New Features in iOS 6 Receive Spotty Support from Older Devices

[powaking]

At first I was a little pissed but then again most of these key features will be enabled by the iPhone Dev Team (much like how multitasking and wallpaper was enabled for 3g). I can understand fly over and siri but turn by turn and facetime over 3g? heck I do that now with 3GUnrestrictor. Works like a charm.

 

[Zaqfalcon]

"New Features in iOS 6 Receive Spotty Support from Older Devices"

I thought this was a reference to the age and complexion of Apple Geniuses!

 

[hismikeness]

I keep checking this thread hoping for an update saying FaceTime over cellular for iPhone 4 will, indeed, be available.

Or at least an explanation from Apple about why these certain devices won't/can't get certain features.

 

[Soulweaponry]

Why are all iPhone 4 owners griping?

Most of you will be upgrading to the NEW iPhone when iOS 6 is released. Your upgrade eligibility will be valid.

SO...

i

So I ask again why iPhone 4 owners griping? Most of you will not want a 2 year old phone come iOS 6 release!

I agree. Slightly. But you gotta understand. Verizon is just now putting out the family share plans for people upgrading their phones. Meaning, you not only lose unlimited and move to tiered, but some people have their bills going up by as much as $50 a month. A month! So to tell millions of people "hey don't complain, you can upgrade and pay $300 plus an extra $50 a month PLUS lose unlimited data for your 4g iPhone", it doesn't sound too appealing.

In my last post i talked about how apple knows whats best and we don't code or know what works on older hardware, but simple things like 3g FaceTime on the iPhone 4...come on. Leaving that out is just a glaring omission

 

[Pontavignon]

IPod Touch and iOS 6

I am sure many would like to know what features the fourth (latest) generation iPod Touch devices will get. How about it MacRumors?

 

[Zaqfalcon]

What no iPad2 Siri or 3GFacetime?!

But I really need this bloatware!

 

[Stella]

It's probably as simple as the fact that most iPhone 4 users are eligible for their contract upgrades, so upgrade to iPhone 5 this fall and get all the features!

I'm not saying I totally agree, because you can get a new 2yr. contract on a $99 iPhone 4 right now, I guess.

In many countries you can get the iPhone 4 'free' on contract, also iPhone 4S 'free' on contract.

---------------

I'm expecting NFC in the iPhone 5.. it will go perfectly with the Passbook. Apple will open up payments.. and probably not taking 30% of each transaction cost.

 

[lilo777]

Why are all iPhone 4 owners griping?

Most of you will be upgrading to the NEW iPhone when iOS 6 is released. Your upgrade eligibility will be valid.

Who are you to question other's feelings? And you forget one important thing - iPhone 4 will still be sold in Apple stores at the time when iOS 6 is released. In this sense it is an absolutely new model. Besides, no everybody runs to Apple store the same day new iPhone model is released. In fact, most people don't. So your calculations about eligibility are simply incorrect. Besides, they do not give new iPhones for free even to those eligible.

 

[SeaFox]

Apple are really starting to piss me off with the blocking for no reason kinda thing, turn by turn not on iphone 4 I can't understand for starters...

That's actually the only one that does make sense. Those 3D maps look processor-intensive and the 4S has an entirely new processor generation over the 4.

3D rendering isn't necessary for turn-by-turn navigation. In fact, it would kinda be a hindrance to the service. I want to see the road and where I need to go, most likely in a top-down perspective. Havng your view of the path obstructed by buildings is a real-world problem maps are supposed to solve, not recreate.

Edit: Even if the iOS6 turn-by-turn is 3D mapping, it's not like Apple is so drained that they couldn't make a lesser, non-3D version for other devices. Heck, I bet the feature is already there as some people may prefer not to have 3D rendering in the feature anyway.

 

[lilo777]

I keep checking this thread hoping for an update saying FaceTime over cellular for iPhone 4 will, indeed, be available.

Or at least an explanation from Apple about why these certain devices won't/can't get certain features.

You know why. Apple is trying to teach you what it means to be an Apple fan. It means buying new models every year.

 

[bradywurtz]

soooo, i have an iPhone 4. i don't get any new features that aren't already available on third party apps, AND i lose google street view.

this actually sounds like ios6 is downgrading me

 

[AndyR]

Oh FFS!!!!!

