Not a surprise, but we won't know until they announce it. Like iOS4, maybe they will disable some of the bigger functions in 5.
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No iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS?
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There sure are some very specific rumors the past few days regarding the iPhone 5. Kinda odd considering it is still supposed to be 4 months away.
I may be the only 3GS owner who is 1) not surprised, and 2) not upset. Buying the last generation PowerPC iMac upset me, but not this.
I expect, in the rapidly changing world of smartphones, there to be hardware "obsolescence" soon than on my computers. Everyone clamoring for more speed, features, etc. I am happy with 4.xx on my 3GS. I expect that I will have poorer performance one a reworked 5.0 comes around. I will see if the hardware and software updates are enough for me to upgrade.
I wonder if those complaining the loudest are people who upgrade every year and already have an iPhone 4, and are the ones clamoring about the need for Apple to catch up with features on other smartphones/mobile OS's.
I expect, in the rapidly changing world of smartphones, there to be hardware "obsolescence" soon than on my computers. Everyone clamoring for more speed, features, etc. I am happy with 4.xx on my 3GS. I expect that I will have poorer performance one a reworked 5.0 comes around. I will see if the hardware and software updates are enough for me to upgrade.
I wonder if those complaining the loudest are people who upgrade every year and already have an iPhone 4, and are the ones clamoring about the need for Apple to catch up with features on other smartphones/mobile OS's.
Was 3G worth a jailbreak? It became slow and hardly usable with multi-tasking on. The battery life was reduced drastically.
Multi-tasking never worked out great on an iPhone 3G.
You do know handset manufacturers who use Android are just as bad right?
Not to mention not everything is a money making scheme. Technology becomes deprecated, even more quickly with mobile phones.
obviously you got a 3gs and cannot afford a new iPhone. That is too sad for you, but PLEASE stop trying to force a situation where a problem can arise to justify your whining!
consider yourself lucky Apple supported old hardware this far.
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the update will certainly provide much better notifications and likely a better ui that the 3gs will get bogged down by just like something as simple as wallpapers bogged down the 3g. they are trying to cram in as many features as possible with every major update and unfortunately this is causing more rapid obselesence of hardware.
the update will certainly provide much better notifications and likely a better ui that the 3gs will get bogged down by just like something as simple as wallpapers bogged down the 3g. they are trying to cram in as many features as possible with every major update and unfortunately this is causing more rapid obselesence of hardware.
OS vs APIs
It'd be a shame if 3GS users lost out completely on iOS 5.
You could break down iOS into two parts for the purpose of this discussion: the user-facing stuff like Springboard and Spotlight, and the libraries that allow devs to create apps.
I can understand that a massive revamp of Springboard (which I'm hoping for) might be too much for the 3GS, but surely the latest developer APIs are not too taxing upon it and, along with Safari security updates, are still worthy of release for the 3GS?
It'd be a shame if 3GS users lost out completely on iOS 5.
You could break down iOS into two parts for the purpose of this discussion: the user-facing stuff like Springboard and Spotlight, and the libraries that allow devs to create apps.
I can understand that a massive revamp of Springboard (which I'm hoping for) might be too much for the 3GS, but surely the latest developer APIs are not too taxing upon it and, along with Safari security updates, are still worthy of release for the 3GS?
No problem there. You ALWAYS, always, always have to be running the latest equipment. Doesn't mean the absolute latest iteration, but the most up-to-date hardware possible (i.e. if they release an iPhone 4s or something, iPhone 4 will still be fine...but if iPhone 5 comes out, IMMEDIATELY upgrade. NEVER ride old technology. Save up, make it happen.)
(just ignore my sig. lol)
(just ignore my sig. lol)
If true, I suspect this is more about the work involved in developers having to maintain 2 sets of graphics (retina and non-retina) to support different devices, rather than the hardware itself.
Things will certainly become a lot simpler for many developers once they don't need to worry about shipping low-res graphics for older devices any more.
Things will certainly become a lot simpler for many developers once they don't need to worry about shipping low-res graphics for older devices any more.
The "past" is merely 2 years away... I'll just remain on 4.what.ever when that happens. I'm quite content with my "WW1-era" 3GS. I have no reason to change it. It's a phone, not a defibrillator...
As a SW developer myself, I do understand that you have to cut off somewhere.
Samsung took almost 10 months to upgrade to android OS 2.2 on their Galaxy S phones here in US. 2.3 is out and that is to be released later.
A lot of android phones are still running OS 2.1 or even 2.0.
So, what is this about again?
Apple supported their 3GS for 2 years. What did you expect? 20 years?
A lot of android phones are still running OS 2.1 or even 2.0.
So, what is this about again?
Apple supported their 3GS for 2 years. What did you expect? 20 years?
I don't think this should be a surprise to anybody due to the new processor capabilities forcasted for the next iPhone (whatever they call it). Apple has never been one to restrain themselves from new technology and innovation because it would mean that older products with slower, less efficient technology would be left behind. That would be very restricting and curtail innovation IMO.
