Steve Jobs on Lack of Custom Wallpapers in iOS 4 for iPhone 3G

[ikir]

Technical limitations? Put down the kool aid. We've had custom wallpaper on our JB phones for years now without any performance hit to speak of. Get a clue.

LOL get a clue youself. As many have written here many times it is different. Cydia implementation si simple images, Apple's one isn't so it is slower on these devices. We know how apple works you can love it or hate it: if a thing is not running good and speedy, they usually don't implement it. Check a video on 3GS or a video with an app from iphone 3G... GIGANTIC difference. This is why Apple doesn't implemented video in 3G. Same thing here... but especialy i can't understand why some ppl are nuts about backgroung lol.

 

[Drag'nGT]

How about "Steve Jobs on where the damn white iPhone is." thread? We could give a crap about custom wallpapers on the 3G. 3G owners should be able to upgrade to the iPhone 4 so it won't matter after Thursday anyway!

 

[dmelgar]

Apple trying to encourage upgrades

Ok, in retrospect, seems that it may slow it down. The iPhone 3G is much less capable than the 3GS. Still I'm surprised that almost nothing from iOS4 survived into the 3G.

 

[dannytip]

For anyone who has jailbroken their phone (4.0) for JUST wallpapers (I turned off multi-tasking) he's 100% right.

Go ahead and try it. Your phone is much, much slower with a wallpaper enabled.

Everyone bitches about how "slow their 3g is" yet they want something that will make it slower.

Of course, they could have found a way to make it more efficient if they really wanted to...

I stand by this reply. It's the same on mine. The animation does lag slightly. I'm not sure why it should though.

 

[Gidiyup]

Who cares.. really?

 

[sonicwind]

I respect how Steve and Apple pay attention to such things.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Yeah, I think that's why iBooks runs slow on an iPhone 3G aswell. New CoreText APIs were brought in iOS4. It seems the older hardware struggles with that.

Makes sense. I would have expected this to have a lesser impact on performance, but I can see how it still might be limiting. Apple does have, by far, the most advanced text rendering capabilities to ship by default in an OS.

And it is probably worth explaining why this is so complicated (for those who aren't familiar). When a layer of transparency is involved has to do much more than reference a color and display it. It needs to calculate the presentation of that pixel as it relates to the semi-transparent layer and the background. Multiple layers of transparency make this even more complicated. This is probably where iBooks stops (assuming there's no movement against a static background) but that can be enough for slower processors to create a sense of slowdown (which is probably real). Now, factor in animation or movement, especially constant or fast animation, such as what you have when dealing with those jiggling icons, each with drop shadows, names and text effects, and anti-aliasing all about, and those pixel calculations have to be performed over and over again. This can actually be a burden on slower processors without suitable graphics capabilities*, and I can definitely see how this might have pushed older iDevices to the point of jittery or slowed interaction.

Edit (again): It's also the reason why it is dumb to use an animated background on a phone—at least if you give half a crap about its performance and how long its battery is going to last.

I'm disappointed that Steve Jobs can no longer be believed. He's always been a good marketer, and would mince words to have a hidden meaning, but I've never heard him utter what sounded like an outright lie. Saying that the iPhone 3G can't do background wallpaper with icon scrolling seems untrue.

Instead of saying it 'seems' untrue, and launching into a rant off that basis, why don't you research it before vomiting up a knee-jerk reaction? I know that's probably a lot to ask—especially when learning before speaking is so uncommon these days—but it really does help when trying to present clear and accurate information.

 

[darrenbeige]

Who cares.. really?

Obviously, he does.

 

[pmz]

This thread is a good case study on people who post just to post, and have no clue what they're talking about.

As in, every single person who has posted anything along the lines of "bull", or "he's lying."

I had background wallpaper on my 3G for probably 80% of the time that i used it, and not once was the performance anywhere near the quality of stock, unjailbroken devices.

The 3G takes a massive performance hit with any sort of strain on memory or processor, and the result is slow choppy animation. Within minutes of jailbreaking a 3G, this becomes evident. Adding background wallpaper, and nothing else, has the same result.

It was a given that no advanced graphic or memory feats would be added to the iPhone 2G or 3G, given the measly 128 mb of RAM. It was enough to run 2.0....barely. 2 years later, things have to move forward, and be optimized for the current 256 mb and 512 mb standards.

 

[Surreal]

If Apple is so concerned with battery life (ie multitasking not included until now) then why are they using dropshadow effects that drain more battery no matter how little.

Because it would look bad without it

Seriously... My desktop on my laptop is a flat grey. Busy pictures make terrible backgrounds, but most people do not realize it. They want that picture of (insert nostalgia) so apple is doing what they can to make that picture of the crowd at Yankee stadium a viable background as well. Hence, drop shadows.

 

[nkawtg72]

damn you tell hell steve jobs!!!! why doesn't my Macintosh Performa 600 run Snow Leopard?!?!?!?! curse you and everyone at Cupertino

 

[paradox00]

Where? I just see Settings->Wallpaper. It shows previews for both screens, but looks like they're both set together. I hope you're right though.

It will ask you if you actually go through the process of changing the wallpaper.

 

[grahamnp]

Whether he's spouting marketing BS or not, I would have taken the wallpaper option over the new shadows and animations.

