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What do you think about the way apple handles ios updates for older devices?

  • Apple is just trying to make money - a customer should do research before upgrading

    Votes: 113 13.6%
  • It's a little sneaky, but not a big deal

    Votes: 77 9.3%
  • It is plain wrong to offer an upgrade that will slow down a device

    Votes: 129 15.5%
  • Apple should allow users to select an ios that functions well on their device, even a downgrade

    Votes: 374 45.0%
  • other (or: this poll is horrible)

    Votes: 297 35.7%

  • Total voters
    831
In my opinion ios8 is not that slow on A5 devices, similar speeds as with 7.1

But... Safari is damn slow, one process for tab is a memory hog, which are the advantages of that? right now there are only disadvantages...
 
Just to address the last part, there are way more than a handful features in iOS 8, especially factoring in everything under the hood.

Well on the iPhone 4S there aren't many features that are actually activated - most big features in iOS 8 don't work on that model. So what's left for iPhone 4S users, that they're atually going to notice and use? A few maybe-useful, but-maybe-you'll-never-use-them features, and a you'll-definitely-notice-this-one overall slowness, jerkiness, lagginess, and instability of every single thing you do on your phone, even things that are exactly the same as in iOS 7 (such as scrolling, zooming in, swiping). It makes your phone feel like it's soooo old, like 2 years is so much time that your phone's chip has downgraded itself to a Commodore 64 (no actually it can't even run C64 games properly).

Overall, I think that there is no doubt about the balance here: The new features in iOS 8 for iPhone 4S users are NOT worth the general performance decrease. It's like saying "hey, I added new alloy wheels to your car and I got you a new stereo, but your engine is now half as powerful". A car should excel at being a car, everything else is secondary. An iPhone should excel at doing the basic things it's used for - browsing the internet, scrolling, zooming, making calls, writing things, etc... - and not the fancy things like 3rd party keyboards and ... can't think of anything else really. Sure, if there's extra processing power left over, let's do fun crap, but until then, let's get the basics moving smoothly.
 
I'm saying that my first hand experience with iOS 8.1 is not "running fine" for me. It takes quite a bit of arrogance to tell someone that they're not experiencing what they're experiencing.


Your first hand experience is your opinion, just like everyone else's.
 
Well on the iPhone 4S there aren't many features that are actually activated - most big features in iOS 8 don't work on that model. So what's left for iPhone 4S users, that they're atually going to notice and use? A few maybe-useful, but-maybe-you'll-never-use-them features, and a you'll-definitely-notice-this-one overall slowness, jerkiness, lagginess, and instability of every single thing you do on your phone, even things that are exactly the same as in iOS 7 (such as scrolling, zooming in, swiping). It makes your phone feel like it's soooo old, like 2 years is so much time that your phone's chip has downgraded itself to a Commodore 64 (no actually it can't even run C64 games properly).

Overall, I think that there is no doubt about the balance here: The new features in iOS 8 for iPhone 4S users are NOT worth the general performance decrease. It's like saying "hey, I added new alloy wheels to your car and I got you a new stereo, but your engine is now half as powerful". A car should excel at being a car, everything else is secondary. An iPhone should excel at doing the basic things it's used for - browsing the internet, scrolling, zooming, making calls, writing things, etc... - and not the fancy things like 3rd party keyboards and ... can't think of anything else really. Sure, if there's extra processing power left over, let's do fun crap, but until then, let's get the basics moving smoothly.

I definitely agree that on some older devices the upgrade is worse unfortunately. I was simply pointing out thst quite a bit changed in iOS 8 and a lot of it is under the hood that isn't plainly visible to most users (which applies to even 4S which might not have all the new user end fratures, although I would still say it has most of them, despite the fact that the overall experience has gotten worse for many with a device like that).
 
I definitely agree that on some older devices the upgrade is worse unfortunately. I was simply pointing out thst quite a bit changed in iOS 8 and a lot of it is under the hood that isn't plainly visible to most users (which applies to even 4S which might not have all the new user end fratures, although I would still say it has most of them, despite the fact that the overall experience has gotten worse for many with a device like that).

I like IOS 8.1.2 on my iPad 2. It runs the same if not better than 7.1.2 and am grateful for new features like handoff, imessage updates, more granular privacy settings and others.
 
I like IOS 8.1.2 on my iPad 2. It runs the same if not better than 7.1.2 and am grateful for new features like handoff, imessage updates, more granular privacy settings and others.

Safari does not run the same or better on your ipad2 with ios 8.1.2, not even close. Safaria is the biggest problem with ios8 right now
 
I love it that my old devices can run the latest operating system. I can get to enjoy a redesign on my iPhone 5 and it feels like buying a new phone
 
Well on the iPhone 4S there aren't many features that are actually activated - most big features in iOS 8 don't work on that model. So what's left for iPhone 4S users, that they're atually going to notice and use? A few maybe-useful, but-maybe-you'll-never-use-them features, and a you'll-definitely-notice-this-one overall slowness, jerkiness, lagginess, and instability of every single thing you do on your phone, even things that are exactly the same as in iOS 7 (such as scrolling, zooming in, swiping). It makes your phone feel like it's soooo old, like 2 years is so much time that your phone's chip has downgraded itself to a Commodore 64 (no actually it can't even run C64 games properly).

