Was iOS 5.1 Most Smooth 5.X Version on iPod Touch 4G?

[touchipods]

My iPod touch 4g came shipped with iOS 5.1. Using for a week, it was smooth as butter and I don't remember any crashes. I was quite happy because I did some research with many saying lack of RAM made it crash often. Also tested 2 iPod touch units at an Apple Store and seperate electronic shop-seemed fine.

I finally installed 5.1.1 thinking it would be a minor update and not slow the device down. After installing I had my first crash on Safari and I remember my eyes opening wide I regularly close unused programs.

Been using over a month and the device would crash 1-2 times a day only on Safari (also once on Youtube App Store version). I know 4g only has 256MB RAM but 5.1 did not crash on me once. I did not add anything after 5.1.1 as my contents stayed the same.

So for those of you who had an iPod touch during iOS 5.X days, was 5.1 the smoothest version? From what I read it seems to go:
5.1>5.1.1>5.0.1>5.0

BTW I do not have iOS 6 installed as I don't want to deal with even lower free RAM which means less background apps can be used. I must say the past few days I have not had any crashes so that's a good sign.

[Seventh]

5.0.1 and 5.1.1 both seem incredibly unstable, crashing regularly. Majority of crashes tend to come about through Safari and I'm not sure that rolling back to 5.1 [skipped at the time] would help significantly.

My most stable experience of iOS on this generation was 4.3.3. Even taking into account the excessive number of tweaks installed, which I expect to eat RAM, crashes were rare.

Had been reluctant to update to 5 given drastic difference in performance between earlier iOS versions on the second generation. An expected [if not easily accepted] dive in performance.

[sracer]

If you are not jailbroken, then 5.1.1 is the stablest. My 2yr old 64GB 4G Touch (not jailbroken) is running 5.1.1 and it is running BETTER than when I first bought it. The version of iOS 4.x that came with it had bugs that drained the battery.

But obviously that depends upon the application mix as well.

[touchipods]

Interesting. Thanks for the comments guys. I will say 5.1.1 battery life is much better than 5.1 the week I used it. However there was a setting I tweaked in 5.1.1 (general-date and time menu) that resulted in better battery. I found this out by reading a comment from a site.

Before that 5.1.1 battery was the same as 5.1 so I'll never know if I did that tweak in 5.1 the battery would've been improved.

I still do wonder if Apple made the touch run slower but in doing so resulted in better battery and more crashes going from 5.1-5.1.1.

Anyone know the free RAM available in 5.1 compared to 5.1.1?

[Fresh Pie]

Although I can't shed any light on to this issue, I'll admit that reading this thread has been somewhat of a relief. Ever since my 2nd generation iPod touch, I've always jailbroken, and my 4th generation is no exception. I ran it jailbroken on a latter version of iOS 4, and everything was smooth. I put off updating to 5 because it meant I'd lose my jailbreak. Lately, my iPod is slow, unresponsive, and prone to crashing, which I thought was due to the jailbreak—I never considered the OS itself might be unstable.

With a 5th generation iPod touch ordered, I was internally debating whether or not I should jailbreak it. After reading this, I'll be sure to once a jailbreak is available. For me, there aren't many reasons to jailbreak, but the few reasons there are are very important.

[touchipods]

Originally Posted by sracer

If you are not jailbroken, then 5.1.1 is the stablest. My 2yr old 64GB 4G Touch (not jailbroken) is running 5.1.1 and it is running BETTER than when I first bought it. The version of iOS 4.x that came with it had bugs that drained the battery.

But obviously that depends upon the application mix as well.

So 5.1 was not as smooth as 5.1.1? Because these vids show how fast it is on 5.1. Note how fast applications open/close and switching between apps. Mine was also running like these two vids on 5.1:

Watch from 4:05-4:25



From 2:05-6:18:



BTW I don't jailbreak and probably never will.

[dcorban]

I'd suggest just updating to iOS 6. My iPhone 4 became noticeably more responsive from that update, particularly in Safari. It was a significant difference in feel.

[touchipods]

Well the iPhone 4 has 512MB RAM so that helps running iOS6. iPod touch 4g only has 256 so the iPhone 4 having double the amount is huge.

