iPhone 3G and iOS4 Lack Chemistry

adeelarshad82 writes "Granted that iPhone 3G is about 3 years old but some of us who still have it are tempted to update it to iOS 4 for the folders, threaded e-mail and iBooks even if it means jail-breaking the phone. Unfortunately though, as it turns out, it's really not worth the hassle. Not only does the update slow the phone, in some cases by a fraction of a second and in others much more, but it's a nightmare to downgrade back to iOS 3."

Comments

Kinda figures.

[segin]

Goes without saying that Apple will deliver a sub-par experience on older devices in order to "persuade" users to upgrade to newer devices, thus making Apples more money. Everyone does it.

Re:Kinda figures.

[x*yy*x]

I don't own an iPhone ("old" HTC Touch HD), but who really expects to get updates for their phones endlessly? It's always been the case that you buy a phone on the merits it has then. If it gets any major updates at all thats a huge bonus. It's the same with every phone manufacturer and has always been.

Re:Kinda figures.

[ceeam]

And what is the "par" then? First android phones (G1 anyone?) were released *after* 3G. Good luck installing 2.3 onto it, lol.

Re:Kinda figures.

[MistrBlank]

tis true... my xv6700 only enjoyed 4 years of updates due to the hacker community, but aside from one carrier update, didn't really add new features, ever.

iBooks didn't exist when I got my iPhone3 why should I expect it now?

What I do have a problem with however is that I do own an iPad (1 & 2) that syncs with my iTunes library and i use some Universal and iPhone apps on it that REQUIRE updates to function on iOS4. Those apps aren't guaranteed to run on iOS3. Apple provides no means to maintain multiple versions of the same App, nor does it allow you to roll back to older more functional versions of some apps. If I sync an iPad with an updated App, it copies that version to my iTunes and will force an update to my iPhone the next time it updates, my only option is to remove the app from my iPhone or use a copy that doesn't work. iOS3 is no longer supported and I've BARELY had the phone for more than 2 years at this point. That to me is unacceptable.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

That is not the issue. I myself got on the iPhone bandwagon last year through AT&T which they sold me the iPhone 3G. After adding my contacts and such all was well until one day iTunes notified me of a new update. After installing iOS4 my phone was completely unusable and unresponsive almost like putting Windows 7 on a Pentium MMX. In my eyes my phone was new to me and after noticing just how bad iOS 4 ran on it I wonder why Apple allowed this to happen? You know why, so I can run out and buy an iPhone 4, which I did....

Re:Kinda figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. Blackberry user here, 3 years and not a single update. And people are complaining about Apple backporting features to older devices?

Re:Kinda figures.

[h4rr4r]

My droid is running 2.3.3. CM7 FTW!

Re:Kinda figures.

[h4rr4r]

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/install-android-2-3-gingerbread-on-t-mobile-g1-htc-dream/

I know folks running 2.3.3 on G1s.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Samalie]

So you bought a phone released in 2008 during 2010, knowing full well that a refresh happened in 2009 and was coming soon in 2010? And as a result of that decision, you're pissed off because your (old) new shiny didn't keep up with all the latest releases?

Wow, 2 year old technology slower and less responsive running up-to-date OS...who'd have thought. You should inform your local media, I'm sure they'd love to run a story.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why maintain multiple versions of the same app when you can manage it through your code. (yes there is functionality that lets you do this)

Re:Kinda figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like how Ubuntu delivers a sub-par experience on Pentium Pro 166mhz processors?

Your phone is slow because your phone has a slow CPU..

Re:Kinda figures.

[ArhcAngel]

It's easier than you think

Re:Kinda figures.

[ceeam]

And people "run" iOS4. But do they run it or do they demo-crawl it?

Re:Kinda figures.

[murray_420]

I actually use Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) on my HTC Dream (G1). The rom I use is COS-DS for those who care.

Re:Kinda figures.

