Apple Adds Shared Photo Streams and VIP Mail to iPhone 3GS with iOS 6 Beta 3

[pk7]

Here's my 2 cents on this matter.

It's great to see the 3GS being supported for so long. I had one before I got my 4S. It's almost become my "favorite" iPhone and it will be a sad day when it gets discontinued in terms of hardware production, and ultimately, software updates. But it is one beast of a phone. The performance gap between it and its predecessor is probably the largest of all performance gaps between iPhones, with maybe only the iPhone 4S-iPhone 4 gap rivaling it. That's why it's lasted this long.

In all seriousness though, the iPhone 3GS is relatively similar to the iPhone 4. The 3GS sports a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8 and a PowerVR SGX 535 GPU. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the A4 is essentially the same thing, but packaged into an SoC. So basically, the iPhone 4 has to power 4 times the amount of pixels with almost identical hardware, with a CPU speed which is 200 MHz higher and the exact same GPU (but let's be honest, the 512 MB RAM is pretty darn useful). The 4 struggles in that regard. Put it next to an iPhone 3GS and the 3GS, while slower, will actually be smoother. The 4's UI stutters constantly, and does lag a bit also in high-res games and such. The only reason the iPhone 4 is maybe a bit quicker than the iPhone 3GS is because of the 200 MHz CPU clock speed advantage that it has. I will put a video of it up on the MR iPhone forums sometime soon. I'd say that if iOS runs well on the iPhone 4, the 3GS, while maybe a bit slower, can still run it.

I can understand why iPad 1 owners are upset. 2 years of support seems like too little, especially for an iPad. But seeing my post above, if you take hardware similar (note: I didn't say identical, I said similar) to the 3GS like they did with the iPhone 4 and then put it on a device that runs 5x the number of pixels, you will be in for a never-ending slideshow on your iPad. In my very personal and very honest opinion, the iPad 1 and iPhone 4 are underpowered.

Also, I have a question which I'd like to get opinions on: Do you think the 3GS will get iOS 7 next year, as there will still be people getting a 3GS up to the launch of the sixth-generation iPhone (and thus, hardware discontinuation of the 3GS)? Those buying it that late would otherwise be getting only one year's worth of software updates.

 

[charlituna]

Mine does not. So many apps that crash including Safari (although that got better with the last update). I thought I'd use it for university and actually thought about getting the new iPad because if the retina display, but this experience made me reconsider.

Two year old 1st release hardware made you reconsider getting a vastly improved model. Something tells me that Apple won't mind that you made this choice. You come off as one of those folks that thinks your needs, wants and opinions should dictate all and if it isn't good enough for YOU then it's utter crap.

However many of us are doing quite a bit of work on iPads, as much if not more than we do on a scaled down computer like an Air. No issues for us. So perhaps instead of listening to your expert opinion, folks will try it for themselves. After all you get two weeks to return it if you bought it from Apple and as much if not longer at many 3rd party shops

 

[napabar]

Amazon Cloud Player for me. I absolutely hate iTunes Match. Its slow, buggy, and tears through data faster than Netflix. Pass on that Just give amazon a try. 5 gigs of space is free and so is the app. Make a small playlist and give it a shot, if you like it, look at 20 bucks for unlimited storage, if you hate it, no loss to you at all. Something I wish Apple had done honestly. There goes 25 bucks ill never get back.

Wow...don't know where to begin here.

Data is data, so listening to music from the internet is going to use data, irregardless of what service you use.

Amazon's service doesn't upgrade your crappy old 128K MP3's to a better quality, better codec equivalent.

You are comparing Apples and Oranges.

 

[kre62]

Are you being serious? If so, you need to be corrected. The iPhone 4 has 512MB of RAM (twice as much memory as the iPhone 3GS) and an A4 processor running at 800Mhz. Having a faster processor and twice as much memory (not to mention much-improved graphics) is hardly "the same cloth". The iPad 1 and iPhone 4 are pretty much the same internal parts, though the iPhone 4 had twice as much RAM as the iPad 1 as well, but the iPad 1 had the A4 clocked at a 1Ghz instead of 800Mhz -- faster processing, but less RAM for multi-tasking.

Ram does not affect processor performance/ app loading.

The processor "A4" is a cortex A8 processor, same as the 3GS

The GPU is a PoweVR SGX 535, same as 3GS

Its the same as the 3GS.

