Is there any reason to put iOS6 on the iPhone 4?

IJBrekke · Nov 11, 2012, 03:15 PM

I'm trying to discern why I would want to "upgrade" at all.

I gain very few (if any) features, I lose Google Maps, my battery life may get worse, the phone may become laggy/slower (which definitely happened when I upgraded to iOS5)...I just don't get it.

The current drawback of 5.1.1 is that I cannot restore my phone without upgrading, so the first time I have a problem I will be stuck. Also, OTA updates has downloaded iOS6 onto my device and is currently taking up 800mb of space.

So am I missing something here? Why upgrade?

saberahul · Nov 11, 2012, 03:18 PM

Passbook and privacy options are worth the upgrade for me.

IJBrekke · Nov 11, 2012, 03:19 PM

Have they come with any trade-offs in performance? I am planning on setting up as a new phone if I choose to try iOS6.

irDigital0l · Nov 11, 2012, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IJBrekke

Have they come with any trade-offs in performance? I am planning on setting up as a new phone if I choose to try iOS6.

I didn't notice anything...

brylliant · Nov 11, 2012, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IJBrekke

Have they come with any trade-offs in performance? I am planning on setting up as a new phone if I choose to try iOS6.

If anything, you'll see a smoother experience. The only trade off is the YouTube app, which was outdated anyway.

clauzzz203 · Nov 11, 2012, 04:08 PM

Reason: you're not amish

Beeplance · Nov 11, 2012, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IJBrekke

I'm trying to discern why I would want to "upgrade" at all.

I gain very few (if any) features, I lose Google Maps, my battery life may get worse, the phone may become laggy/slower (which definitely happened when I upgraded to iOS5)...I just don't get it.

The current drawback of 5.1.1 is that I cannot restore my phone without upgrading, so the first time I have a problem I will be stuck. Also, OTA updates has downloaded iOS6 onto my device and is currently taking up 800mb of space.

So am I missing something here? Why upgrade?

Your concerns are all very legit, the most important one being the lack of google maps, as well as the possibility of a decline in performance, no matter what ppl say.

I'd say stay on 5.1.1 on your iPhone 4 as long as possible. Stay away from iOS 6, the benefits of upgrading to it are very minute & not really that important.

Grolubao · Nov 11, 2012, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beeplance

Your concerns are all very legit, the most important one being the lack of google maps, as well as the possibility of a decline in performance, no matter what ppl say.

I'd say stay on 5.1.1 on your iPhone 4 as long as possible. Stay away from iOS 6, the benefits of upgrading to it are very minute & not really that important.

Basically it's this. I will never upgrade to ios6 with my iPhone 4, period, there's nothing that could value it, plus I would lose the jailbreak which is a show stopper for me

Idefix · Nov 11, 2012, 04:36 PM

Stay on 5.1!!!

As for being able to restore, you've got it unlocked from ATT, right? (*if you're on ATT?)

If so, jailbreak it, get your blobs set aside from Tiny Umbrella, you should be able to restore to 5.1.

brylliant · Nov 11, 2012, 04:37 PM

I thought about my answer and want to give it another go.
In ios 6, there seriously isn't a compelling reason that would make you want to upgrade. There was Maps, but we all know what happened with that. Although, Maps is fine for me.

The removal of the YouTube app in ios 6 is a bummer, but its something you can live without. The replacement app is ok, but you can even get that on ios 5.1.1.

Stay with ios 5.1.1 for now, until you see a compelling reason to upgrade in the future.

IJBrekke · Nov 11, 2012, 05:47 PM

Wirelessly posted

Thanks for the detailed responses everyone, I will stay on 5.1.1 until I see a legitimate reason to upgrade.

As for unlocking, I'm on Verizon. But if I jailbreak before trying iOS6 I can still go back.

avanpelt · Nov 11, 2012, 05:53 PM

Before I upgraded to the iPhone 5, I used iOS 6 on an iPhone 4 for a few days. I personally didn't notice the battery life taking a hit. My wife has run iOS 6 for the past month and a half on her iPhone 4 and hasn't complained about battery life. She has, however, complained about the lack of accuracy with Apple Maps.

The main reason I wanted iOS 6 on my iPhone 4 was for the Do Not Disturb feature. On an iPhone 4, you basically get revamped Privacy settings, Passbook, and Do Not Disturb. You don't get Siri or the "Flyover" stuff or turn-by-turn directions with Apple Maps. If none of the things iOS 6 gives you on an iPhone 4 are compelling to you, I'd say stay with 5.x and keep the traditional Google Maps app.

Beeplance · Nov 11, 2012, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IJBrekke

Wirelessly posted

Thanks for the detailed responses everyone, I will stay on 5.1.1 until I see a legitimate reason to upgrade.

As for unlocking, I'm on Verizon. But if I jailbreak before trying iOS6 I can still go back.

Yeah that should be good. But I think you should stay there until you retire your phone or the phone disintegrates. I highly doubt iOS 6.1 would bring any groundbreaking feature to the 3GS & the 4, so might as well stay on 5.1.1.

