4 ms·

> "iPhone 4 users will enjoy improved responsiveness and performance" I hear: "iPhone 4 users will be slightly less screwed over this time". I am updating as f

by jwr 13y ago

> "iPhone 4 users will enjoy improved responsiveness and performance" I hear: "iPhone 4 users will be slightly less screwed over this time". I am updating as fast as I can, because frankly, nothing can be worse than the iOS 7.0 upgrade that I (regrettably) did. No matter how iOS 7.1 works on my iPhone 4, I will remember how I got screwed by the 7.0 update. In the future I will never upgrade to a major new OS version without waiting several weeks and seeing how other people's devices behave. The trust has been broken.

dpeck 13y ago
Felt the same with with iOS 4, whatever it was on the 3G. It was assured to work well, in reality it was completely unusable.
ksk 13y ago
Yeah, I got burned with 7 too on my 4S. Luckily my iPad3 is still on 6. Its rather annoying that Apple forces you to stay on the current version once you update especially when the newer version slows down your device at the same time.
hnewcfo 13y ago
I am still on iOS 5.x with my iPhone 4S. Would you/anyone recommend to upgrade these days my 4S to iOS 7.x?
- LeoNatan25 13y ago
  On a 4S, iOS7.1 is quite snappy. I would say, sure, go ahead.
frik 13y ago
I am still on iOS 6.1 on my iPad2. It's fast and looks nice. Beside the design change, v7 and 7.1 are more a minor update. How fast is iOS 7.1 on iPad2?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
qq66 13y ago
One major question that I have for everyone who upgrades iOS on launch day is, "why?" Nobody upgrades non-Apple operating systems on Day 1. Sometimes people wait for an entire year to upgrade the OS, because the device is functional at the old OS and risks becoming nonfunctional with the new OS. Yet I continue to see people upgrade OS X and iOS on launch day, often with predictably regrettable results.
- bananas 13y ago
  I make my kids upgrade their iPads first then test them thoroughly before I do my wife's iPad and iPhone. With respect to OSX I go for a major release straight away and test it for a couple of hours. If it's broken, I'll restore the machine from Time Machine. All the Apple users I know do roughly the same process. They're quite conservative and pick guinea pigs before they upgrade.
- richbradshaw 13y ago
  I've always upgraded everything as soon as possible. This is code that has been written to improve existing code. Bugs have been fixed, security issues patched. Testing has been done, and it's good enough to push to customers. I've always done this, and short of when I used Debian Sid (I think it was), I've never been bitten by it.
arrrg 13y ago
Well, it’s a real damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for Apple. If they cut off support they are evil for making old devices obsolete too quickly. If they don’t cut off support they get poor performance with an OS that takes advantage of all the performance in the newest models.
- bjxrn 13y ago
  Does taking advantage of the technology in the newer devices automatically mean you must have degradation in the older ones?
  - arrrg 13y ago
    Not automatically, but there is no free lunch. Also, if Apple disables too much stuff they also get yelled at for not bringing all the features. I mean, sure, there is a balance somewhere in there, but it’s not easy to hit quite right and I don’t think it will make everyone happy.
- jwr 13y ago
  That's not the issue here. Making a new version of iOS that doesn't run as well on older devices — that's fine. I understand that iPhone 4 wasn't a priority (but note that in spite of what many people mindlessly repeat, iPhone 4 performance problems were not because of "new animations and effects"). What I have a problem with is: * pretending that all devices should be upgraded, even though iPhone 4 clearly should not have been included given the abysmal performance, * disabling downgrades (it's not that they are technically impossible, it's that Apple specifically disabled them after several days), The goal was to show how unified the iOS ecosystem is: so-and-so-many percent of users upgraded immediately, there is one version to develop for, etc — but I was sacrificed on the way to that goal. That is not OK. Net result was that for several months my phone was a useless piece of crap, taking forever to do anything, missing taps and swipes, taking screenshots of the lock screen instead of switching on, etc. That is not OK. In the future, warn me that there are performance problems and that the upgrade is possible, but not advised. And give me the possibility to switch back.
yuhong 13y ago
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/ios-7-1-on-the-iphone-4-as-good-as-its-going-to-get/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/ios-7-1-on-the-iphone-4...
masklinn 13y ago
> frankly, nothing can be worse than the iOS 7.0 upgrade You didn't live through 4.0 with a 3G did you?