[georgesdev]

The iphone 3g has 128MB of ram only. It's just like a 512MB windows XP that you should not upgrade to windows 7!
I got an iphone 3G with iOs 2 on it, and upgraded it up to the latest 3.x.
Since it has 25% of the ram of an iphone 4, it was obvious back last summer that it was a bad idea to upgrade it to 4.x, so it stays on 3.x until it dies.
On the other hand, I bought a Samsung Naos phone about 6 month ago to try Android. It runs Android 2.1. And I still can't officially run 2.2, 2.3 or 3.0 on it!...

Re:Kinda figures.

[justmike2000]

If it was slower and less responsive I would have been fine and even happy, but in my case it was unusable which caused me some frustration as it was not easy to revert. Also, if I purchased the phone in 2010 it should work in 2010 with software they regularly provide. This is not a case of 'slowness' but making my device unusable.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Goaway]

They already don't allow you to install it. They don't need to spend any effort to intentionally "deliver a sub-par experience".

Re:Kinda figures.

[hellwig]

First off, let me say I don't own any Apple products and never will. However, I feel inclined to point out that Apple did NOT deliver a sub-par experience on the older, 3G device. Apple did not release iOS4 for the 2G and 3G models (the summary says you have to jailbreak the device to install iOS4). Therefore, Apple simply released newer software that it knew the older device could not handle, and chose not to release it for that hardware. Nothing says that every release of software must support every device ever made. I doubt the Apple Newton could run iOS1 (ignoring obvious architecture differences), does that mean Apple is trying to purposefully make the performance of the Newton so bad that people will have to upgrade to an iPad2? How dare Apple not support Apple iie users with the latest OSX!!!!

Now, if the summary had been: "iPhone 3G runs iOS4 perfectly!!!", then I would agree that Apple was withholding iOS4 from the 3G model to force customers to upgrade to a 3GS or 4G (yes, it was once called 4G). But since the summary basically says "Boy, was I an idiot for trying to run iOS4 on my crappy iPhone 3G", then I don't really see how you can blame Apple for this.

There are many things you can condemn Apple for (pick just about anything having to do with their iTunes Appstore), but this isn't really a problem.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

Its generally considered faster than the OS which originally came on it. Given that the original release didn't have a JIT, its not that hard to believe.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Richard_at_work]

However, I feel inclined to point out that Apple did NOT deliver a sub-par experience on the older, 3G device. Apple did not release iOS4 for the 2G and 3G models (the summary says you have to jailbreak the device to install iOS4). Therefore, Apple simply released newer software that it knew the older device could not handle, and chose not to release it for that hardware

Hate to break it to you, but Apple most certainly did release IOS4.x for the iPhone 3G, and you did not have to jailbreak it to install it - I take it you do not remember the outcry about IOS4.x not supporting multitasking on older phones, not supporting various home screen animations on older phones and not supporting certain features on older phones? Hell, they even specifically released a new IOS4.x version to try and address speed and stability concerns....

So yes, Apple did release newer software that the older kit simply couldn't handle, and they even tried to mitigate it with a lower feature set than newer hardware (both the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 had a comparable feature set with the first releases of IOS4.x, it was the 3G that had a reduced feature set) but even then they got it horribly wrong - my iPhone 3G slowed down considerably when I upgraded (non-jailbroken, completely legitimate upgrade), and nothing I did, nothing Apple did, could return the phone to its prior state of smoothness and responsiveness. I haven't tried a downgrade, because it was known then that a downgrade was a hugely messy affair - instead, I acquired a HTC Desire and haven't looked back since.

Re:Kinda figures.

[BuckaBooBob]

Lesson... Stop buying apple products...

Stop rewarding companies with your hard earned $$ when they fail you in the long run..

Too many people remain loyal to companies that screw them over... I have the patience of a gnat when it comes to a company that has wronged me in some way and don't seem interested in making things right.... More people should have that mindset so companies will realize customers are fragile and you need to treat them with respect rather than property that they can treat how ever they want cause they have you for the long run..