Anyways after about a week of somewhat smooth performance, its back to Safari crash-fest. On the Apple website, the iPhone section always crashes when I zoom in. Also google news desktop site always crashes when double tapping to zoom in.

iPod touch 3rd gen and iPhone 3gs users can also chime in about 5.1.1 as those specs are similar to touch 4. I always thought 4g would be faster because it has Apple A4 chip clocked in at 800Mhz while the other two 600Mhz. What I forgot was all 3 are 256MB RAM but touch 4G is retina display (double the resolution) so really touch 4g may be slower.

Knowing I can't restore and set up as new iPod on iTunes without it converting to 6.X, thinking of going to the reset setting on the touch and tap "Erase All Content and Settings" option. However my touch automatically downloaded 6.0 but did not install yet. So if I erase all content will it show up as 6.0 or 5.1.1?

[racoonboy]

what about the latest 6.0.1, has anybody try on their touch 4G?

[Beeplance]

Originally Posted by racoonboy

what about the latest 6.0.1, has anybody try on their touch 4G?

Don't attempt to install anything higher than iOS 5.1.1 on the 4G. It may be able to cope & have more features, but the slowdown will noticeable. What features do you need on iOS 6 for the iPod touch 4G anyway? Just stay on 5.1.1, the 4G still handles it perfectly, & what's more? You have GOOGLE MAPS.

[racoonboy]

Originally Posted by Beeplance

Don't attempt to install anything higher than iOS 5.1.1 on the 4G. It may be able to cope & have more features, but the slowdown will noticeable. What features do you need on iOS 6 for the iPod touch 4G anyway? Just stay on 5.1.1, the 4G still handles it perfectly, & what's more? You have GOOGLE MAPS.

I plan to buy Ipod touch 4th 16GB again just for music and video, couple simple games. I think it will come automatically with ios 6 from unbox though.

Maybe i have to look for 4th gen 8GB, version that come with 5.1.

Wait, 5.1.1 is also a no no right?

[Beeplance]

[/COLOR]

Originally Posted by racoonboy

I plan to buy Ipod touch 4th 16GB again just for music and video, couple simple games. I think it will come automatically with ios 6 from unbox though.

Maybe i have to look for 4th gen 8GB, version that come with 5.1.

Wait, 5.1.1 is also a no no right?

If you purchase one right now, there's a high chance of getting one with iOS 6 since the newer ones are all shipped with that. On the other hand, you can TRY to ask the Apple store personnel if they have any "old" stock available, & that's might be your best bet. No harm in asking, if they don't have then you have to make do with iOS 6, but if they do, then it's your gain. My 4G is currently on 5.1.1, as I said its doing fine, & I can guarantee right now it's a better experience than iOS 6. It's limited hardware, combined with 256mb of RAM, will definitely not provide a decent experience on iOS 6.

[TacticalDesire]

There are exceptions, but it seems whatever OS ships with the device is the one that runs the best. Buying an iPod with iOS 6 could very well run fine, or it could be a mess. It seems to be a bit of a crap shoot.

[touchipods]

Originally Posted by TacticalDesire

There are exceptions, but it seems whatever OS ships with the device is the one that runs the best. Buying an iPod with iOS 6 could very well run fine, or it could be a mess. It seems to be a bit of a crap shoot.

Hmm you may be right. Perhaps the only way to ensure tip-top smoothness is to restore as new iPod with each and every update. Would be annoying but maybe updating leaves corrupt files at times or restoring cleans some of the fragmented files-probably a bit of both.

Also added a poll. Should've added one sooner.

[racoonboy]

Originally Posted by touchipods

Hmm you may be right. Perhaps the only way to ensure tip-top smoothness is to restore as new iPod with each and every update. Would be annoying but maybe updating leaves corrupt files at times or restoring cleans some of the fragmented files-probably a bit of both.

Also added a poll. Should've added one sooner.

Or maybe we should just update the ios through itune while connected to computer? I think by OTA update, only part of the new file is being inserted to the already existed os and may cause some lag or underperform.

Just a wild guess.

[Thetonyk123]

Best for me was 4.2.1