Grolubao · Nov 12, 2012, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avanpelt

Before I upgraded to the iPhone 5, I used iOS 6 on an iPhone 4 for a few days. I personally didn't notice the battery life taking a hit. My wife has run iOS 6 for the past month and a half on her iPhone 4 and hasn't complained about battery life. She has, however, complained about the lack of accuracy with Apple Maps.

The main reason I wanted iOS 6 on my iPhone 4 was for the Do Not Disturb feature. On an iPhone 4, you basically get revamped Privacy settings, Passbook, and Do Not Disturb. You don't get Siri or the "Flyover" stuff or turn-by-turn directions with Apple Maps. If none of the things iOS 6 gives you on an iPhone 4 are compelling to you, I'd say stay with 5.x and keep the traditional Google Maps app.

You can get No Disturb functionality with Jailbreak

Thetonyk123 · Nov 12, 2012, 08:42 PM

iOS 6 seems smoother to me with better battery life.

CarlosQG · Nov 13, 2012, 12:14 AM

Staying on 5.1.1:

You keep the trustworthy Google Maps, avoid the terrible wifi bugs which are not fixed on 6.0.1, keep the phone and music app UI which is cool.

Updating to 6:

Beautiful but useless Apple Maps (unless you live on a big, important city, they suck in Mexico), the cool multicolour status bar, remove the outdated YouTube app, better privacy controls, passbook, new share sheet. You don't get Siri or panorama mode though.

So yeah, go on and update if you don't use maps and you rely on carrier network instead of wifi.

Drunken Master · Nov 13, 2012, 07:38 AM

I would stick with iOS 5.

RoboCop001 · Nov 13, 2012, 09:18 AM

Passbook for sure. Actually it seems to run much better than iOS 5 in my experience. It's extended my iPhone 4's life for sure. I was worried about the performance on iOS 5, so I was really hoping to get an iPhone 5. But now I don't really care as much, iOS 6 works great on it!

Lara F · Nov 13, 2012, 01:22 PM

Passbook works very nicely for Starbucks, but I've yet to find another business I'd use at all regularly. YMMV. Do Not Disturb is indeed a nice feature, as is Tab sync in Safari. And agree performance hasn't degraded.

But unless you're in an area that's decently served by Apple Maps (which I'd hope Long Beach is), probably not worth the tradeoff. I'd also add the App Store to the list of negatives - it's much buggier compared to before iOS 6.

NedBookPro · Nov 13, 2012, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beeplance

Your concerns are all very legit, the most important one being the lack of google maps, as well as the possibility of a decline in performance, no matter what ppl say.

I'd say stay on 5.1.1 on your iPhone 4 as long as possible. Stay away from iOS 6, the benefits of upgrading to it are very minute & not really that important.

This is good advice.

I'd give ANYTHING to roll back on my phone, but that's not possible.

For me it's the annoyance of something broken in mail for Exchange Server when on Wi-Fi.

.

TWD98j · Nov 13, 2012, 01:44 PM

I have a 4S but I'm still on 5.1.1 and intend on staying there for as long as I can.

Bugs aside, this was the first iOS release where, upon its unveiling at WWDC I just thought to myself "meh".

No "gotta have it" features this time. Nothing on the caliber of multitasking, iMessage, notification center, mms, the app store, etc from past iOS releases.

My 2 cents.

Zcott · Nov 13, 2012, 03:08 PM

Maps?

/runs

g-7 · Nov 13, 2012, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IJBrekke

the phone may become laggy/slower (which definitely happened when I upgraded to iOS5)

For me iOS 6 is actually faster than iOS 5, even though I have restored my iPhone 4 from backup, not set up as a new one.

Sedrick · Nov 13, 2012, 07:24 PM

I would agree. Stay on 5.1.1. 4S, maybe go to iOS6 (though I'm not), but definitely no point on a straight 4.

bripab007 · Nov 14, 2012, 07:37 AM

If you're happy with 5.1 and you can live without any of these features and all the associated security patches...: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_ver...istory#iOS_6.x

Nov 11, 2012, 03:15 PM	#1
IJBrekke macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Long Beach, CA	Is there any reason to put iOS6 on the iPhone 4? I'm trying to discern why I would want to "upgrade" at all. I gain very few (if any) features, I lose Google Maps, my battery life may get worse, the phone may become laggy/slower (which definitely happened when I upgraded to iOS5)...I just don't get it. The current drawback of 5.1.1 is that I cannot restore my phone without upgrading, so the first time I have a problem I will be stuck. Also, OTA updates has downloaded iOS6 onto my device and is currently taking up 800mb of space. So am I missing something here? Why upgrade?
	0

Nov 11, 2012, 03:18 PM	#2
saberahul macrumors 68030 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: On my iPad	Passbook and privacy options are worth the upgrade for me. __________________ iPhone • iPad • MacBook Pro
	2

Nov 12, 2012, 08:42 PM	#15
Thetonyk123 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Nowhere.	iOS 6 seems smoother to me with better battery life. __________________ Some Apple stuff How you send feedback to apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ -Credit to iSayuSay for Avatar.
	0