Re:Kinda figures.

[sribe]

Goes without saying that Apple will deliver a sub-par experience on older devices in order to "persuade" users to upgrade to newer devices, thus making Apples more money. Everyone does it.

Or maybe it just goes without saying that running the current OS on a device that has 1/4 the RAM of the current device is just plain not feasible. At least the 3GS has 1/2 the RAM of the 4.

Oh, you expect Apple to make all the new features work without using more memory? Yeah, right, that would just be so easy to do--it's obvious the only reason they don't make it run in a fraction of the RAM is to force you to upgrade. Sure.

Remember, the iPhones don't have a storage device appropriate for paging, so there is no virtual memory. Cutting down the RAM on one of these is not the same as reducing it on Linux or Mac OS X where you just get more paging. Cutting down the RAM means applications can't allocate RAM--just like the bad ancient days of PCs pre-VM.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Samalie]

Also, if I purchased the phone in 2010 it should work in 2010 with software they regularly provide

Is it Apple's fault that AT&T sold you a device that was effectively past its "Best Before" date? Is it AT&T's fault that you chose to buy a device that is past its "Best Before" date to save a few bucks?

Re:Kinda figures.

[segin]

Yes! Depending on your programming language, you can use conditional code compilation (this leads to different binary versions, I know, but all from the same exact code), or by checking OS and API versions (and optional APIs installed) and choose to conditionally enable code paths at runtime accordingly. Don't have an accelerometer API for the device? Don't use code that checks for device acceleration. User didn't install the Last.fm app (and thus it's optional third-party API)? Don't try to scrobble. Older OS version doesn't support libfoo? #ifdef out code that deals with libfoo. When doing development as official as possible, you should only need two code bases for your app to reach most users - one in Java for BlackBerry, Android, dumb phones, and one in C/C++ for iOS, Symbian, webOS (?), Playbook QNX, Mac OS X, Windows/WinMo and Bada.

Re:Kinda figures.

[leenks]

Except that with Windows XP you don't get prompted that a new OS is available - you have to consciously go out and buy Windows 7 (for an arm and a leg). With the iPhone 3G, iTunes prompts you to install iOS 4. And iOS 4 is not suitable for the iPhone3G - it's appalling that Apple offer it as the latest OS for that device when they clearly know it cannot support it (as I know from my own experiences), but other than that it is hardly surprising it doesn't work well on it.

Downgrading it to 3.x isn't that hard either though. This is really a non story.

Re:Kinda figures.

[justmike2000]

It was by no means to save money. I was unaware of the models at the time and was suggested by my friend I purchase an iPhone so I did and I am very happy with my purchase. I am not "blaming" anybody here I think you missed the point and seem very over excited... AT&T obviously needed to sell unused models which is fine and the only thing I am suggesting is that Apple refrain from updating 3G phones. They don't have to do anything and they won't, it just seems like a good idea to me as people still use the 3G out there, it still works, it still makes calls, etc.

Re:Kinda figures.

[guspasho]

You must never sign a service contract, and buy all your phones at full price. Doesn't that get expensive?

Re:Kinda figures.

[TheCouchPotatoFamine]

wow you ARE a well programmed, aren't you. There's no such thing as a free lunch, esp. with telcos (happy cricket customer here). The idea you "save" money by signing a two year contract is laughable, and anyway, the prices they show you in the store are crazy -- you wouldn't pay that in the real world if you're not dense.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Idimmu Xul]

this is why i basically *had* to upgrade to an iphone4, the 3g + ios 4 experience was so shit it made it almost unusable compared to when it had ios 3 installed, and the additional feature set isnt really worth it

Re:Kinda figures.

[guspasho]

You pay the same price whether your bill is subsidizing a phone or not. So if you're paying full price for your phone then you are losing money, just for the flexibility to switch carriers at the drop of a hat, which is rather pointless since there are few carriers like Cricket that don't require a contract, if any at all.

Re:Kinda figures.

