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iOS 7.1 Improves Performance for iPhone 4 Users
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You have some valid statements I suppose, loading times ARE slower and it is maybe not best practice to automatically download a software update to a users device without allowing the option to be disabled. Microsoft and Sony - at least with their PCs are really not for the most part comparable with this situation. Microsoft primarily makes windows and at present has lesser focous on hardware. They make windows compatible with pretty much anything that will run it and let the user decide. If the user wants to upgrade they pay £££ for the priveledge - the user, not Microsoft has the control. However, if the user chooses not to update their software there is almost no consequence, especially with windows, it's only recently that some software vendors have ceased to support Windows XP - bi disadvantage to the user. I will infer Sony to be referring to Android here. In the case of Android, whenever updates become available (if they do) they are again, non essential. Because of the fragmentation that exists writhin the Android world, many apps still support android versions as far back as gingerbread. The updates that may be issued for an android phone are not really essential. Most android phones are rendered obsolete by their manufactures after 18 months - this is usually the maximum. After that though, apart from not having the latest version number in your about menu, there is no real consequence. iOS, and to some extent, Mac OS X, is a very very different story. With iOS, software updates are an essential part of owning an iOS device. Have a look on the App Store and see how many apps still support even iOS 5. iOS updates enable the user to continue using their phone as normal and have the best possible experience whilst still keeping up to date with the latest technologies. Shall we consider the iPhone 4. It launched in 2010 with iOS 4. One year later, it received iOS 5 which brought compatibility with iCloud amongst other things. Think how many apps use and rely upon the many associated services and resources provided by iCloud. These features in these apps are only possible because of the timely updates and the widespread support of hardware. Again, apple updated the iPhone 4 with iOS 6 bringing many more new features. Even after they had stopped selling the hardware in the majority of the world, apple continues to keep iPhone 4 current. As well as the many MANY new features an iPhone user can expect to be added to their device over its lifespan, these updates bring compatibility with new frameworks, services and technologies that developers can easily build into their apps. There is a reason iOS has a reputation for having better apps than android. See how well you can get asphalt or riptide (forgive me if these are not good examples - I am not an avid gamer) to run on a single core android phone with 512MB of RAM & an 800mhz clock speed. If Apple did not provide an update to iOS 7 for iPhone 4 users the sh*tstorm that would have ensued would have been huge! Instead, apple supported the device and allowed developers to leverage new technologies for their apps, and allowed users of this now legacy device to benefit from the advantages they bring. As well as this, for the most part, even if iPhone 4 does not support iOS 8 (most likely scenario), iPhone 4 users will still see a high degree of app compatibility for another year at least as is now the case with iPhone 3GS. Users who have 4 year old hardware, especially in the mobile world and the state it was in when iPhone 4 was released (rapidly rapidly improving processors very fast) should frankly not expect the cutting edge of performance from their devices. But instead of simply abandoning these users, apple determined that an update was feasible & allowed these phones an increase in their lifespan. For someone debating upgrading from 6.1.3 to 7.1+ on iPhone 4, it's a case of 5 more months of app compatibility (in general) or nearly 18 more. It's a no brainer. Also even following the initial 7.0 release, Apple has evidently devoted substantial efforts to improve users experience as much as possible on legacy hardware whilst still having a current, secure software version.
Think beyond what is immediately visible to you before you make such ill informed remarks!
I'm noticing a big performance improvement on an old iPhone 4 which was pretty much unusable with 7.0.x, I think the UI tweaks make the whole thing a lot less jarring and are a good start in polishing what was a pretty ragged first effort. Hopefully they have stability nailed now also because this was also a major weakness. Very happy with 7.1 so far though 
Mostly bells/whistles programming does that to apps. You'd be surprised how much resources GUI can take.
iOS7 really crippled iPhone 4, it worked awful. Which is a shame since its a decent phone. But compared to other manufacturers apple is a really nice guy when it comes to support of old devices.
Wouldn't make sense to update it to make it run faster now, after one year.
iphone 4 is 4 years old though. That IS old for a phone unfortunately.
on the other hand, you can still install mavericks 10.9.1 on *first gen unibody laptops*, which are almost 6 years old now.
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On the other hand, my mother still runs 6.1.3. Nobody is forcing anyone to upgrade. That was actually a common professional workflow; when you update hardware, you update software, until then, you run on the most stable setup. When 10.6 Snow Leopard was out many recording studios were still running 10.4.11 (on Intel computers.)
No, I have the animations set to normal.
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You can not move forward with the chains of yesterday holding you back.
Snappier to Crashier
Well, all I can say is, it's great that it is now a snappier OS. Since my 4S has crashed more than 10 times in the few hours since updating to iOS 7.1 at least it doesn't take nearly as long to reboot. Way to go, crApple. By the way, crappier is not spelled with "S" or "N".
