan. For smartphones I believe after 1-2 years most users move onto a newer device, any cost that increases the life of the device past this point is wasted and will result in a more expensive, less competitive product, so market forces push for decisions that may be perceived as planed obsolescence.

bayindirh 8y ago

Run a benchmark on it and compare the numbers. If they are on par with the results obtained when the device was new, maybe your expectations have changed.

vbezhenar 8y ago

I had iPhone 4S, it was insanely fast and snappy with iOS 6, become a bit sluggish with iOS 7 and very slow with iOS 8 and 9, almost unusable. I jailbroken it and installed iOS 6 and apparently it was fast again, so it's not about battery or anything, it's purely software which expects very fast CPU and huge amounts of memory. Mobile hardware evolved significantly over the last years, so it's understandable that developers wanted to leverage that speed.

llampx 8y ago
Or, some software developers and/or PMs just got lazy with development and optimization, and greedy with the amount of data that could be harvested. A framework here, a library there and it adds up pretty quickly.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  Are you talking about Apple themselves, or third-party developers?

saagarjha 8y ago

I think it's really a combination of all of these. The only thing Apple really has control over is the last one, but even improvements there have measurable advantages as iOS 12 shows.

WalterGR 8y ago

the newer OS version using more ressources than before? My iPhone 6 (purchased April 2015) ran great with iOS 10. I stupidly upgraded to iOS 11 and it’s now so slow that I loathe using the thing at all. I know I should have less screen time. The degree to which iOS 11 destroyed my phone’s performance has made the prospect sound delightful rather than a chore. That I’d be gaining something rather than losing something. That Apple made iOS 11 installable on the iPhone 6 is the definition of a cynical planned-obsolescence money grab. It has single-handedly made me want to use my phone less, and to resent Apple enough that I have no intention of upgrading to a later model iPhone. Maybe iOS 12 fixes this.