[tumnasgt]

Apple was also selling the iPhone 3G at that time, it was still a current model. It's one thing to stop offering updates, it's another to offer updates that make a device unusable and then drop support. I like Apple for the most part, but I think what they did to iPhone 3G/ iPod touch 2G users was shit.

Re:Kinda figures.

[davester666]

Really? 99% of all other phones produced by non-Apple manufacturers get how many updates to their OS?

If you are EXTREMELY lucky, you will get a single update that fixes a truly atrocious bug that should have prevented the phone from ever shipping. Otherwise, you get ZERO updates.

Nobody else produces updates for their phones for a year after they stopped selling that model FOR FREE. Updates that add significant new features that were not announced when the phone was for sale [so, no "it can do X, but you'll have to wait for the OS update", for example, like Flash support for phones and tablets].

Re:Kinda figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think the article is complaining about that. The problem is that the updates Apple DID provide, reduced the over-all functionality/experience of the phone.

I have the same complaint with my Android phone (LG Ally on Verizon). Verizon keeps pushing out new "updates" that change the way the phone works in significant ways, adds/removes features (or "features"), and essentially forces me to factory reset the phone after each update to even get it to work properly.

What makes it worse is that there is no option to block/deny updates, or better yet, and option to roll-back to the previous version if something goes wrong.

Re:Kinda figures.

[qpqp]

I run it, and after a couple launch daemon removals and some other tweaks, it actually started being more responsive than my previous jailbroken (and launchd-customized) 3.x... There's also a tad more RAM available now than before at about 54MB. Much to my own surprise.

Re:Kinda figures.

[spongman]

the kicker is that if you jailbreak your 3G you can enable some of the iOS4 features they said it couldn't handle and it works just fine. well, no worse than it normally does, anyway.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Baki]

Since smartphones can do much more than conventional mobile phones, security leaks become much more important.
At least, one would expect security updates, if no new funcitonality, for a reasonable amount of time, for the expected lifetime of the device.

Apple could have chosen to keep the 3G on iOS3, but in that case would have been obliged to provide security fixes on both the 4.x and on the 3.x branch.

I know that some vendors, such as sony-ericsson, have been delivering their devices with already outdated versions (of android in this case) and did't provide updates, leaving security holes open already shortly after people purchased the device.

Clearly, there is a hole in the law w.r.t. warranty and consumer protection here. At the moment, a vendor that doesn't care for its public image, would be able to stop providing security updates early, effectively making a smartphone useless right from the start.

Re:Kinda figures.

[Comboman]

Or maybe it just goes without saying that running the current OS on a device that has 1/4 the RAM of the current device is just plain not feasible. At least the 3GS has 1/2 the RAM of the 4.

Where did you get the data on how much RAM each model of iPhone has? I know where you didn't get it; FROM APPLE. You can't expect people to understand why various models have differing capabilities when they don't publish the specs. Also, why would iBooks needs extra RAM when lots of other eBook readers (Stanza, Kindle, Kobo) work find on the original 2G iPhone. Third-party developers want to make their programs work on the largest possible user base, whereas Apple has an incentive to force people to upgrade.

Re:Kinda figures.

[SkimTony]

Real cell carriers discount your service if it's not subsidizing a phone purchase. Unfortunately, the US Cell Phone Syndicate hates that, and is trying to shut down the only well-behaved cell carrier that operates on a national scale.

Re:Kinda figures.

[SomePgmr]

It's not so much that I expected endless updates when I bought an iPhone. It's that the updates they do give you actually cause serious degradation in the usability of the phone with marginal added utility in return.

So I got folders, but it slowed everything down a lot. Basically they screw up your stuff at about 3 yrs, and then cut you off. And worse, Apple is too good at what they do (read: too smart) to have done that accidentally. It's not like they support a wide variety of models and didn't test one of them. They knew exactly what they were doing.

It's a great way to move a boatload of newer models though, I'm sure.

Re:Kinda figures.

