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No iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS?

After how iOS 4 murdered the performance/battery of the iPhone 3G last year, I think anyone with a 3GS that's expecting iOS 5 to run well on it is pretty much crazy.

It didn't take more than a few days after iOS 4 came out before people were saying "Apple should have never released this upgrade for the iPhone 3G".
 
The 3GS is a Cortex A8, 256MB of RAM and SGX 535. If iOS 5 ends up on an iPad v1.0, it should run on a 3GS. The 3GS's is pushing 4x less pixels than an i4 with retina display, which makes quite a difference too. I've performed some micro-benchmarks previously, and the 3GS is no slouch.
 
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People need to also remember that none of this is even confirmed, so no need for everyone to get their pantie in a wad. Until Apple releases something stating it, no reason to believe it.
 
Sure the 3GS is old and it's to be expected..BUT, Apple is STILL selling it brand new at stores and AT&T so buying a phone today and not getting the update to 5.0 in July would be TERRIBLE.
 
I'd hazard a guess at it not going on 3GS not because of speed (since 3GS and 4 are very similar) but because of other factors, like maybe gyroscope or front facing camera or flash or something needed for iOS5 that only the iPhone 4 has at the moment.
 
aristobrat said:
After how iOS 4 murdered the performance/battery of the iPhone 3G last year, I think anyone with a 3GS that's expecting iOS 5 to run well on it is pretty much crazy.

It didn't take more than a few days after iOS 4 came out before people were saying "Apple should have never released this upgrade for the iPhone 3G".
Click to expand...

THen Apple shouldn't be selling the 3GS
 
Hattig said:
The problem is that Apple continued to sell the 3GS and still do! It may be 2 years old, so people who bought it 2 years ago have had a lot of updates and support, but there are people embarking on 2 year contracts with them even today (although why they would I don't know) so it would be nice for them to receive software and especially security updates for that timespan.

On the other hand I expect that there will be an iOS 4.4 that backports the suitable features from iOS5 for 3GS owners.

Apple should have replaced the 3GS with a cheaper version of the iPhone 4 at the beginning of this year. Plastic back instead of glass. Lower resolution display. Less RAM. 8GB flash.
Click to expand...

Who would buy a new 3GS from Apple? It's probably a tiny number.

The 3GS can still be a decent phone without any updates you get what you pay for with a three year old device.

I expect the big 3GS market is second hand models. In terms of hardware it was miles behind in camera and design. I hope the Iphone 5 is similar to the 4 but a little faster and better camera.
 
gadget123 said:
Who would buy a new 3GS from Apple? It's probably a tiny number.

The 3GS can still be a decent phone without any updates you get what you pay for with a three year old device.

I expect the big 3GS market is second hand models. In terms of hardware it was miles behind in camera and design. I hope the Iphone 5 is similar to the 4 but a little faster and better camera.
Click to expand...

Yeah and it's only $49, I wouldn't expect Apple to make leaps and bounds for something I only paid $49 for.
 
I like the mentions of "A4 processor" over and over.
A4 is the name given to the single CPU+GPU combo. Multiple chips on a single die, not a processor.

The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 have the same CPU and GPU. The iPhone 4's CPU is clocked a bit higher, though (but it also has to power double the video resolution).

The big advantage with the iPhone 4 comes from its extra RAM. I could see a new OS requiring more RAM than what the 3GS has.
However, the iPhone 3GS has the same amount of RAM as the 4th iPod Touch and the iPad. If Apple prevents iOS 5 on the 3GS because of RAM, wouldn't it have to block it on the 4th iPod Touch and iPad as well then?

The 3GS is too close to current hardware. Many people like to compare it to the old 3G because they visually look the same, even though the guts of the 3GS are more similar to the iPhone 4.

Also, all previous devices have received two iOS updates. They are still selling (a lot) of new 3GS phones now with iOS 4 on them. I wouldn't believe any "rumor" that the the 3GS will be *immediately* unsupported when iOS 5 arrives.
 
Looking at the original tweet that started all of this:

Just one comment. Apple iPhone 3Gs wont be upgradable to iOS 5.x. iPhone 4 will.
Click to expand...

, could it be that the "3Gs" in there was supposed to be plural, as in all of the iPhone 3G phones, and not the model 3GS? Seems like the tweet author would capitalize the "S" in 3GS if he was talking about the 3GS, and not the 3G.
 
Are the people who are buying the $49 iPhone 3GS even going to notice that they're not getting the upgrade?

Everyone i know with a second gen iPod touch without multitasking doesnt even realize that they're missing something. Lots of my friends are walking around with devices that CAN run the latest software but they always click no on the upgrade prompt because they're stupid.