Overall, I think that there is no doubt about the balance here: The new features in iOS 8 for iPhone 4S users are NOT worth the general performance decrease. It's like saying "hey, I added new alloy wheels to your car and I got you a new stereo, but your engine is now half as powerful". A car should excel at being a car, everything else is secondary. An iPhone should excel at doing the basic things it's used for - browsing the internet, scrolling, zooming, making calls, writing things, etc... - and not the fancy things like 3rd party keyboards and ... can't think of anything else really. Sure, if there's extra processing power left over, let's do fun crap, but until then, let's get the basics moving smoothly.

The 4s does have most of the features though. iPhone 4 was a lot worse.
 
Although, I do agree with the fact that iOS 8 has slowed down older devices - it's the same that happens with computers; overtime they slow down as the hardware is quite old for newer software. I'm glad they even offer 3 software updates for older devices and offer users some what of a 'new' experience with their yearly iOS release.

They give us plenty of options to prevent installing newer updates ever since the launch of iOS 7. First, we can delete the iOS download from our device ever since 7.1. Second, we don't have to download so it's up to the user to resist the latest download as it will not install itself unless you hit that button. However, at some point in time the software will be too old and we will force us to upgrade or apps will not be supported anymore (for example: Apple Store App requires iOS 8 as do many of the other popular apps). Don't understand the logistics behind it but I believe it's better for the developers to develop for 1 iOS as opposed to several versions.

Lastly, I think Apple should spend more time before they release iOS updates to the public. iOS 8 was terrible on my Retina Mini and almost pissed me off to the point where I didn't want to use it. With iOS 8.1.2 it's become a LOT better; yes, there's choppiness here and there but then again so does the iPad Air 2. All in all, they should do more QA as recently they've ****ed up real hard and iOS 8 was a disaster of a release, but I can't wait until it's matured up to iOS 7.1.2 levels.
 
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Although, I do agree with the fact that iOS 8 has slowed down older devices - it's the same that happens with computers; overtime they slow down as the hardware is quite old for newer software. I'm glad they even offer 3 software updates for older devices and offer users some what of a 'new' experience with their yearly iOS release.

They give us plenty of options to prevent installing newer updates ever since the launch of iOS 7. First, we can delete the iOS download from our device ever since 7.1. Second, we don't have to download so it's up to the user to resist the latest download as it will not install itself unless you hit that button. However, at some point in time the software will be too old and we will force us to upgrade or apps will not be supported anymore (for example: Apple Store App requires iOS 8 as do many of the other popular apps). Don't understand the logistics behind it but I believe it's better for the developers to develop for 1 iOS as opposed to several versions.

Lastly, I think Apple should spend more time before they release iOS updates to the public. iOS 8 was terrible on my Retina Mini and almost pissed me off to the point where I didn't want to use it. With iOS 8.1.2 it's become a LOT better; yes, there's choppiness here and there but then again so does the iPad Air 2. All in all, they should do more QA as recently they've ****ed up real hard and iOS 8 was a disaster of a release, but I can't wait until it's matured up to iOS 7.1.2 levels.
Maybe a bigger software department could be a solution, with a team dedicated to develop the future iOS and another big team dedicated to refine the actual.
But I really don't know how they are structured and how many people are already employed.

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Well on the iPhone 4S there aren't many features that are actually activated - most big features in iOS 8 don't work on that model. So what's left for iPhone 4S users, that they're atually going to notice and use? A few maybe-useful, but-maybe-you'll-never-use-them features, and a you'll-definitely-notice-this-one overall slowness, jerkiness, lagginess, and instability of every single thing you do on your phone, even things that are exactly the same as in iOS 7 (such as scrolling, zooming in, swiping). It makes your phone feel like it's soooo old, like 2 years is so much time that your phone's chip has downgraded itself to a Commodore 64 (no actually it can't even run C64 games properly).

Overall, I think that there is no doubt about the balance here: The new features in iOS 8 for iPhone 4S users are NOT worth the general performance decrease. It's like saying "hey, I added new alloy wheels to your car and I got you a new stereo, but your engine is now half as powerful". A car should excel at being a car, everything else is secondary. An iPhone should excel at doing the basic things it's used for - browsing the internet, scrolling, zooming, making calls, writing things, etc... - and not the fancy things like 3rd party keyboards and ... can't think of anything else really. Sure, if there's extra processing power left over, let's do fun crap, but until then, let's get the basics moving smoothly.
I actually use iOS 8.1 on an iPhone 4S and frankly I can't see all those issues. Surely isn't snappy as my iPhone 6, but it was the same with iOS 7. And the iPhone 4S is still usable with iOS 8.1.2, and we are speaking about a product from 2011 ! My wife is using a Galaxy S3 from 2012 and it isn't any faster than the iPhone 4S under iOS 8.1
 
What are you having an issue with? What websites?