[RobbieCrash]

Here in Canada, it's pretty awesome to buy your phone outright and not have to stick it out on a contract.

My SO and I bought Nexus S' for $550 outright, and pay less than $80 total for both phones a month. So, our first phone bill was $1180, and each month it's 77something, which I'll just round up to 80. One year = $2,060 between two people. With Rogers, I paid $300 for an iPhone3G, and was paying $120 a month, on a 3 year contract, which put MY bill at $1,775 ($35 sign up fee). My SO paid similarly, which puts our first year on contract at $3,550. Plus, with our current carrier, everything is unlimited, 24/7 North American calling, unlimited data (Capped at 512K up/down if you go over 6GB in a month, but no overage charges), unlimited North American SMS and MMS. I ended up paying probably about $500 in extras over the first year on Rogers as well, data overages, SMS to the US, long distance, etc.

Gee, you're right, I didn't save any money by buying my phone outright. Even with paying the $300 ETF with Rogers, I'm still saving a huge chunk of change.

Re:Kinda figures.

[bar-agent]

What I do have a problem with however is that I do own an iPad (1 & 2) that syncs with my iTunes library and i use some Universal and iPhone apps on it that REQUIRE updates to function on iOS4. Those apps aren't guaranteed to run on iOS3.

On a recent visit to the #iphonedev IRC channel on freenode, someone asked the community whether there was any point in refraining from using iOS 4-only features in the interest of better compatibility.

Most of the developers there at the time said not to bother supporting older devices, saying they are only 10% of the market. I mentioned how often I see first-gen iPhones still around (limited to iOS 3.1) but I'm not sure any of them believed me. A couple conceded that if you already have an app that works on older devices, you should not break existing compatibility. But everyone there except me said that new apps should be written for iOS 4, without concern for backwards compatibility, even in the cases where it is possible.

iOS 3.2 and up have hella useful and convenient capabilities for developers. And, if I were to write a certain type of
media-centric app, iOS 3.2 just does not have the APIs needed.

The other thing people dislike about Apple

[erroneus]

Apple has no qualms about making your computer obsolete so you have to buy new things. The promise of the PC was that you could keep upgrading on and on with inexpensive parts. That's not as true as I would like it to be, but it's not exactly a lie either.

But with Apple, they care almost nothing about backward compatibility and backward portability. This makes all the G4 and G5 devices out there all but useless... before that, the 68XXX based machines. Now, with multiple iProducts out there, they are also abandoning the people who bought their iProducts less than 5 years ago expecting them to spend more money... or to spin it another way, creating more waste in landfills.

Microsoft would LOVE to have the power Apple has to render OSes and hardware obsolete. The requirements for Vista were so high that no one wanted to buy whole new computers just to run it. The same is generally true of Win7 though to a lesser extent. But since Apple controls both the software and the hardware, you're pretty much at their mercy. Craigslist is filled with "great deals" for Macs with G4/G5 processors in them sold by people who already find them useless.

I'm "aware of the problem" but at least now with Intel based Macs, the machines will always be able to run Linux pretty well... hell, even Windows 7 for that matter. I'm guessing Apple is already regretting their decision to go with Intel based architecture.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[afidel]

All cellphone makers are like that, there are plenty of Android devices with plenty powerful hardware that will never see 2.2 let alone 2.3, and if you have an HTC device that wan't announced this quarter you're not getting Sense 3.0.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Grizzley9]

Apple has no qualms about making your computer obsolete so you have to buy new things. The promise of the PC was that you could keep upgrading on and on with inexpensive parts. That's not as true as I would like it to be, but it's not exactly a lie either.

But with Apple, they care almost nothing about backward compatibility and backward portability. This makes all the G4 and G5 devices out there all but useless... before that, the 68XXX based machines. Now, with multiple iProducts out there, they are also abandoning the people who bought their iProducts less than 5 years ago expecting them to spend more money... or to spin it another way, creating more waste in landfills.