 

[Allenbf]

It would be one thing to complain if you just bought an iPad 1 and the update all but made it useless, but chances are that those of you still using the iPad 1 have been doing so for quite a while now.

How is it that you think you should have what feels like a new product years after using it? In tech especially, change occurs so rapidly that you're bound to have multiple updates to hardware and software over the life of the product. If you weren't happy when you first got the iPad 1, you should have returned it. If you happily used it then you shouldn't complain. The only case where Apple could be at fault is if they recommended a new software update that degraded the hardware and user experience. In cases like that, they simply need to make downgrading a simple solution.

My thoughts exactly. I have an iPad 2 and "3". I'm fully aware that in 2 or 3 years, it won't run whatever OS is out at that time, that is the nature of things.

 

[charlituna]

what about the newer then 3GS iPad 1?

Not being supported. Which makes sense given that it was the very first model and they made vast improvements between the 1st and 2nd. Enough that they don't want anyone hanging onto that old hardware and expecting it to be as whizz bang pow at the newer stuff. That's why they only did Apple Care for 2 years from purchase like the iPods rather than 3 like the computers. That's why they aren't supporting iOS 6. IF they decide to add anything from it they will restrict it to only the most basic functions like the VIP mail. No turn by turn, no 3d maps, etc. You still won't be able to run iMovie, iPhoto etc on it. Given how few features they would be putting in it seems rather pointless to do anything at all. So they aren't.

And before anyone starts in with Apple is Evil, remember that many of those precious Android devices out there don't get even one OS update. You are stuck with what you got when you bought it. If you are lucky you get a couple of bug fixes but sometimes there's not even that.

 

[JAT]

Heres hoping they fixed a bunch of the iCloud bugs when listening to music from iCloud. Either it crashes on me, or takes ten years to start playing.

Hit download first, not Play.

 

[commander.data]

Here's my 2 cents on this matter.

It's great to see the 3GS being supported for so long. I had one before I got my 4S. It's almost become my "favorite" iPhone and it will be a sad day when it gets discontinued in terms of hardware production, and ultimately, software updates. But it is one beast of a phone. The performance gap between its predecessor is probably the largest of all performance gaps between iPhones, with maybe only the iPhone 4S-iPhone 4 gap rivaling it. That's why it's lasted this long.

In all seriousness though, the iPhone 3GS is relatively similar to the iPhone 4. The 3GS sports a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8 and a PowerVR SGX 535 GPU. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the A4 is essentially the same thing packaged into an SoC. So basically, the iPhone has to power 4 times the amount of pixels with almost identical hardware, with a CPU speed which is 200 MHz higher and the exact same GPU (but let's be honest, the 512 MB RAM is pretty darn useful). The 4 struggles in that regard. Put it next to an iPhone 3GS and the 3GS, while slower, will actually be smoother. The 4's UI stutters constantly, and does lag a bit also in high-res games and such. I will put a video of it up on the MR iPhone forums sometime soon. I'd say that if iOS runs well on the iPhone 4, the 3GS, while maybe a bit slower, can still run it.

I can understand why iPad 1 owners are upset. 2 years of support seems like too little, especially for an iPad. But seeing my post above, if you take hardware similar (note: I didn't say identical, I said similar) to the 3GS like they did with the iPhone 4 and then put it on a device that runs 5x the number of pixels, you will be in for a never-ending slideshow on your iPad. In my very personal and very honest opinion, the iPad 1 and iPhone 4 are underpowered.

Also, I have a question which I'd like to get opinions on: Do you think the 3GS will get iOS 7 next year, as there will still be people getting a 3GS up to the launch of the sixth-generation iPhone? Those buying it that late would otherwise be getting only one year's worth of software updates.

Yes the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 share the same generation of CPU and GPU tech. Namely a Cortex A8 CPU and a PowerVR SGX535 GPU. The difference is the iPhone 3GS is clocked at 600 MHz vs 800MHz on the iPhone 4, the GPU is thought to see a similar 33% clock speed increase. The iPhone 4 also has double the L2 cache, double the memory bandwidth, and double the RAM. With 4x the pixels, graphically complex apps would put the iPhone 4 at a disadvantage compared to the iPhone 3GS unless it is memory bandwidth bound on the 3GS.

