Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 4s Users May Want to Avoid iOS 8 Due to Performance and Screen Size Issues
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why?
I don't know how jailbreak works, but in Android world you don't get malwares or unwanted bloatware installing custom firmware (I'm basing my opinion on CyanogenMod and OmniRom). After the initial flashing, you get even OTA updates.
The main advantage on custom flashing over official flashing is that you can control what parameters you want for your taste. That is, I can overclock my phone, I'll get better gaming performance, but I'll lose battery life. I can also downclock the phone to increase battery life. I'm not restricted to the manufacturer's policies.
That's true, I have a Nexus 5 that I don't use very much though. Flashing roms isn't something an average user would do though, we have to go out of our way to install the latest updates/custom rom rather than OTA made simple for all iOS devices.
The fragmentation of OS versions across all Android devices is ghastly.
Huh, slow? I'm running iOS 8 since the first beta and I haven't had such big problems, except for crashing apps in the first beta's. With the Golden Master it actually feels more stable than iOS 7!
So I would recommend iPhone 4S users to upgrade soon as they can.
Btw, I am going to buy an iPhone 6, but that doesn't have anything to do with the performance of iOS 8 on the 4S.
So I would recommend iPhone 4S users to upgrade soon as they can.
Btw, I am going to buy an iPhone 6, but that doesn't have anything to do with the performance of iOS 8 on the 4S.
Actually, in mail, the message is now recessed from the top when writing a new message. This is designed so that the message appears to be "floating" over the rest of the app, like it has on the iPad for years. But more importantly, this area is now a gesture that you can swipe down on to move your message to a holding tray at the bottom so that you can reference another email, and then quickly jump back into writing your message.
This is the other part I was going to mention. As you can see, even on a 4" device things are getting pretty cramped. Luckily it's fairly easy to swipe down on the predictive keyboard to minimize it.
Attachments
Oh how the 4s is moving ahead like a snail with it's preparing to update sign.
I sure think it's about time to upgrade to 6 or the Plus!
I sure think it's about time to upgrade to 6 or the Plus!
Ancient wisdom from the '90s
"New releases are bigger and better. Mostly bigger."
-- Rob Gingell, former Vice President and Sun Fellow, Sun Microsystems
"New releases are bigger and better. Mostly bigger."
-- Rob Gingell, former Vice President and Sun Fellow, Sun Microsystems
Performance screen size issues? Really? Funny, iOS 8 ran just fine on the iPhone 4S as recent as this morning with the iOS 8 GM, but suddenly there are issues?
MacRumors, you have the worst writers and keep posting stupid "articles" like this.
Your "journalists" should be disappointed in themselves.
What kind of stupid writing is this? The device came out 3 years ago. You make it sound like it is some new, crippled device made for stupid people.
More gems from this site:
Really? Adding more RAM hurts performance?
You apparently have no idea how RAM works.
What a disappointing site.
MacRumors, you have the worst writers and keep posting stupid "articles" like this.
Your "journalists" should be disappointed in themselves.
What kind of stupid writing is this? The device came out 3 years ago. You make it sound like it is some new, crippled device made for stupid people.
More gems from this site:
(https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1780176/)
Really? Adding more RAM hurts performance?
You apparently have no idea how RAM works.
What a disappointing site.
Huh, slow? I'm running iOS 8 since the first beta and I haven't had such big problems, except for crashing apps in the first beta's. With the Golden Master it actually feels more stable than iOS 7!
So I would recommend iPhone 4S users to upgrade soon as they can.
Btw, I am going to buy an iPhone 6, but that doesn't have anything to do with the performance of iOS 8 on the 4S.
Glad to read this. It's what I figured. I have played this game before with OSes being cautioned on older devices, and I have honestly never had a problem. I'll install iOS8 this evening and see how it goes. Not going to matter much to me come Friday, but it might to my wife.
----------
Question for which I should know the answer, but have never done this:
Can one try iOS 8 and then revert back easily if it's unusable?
I think Apple should offer the choice--and they do:
- You want features and improvements (including future app updates) over speed: upgrade!
- You want to stick with what you have: don't.
(Most Android users are given no such choice. Your device is often OS-obsolete in less than 2 years.)
But what Apple should do is NOT EVER deliver a major update automatically to really older devices, even if automatic is the users's setting. Don't nudge people one way or the other in the decision if there's a major speed problem.
(Not saying this one's a "major" problem--hard to judge--but some big OS jumps are.)
- You want features and improvements (including future app updates) over speed: upgrade!
- You want to stick with what you have: don't.
(Most Android users are given no such choice. Your device is often OS-obsolete in less than 2 years.)
But what Apple should do is NOT EVER deliver a major update automatically to really older devices, even if automatic is the users's setting. Don't nudge people one way or the other in the decision if there's a major speed problem.
(Not saying this one's a "major" problem--hard to judge--but some big OS jumps are.)
Maybe this helps too:Glad to read this. It's what I figured. I have played this game before with OSes being cautioned on older devices, and I have honestly never had a problem. I'll install iOS8 this evening and see how it goes. Not going to matter much to me come Friday, but it might to my wife.
----------
Question for which I should know the answer, but have never done this:
Can one try iOS 8 and then revert back easily if it's unusable?
iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 was just a wrong choice of Apple, but iOS 8 on the iPhone 4S just works phenomenally. In fact, I would never have thought it would be better. I mean, with the 5th beta it felt like Apple still had a hard task to make everything feel 100% smooth. But with the GM I was thrilled to have an even beter experience than with iOS 7(.1).
On your question: I'm not really sure about it, but in the past few years Apple never did users make return to any older version than the latest release for their device.
Last edited:
It's both - still usable, but you definitely see choppy-ness, especially when returning to the Home screen from an app.
I'm running iOS 8 on my fifth gen touch. Same processor and clock speed, same RAM, more pixels due to the 4" display. Performance is fine. It's not noticeably slower than iOS 7. I can't comment on any issues with the 3.5" display, but performance is not a problem at all.
That's okay... so long as Apple remains on the S/no S cycle, I plan on updating every other year from now on. My first iPhone was the 3GS, then I felt pissed at the 4 (but was locked on contract), got the 4S. 5 came out and I was pissed again. I learned my lesson that time and didn't update to the 5S. And here's the benefits:
Rather than only getting Touch ID (which, at the time, was pretty useless because there was no API for 3rd party apps), I'll be getting a much bigger screen and battery, plus better specs.
After the 6, I plan on getting whatever Apple releases in 2016 (unless it smells like the equivalent of an S - I expect Apple will be shifting marketing techniques to try and get consumers to buy the stopgap updates and stop labeling them so blatantly with the letter S.)
I used all the betas on my 4S and found performance fine. However there was a serious battery bug in beta 5 hence the downgrade to 7.1.2
Going to wait for 8.0.1 and then upgrade again.
Going to wait for 8.0.1 and then upgrade again.
I have an Android device, not an iPhone. Custom ROMs are always buggy, the process is a pain (especially if your device isn't officially supported by CM).
Like it or not, you are not a better engineer than those at LG or Samsung. Almost everybody that I know that messes with OC and DC always end up with bricks.
The other end up installing the stock rom again, to get rid of the endless bugs.
The thing is, most ordinary people (non-technies) would be perfectly happy to keep an iPhone for years, oblivious to the new features. Apple don't want to give those people that choice. They force the update which they know perfectly well hobbles the device so it suddenly runs like crap.
It works perfectly. My wife swears at her iPhone 4 every single day since she conceded to allow the update to 7. She blames the old phone and eyes the new ones with envy, not considering that it's Apple who made it run that slow, deliberately.