People who know and care about the latest and greatest are probably aware that the iPhone 3GS is an old phone.
 
scarnie said:
The 3GS is a Cortex A8, 256MB of RAM and SGX 535. If iOS 5 ends up on an iPad v1.0, it should run on a 3GS. The 3GS's is pushing 4x less pixels than an i4 with retina display, which makes quite a difference too. I've performed some micro-benchmarks previously, and the 3GS is no slouch.
Click to expand...

NOT if iOS5 will be a major redesign that will require more screen realestate!
 
dwd3885 said:
THen Apple shouldn't be selling the 3GS
Click to expand...
Right, just like they shouldn't have been selling the iPhone 3G last summer before iOS 4 came out. :rolleyes:

Guess there's another price to pay to buy last years technology for 75% cheaper than it originally sold for.
 
hlfway2anywhere said:
Are the people who are buying the $49 iPhone 3GS even going to notice that they're not getting the upgrade?

Everyone i know with a second gen iPod touch without multitasking doesnt even realize that they're missing something. Lots of my friends are walking around with devices that CAN run the latest software but they always click no on the upgrade prompt because they're stupid.

People who know and care about the latest and greatest are probably aware that the iPhone 3GS is an old phone.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I said, most people who are buying those phones are "dumb" in a sense. I'm sure if I informed them about the situation, they probably still won't care. I know rich spoiled brat friends of mine who had their parents or whoever buy them an iPhone 4 and know nothing about it. I remember showing someone the multi-tasking bar and they were like "Wow!".

There are people out there who don't give a **** about this time guys.
 
If this story is real and iOS 5 is strictly optimized for iPhone 4, then the logical move would be like this:
Apple still sells 3GS, all previous models supported 3 generations of OS. If they want to be OK with its customers why not to simultaneously release iOS 4.5 for 3GS (with 3 or 4 new features, leaving some breakthrough features to iPhone 4 & 5) and iOS 5 for newer iPhones.
Everyone would be happy. iOS 4.5 can get one or two minor updates to 4.5.2 and then it will be left behind.
 
Hellhammer said:
The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous. At least 3G supported some versions of iOS 4, although it didn't get much of the new features and made it laggy as hell. Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months. Well, I guess it is Apple's way to make money.
Click to expand...

They did the same thing with the last gen iPod touch. They were actually still selling it when iOS 4 came out and crippled it. I had one arrive as part of the free/cheap iPod with a mac purchase and it was completely useless. It now serves as an overpriced alarm clock!

Apple really need to discontinue stuff at least 6 months before dropping support for it in terms of OS reliability and usability.
 
KnightWRX said:
They sold me the phone with a promise of receiving OS updates in the future, even going so far as to point it out as a competitive advantage over Android, telling me those guys don't receive updates after a while.

[snip...]

So, yes, they do owe me. What is it ? If they are no better than the Android folks, should I just go buy an Android phone then ? Is this what Apple is telling us ?
Click to expand...

I agree with your sentiment. If I had purchased the 3GS for $50 I would likely be less irritated (but still locked into the 2 year contract), but at the higher "normal" subsidized price I expect a bit more support.

If Apple considers old iPhones as throwaways then they ought to be priced the same as Android throwaways. I'm not paying $200+ for a phone Apple intends to consider irrelevant within 18 months.
 
Phil A. said:
I didn't say the 3G was being obsoleted/discontinued again, I said that the 3G won't receive iOS 5 which may seem obvious but has never actually been announced officially AFAIK
Click to expand...

No, but you said "Personally, I think the story's inaccurate and it's the 3G that won't get any iOS 5 love" which is what I was saying. I meant to word it in a way that said the 3G already was discontinued for more iOS updates, and it's the 3GS's turn this time.
 
Gilj said:
Well... It's my opportunity to sell my 3Gs and move to Android ^^"...
Click to expand...
So basically, what you are telling is that you did not use the "smart phone" features of the iPhone then? Wouldn't you be better off switching to a dumb "feature" phone then if apps don't mean anything to you? Switching to Android means that any apps that you bought for iOS would be a lost so I assume that you were no big on apps in the first place.

With a feature phone, you would have calling, texting and possibly facebook but on a much cheaper feature phone plan rather than a "smart phone" plan.
 
If this turns out to be true I'm not particularly surprised but still disappointed. Normally I wouldn't mind waiting to get the "latest and greatest", in this case IOS 5, but I'm a quadriplegic so the ever-increasing rumors of an Apple-Nuance partnership could mean a huge upgrade to the iPhone's speech-enabled capabilities. Such capabilities could make a huge difference for people like myself. Yet I got my 3GS just a few months ago before these rumors started heating up so I guess I'll be stuck with that until I'm eligible for a discounted upgrade which would be unfortunate.