Watching the keynote and one of the highlights was Facetime Over 3G and now they cripple it to not allow it on the iPhone 4! No reason for this except ****** greed! God dam it

 

[lilo777]

soooo, i have an iPhone 4. i don't get any new features that aren't already available on third party apps, AND i lose google street view.

this actually sounds like ios6 is downgrading me

On a bright side - iPhone 4S owners will get burnt this same way next year

 

[AndyR]

Why are all iPhone 4 owners griping?

Most of you will be upgrading to the NEW iPhone when iOS 6 is released. Your upgrade eligibility will be valid.

Not everyone is sucked into contracts... There is a thing called prepay you know.

 

[Rogifan]

All wall street cares about is how many iPhones Apple sells. If devices that are 2-3 years old get the same upgrades as the newest phone what does that do to sales?

 

[solarguy17]

iOS 6 will be FULLY COMPATIBLE with TWO iPhones (iPhone 4S and the New iPhone.) at the time iOS 6 is released!!

To be fair we all know there will be more features for the iPhone 5 that iOS will support that iPhone 4S won't. They've done this every year. Mostly its tied to hardware changes.

iPhone - initial release
iPhone 3G - gained 3g compatibility (hardware and software)
iPhone 3Gs - gained Compass (hardware and software)
iPhone 4 - gained FaceTime and Retine Display (hardware and software)
iPhone 4s - gained Siri and fake "4G" (hardware and software)
iPhone 5 - gained ??????

Since all big changes seem to be tied to hardware and software, the question is what hardware change will Apple make to the iPhone 5 that will include a software update that will not be backward compatible with any device?
Since the main rumor is taller by almost exactly 1 row of icons, my thought is that instead of a row of icons a 1 row tall widget could be placed on the screen. This won't work on iPhone 4S because extra open row isn't available.

Just my thought.

 

[dokujaryu]

This situation bothers me as well. I have an iPhone 4 that I updated to iOS 6 and when you go into Maps, the 3D button is there for a few seconds till it realizes its on a 4, and disappears. The MapQuest App has turn by turn, but Apple's implementation with the lock screen is slicker. The iPhone 4 is totally capable of running Siri. I don't really care about FaceTime over 3G, since I never use FaceTime.

On the other hand, It's nice that the 3GS all the way to the iPhone 5 will run on the same iOS SDK. I'm sure there were a lot of 3G users pissed they couldn't have iOS 5. Many bemoaned not getting the Safari speed enhancements. This is a step in the right direction to keep as many people as possible running the same apps and keeping the core apps up to date.

To relate this to Android, I can't think of any real reason S-Voice can't run on pretty much any Android phone. Once they saw it running on the competing HTC One X, they locked it down to the Galaxy S III immediately. You think S-Voice is rolling out to the Galaxy SII with their ICS update? How about the Note? The alternative is to see your work, like the Sony Bravia engine and (ugh) "Beats" audio hosted on some forum to download and sideload into a device that isn't netting you a dime.

I think Apple and everyone else for that matter is running out of ideas for Smartphone hardware features, so software is the new differentiation. Or at least, it is becoming a bigger purchasing decision maker than hardware.

 

[iRobby]

On a bright side - iPhone 4S owners will get burnt this same way next year

NO I WON'T! Because when iOS 7 is released in Fall 2017 I'm due for an upgrade so I'll get all the features. However, whatever new features that are exclusive to the New iPhone this Fall such as Siri last year was exclusive to IPhone 4S I'll get screwed then.

 

[tigress666]

I'm not a Jobs fanboy, I know he was looking to make money; however, I think he realized that making the best product is what counted most. I have yet to see the decision by Tim Cook where I can say design was paramount.

Really? You are going to go there.

Well, let me first say, yes, you are a Jobs fanboy blinded by the Jobs distortion field.