Nov 13, 2012, 12:14 AM	#16
CarlosQG macrumors member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Mexico	Staying on 5.1.1: You keep the trustworthy Google Maps, avoid the terrible wifi bugs which are not fixed on 6.0.1, keep the phone and music app UI which is cool. Updating to 6: Beautiful but useless Apple Maps (unless you live on a big, important city, they suck in Mexico), the cool multicolour status bar, remove the outdated YouTube app, better privacy controls, passbook, new share sheet. You don't get Siri or panorama mode though. So yeah, go on and update if you don't use maps and you rely on carrier network instead of wifi. __________________ "Only hire people you wanna have dinner with" —Tom Ford.
	1

Nov 13, 2012, 07:38 AM	#17
Drunken Master macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2011	I would stick with iOS 5. __________________ MUJI Fans 無印愛好者
	1

Nov 11, 2012, 03:19 PM	#3
IJBrekke Thread Starter macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Long Beach, CA	Have they come with any trade-offs in performance? I am planning on setting up as a new phone if I choose to try iOS6.
	0

Nov 11, 2012, 04:08 PM	#6
clauzzz203 macrumors member Join Date: Sep 2012	Reason: you're not amish
	2

Nov 11, 2012, 04:36 PM	#9
Idefix macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2012	Stay on 5.1!!! As for being able to restore, you've got it unlocked from ATT, right? (*if you're on ATT?) If so, jailbreak it, get your blobs set aside from Tiny Umbrella, you should be able to restore to 5.1.
	2

Nov 11, 2012, 04:37 PM	#10
brylliant Banned Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: United Kingdom	I thought about my answer and want to give it another go. In ios 6, there seriously isn't a compelling reason that would make you want to upgrade. There was Maps, but we all know what happened with that. Although, Maps is fine for me. The removal of the YouTube app in ios 6 is a bummer, but its something you can live without. The replacement app is ok, but you can even get that on ios 5.1.1. Stay with ios 5.1.1 for now, until you see a compelling reason to upgrade in the future.
	3

Nov 11, 2012, 05:47 PM	#11
IJBrekke Thread Starter macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Long Beach, CA	Wirelessly posted Thanks for the detailed responses everyone, I will stay on 5.1.1 until I see a legitimate reason to upgrade. As for unlocking, I'm on Verizon. But if I jailbreak before trying iOS6 I can still go back.
	0

Nov 11, 2012, 05:53 PM	#12
avanpelt macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2010	Before I upgraded to the iPhone 5, I used iOS 6 on an iPhone 4 for a few days. I personally didn't notice the battery life taking a hit. My wife has run iOS 6 for the past month and a half on her iPhone 4 and hasn't complained about battery life. She has, however, complained about the lack of accuracy with Apple Maps. The main reason I wanted iOS 6 on my iPhone 4 was for the Do Not Disturb feature. On an iPhone 4, you basically get revamped Privacy settings, Passbook, and Do Not Disturb. You don't get Siri or the "Flyover" stuff or turn-by-turn directions with Apple Maps. If none of the things iOS 6 gives you on an iPhone 4 are compelling to you, I'd say stay with 5.x and keep the traditional Google Maps app.
	0

Nov 13, 2012, 09:18 AM	#18
RoboCop001 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada	Passbook for sure. Actually it seems to run much better than iOS 5 in my experience. It's extended my iPhone 4's life for sure. I was worried about the performance on iOS 5, so I was really hoping to get an iPhone 5. But now I don't really care as much, iOS 6 works great on it! __________________ Web Design and Motion Graphics Portfolio \| Twitter \| Blog
	0

Nov 13, 2012, 01:22 PM	#19
Lara F macrumors 6502a Join Date: May 2005 Location: Montreal, Quebec	Passbook works very nicely for Starbucks, but I've yet to find another business I'd use at all regularly. YMMV. Do Not Disturb is indeed a nice feature, as is Tab sync in Safari. And agree performance hasn't degraded. But unless you're in an area that's decently served by Apple Maps (which I'd hope Long Beach is), probably not worth the tradeoff. I'd also add the App Store to the list of negatives - it's much buggier compared to before iOS 6.
	0

Nov 13, 2012, 01:44 PM	#21
TWD98j macrumors member Join Date: Sep 2010	I have a 4S but I'm still on 5.1.1 and intend on staying there for as long as I can. Bugs aside, this was the first iOS release where, upon its unveiling at WWDC I just thought to myself "meh". No "gotta have it" features this time. Nothing on the caliber of multitasking, iMessage, notification center, mms, the app store, etc from past iOS releases. My 2 cents.
	2

Nov 13, 2012, 03:08 PM	#22
Zcott macrumors 68000 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Belfast, Ireland	Maps? /runs
	0

Nov 13, 2012, 07:24 PM	#24
Sedrick macrumors 68020 Join Date: Nov 2010	I would agree. Stay on 5.1.1. 4S, maybe go to iOS6 (though I'm not), but definitely no point on a straight 4. __________________ iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2
	0

Nov 14, 2012, 07:37 AM	#25
bripab007 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2009	If you're happy with 5.1 and you can live without any of these features and all the associated security patches...: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_ver...istory#iOS_6.x
	0

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