by jwr 13y ago

dpeck 13y ago

Felt the same with with iOS 4, whatever it was on the 3G. It was assured to work well, in reality it was completely unusable.

ksk 13y ago

Yeah, I got burned with 7 too on my 4S. Luckily my iPad3 is still on 6. Its rather annoying that Apple forces you to stay on the current version once you update especially when the newer version slows down your device at the same time.

hnewcfo 13y ago

I am still on iOS 5.x with my iPhone 4S. Would you/anyone recommend to upgrade these days my 4S to iOS 7.x?

LeoNatan25 13y ago
On a 4S, iOS7.1 is quite snappy. I would say, sure, go ahead.

frik 13y ago

I am still on iOS 6.1 on my iPad2. It's fast and looks nice. Beside the design change, v7 and 7.1 are more a minor update. How fast is iOS 7.1 on iPad2?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

qq66 13y ago

One major question that I have for everyone who upgrades iOS on launch day is, "why?" Nobody upgrades non-Apple operating systems on Day 1. Sometimes people wait for an entire year to upgrade the OS, because the device is functional at the old OS and risks becoming nonfunctional with the new OS. Yet I continue to see people upgrade OS X and iOS on launch day, often with predictably regrettable results.

bananas 13y ago
I make my kids upgrade their iPads first then test them thoroughly before I do my wife's iPad and iPhone. With respect to OSX I go for a major release straight away and test it for a couple of hours. If it's broken, I'll restore the machine from Time Machine. All the Apple users I know do roughly the same process. They're quite conservative and pick guinea pigs before they upgrade.
richbradshaw 13y ago
I've always upgraded everything as soon as possible. This is code that has been written to improve existing code. Bugs have been fixed, security issues patched. Testing has been done, and it's good enough to push to customers. I've always done this, and short of when I used Debian Sid (I think it was), I've never been bitten by it.

arrrg 13y ago

Well, it’s a real damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for Apple. If they cut off support they are evil for making old devices obsolete too quickly. If they don’t cut off support they get poor performance with an OS that takes advantage of all the performance in the newest models.

bjxrn 13y ago
Does taking advantage of the technology in the newer devices automatically mean you must have degradation in the older ones?
- arrrg 13y ago
  Not automatically, but there is no free lunch. Also, if Apple disables too much stuff they also get yelled at for not bringing all the features. I mean, sure, there is a balance somewhere in there, but it’s not easy to hit quite right and I don’t think it will make everyone happy.
jwr 13y ago
That's not the issue here. Making a new version of iOS that doesn't run as well on older devices — that's fine. I understand that iPhone 4 wasn't a priority (but note that in spite of what many people mindlessly repeat, iPhone 4 performance problems were not because of "new animations and effects"). What I have a problem with is: * pretending that all devices should be upgraded, even though iPhone 4 clearly should not have been included given the abysmal performance, * disabling downgrades (it's not that they are technically impossible, it's that Apple specifically disabled them after several days), The goal was to show how unified the iOS ecosystem is: so-and-so-many percent of users upgraded immediately, there is one version to develop for, etc — but I was sacrificed on the way to that goal. That is not OK. Net result was that for several months my phone was a useless piece of crap, taking forever to do anything, missing taps and swipes, taking screenshots of the lock screen instead of switching on, etc. That is not OK. In the future, warn me that there are performance problems and that the upgrade is possible, but not advised. And give me the possibility to switch back.

yuhong 13y ago

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/ios-7-1-on-the-iphone-4-as-good-as-its-going-to-get/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/ios-7-1-on-the-iphone-4...

masklinn 13y ago

> frankly, nothing can be worse than the iOS 7.0 upgrade You didn't live through 4.0 with a 3G did you?