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Don't hate me, but A5 to A8 not that big of jump?

Traverse

Traverse

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 11, 2013
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NOTE: This is not a thread complaining about the iPhone 6 like the ones I've seen. I love my iPhone 6 and am very happy, but had one observation.

I came from an iPhone 4S with the A5 chip. I never updated to iOS 8, but even on iOS 7 the phone still worked well. Yes, there was some UI lag here and there and some apps (Music) took a while to open and refresh, but still.

Maybe I built up the difference in my mind too much, but according to Apple the A8 has 5X the CPU and 6X the GPU power as the A5, but there was never a moment where I thought "wow, this phone is fast" like I did when I got upgraded from an iPod Touch 4G to the iPhone 4S.

The UI is definitely smoother and some apps like Music and Setting open instantly with little lag, but it still wasn't the jump I was anticipating. Most apps open in relative the same time. Anyone else feel this way? Economies of scale I suppose.

I suspect it's just me. :)

But I do love my iPhone 6 and the network speed is orders of magnitude better.
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Update: I have not attempted gaming on this phone which probably shows off the difference more. My experience is just general navigation and app usage.
 
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Someone saying something else besides glowing praise of the 6/6+?!

Simpsons_angry_mob.png


;)
 
Statistics are always going to be in prime conditions. You aren;t literally going to be doing things 5x faster on your 6 than you did on your 4S.

I thought the jump from 4S to 5S was significant enough. The fact that you are noticing differences in the UI alone is proof that there are significant improvements under the hood.
 
Heh, read the note. I love my iPhone 6 and it IS faster, but it wasn't as much of leap as I was expecting. Maybe I should of waited a month or two to post this. ;)
 
Traverse said:
NOTE: This is not a thread complaining about the iPhone 6 like the ones I've seen. I love my iPhone 6 and am very happy, but had one observation.

I came from an iPhone 4S with the A5 chip. I never updated to iOS 8, but even on iOS 7 the phone still worked well. Yes, there was some UI lag here and there and some apps (Music) took a while to open and refresh, but still.

Maybe I built up the difference in my mind too much, but according to Apple the A8 has 5X the CPU and 6X the GPU power as the A5, but there was never a moment where I thought "wow, this phone is fast" like I did when I got upgraded from an iPod Touch 4G to the iPhone 4S.

The UI is definitely smoother and some apps like Music and Setting open instantly with little lag, but it still wasn't the jump I was anticipating. Most apps open in relative the same time. Anyone else feel this way? Economies of scale I suppose.

I suspect it's just me. :)

But I do love my iPhone 6 and the network speed is orders of magnitude better.
-------

Update: I have note attempted gaming on this phone which probably shows off the difference more. My experience is just general navigation and app usage.
Click to expand...

There are precious little real world speed differences between the trio of i5/5S/i6. Some will disagree but I think it's a fair comment.
I have no experience of the 4S.
 
I can clearly feel the difference between my A5 iPad 2, A6X iPad 4 and A7 iPhone 5S. But then again, I'm very sensitive to even the smallest of lag (having used android before).

I think this is just an testament of how well optimized iOS is, even on older hardware. Try playing graphic intensive game though, and you'll feel how much better the new hardware is :D
 
sethlution said:
I can clearly feel the difference between my A5 iPad 2, A6X iPad 4 and A7 iPhone 5S. But then again, I'm very sensitive to even the smallest of lag (having used android before).

I think this is just an testament of how well optimized iOS is, even on older hardware. Try playing graphic intensive game though, and you'll feel how much better the new hardware is :D
Click to expand...

My iPad 3 (A5X) is unbearable. I will definitely notice the difference there.

The slowest apps on my 4S were Settings and Music which are instant now. And Notification Center had terrible scrolling which is now very smooth, but I guess the 4S didn't lag like the iPod Touch I had did or like my iPad does.
 
sethlution said:
I can clearly feel the difference between my A5 iPad 2, A6X iPad 4 and A7 iPhone 5S. But then again, I'm very sensitive to even the smallest of lag (having used android before).

I think this is just an testament of how well optimized iOS is, even on older hardware. Try playing graphic intensive game though, and you'll feel how much better the new hardware is :D
Click to expand...

I can definitely tell the difference between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6. It's a good bump in performance. Screen is much better too.
 
golfdude said:
I can definitely tell the difference between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6. It's a good bump in performance. Screen is much better too.
Click to expand...

Gaming maybe but you're imagining it if you think general tasks are noticeably faster.
 
Many electronics; ie. computers, tablets, smartphones, have advanced to the point where average users aren't going to notice increases in performance as much. People seldom use their devices to their fullest potential.
 
Traverse said:
I see you changed your text. ;)

I appreciate that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wrote it too quick before. If anything it was a joke to diffuse other people from being defensive/snarky, but you didn't say anything negative at all so I didn't want to give someone the wrong idea by using that word :eek:
 
austriak said:
I can actually tell a difference as well between my 5s and 6. It might not be a huge difference but the 6 is definitely speedier.
Click to expand...

Agree, the 5s was a solid phone, mine was running great. The 6 is a nice bump though, been running great. Only knock I have on it, and it's not really a knock, is battery life is about the same as 5s. Although I never really had battery issues with the 5s. It usually lasts me a 1-2 days, I typically recharge every night or if I am traveling I charge in the car.
 
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