I'm thinking the primary reason for the 3GS continuing to be supported is not actually to reward recent buyers with new features, but primarily to provide recent buyers with some security support. Since security fixes are tied to full iOS releases, the 3GS gets iOS 6 albeit with feature limitations. I doubt Apple will continue selling the 3GS once the iPhone 5 is released and 1 year of security support for the last buyers is sufficient given the poor example the competition is setting so I don't see 3GS support continuing with iOS 7.

 

[Audigy]

what about the newer then 3GS iPad 1?

Why there is no support?

My theory is this. To compete with lower cost Androids both in phones and pads, Apple is keeping the support on the last generation before the resolution bump.

It will be expected to see the iPad 2 and 3GS still in production, they represent lower production costs since the LCD panels they use(which in pair with the flash memory are the most costly components) are old tech, which is cheaper.

That way Apple keeps the profits high while having a cheaper model to compete with low end models from other makers. At the same time the lower price makes it accessible to a broader audience with less money to spend.

 

[Galatian]

Two year old 1st release hardware made you reconsider getting a vastly improved model. Something tells me that Apple won't mind that you made this choice. You come off as one of those folks that thinks your needs, wants and opinions should dictate all and if it isn't good enough for YOU then it's utter crap.

However many of us are doing quite a bit of work on iPads, as much if not more than we do on a scaled down computer like an Air. No issues for us. So perhaps instead of listening to your expert opinion, folks will try it for themselves. After all you get two weeks to return it if you bought it from Apple and as much if not longer at many 3rd party shops

No I'm seriously just trying to give some good advice to people. A clock app and a calculator app should have been standard. Thought it would come with the merger to iOS 4 but it never happened. Tethering should have been standard as well. There are no hardware restrictions whatsoever. Name one example of software that runs better on an iPad and allows you to be more creative then on a MacBook Air!

You want a few example of what doesn't work on a 1st Gen iPad: Viewing big pdf's for one. In university we get all the lectures uploaded as pdf's and some simply keep crashing the iPad because they are too big for it. Same goes for books. Most of my medicine books are over 1000 pages long with loads of pictures. Seemed like a good idea to reduce the weight by going the iPad route? Think again...if they do load don't try to use the search function. Pages? Still no easy way of syncing the files easily between devices...(thought that is supposed to come with iOS 6 I guess). Need I go on?

All of those things I can easily do on my MacBook Air which costs just a little more the an iPad 64 GB with 3G.

How is an MacBook Air scaled down? Last time I checked my new MacBook Air i5 ULV runs circles around my old MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo and that's just two generations in between! I get excellent battery life, almost instant-on (12s from pushing the on button to login screen), two of the things people praise the iPad for. Not to mention the fact that Apple charges you 200€ for the upgrade from 16GB to 64GB on much slower flash then what you get inside a real computer.

Point is: Apple knew very well what they were getting themselves into when they made the 256 MB A4 for the iPad and they MUST have planned on releasing the 512 MB version for the iPhone 4 only, which in retrospect really seems like a punch in the face. Apple tried to cheap on me and many other customers and now they are even dropping us further.

 

[jthompson666]

:Besides, Apple isn't exactly the best at supporting older devices. They discontinued the iPod Touch 2nd gen and then gave it its last supported update a day later. Completely horrible way to treat customers.

That's because iOS 4.3 and above require an arm v9 compatible processor and 1st and 2nd iDevices are only equipped with an arm v8 processor so it's not quite so horrible?

 

[larrylaffer]

I still don't understand why turn by turn won't be supported on the iPhone 4.

Because Apple's strategy is to get you to upgrade every other model. Since the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 are almost sure to come out at the same time, you'll be expected to upgrade from 4 to 5. If you're in the US, that's not such a big deal since you'll be eligible for a subsidized upgrade from your carrier. If you're not in a country with subsidized (locked) phones, then you really should be tired of Apple's BS software-crippling by now.

 

[Reason077]

No I'm seriously just trying to give some good advice to people. A clock app and a calculator app should have been standard. Thought it would come with the merger to iOS 4 but it never happened.

Good news! With iOS 6, the iPad finally gets "Clock".

Name one example of software that runs better on an iPad and allows you to be more creative then on a MacBook Air!

"Draw Something".

 

[iSee]

Name one example of software that runs better on an iPad and allows you to be more creative then on a MacBook Air!

