New Features in iOS 6 Receive Spotty Support from Older Devices

[dannys1]

I don't believe that for a minute. You can drive around with the current map open and self updating and it works just fine on 3G. Map data is going to be way less bandwidth than video. Also if you are saying HSDPA+ would be needed for turn by turn navigation, it wouldn't work at all in most parts of the world.

What are you guys going on about. Turn by turn isn't on the iPhone 4 because its integrated with Siri. Siri wasn't on the iPhone 4 when it was relevant hardware when iOS5 was released never mind now!

You all seem to be overlooking that by the time you can actually install iOS5 the iPhone 5 will be out - at that point the iPhone 4 will be over 2 1/2 years old!!

 

[BillyBobBongo]

Map data is going to be way less bandwidth than video.

It does indeed! I drove for about an hour last night, zeroed my cellular data usage before heading out, and during that time my phone sent 431KB and received 1.5MB.

I should state that this is on an iPhone 4, so I don't get the voice over etc etc, but it shows how little data is required.

 

[steve-p]

I'm not saying it can't be done.
selfupdating the map is less demanding then turn by turn. because alle the commands and everything had to be loaded via 3G not only a simple map with a little blue dot moving.
Because when it doesn't work by the standards apple requires they just won't do it

So have Apple said turn by turn requires something better than 3G on supported devices? No.

 

[TimothyBe]

It does indeed! I drove for about an hour last night, zeroed my cellular data usage before heading out, and during that time my phone sent 431KB and received 1.5MB.

I should state that this is on an iPhone 4, so I don't get the voice over etc etc, but it shows how little data is required.

as I said maps doesn't use as much as turn by turn

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So have Apple said turn by turn requires something better than 3G on supported devices? No.

Did they say that with facetime? No.. so where is your point my friend?


And again I'm not saying both can be done, which I know they can.
I'm only saying that I understand the logic of Apple that if you do not add one of the two then you shoudn't add the other one

 

[Anki]

Sucks that I can't Facetime over 3G on my iPhone 4.

Thank god I have my new iPad (wifi version) where it'll work!

Oh. Wait.

 

[unlinked]

When people talk of Android and fragmentation this come to mind to me:

"Android Temple Run: 99.9% of support emails are complaining their device isn't supported. We currently support 707 devices."

That is about half the devices my apps support.

Anyway everything is a matter of perspective. The quote also means she gets almost no support questions about problems with those 707 devices.

 

[TimothyBe]

Sucks that I can't Facetime over 3G on my iPhone 4.

Thank god I have my new iPad (wifi version) where it'll work!

Oh. Wait.

totally agree with you!

 

[steve-p]

What are you guys going on about. Turn by turn isn't on the iPhone 4 because its integrated with Siri. Siri wasn't on the iPhone 4 when it was relevant hardware when iOS5 was released never mind now!

You all seem to be overlooking that by the time you can actually install iOS5 the iPhone 5 will be out - at that point the iPhone 4 will be over 2 1/2 years old!!

Integrated how exactly? Siri is about voice recognition, i.e. user input. It will be possible to set routes without using Siri, in the same way you can do most other things Siri can do on the iPhone without using Siri. On the output side, it is easily possible to render speech without using servers. Siri is likely to be an additional convenience for interfacing with the navigation, but hardly essential. Integration is one thing, but I doubt it's essential for basic operation of turn by turn navigation.

 

[unlinked]

I have been in software/hardware development for over 15 years. Let me tell you the answer:

NOTHING.

It's a pure marketing move to get you to upgrade your device. If anyone say HSPA+ it's not a valid excuse. 7Mbps is plenty on HSPA for Facetime to work.

Even if it wasn't I'm sure voice only is a better fallback than nothing.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

as I said maps doesn't use as much as turn by turn

What would be interesting is to see data figures from an iPhone 4s to compare how much data an hour trip requires with turn by turn running.

