5 ms·

It's all about tradeoffs, Android phones getting updates usually means the phone gets faster as opposed to ever closer to unusably slow.

mitchty 8y ago
> It's all about tradeoffs, Android phones getting updates usually means the phone gets faster as opposed to ever closer to unusably slow. You say this like it is unique to android, iOS 12 was basically the same. And I can say from friends experiences, its not always true for all android phones.
chipotle_coyote 8y ago
Anecdotally, iOS 11 made my iPhone 6 run slower than iOS 10, but iOS 12 made it run faster than iOS 10. (This is in line with other reports and benchmarks you'll find if you go looking.) There's an awful lot of snark about iOS slowing down with each successive version, but I'm not at all convinced it's universally true. (Again, anecdotally, I'd say iOS 7 and 9–11 were guilty of that.) At any rate, the big issue I tend to hear about Android phones getting updates is "my Android phone isn't getting updates." My iPhone 6 shipped in 2014, and iOS 12 actually ran on 2013's iPhone 5s. How many Android phones that shipped before 2016 are getting Android P? Are there Android phones that shipped in 2016 that aren't?
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  > Here's an awful lot of snark about iOS slowing down with each successive version, but I'm not at all convinced it's universally true. (Again, anecdotally, I'd say iOS 7 and 9–11 were guilty of that.) It's not universally true. It's mostly true, with a couple of outliers (namely iOS 9 and iOS 11). Most of time, major iOS upgrades slow down older hardware. I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with this, if not for the fact that iOS downgrades are literally impossible (outside a small window of time). Install an update and discover your phone is too slow? Either learn to live with it or buy a new phone.
  - Mononokay 8y ago
    > I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with this, if not for the fact that iOS downgrades are literally impossible (outside a small window of time). Install an update and discover your phone is too slow? Either learn to live with it or buy a new phone. Or you could just restore from a backup, possible at any time.
    - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
      Nope, you can't restore to an iOS version that isn't being actively signed by Apple's servers. Restoring a backup just puts back user data, it doesn't change your iOS version.
      - Mononokay 8y ago
        That's a complete lie, but okay. https://medium.com/metodixtech/ios-how-to-downgrade-and-save-shsh-blobs-a11158c3c970 https://medium.com/metodixtech/ios-how-to-downgrade-and-save...
        Wowfunhappy 8y ago
        In the first sentence of the article you linked: > You can downgrade (If you don’t have Shsh blobs saved) only until Apple is still signing the old software. Saving SHSH blobs needs to be done in advance, while the iOS version you want to install is still being signed by Apple. With blobs, you used to be able to use a replay attack to force a restore. This doesn't work anymore due to the addition of NONCE, except in very limited and not particularly useful circumstances (you can move to an unsigned iOS version IF you're already Jailbroken AND if SEP is compatible). If you know a way around this system, please do share. The Jailbreak community will love you for it. :) Apple does everything in their power to make downgrading iOS impossible outside of a narrow window. I suspect this is also why we haven't seen any actual, definitive speed tests between different iOS versions. The discussion always devolves into "this feels slower" or "I remember my phone used to be like this," because no one can actually install an older version to test with.
- mtgx 8y ago
  > There's an awful lot of snark about iOS slowing down with each successive version, but I'm not at all convinced it's universally true Yes, it is, just not this time because of all the backlash Apple has received over the past few years over this issue. Let's see how iOS13 and 14 do, but my guess is they will be slower still.
pdimitar 8y ago
People love to latch onto the outlier cases when an iPhone gets slower or half-broken after an update. For the last 5-6 years however, everyone I asked told me that their iPhone and iPad either gets a bit smoother or stays the same after a new iOS. So please don't imply iOS updates brings iDevices "ever closer to unusably slow" because that's very non-factual.
- cronix 8y ago
  > For the last 5-6 years however, everyone I asked told me that their iPhone and iPad either gets a bit smoother or stays the same after a new iOS. Except those who Apple was "helping" "preserve battery life" by purposefully slowing the clock speeds on updates without telling them? I've often wondered how many people went out and actually purchased an entirely new phone due to this unannounced "help" vs slapping a (relatively cheap) new battery in it?
  - pdimitar 8y ago
    It's a basic electronics knowledge that there's a danger in physically damaging a chip if you continuously feed it less voltage than it needs. What Apple did is to prefer to have people's devices run slower compared to breaking them. What they did wrong was keeping quiet about it. I ain't ever disputing that, it was a really bad decision to hide it. The reasoning to do it however has solid foundations in physical reality. Even I that I know nothing of electronics went out of my way to read about it and asked several electronical engineer acquaintances of mine and they all said Apple did the right thing by slowing down the devices.
    - cronix 8y ago
      I was just bringing it up to dispute your claim > So please don't imply iOS updates brings iDevices "ever closer to unusably slow" because that's very non-factual. Because THAT was non-factual. They have done it, and for some it was "unusably slow." Whether the reasons were electrically sound wasn't in dispute.
      - 8y ago
varjag 8y ago
No, Android phones usually means not getting the updates in time, or at all. Speaking as someone who participated in 2008 Android Developer Challenge and had Android phones since, and until the last year.