Paper.

It seems like an Air is much better for you than an iPad 1: Great. Use the Air and sell the iPad. I just don't see why that makes you want to steer people away from the iPad "3".

 

[3282868]

Because one is being sold still today. Please read rest of the thread.

I have, thanks.

Why does it matter that the 1st iPad isn't being sold by Apple (it's still for sale through other vendors)? It's still being used my many, and is hardly unable to utilize the features in iOS 6. It was released in March, 2010 and discontinued in March 2011 w/ the second gen. Sure, it has an A4, but that doesn't negate it from iOS 6, even the 3GS is getting iOS 6 love.

The iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4, and the iPad 1 all have exactly the same CPU and graphics core.

CPU: ARM Cortex-A8
Graphics: PowerVR SGX 535

The only difference is that, in the iPhone 4 and iPad, Apple combined everything onto a single SoC, clocked it slightly higher (800mhz in the iPhone 4, 1Ghz in the iPad 1) and called it the A4.

Interesting. Yet those stating the 1st gen iPad runs iOS 5 terribly and by-proxy the iPad 1 won't run iOS 6 well seems illogical, especially as my iPad runs iOS 5 without a hitch. I own an iPad 2 and 3 (regretfully as the "retina" display has 1st production quirks), so I'm not complaining about spending the cash on new models, I simply find the "logic" in Apple's hardware/model support severely lacking (and let's not get into OS X 10.8 EFI64 bit support).

 

[Galatian]

Paper.

It seems like an Air is much better for you than an iPad 1: Great. Use the Air and sell the iPad. I just don't see why that makes you want to steer people away from the iPad "3".

It's not that I'm trying to steer people away it's just that I want people to realize what the iPad does and especially - by Apple politic - does not do!

Good news! With iOS 6, the iPad finally gets "Clock".

Great for iPad 2 and new iPad owners...comes 2 1/2 years to late...What about calculator? Tethering just on the new one? Fragmentation?

"Draw Something".

Are you really suggesting that a capacity touch screen hold a candle to a real touchpad for artistic use?

 

[BC2009]

Ram does not affect processor performance/ app loading.

The processor "A4" is a cortex A8 processor, same as the 3GS

The GPU is a PoweVR SGX 535, same as 3GS

Its the same as the 3GS.

The iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4, and the iPad 1 all have exactly the same CPU and graphics core.

CPU: ARM Cortex-A8
Graphics: PowerVR SGX 535

The only difference is that, in the iPhone 4 and iPad, Apple combined everything onto a single SoC, clocked it slightly higher (800mhz in the iPhone 4, 1Ghz in the iPad 1) and called it the A4.

Wow. I stand corrected. I knew they were all single core Cortex A8 processors, but I thought it was a new generation of Cortex A8 (kinda like how Intel keeps releasing new Core i7 processors, but each generation is faster than the previous). I also had no idea that the graphics core was the same since games run MUCH smoother on an iPhone 4 even at double the resolution.

I also heard the iPhone 4 used much less power than the 3GS per cycle -- which could be as simple as the die size for the processor being smaller (kinda like the new iPad 2 units using less power than the original iPad 2 units simply because they are using a smaller die size for the same processor).

Given the performance improvements in the iPhone 4, I am literally shocked it is the same basic technology at a smaller die size and slightly higher clock speed with integration of graphics and CPU into a single SoC.

I stand corrected.

One more thing... I think RAM can affect performance if the app was previously backgrounded and reloaded, but since iOS does not have virtual memory, I see your point. App loading is not affected -- only app "reloading" if the app is still in RAM.

 

[rmwebs]

That's because iOS 4.3 and above require an arm v9 compatible processor and 1st and 2nd iDevices are only equipped with an arm v8 processor so it's not quite so horrible?

The technical requirements aren't what my post was about. My post was about the fact that Apple have no issue selling a customer a product knowing it'll be EOL with no updates the following day...thats very poor customer service.

Apple really dont have a handle on iOS yet. The fact that they seem to be artificially slowing the OS down on older devices too is very evident. One such example is the iPad 1st gen running iOS5. It's noticeably slow despite the OS getting nowhere near 100% cpu, gpu or ram usage.