Well, all I can say is, it's great that it is now a snappier OS. Since my 4S has crashed more than 10 times in the few hours since updating to iOS 7.1 at least it doesn't take nearly as long to reboot. Way to go, crApple. By the way, crappier is not spelled with "S" or "N".
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quite pathetic that a considerably slower (even though it improved somewhat with 7.1 as highlighted by this test) os forced on users.
the apple i grew up with made users want to upgrade because there was something better not because they were going to make it unbearable if you didnt.
perfectly good working phones like the first 2-3 gens of the iphone are nothing but a glorified feature phone if restored fresh today and not jailbroken. an older nokia gets better support
the apple i grew up with made users want to upgrade because there was something better not because they were going to make it unbearable if you didnt.
perfectly good working phones like the first 2-3 gens of the iphone are nothing but a glorified feature phone if restored fresh today and not jailbroken. an older nokia gets better support
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my mom has an iphone 4 and an ipad 3 and both are on 6.1.3. but its not plain sailing there as apple takes away all the free space it can for the ios7 download and "update".
its dreadful she cant really take photos on her iphone because ive filled it up with songs so apple wont steal her space.
Yeah, well, insecure… Want to take a bet how affected my iPhone was for example by the recent SSL bug? (Hint: it wasn't. The vulnerability was introduced with iOS 6.)Congratulations.
… If you want to be a luddite and stick with isecure iOS 5 and old versions of apps then carry on.
Probably took you longer to type that message than you'll ever save on iOS5.
So, what else did I lose by sticking to iOS 5?
My battery (the original, now four years old one) still lasts between 24 and 36 hours before I have to recharge (mainly checking for mails, web and some games, not too many phone calls).
I don't have exact numbers, but you can be sure that the apps on my iPhone start even faster than the times given for iOS 6 above. I don't need any iOS update to make my iPhone "snappy". It is already.
By sticking to iOS 5, exactly three (that's 3 in numbers) out of my ca. 40 apps became unusable. None of them were particularly important. And in one case the reasons had nothing to do with the version of iOS I use to be outdated.
None of major new functions in iOS 6 or 7 would work on my iPhone 4 anyway, since they require a 4s or above. Quite contrary: I would have lost functionality or would have had to replace it with third-party apps.
So, tell me again: why should I have updated? Contrary to what Barney Stinson claims: new is not always better.
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nice guy? with the automatic ota download of ios7, not releasing the ssl fix for iphone 4/4s users on ios6, the pathetic offering of apps for a freshly restored first few gen iphones.
fact of the matter is that a perfectly working phone like the original iphone couldnt even sync contacts through a computer with the latest itunes installed.
its only old because of how apple (and the industry). there is nothing old about it and it has plenty of life in it.
please inform me who behaves worse than apple in this regards?
lets see if apple moves towards the hostile ios behavior with mac os.
perhaps you are not aware of the automatic ota ios7 download but you dont call taking up to 3 gig of space forcing people to upgrade?
I'm glad you're not CEO of Apple.
Tons of people love iOS 7's look... It's just a matter of opinion.
that would be the reason for the half assed attempt in 7.1 to try and appease people who so were so overly in love with the look?
7.x was rushed.
7.1 is optimised.
Same applies to Windows 8
Hopefully in iOS 8 they make strides with efficiency, like they set out to do with Mavericks.
hmm.. y dun upgrade to 6.1.2 before the iOS 7? 6.1.2 seems to be a lot more stable @@
The look does not change, much. It's not like they went 'woahh' and gave you the iOS 6 UI back. It was tweaked, the major complaints addressed. Not a step backwards, or a step away from what they unveiled at WWDC, just a refinement of it.
no the essence of the look does not change but with all these extra settings (the buttons one seems like something i could have done in kid pix 20+ years ago) it shows they are responding to unhappy voices and its even more of a mess.
certainly not a refinement. they seem to have no idea where they are heading
I upgraded from the 4 to the 5s when it was released, and the unbearable experience that iOS 7 induced on the 4 was part of the reason. I've since kept the 4 as a WiFi streaming device (and it's since served it's role beautifully). As soon as I read "improved performance for iPhone 4" in the update notes, I made it a priority (even before my 5s).
Let me just say, WOW, what a difference! It's just much, much smoother in general. For those still using the 4, don't hesitate. This update is worth it.
Let me just say, WOW, what a difference! It's just much, much smoother in general. For those still using the 4, don't hesitate. This update is worth it.
It's not unbearable to stay with iOS 6. And there are many improvements to iOS 7, even for the iPhone 4. Good to see Apple at least improved things for people still on a phone from 2010.