mitchty 8y ago

> It's all about tradeoffs, Android phones getting updates usually means the phone gets faster as opposed to ever closer to unusably slow. You say this like it is unique to android, iOS 12 was basically the same. And I can say from friends experiences, its not always true for all android phones.

chipotle_coyote 8y ago

Anecdotally, iOS 11 made my iPhone 6 run slower than iOS 10, but iOS 12 made it run faster than iOS 10. (This is in line with other reports and benchmarks you'll find if you go looking.) There's an awful lot of snark about iOS slowing down with each successive version, but I'm not at all convinced it's universally true. (Again, anecdotally, I'd say iOS 7 and 9–11 were guilty of that.) At any rate, the big issue I tend to hear about Android phones getting updates is "my Android phone isn't getting updates." My iPhone 6 shipped in 2014, and iOS 12 actually ran on 2013's iPhone 5s. How many Android phones that shipped before 2016 are getting Android P? Are there Android phones that shipped in 2016 that aren't?

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
> Here's an awful lot of snark about iOS slowing down with each successive version, but I'm not at all convinced it's universally true. (Again, anecdotally, I'd say iOS 7 and 9–11 were guilty of that.) It's not universally true. It's mostly true, with a couple of outliers (namely iOS 9 and iOS 11). Most of time, major iOS upgrades slow down older hardware. I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with this, if not for the fact that iOS downgrades are literally impossible (outside a small window of time). Install an update and discover your phone is too slow? Either learn to live with it or buy a new phone.
- Mononokay 8y ago
  > I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with this, if not for the fact that iOS downgrades are literally impossible (outside a small window of time). Install an update and discover your phone is too slow? Either learn to live with it or buy a new phone. Or you could just restore from a backup, possible at any time.
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    Nope, you can't restore to an iOS version that isn't being actively signed by Apple's servers. Restoring a backup just puts back user data, it doesn't change your iOS version.
    - Mononokay 8y ago
      That's a complete lie, but okay. https://medium.com/metodixtech/ios-how-to-downgrade-and-save-shsh-blobs-a11158c3c970 https://medium.com/metodixtech/ios-how-to-downgrade-and-save...
      - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
        In the first sentence of the article you linked: > You can downgrade (If you don’t have Shsh blobs saved) only until Apple is still signing the old software. Saving SHSH blobs needs to be done in advance, while the iOS version you want to install is still being signed by Apple. With blobs, you used to be able to use a replay attack to force a restore. This doesn't work anymore due to the addition of NONCE, except in very limited and not particularly useful circumstances (you can move to an unsigned iOS version IF you're already Jailbroken AND if SEP is compatible). If you know a way around this system, please do share. The Jailbreak community will love you for it. :) Apple does everything in their power to make downgrading iOS impossible outside of a narrow window. I suspect this is also why we haven't seen any actual, definitive speed tests between different iOS versions. The discussion always devolves into "this feels slower" or "I remember my phone used to be like this," because no one can actually install an older version to test with.
mtgx 8y ago
> There's an awful lot of snark about iOS slowing down with each successive version, but I'm not at all convinced it's universally true Yes, it is, just not this time because of all the backlash Apple has received over the past few years over this issue. Let's see how iOS13 and 14 do, but my guess is they will be slower still.

pdimitar 8y ago

People love to latch onto the outlier cases when an iPhone gets slower or half-broken after an update. For the last 5-6 years however, everyone I asked told me that their iPhone and iPad either gets a bit smoother or stays the same after a new iOS. So please don't imply iOS updates brings iDevices "ever closer to unusably slow" because that's very non-factual.

cronix 8y ago
> For the last 5-6 years however, everyone I asked told me that their iPhone and iPad either gets a bit smoother or stays the same after a new iOS. Except those who Apple was "helping" "preserve battery life" by purposefully slowing the clock speeds on updates without telling them? I've often wondered how many people went out and actually purchased an entirely new phone due to this unannounced "help" vs slapping a (relatively cheap) new battery in it?
- pdimitar 8y ago
  It's a basic electronics knowledge that there's a danger in physically damaging a chip if you continuously feed it less voltage than it needs. What Apple did is to prefer to have people's devices run slower compared to breaking them. What they did wrong was keeping quiet about it. I ain't ever disputing that, it was a really bad decision to hide it. The reasoning to do it however has solid foundations in physical reality. Even I that I know nothing of electronics went out of my way to read about it and asked several electronical engineer acquaintances of mine and they all said Apple did the right thing by slowing down the devices.
  - cronix 8y ago
    I was just bringing it up to dispute your claim > So please don't imply iOS updates brings iDevices "ever closer to unusably slow" because that's very non-factual. Because THAT was non-factual. They have done it, and for some it was "unusably slow." Whether the reasons were electrically sound wasn't in dispute.
    - 8y ago

varjag 8y ago

No, Android phones usually means not getting the updates in time, or at all. Speaking as someone who participated in 2008 Android Developer Challenge and had Android phones since, and until the last year.