 

[576316]

This post is complete RUBBISH. You're basing it on the BETA release of an OS. I'm sure the features on final release will work on the devices they're meant to - have you forgotten that iOS 6 is in very very early beta?! Also, including Siri in that list is unfair as only two of the products are actually meant to have that.

You should re-do this test in October. I think you'll find the results to be very different.

One thing that needs stabalising is WiFi sync. It works once in a blue moon when the air conditions are right and the sun is in alignment with god.

 

[steve-p]

Did they say that with facetime? No.. so where is your point my friend?


And again I'm not saying both can be done, which I know they can.
I'm only saying that I understand the logic of Apple that if you do not add one of the two then you shoudn't add the other one

You actually said that Apple was justified in not adding turn by turn on the 4 because it needs HSDPA+ to meet Apple's standards: "Chances are it takes to long on some 3G connections, and Apple doesn't want to take chances that things aren't working well". That assertion is patently not true, and if it were, it would be pretty useless as a service. Not being able to rely 100% on being able to FaceTime with someone, when you can still call them instead, is not that big a deal. Not being able to rely on navigating unless you have HSDPA+ service at every point along the route would be another, and would be ridiculous. Consequently any assertion that 3G is not good enough for things to "work well" for navigation is absurd. That is my point, regardless of whether you are now backtracking and saying it is possible. Linking it with FaceTime which has nothing to do with anything makes no sense, except to you maybe.

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What would be interesting is to see data figures from an iPhone 4s to compare how much data an hour trip requires with turn by turn running.

To get the picture just for navigation you would probably want to turn off Traffic in Location Services because it sends regular position updates to Apple whenever you are moving. This is how the new traffic database is built. I may try it at the weekend but I'm not sure I'm going to install the beta on my 4S just yet.

 

[576316]

I will be truly disappointed in Apple if they become completely reliant on 4G connections. Some countries, including the UK, do not have 4G connections. We're not getting it until 2015!

 

[jdbr]

Obsolete, obsolete, obsolete

Apple are designing products that are becoming almost obsolete too fast. Products now seem to only have a two year life span before the operating systems make them obsolete.
Not a good customer policy. May be getting away with it now, but it will eventually turn people off!

 

[57004]

It does indeed! I drove for about an hour last night, zeroed my cellular data usage before heading out, and during that time my phone sent 431KB and received 1.5MB.

I should state that this is on an iPhone 4, so I don't get the voice over etc etc, but it shows how little data is required.

Oh so the turn by turn requires a constant data connection? I expected it to load up all the data and maps needed for the trip at the start.

That's good, now I don't have to feel bad not having it on the 4 As here in Ireland mobile coverage is very spotty in backwater areas anyway. I use Sygic at the moment, it has all maps on the phone so that is still better for me.

 

[thewitt]

Apple are designing products that are becoming almost obsolete too fast. Products now seem to only have a two year life span before the operating systems make them obsolete.
Not a good customer policy. May be getting away with it now, but it will eventually turn people off!

There are millions of people happily using the iPhone 3GS who old care less about iOS 6 and will never even know it exists.

People are fine.....

 

[Tanguyvd]

They better have some amazing NEW features for the next iPhone announcement...

probably something like:

The iPhone 5, with custom build iOS6.
(iPhone5 will not be compatible with iOS7)

 

[Marx55]

GPS? Really? True satellite GPS as a TomTom GPS, or is it just some kind of 3G cellular triangulation trick requiring both a data plan (money) and coverage? IT IS NOT THE SAME.

 

[steve-p]

GPS? Really? True satellite GPS as a TomTom GPS, or is it just some kind of 3G cellular triangulation trick requiring both a data plan (money) and coverage? IT IS NOT THE SAME.

What? Of course it's using actual GPS signals for location. It does require a data plan however which makes it impractical for international use. Hopefully they will add the ability for offline maps at some point.

 

[WeegieMac]

Well, the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 don't support 4G like networks.

The iPhone 4S in the UK is not 4G and it will run FaceTime over 3G, so it's nothing to do with LTE.