Cause after all, Apple never has done this before. They haven't set precedent for this long ago.... I mean it's not like they stopped supporting features on the 3G when they introduced iOS 4. Hell, it's not like they didn't include a feature the 3G was capable of when they introduced the 3GS. After all that camera totally couldn't be used as a video camera as well. And you know, multi tasking was completely supported on the 3G. And Jobs wasn't alive back then when that happened. Oh, no, he wasn't healthy enough to introduce the iphone 4 himself. No, obviously Jobs would never let Apple do stuff like that. It has to be all Cook. It couldn't possibly be pretty par for the course for Apple and how Apple has been known to operate for quite a while.

It's not like we don't get this controversy every time a new device or OS comes out.

Nope, it must be all Cook's fault! Jobs would never do something this bad... it's not like Apple has totally done stuff like this when Jobs was in charge.

(I'm really getting sick of the ... I'll be nice and say people rather than what I think they are... who keep blaming everything on Cook, especially stuff that is totally par for the course for Apple and not anything different than what they've done before! It's not like I totally love Cook, I don't know him and I am reserving opinion on how well he runs Apple until he has a fair chance at running it first, I just feel sorry for the guy cause some of you wont' give him a break simply cause he's not Jobs!)

 

[Soulweaponry]

To relate this to Android, I can't think of any real reason S-Voice can't run on pretty much any Android phone. Once they saw it running on the competing HTC One X, they locked it down to the Galaxy S III immediately. You think S-Voice is rolling out to the Galaxy SII with their ICS update? How about the Note? The alternative is to see your work, like the Sony Bravia engine and (ugh) "Beats" audio hosted on some forum to download and sideload into a device that isn't netting you a dime.

I think Apple and everyone else for that matter is running out of ideas for Smartphone hardware features, so software is the new differentiation. Or at least, it is becoming a bigger purchasing decision maker than hardware.

I never thought of it like that before. And it seems like nobody really notices.

 

[jamesnajera]

Well according to www.apple.com.au, facetime over 3G will be available for poeple with the iPhone 4

The iPhone 4 and iPad 2 on the AU page is still showing support for FaceTime over 3G, if this holds then Apple is bending to request from Verizon, AT&T, and/or Sprint.

 

[840quadra]

I am sure many would like to know what features the fourth (latest) generation iPod Touch devices will get. How about it MacRumors?

The full feature limits are described at the footnotes of the following URL.

http://www.apple.com/ios/ios6/

 

[dokujaryu]

iOS 6 will be FULLY COMPATIBLE with TWO iPhones (iPhone 4S and the New iPhone.) at the time iOS 6 is released!!

I agree with the sentiment here which is basically a reminder that we are all complaining about something which won't be released for probably 4-5 months. (they could release iOS 6 sooner I guess) At which time a shiny new device will change the line-up mentioned in the original post.

However, I still think that the real reason Apple is taking this path is related to the smartphone market in 4-5 months. The iPhone 4 will be $0 on contract... and there's really no hardware reason I can think of that it shouldn't support all features of iOS 6 (maybe 3D maps). Where's the justification for the 4S? And if the 4 is free, can the 50% of iPhone users really justify the 5?

However, with the additional software features, the 4S is a sellable phone at only $99 more and the 5 is a slam dunk for most luxurious, premium device that people who buy such things were going to buy anyway.

 

[tigress666]

NO I WON'T! Because when iOS 7 is released in Fall 2017 I'm due for an upgrade so I'll get all the features. However, whatever new features that are exclusive to the New iPhone this Fall such as Siri last year was exclusive to IPhone 4S I'll get screwed then.

Exactly. I didn't get Siri when the 4s came out on my 4. I didn't go whining about it. I figured since I'm on a budget I just would deal with the fact I can't always afford the latest and greatest and my 4 would do me just fine. That's just what happens when you can't afford the latest device *shrug*. It was nice that I was still getting a lot of added functionality with the new OS so that it still felt like I was getting a new toy. Just not with every single bell and whistle. You want that, you gotta pay for it.

 

[hismikeness]

You know why. Apple is trying to teach you what it means to be an Apple fan. It means buying new models every year.

Sure, if I defaulted to the cynical view.

There are many reasons these features may not be included, I'd just like to hear it from apple. Could be hardware limitation, towers not ready for that many devices, increasingly short obsolescence, etc. Until I hear it directly, I won't suppose.

Edit: and it's probably corporate greed. Which sucks.