Microsoft would LOVE to have the power Apple has to render OSes and hardware obsolete. The requirements for Vista were so high that no one wanted to buy whole new computers just to run it. The same is generally true of Win7 though to a lesser extent. But since Apple controls both the software and the hardware, you're pretty much at their mercy. Craigslist is filled with "great deals" for Macs with G4/G5 processors in them sold by people who already find them useless.

I'm "aware of the problem" but at least now with Intel based Macs, the machines will always be able to run Linux pretty well... hell, even Windows 7 for that matter. I'm guessing Apple is already regretting their decision to go with Intel based architecture.

I fail to see how a company coming out with new tech and innovation ruins or is "abandoning the people who bought their iProducts". Do you expect them to update older, less capable hardware with new software continually? 5 years in the tech industry is a whole generation, get used to it.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

But just remember, some users not getting certain features and being left out in the cold unless they buy new iDevices is far, faaaaaaaaar better than "fragmentation", where some users don't get certain features and are left out in the cold unless they buy new phones. So sayeth the LORD, our Savior, Steve Jobs.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[evel aka matt]

A ridiculous argument. Compare the current resale values of other personal computers with a similar MSRP from the same era with a G5 and you'll see that the Mac has far and away more residual value. And it's not only financial. Despite the fact that PCs dominate the desktops of my social circle, I don't know anybody using a PII or PIII-based machine for anything significant, yet I know of a fair amount of living, breathing, productive PowerPC-era Macs.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[greed]

With the exception of the Performa [56][23]00 series, all Macs with an MMU can run Linux pretty well. (So that's 68020 with a 68851, 68030 or later, and all PowerPCs.)

I used a 68k version of Debian on an old Quadra as a serial terminal for a bit. In text mode, it was plenty fast enough.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[fidget42]

Where can I get a prescription to the drugs that you are taking? When Apple went from the 68K to the PPC, they supported 68K apps via a 68K emulator. When they transition to Intel, they supported (an still support) PPC via Rosetta.

Now, if you would have said that they don't feel a need to be held hostage to backward compatibility (in that the Intel Macs don't support 68K emulation), that would be correct. Plenty of time is given to allow people to transition away from reliability on older systems. After all, IMNSHO, Windows would be a far better OS if they didn't maintain compatibility with poorly written DOS and Windows 3.x applications.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

... but at least now with Intel based Macs, the machines will always be able to run Linux pretty well....

Maybe I missed the memo, but I recently learned that this is not entirely true anymore. At least on the newer Macbook Pro laptops.
It may run linux, but getting linux there is no easy task.
Try installing linux on a macbook pro from fall of 2010 or newer. Its nearly impossible.
The machine wont boot from usb (even if its an official apple cd drive with osx cd).
The basic tricks around this (using reFit and other tools) get you one baby step further, then it says something like, "foreign os detected, halting boot process".
It is possible, but wildly difficult - either remove your harddrive and install linux (by hand), or use parallels get the dual-boot process started(or similar).

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[beelsebob]

This makes all the G4 and G5 devices out there all but useless...

Bull, I know many people who still use G4s and G5s... Sure, they're not the fastest machines on the planet, but they're also between 5 and 10 years old! You're talking about machines as old as 1Ghz Pentium 3s here, and you don't see many of them about any more, do you?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

use vmware fusion. it lets you boot into any vm you want. dead simple.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[powerlord]

I think it has more to do with how mature hardware is in a given space, than any desire to arbitrarily Obsolete machines.

I can't speak toward the 68XXX machines, but I was an apple user during the transition to Intel architecture. Intel started rolling out during Tiger's (OS 10.4) deployment period.

Apple released Leopard (10.5) with support for both Intel and PPC.

One of the major features of 10.6 (from what I remember) is Grand Central Dispatch, allowing programs to run on multi-core machines, without having to explicitly code for multiple cores. Apple started transitioning to Intel chipsets in 2006, OSX 10.6 was released in mid 2009, about 3 1/2 years later. While it is sad to see older hardware not able to run the latest and greatest versions of the OS we may want, the sad fact is that coding to two separate architectures, especially one that has not been sold for 3.5 years does not make sense.