A lot of sites, the problem is with scrolling, for example, try to scroll fast down and up with elpais.com

The white blocks when scrolling did not happen with ios6/7 or at least I don't remember them...
 
IOS 6 and 7 could my even load some websites, such as nin.com.

I don't understand, are you saying that website does not load with ios6/7?

With ios8 loads, but again it takes time to redraw the page when scrolling. Those redraws did not happen with ios6/7
 
I don't understand, are you saying that website does not load with ios6/7?

With ios8 loads, but again it takes time to redraw the page when scrolling. Those redraws did not happen with ios6/7

That website is an example on how NOT to make a site.
 
Although, I do agree with the fact that iOS 8 has slowed down older devices - it's the same that happens with computers; overtime they slow down as the hardware is quite old for newer software.

Wrong. If you take Windows in to account, Vista ran like crap. But Windows 7 ran smoothly on same hardware and Windows 8.1 runs even better with most of the bloat removed.

Right now the main problem with iOS 8 is Safari. That abominable app must be nuked from this planet. It's devs must must hang their heads in shame for causing so much griev over the planet especially in the first world.
 
The fact is the manufacturer of the hardware is telling people that hardware made in 2011, is able to run the latest IOS, so why should people disbelieve this, the problem is when the IOS runs on this old hardware, like a pile poo, there is nothing they can do about it, as apple don't allow them to downgrade. This is the problem, I upgrade my iPhone and iPad every two years so don't have issues with this, but other family members have lighter usage requirements, one still has an iPad one and three iPad twos, two of them are now running like walking through treacle, these have been setup as new iPads, it makes no difference, the third we haven't dared update.
 
Sounds like you should buy an android. You may never get any update at all.


Or buy a better android device than the cheapest one on next time... My Note is updated from ICS to JB and got premium suite and then two years later im running Kitkat now. My OPO has got two updates in few months... And dont forget, google aps are updated through playstore, you dont need to wait a year for a big buggy surprise!
 
Or buy a better android device than the cheapest one on next time... My Note is updated from ICS to JB and got premium suite and then two years later im running Kitkat now. My OPO has got two updates in few months... And dont forget, google aps are updated through playstore, you dont need to wait a year for a big buggy surprise!


Oh good God. This defeats the whole point of Android OS. Not all Android devices have legal access to the Google Play store. The vicious circle continues. If you want a useful Android OS device you need to spend the money. Not an enticement for me to switch platforms.
 
The way Apple handles iOS upgrades is almost criminal.

Oh good God. This defeats the whole point of Android OS.


How come? Do you mean that google should allow everyone (e.g. hacked os with malware etc.) to use playstore??

And when you buy an android device, you dont buy a priviledge to get any os updates. Neither when you buy a windows, you dont get a priviledge to get a new os when it is released.. still many companies give you a free os updates.

If you buy a device which doesnt have a right to use google play store, it is your choice. Dont blame google.
 
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I could see the same arrogance by someone trying to tell me that my direct experience on more than 60 iPads used as professionals tools is meaningless.
I'd appreciate it if you can show me where I said or implied that you didn't have the positive experience that you claim you did. You claimed that your 60 iPads all ran great with iOS8... (the implication was that because all 60 ran fine, then it was a FACT that iOS8 runs fine on ALL iPad4's). I never attempted to disprove what you said about those 60. I respected it. That respect was not reciprocated.
 
So, Apple releases an update. An update your are under no obligation to install. And rather than do some basic research, you just close your eyes and jump in feet first. And now you're upset with Apple?

That is totally moronic, EVERY company offers an upgrade to make it better. No one should be expected to check if the upgrade will cripple their device. Microsoft got it right, every upgrade fixes a problem and makes the OS better. If you have some problem or conflict then you can list and undo the upgrade fix.

Are you new to apple? have you not had years of apple giving very good systems and (almost) every update fixing problems? Then IOS 6, 7 and 8 come along, or OSX 10.8, 10.9, 10.10 if you have a mac, and your system turns to mush.

Updates fix problems, it's NOT up to the user to decide how it will impact the device, if the manufacturer doesn't know of a negative impact, then how the hell do you expect the average consumer to know????
 
The way Apple handles iOS upgrades is almost criminal.

Or buy a better android device than the cheapest one on next time...


Here's your answer. You said it yourself. It's a slippery downward spiral, since there is always going to be the justification that one should have bought a better device whenever there is a complaint.
 
The way Apple handles iOS upgrades is almost criminal.

Here's your answer. You said it yourself. It's a slippery downward spiral, since there is always going to be the justification that one should have bought a better device whenever there is a complaint.


Not really. Like i said, you dont buy an option to get os updates. Google is the only one who has that 18months update policy for its own devices. Some companies like Oneplus has said that they support os for two years. So if you dont get an os update, surely you can complain, but for what reason? Anyway, when you buy a device which has access to playstore, gapps are updated via playstore without a need for a new os. You dont need an os update for that. It is only people who think that an os update is something they need.
 
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