The iPhone 4, mine in fact, works fine with FaceTime over 3G using 3G Unrestrictor.

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

Yup, I just checked and you guys still have what the UK site originally said the day of the keynote. The following day, it was changed to iPhone 4S and iPad 2 only.

I took a screen capture, which matches your own site in Australia right now.

See number 4.

 

[Monoman67]

And this isn't fragmentation? How funny that Apple of all companies, who rips on Android for be fragmented, goes and fragments the whole OS. Again, people, Apple doesn't care about the consumer. What reason is there for not enabling Face time over 3G on the iPhone 4? Skype can do it fine, and so can jailbroken handsets. Apple doesn't care about you, they simply care about bilking more money out of everyone!

First off, I agree but never forget that Apple is a business and exists to make money.

Apple probably doesn't see these inconsistencies as fragmentation because they maintain ultimate control over which models get which features. They argue it as a quality control issue in the customer's best interest. This may be partly true.

In the Android (and maybe WinMo) segment the manufacturers have decided to offer a wide variety of hardware an software options to let the customers ultimately choose. Right now bigger and bigger screens are the rage.

Apple will move ahead slowly and learn from the mistakes of those that rush ahead. Given Apple's customer base and need to stay conservative on battery life we will likely see them jump to a 4" screen size this year or next. Hopefully this year.

 

[KnightWRX]

Gimme a break. They support old hardware a lot longer than their competitors, but eventually, it's a business. They want to sell you a new iPhone. AND, they don't want to spend man hours developing and debugging for a five year old device.

Look, I don't agree with pubwvj anymore than you do, frankly his comments are off base and show a great lack of understanding of how software and hardware interact and how lifecycles need to be managed to be kept manageable.

However, to say Apple support old hardware a lot longer than their competitors is equally insane. Apple basically has no LTS. Microsoft supports legacy technologies and hardware platforms a lot longer by keeping their driver architectures intact a lot longer, by offering extended support lifecycles on older OSes, etc..

HP is just amazing at it. They are still supporting, actively, 24/7, 10 year old hardware I have, running a 12 year old OS. I get updates, I get phone support, etc..

Now, Apple is a consumer company, whereas all the other players pretty much have a hand in enterprise. Is it a fair comparison ? No. Consumer tech moves forward faster than enterprise tech and LTS isn't required by consumers. After 5 years, devices either still work fine or get replaced when they stop working fine. There is no need for active support, nor for dragging along legacy support for things you've discontinued 7 years ago (like PPC support for instance).

But let's no pretend "Apple supports older hardware longer than their competitors", please. Let's keep it to the facts, understand the facts, and know why it is like it is. This isn't a blow against Apple, quite the contrary, it shows their great understanding of their market segment, the consumer market.

 

[robjulo]

That's not fragmentation. They're still running the latest OS even though it may not have all the same features as newer models, which means it's easy for developers to target iOS devices. On top of that, there's only a handful of hardware models and two different resolutions to deal with.

Not comparable to Android whatsoever which has many different versions, with the majority running 2.2 and 2.3, and hundreds of different devices with different resolutions, aspect ratios, processors, RAM, or GPUs.

It is fragmentation. The hypocrisy on this forum is mind numbing at times.

 

[macduke]

Something tells me that iPhone 3GS and 4 users will find comfort in a new Google Maps app (released by Google on the App Store) that will give them turn by turn directions. Google will see this as an opportunity. At least I think so. I remember them saying that turn by turn was coming to the iOS maps a couple years ago but they never did. Hrmmm.

I hope that lock screen turn by turn is an API so other developers can do the same thing. But I get the feeling it's not.

 

[Lunchbox700]

There are millions of people happily using the iPhone 3GS who old care less about iOS 6 and will never even know it exists.

People are fine.....

There are some using 4's not knowing ios5 exist. This is a battle @ my new job where using imessage is a big part of our communication. I haven't read all posts but I'm upset that my 3rd gen ipod is not getting 6 but the 3gs is.