G4s and G5s will run OSX 10.5 just fine, and should work well for most people who write email, browse the web, and occasionally use it for other things.

I'm "aware of the problem" but at least now with Intel based Macs, the machines will always be able to run Linux pretty well... hell, even Windows 7 for that matter. I'm guessing Apple is already regretting their decision to go with Intel based architecture.

Pitty there isn't/wasn't a way to run Linux on all those PPC architecture computers ... oh wait http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/. Really, Apple could care less what OS you choose to run on your computer, as long as they were the ones to sell you the hardware.

With the iPhone, the hardware has seen major upgrades in terms of functionality since the initial model has been released. This is still a very evolving market-space, and I expect hardware specs to keep evolving in the SmartPhone space for another generation or two before they start to stabilize on features enough to have a "common" hardware platform to work off of.

Some of this complaint of obsolescence seems almost like complaining that I can't run Windows XP on my 386.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[MistrBlank]

Except, the iPhone 3G however is only 2 years old for some of us. That's the length of a cell phone contract, some of us would like to get 4 years on our phones and not pay $2-300 every other year for our phones.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[mr1911]

So is your argument that Apple (or any other manufacturer for that matter) should not build new features into their products if the old features were not compatible? Have you thought that through? Would you like your car to not have an automatic transmission, air conditioning, power steering, power windows, or anything beyond AM radio because those features were not compatible with the way things were before?

With your logic there shouldn't even have been an iPhone 3G because it had features that the original iPhone did not.

News flash - companies that do not evolve their products die. If you want the new stuff, man up and buy the new stuff. If you don't want the new stuff enough to buy it, don't whine about it.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

There isn't any compatibility with dos and windows 3.x applications on modern versions of windows. You'd have to use some manner of emulator, like dos box, and I dunno what for windows 3.x.

Windows isn't a dos shell anymore, and hasn't been for a very long time. I think you're reading industry mags from about 1997.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[lpp]

Your logic is flawed. You are incorrectly assuming that because something better becomes available what you are currently using becomes obsolete.

For someone purchasing a new iPhone, yes, it would not make sense to purchase anything other than the most recent revision. But existing owners of models of iPhone prior to iPhone 4 can go on using their iPhone 3GS, 3G, original iPhone, just as they always have. The iPhone, like all current (and past) smart phones, was not sold on the premise that hardware upgrades would be available for it. Like all current (and past) smart phones, it makes use of largely non-upgradeable hardware parts that are part of the original purchasing decision. Some parts are upgradeable in some smart phones (i.e. memory cards) but that's the extent of it usually. And you knew that going in.

And for the most part Apple has been pretty generous with their iOS updates. When features could be made available based on the existing hardware for a given iPhone generation, they were.

But even with all of the snazzy capabilities of the iPhone 4 vs the original iPhone, original iPhones still make phone calls, can still run the apps installed, can still access the internet and still have better usability than the vast majority of current (and past) smart phones.

Do not confuse envy with obsolescence.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

My HTC Aria is rooted and running Cyanogenmod 7 (Android 2.3.3). Honestly, if you don't root your phone and load custom ROM, I think you're missing out on quite a bit (not to mention the crapware that the carriers load onto the phone.)

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Some Android users haven't even had constant updates due to the carriers they're with. I'd actually say that Apple does pretty well with a constant flow of iOS updates. I too have the 3G, mine is a hair over 2 years old. However, if you compare the 3G with the iPhone4, you'd see that running iOS 4.x on it is sort of like running Windows 7 on a pentium 3. They (and not just Apple) have made huge strides in mobile phone tech in the last few years, going from the single core 412Mhz proc with 128MB RAM to 800Mhz proc with 512MB RAM. Double the speed, quadruple the RAM in two years with many smartphones coming out in the dual 1.2+ Ghz arena.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, you can just spend $50 to get the iPhone 3GS which plays nice with iOS4.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

vm is easy, i agree.
i was addressing the issue of running linux natively on a mac.... as the parent article suggested.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, my 3GS is so obsolete running iOS3, I'm like living in the dark ages without those revolutionary iOS4 features.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[MMC Monster]

Shouldn't be a big deal. My wife has an original iphone. Still keeps a charge for a bit over 24 hours, and she uses it frequently. Still works. Don't see the problem.