 

[unlimitedx]

I mosty keep my iPad 1 in the living room for quick web browsing. While the iPad 1 wont have ios 6, I think it is better since my iPad 1 is already so slow on ios 5 . Had I known how slow my iPad 1 would become (and apps crash regularly) I would have kept the iPad on iOS 4

 

[commander.data]

Wow. I stand corrected. I knew they were all single core Cortex A8 processors, but I thought it was a new generation of Cortex A8 (kinda like how Intel keeps releasing new Core i7 processors, but each generation is faster than the previous). I also had no idea that the graphics core was the same since games run MUCH smoother on an iPhone 4 even at double the resolution.

Besides clock speed, the Cortex A8 in the iPhone 4 has double the L2 cache and double the memory bandwidth which helps. The large increase in memory bandwidth also helps the SGX535 stretch its legs. The SGX535 doesn't have enough ALU power to efficiently run many pixel shaders at Retina resolution, but games running on 3rd and 4th generation devices aren't usually as shader heavy as games running on A5 class 5th gen devices. Instead they rely more on multitexturing where the extra memory bandwidth benefits the 4th gen devices even though they use the same GPU as 3rd gen devices.

 

[AppleGuesser]

Wow...don't know where to begin here.

Data is data, so listening to music from the internet is going to use data, irregardless of what service you use.

Amazon's service doesn't upgrade your crappy old 128K MP3's to a better quality, better codec equivalent.

You are comparing Apples and Oranges.

I appreciate your opinion, but to be honest, I totally disagree. Data isn't just data, you use more or less depending on the application. From experience, iTunes Match on average uses more data than Amazon Cloud Player. And who cares of iTunes match takes songs and takes "crappy old 128k MP3s" and upgrades it. Most times iTunes match took years to load and hardly ever loaded album art work. iTunes match also DOESNT stream, it only downloads songs, kinda defeats the purpose of iTunes in the cloud.

 

[goosnarrggh]

iOS 6 compatible with iPhone 3Gs.
iCloud incompatible with Snow Leopard.

Nothing to say.

iPhone 3GS is still being sold as a "new" device. They cannot have it shipping out of the box with a non-upgradeable OS that is already officially "unsupported".

All equipment that would have shipped with either Leopard or Snow Leopard out of the box is (with the possible requirement of installing an additional RAM module) guaranteed to be upgradeable to at least Lion, which is capable of supporting iCloud.

 

[iMacFarlane]

Now, if only the iOS devs who argued to shoehorn this stuff into the 3GS would go have lunch with the OS X devs and tell them all how important it is for us to get Rosetta back . . .

 

[3282868]

Besides clock speed, the Cortex A8 in the iPhone 4 has double the L2 cache and double the memory bandwidth which helps. The large increase in memory bandwidth also helps the SGX535 stretch its legs. The SGX535 doesn't have enough ALU power to efficiently run many pixel shaders at Retina resolution, but games running on 3rd and 4th generation devices aren't usually as shader heavy as games running on A5 class 5th gen devices. Instead they rely more on multitexturing where the extra memory bandwidth benefits the 4th gen devices even though they use the same GPU as 3rd gen devices.

Wow, thank you sir for the information.

Having grown up on Windows "boxes", self taught in building x86-64 architecture, PPC systems and now Intel based "everything", it's amazing how the game has changed with the advent of more ARM based devices. I also didn't know how far back ARM technology dates.

The game has changed, and playing "catch up" with how quickly tech advances is becoming even more arduous.

----------

Now, if only the iOS devs who argued to shoehorn this stuff into the 3GS would go have lunch with the OS X devs and tell them all how important it is for us to get Rosetta back . . .

From your lips to Apple engineers' ears. (that and EFI64 for fully 64-bit capable Mac Pro's, that's a major FU on Apple's part)

 

[commander.data]

Besides, Apple isn't exactly the best at supporting older devices. They discontinued the iPod Touch 2nd gen and then gave it its last supported update a day later. Completely horrible way to treat customers.

I think you're exaggerating the facts to make your point. The final 2nd gen iPod Touch model was the 8GB version and it was discontinued in September 2010 at the same time the 4th gen iPod Touch launched. The 2nd gen iPod Touch received iOS 4.1 at that time. The 2nd gen iPod Touch then received iOS 4.2.1 in November 2010, which was its final OS update. Yes, it wasn't the best support for last minute buyers, but it wasn't a next day drop, it was 2 months later.