Now I'm an Apple veteran so I understand how this game is played but I don't have to like it. I also understand that "the phone that changed everything" is still being actively marketed and sold for only $49 for a reason - as an inexpensive way to get on the iPhone train and into the IOS ecosystem (and for Apple and AT&T to make more money of coarse).

But the real problem I see with this (if it comes to pass) is how the people that aren't techies, read forums like this, etc.. are going to react when their brand new "phone that changed everything", that they purchased THIS year, and was being sold and actively marketed in the first half of THIS year, can't run Apple's new and "magical" (or however they're going to refer to it) IOS 5, which Apple will presumably start to heavily market, perhaps even with their "If you don't have an iPhone..." slogan. Except this time they'll have to add an asterisk to the end of that slogan for all those unknowing and bewildered 3GS owners who got swept up in the Apple-AT&T marketing blitz for the "phone that changed evverything" from this first half (and possibly longer) of THIS year.

I get it. I'm disappointed but I really do get it. But alot of people won't and understandably so. So poor form if true Apple. You could have handled this better.

-PN
 
Xenomorph said:
I like the mentions of "A4 processor" over and over.
A4 is the name given to the single CPU+GPU combo. Multiple chips on a single die, not a processor.

The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 have the same CPU and GPU. The iPhone 4's CPU is clocked a bit higher, though (but it also has to power double the video resolution).

The big advantage with the iPhone 4 comes from its extra RAM. I could see a new OS requiring more RAM than what the 3GS has.
However, the iPhone 3GS has the same amount of RAM as the 4th iPod Touch and the iPad. If Apple prevents iOS 5 on the 3GS because of RAM, wouldn't it have to block it on the 4th iPod Touch and iPad as well then?

The 3GS is too close to current hardware. Many people like to compare it to the old 3G because they visually look the same, even though the guts of the 3GS are more similar to the iPhone 4.

Also, all previous devices have received two iOS updates. They are still selling (a lot) of new 3GS phones now with iOS 4 on them. I wouldn't believe any "rumor" that the the 3GS will be *immediately* unsupported when iOS 5 arrives.
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts.

Looking at the hardware, iPhone 3GS is very similar to iPhone 4 and some one else stated this as well, if Apple blocks iPhone 3GS, then they'd have to block the iPad as well.

So, all in all, it looks like false info and as somebody explains: iPhone 3Gs can be a plural to iPhone 3G(3G's).

Lets see. I don't see Apple dropping support for 3GS but if they do, I'll be happy as I have lived it all along.

But for the people who are foolishly claiming that Apple is forced to update the phone because they are selling it, it just sounds ridiculous.

People knew what happened to the 3G support after 2 years 3 months of release. They dropped it. It was done. Buying a 2 year old phone for $100 less doesn't make much sense.

Let's see.
 
tbrinkma said:
So +33% or -25% processing speed (depending on whether you're looking from the 3Gs to the 4 or the 4 to the 3Gs)?
Click to expand...

and that means about 10% difference at most. I am to lazy to crunch the numbers but we are talking very small difference here and when you add in other factors that 10% shrinks even more.
 
My guess is we're going to see something like an iPhone 4s as an interim release with minor upgrades like a dual core chip as in the iPad 2. This makes sense from a production standpoint. If the iPhone 4 is slated to release to other US carriers prior to iPhone 5 it would again make sense. Why use two different processors to run essentially the same OS. Give it a bump and buy in larger quantities, that'll keep materials costs low.

I can't imagine Apple doing a major new release until 4G LTE capabilities are ready. Thereby making two variants of the iPhone 4 and keeping in line with user expectations.

iOS 5 will most certainly be optimized for a dual core processor with plenty of RAM. I've seen first-hand how many Android devices go straight to hell when OS upgrades come out and the hardware can't handle them. They become nearly unusable. I'm sure Apple wants to prevent that.

While I understand that someone with a 3Gs might be disappointed they can't take advantage of the new upgrades, that's just how technology works. If you want to get years of use out of a device, be it a computer, a phone or a tablet you have to buy based on needs for the future, not just what works today.

As for the average person who buys an iPhone 3Gs today not understanding that it isn't new--sorry, I'm not buying that. Every iPhone model is highly publicized, you'd have to live under a rock to not know which one is the old model. Beyond that, the iPhone 4 is what gets advertised and displayed. You've got to seek out the 3Gs, and the only reason to do that is because you're making a conscious decision to buy the old technology in order to save money. Not running new OS's is the risk you run. Every salesperson in the store you buy it in will tell you that.
 
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