 

[nicroma]

I ordered a new iPhone 4 for my wife as well as myself, but I have to wonder why the 3G gets iOS 4 but the original iPhone didn't receive the upgrade. I was always told they had the same specs besides having a 3G radio and GPS. Having native folders would have been nice for the original model. Categories on a jailbroken phone doesn't even compare to how smooth the new folders feature is.

 

[kingtj]

re: Why care about performance?

Gee .... I dunno? Why does Apple bother to release update patches for OS X Tiger 10.4? Or even Leopard 10.5!? I mean, don't they want people to upgrade to new Intel-based Macs running Snow Leopard!?l

Why does he care about the performance of the 3G? Doesn't he want everyone to upgrade to the iPhone 4?

 

[PBUser167]

I would guess he is talking about all of the animations that occur with the folders feature. Just putting the normal icons over a custom image wouldn't cost too much, but the folder animations would likely be impacted.

 

[kingtj]

You were told wrong .....

Hmm... I originally posted a reply to you that the original iPhone only had 128MB of RAM, while others had double that ... But I see now that the 3G had 128MB of RAM too. It was apparently only the 3GS that bumped it up to 256MB. I see a few conflicting reports about the original and 3G iPhone processor speeds, but most spec-sheets seem to say they run identical ARM processors running at 411Mhz.

So actually, beats me! Only thing I can think is that some original iPhone models only had 4GB of storage, while 3G models started with a min. of 8GB. Maybe you really need at least 8GB storage for all the new stuff to run well, and Apple didn't want to bother differentiating between variations within an iPhone revision?

I ordered a new iPhone 4 for my wife as well as myself, but I have to wonder why the 3G gets iOS 4 but the original iPhone didn't receive the upgrade. I was always told they had the same specs besides having a 3G radio and GPS. Having native folders would have been nice for the original model. Categories on a jailbroken phone doesn't even compare to how smooth the new folders feature is.

 

[nicroma]

The original iPhone only had 128MB of RAM inside it, whereas the 3G had 256MB.

Hmm, I didn't know that. There are many people that think they have the same specs. Thanks.

EDIT: You are wrong, the 3G has 128MB.

So wouldn't the 3G be able to multitask since the 3GS has 256MB of RAM as well?

 

[Black Dynamite]

Am I the only 3g owner who has found iOS 4 much, much quicker than the last firmware. I was starting to get really frustrated with the the lag in the 3.x. It seems to be completely resolved. I did restore the phone from scratch so that may have helped as well. Perhaps you all should try the same.

Nope. I was growing very tired of 3.1.3. My 3G was annoyingly slow but since the upgrade yesterday it's gotten a little pep in its step. I'm still getting an iPhone 4 on Thursday but maybe now I won't feel so bad giving my 3G to my mom or sister.

 

[uberamd]

Hmm, I didn't know that. There are many people that think they have the same specs. Thanks.

So wouldn't the 3G be able to multitask since the 3GS has 256MB of RAM as well?

He was wrong. 3G and 2G are 128MB, 3GS is 256MB.

 

[Aadhil]

I got the 3g. It doesn't really bother me cause hopefully I should get an iPhone 4 tomorrow

 

[henchosbandito]

Seems there's quite a contrast.

People that cant have wallpapers are up in arms over the lack of support.
People who can have wallpapers are saying they aren't bothered by it.

If we can get all these people to swap phones, maybe this issue would cease to annoy people...

 

[nexsta]

It's true, I jailbreaked my 3g today with multitasking and wallpaper enabled and its slow as hell, I had the offical unbroken 4.0 before and it was a pleasure to use, I'm going to jailbreak it again, but without multitasking and wallpaper enabled.

 

[ouimetnick]

The original iPhone only had 128MB of RAM inside it, whereas the 3G had 256MB.

No! The Original iPhone, iPhone 3G, Original iPod touch, and 2nd generation iPod touch all had 128MB ram. They all had a 412MHz CPu except for the 2nd gen touch.
In short only the iPhone released in 2009 (iPhone 3GS) and iPod touch (3rd gen 32GB or 64GB comes with remote and
Mic and volume controls) have 256 MB ram iPad also has 256MB ram. The iPhone 3GS, 3rd gen touch and iPad have the same RAM, and graphics. The iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3rd gen all have the same Graphics, CPU and ram.

 

[squirrelist]

Four points:

1) Wallpaper is not a feature. It doesn't help you with any tasks, it does not make your iPhone more useful. It is eye candy.

2) When you bought your iPhone 3G it did not have wallpaper. It still does not have wallpaper. Apple did not take anything away from you. In fact, they gave you a great deal with this software upgrade.

3) We all know Apple's policy toward features is do it right or don't do it at all. If unlimited shoddily implemented customization features are more important to you than a smooth user experience, you should get an Android. I jailbroke my 3G before. The experience was like an Android: I could do almost anything I wanted with it; but the battery drained fast, the phone was slow, it took more maintenance and things got corrupted. It became less useful.

4) I sold my iPhone 3G for $275 on eBay. So I am getting an iPhone 4 for basically $0. The only people who are unable to upgrade are those who recently bought a 3G, likely because they were on a budget or the additional features weren't worth the price to them. Are these the same people complaining that Apple didn't give them a cosmetic upgrade for free? You got the bottom-of-the-line iPhone. You don't get top-of-the-line upgrades.