The great thing about Apple products is that even if they don't get the latest and greatest, they still work. My 3G iPhone is now being used by a friend of mine in the UK and she's thrilled with it. I use my five year old iPod in my car every day and my ancient MacBook G4 still gets used on a regular basis.
I personally love seeing what Apple will come up with next and even though I'm not buying the upcoming phone and may not get all of the functionality of the new OS, it will be exciting to find out what's next.
The great thing about Apple products is that even if they don't get the latest and greatest, they still work. My 3G iPhone is now being used by a friend of mine in the UK and she's thrilled with it. I use my five year old iPod in my car every day and my ancient MacBook G4 still gets used on a regular basis.
I personally love seeing what Apple will come up with next and even though I'm not buying the upcoming phone and may not get all of the functionality of the new OS, it will be exciting to find out what's next.
I jailbroke my 3G and added multi-tasking and home screen wallpapers, and with a wallpaper enabled the springboard was very choppy, but no more choppy than it is now on 4.1. The problem is the drop shadows behind icons and the app name text. I removed those by digging into the plist and it was the same performance wise as without them, but that's the point I'm making above that all the little 3GS'ers are getting their knickers in a twist about.
Apple have seen that iOS4 on the iPhone 3G is NOT an optimal iOS experience and perhaps are unwilling to repeat that error on the 3GS, which is a pretty big user base, far beyond that of the iPhone 3G.
Use an iPhone 3G on 4.1 next to an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 on any version of iOS4 and it's pretty bad in comparison. My Father in Law has a 3G, he's got 6 months left on his contract, and when he's using his iPhone 3G next to my iPhone 4, he can't believe the difference. Apple should have left the iPhone 3G on iOS3 because a) the performance suffered and b) it couldn't do all the features.
I just got a little carried away because the 3GS owners were insufferable on here towards 3G owners last year, and I commented at the time that come next year they'd be wearing that smirk on the other side of their faces unless they followed their own advice of, "Man up and upgrade".
But my iPhone 3G on 2.2.1 remains a nice piece of nostalgia.
Good news. Seems likely ios5 will be a substantial upgrade. Lets face it, that was to be expected. Little tweeks to the os wont be enough to keep people happy this time around. Should mean next iPad upgrade will be a decent one too
All previous comments aside, that's the price of speed-improvements for each new model. It will continue to run what it runs, but no more system updates.
Expect the same to happen to iPad when the iPad3 comes out.
Expect the same to happen to iPad when the iPad3 comes out.
As stated before, it's merely forced obsolescence. Apple has come to realize they've expanded past the loyal fanboys and have just as many if not more casual fans/users. Those non fanboys would hold onto their quality product as long as possible, and not participate in the annual or biennial product upgrade.
Now more people can join in the recycle of apple products for the latest & greatest, and those slow to join in can purchase older product or keep their older product with that caveat. It's an interesting marketing approach, and it seems to be working for Apple.
Now more people can join in the recycle of apple products for the latest & greatest, and those slow to join in can purchase older product or keep their older product with that caveat. It's an interesting marketing approach, and it seems to be working for Apple.
The A4 and the SoC in the 3GS are basically the same thing, give or take 200 mhz.
Identical hardware? Where did you get that? Let takes a closer look: The iPhone 4 is running with an 1 GHz (underclocked to 800 MHz) A4 processor and the 3GS is running with the 833 MHz (underclocked to 600 MHz) MHz, Cortex-A8 architecture. As we all know the iPhone 4 has the retinal display and the 3GS doesn't. Oh and don't forget the gyroscope which the 3GS is lacking. Yes the RAM has been doubled so that part does support your argument.
So based on the specs, the hardware is not the same.
Doesn't look like anything you develop will be impacted anyway.... If you were serious about iOS, you'd have a 4 in the testing stable already anyway.
Yes, but apple makes a point of advertising it isn't their problem while google openly acknowledges a problem and says they will try and fix it with 2.4.
People can't seem to grasp that. Everyone is like ZOMG A4 so much better than 3GS.
This is not surprising at all. By the time iOS 5 is released we will have a new iPhone and the iPhone 4 will drop down the product line to be the cheaper option as the 3GS is now. As a result Apple wont even be selling the 3GS later this year.
As the post above me states other manufacturers dont even bother supporting older phone models once new software releases become available. Apple has given full support to the 3GS for nearly 2 years now.
As the post above me states other manufacturers dont even bother supporting older phone models once new software releases become available. Apple has given full support to the 3GS for nearly 2 years now.
Apple's A4 is based on Cortex-A8... A few hundred MHz difference isn't the deal-breaker here. Retina display and gyroscope have nothing to do with 3GS' capability, it could still run iOS 5 with those features disabled unless Apple prohibited it. The minor difference in CPU and the extra RAM are the only differences that affect the performance.