If you want a new OS, why is it so hard to believe that you will need new hardware?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry but the parent post is full of dumb arguments. Apple is far from a perfect company but it feels like people are willing to stretch further and further these days to criticize them.

Now, with multiple iProducts out there, they are also abandoning the people who bought their iProducts less than 5 years ago expecting them to spend more money... or to spin it another way, creating more waste in landfills.

Will these older iPhones not continue to work with the older software? Do they really have to be sent to the landfill because Apple doesn't continue to provide major software updates? Would you even have bothered to post if this discussion was about another company not updating their 3 year old phones?

Microsoft would LOVE to have the power Apple has to render OSes and hardware obsolete.

Obsolete? Really? I didn't realize any of the newer iOS updates were so ground breaking.

I'm guessing Apple is already regretting their decision to go with Intel based architecture.

Absolutely! It's caused them nothing but problems. I mean, it's not easy to ramp up production to be able to sell record numbers of Macs every quarter. The ability to easily run Windows on a Mac has allowed lots of people who require Windows for a few applications to make the switch.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Ogi_UnixNut]

What's wrong with running Linux on the G4/G5's? I've been buying up the PPC macs and using them for Linux workstations and servers. They are most excellent hardware wise, and are quite quiet too! They are also cheap for what you get. Installing Linux on them was actually pretty easy (I Run a mixture of Debian an Gentoo on them) and have yet to feel constrained by the different architecture.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[thetoadwarrior]

Good luck finding any mobile phone where you can update it for more than one or two versions. Some hardware providers / service providers won't let you upgrade at all unless you jail break the thing. Again even if you do jail break it you'll be lucky to get more than a couple versions out of it.

Phones are not PCs. They're limited hardware that are meant to give you the most power for the longest time during that given period. HTC, Apple, etc don't really want you using your phone longer than your contract anyway. New systems will take advantage of new hardware rendering your old hardware obsolete just as they want it.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[poetmatt]

it's been quite easy for every android phone that exists other than the G1 to keep up with the tech. Hell, droids are on 2.2.2 and g1's are on CM7.

The issue is keeping it stock just won't work. Phone MFR's drop old support for new phones, and it is up to the user to get the rest.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[rolfwind]

How, pray tell, would one go upgrading any phone or notebook, if not by buying a new one?

(Notebook has limited ram slots and upgrades seem to be limited to whether to fork over the cash for an SSD or not.)

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[thetoadwarrior]

It's not their fault US mobile providers bend you over and charge you loads on top of a monthly fee and actually yes HTC, Nokia, Apple and Microsoft want you buying a phone every 2 years.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Samalie]

Offtopic, but in response to your statement:

Honestly, if you don't root your phone and load custom ROM, I think you're missing out on quite a bit

So, essentially, at it's root - the Andriod you get when you buy your Android phone is likely shitty, and beat to shit with crapware from multiple parties. So, instead of going to the store and getting a smartphone that works great out of the box, I have to go out, find a custom ROM, root my device, and load said custom ROM on my device?

And this is a fucking SELLING POINT??

Look, while I declared iOS long ago, I love Android too & hope it continues its success. And for me, rooting a device & doing all that isn't an issue whatsoever. But seriously, we expect the average schlub to be able to do this shit? Or even realize the option is out there? And if they don't, they're getting a sub-par experience?

Sorry, but this does not make me love Andriod. THis is just more useless shit that my users will demand I support for them. Thanks....fuckers.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[peragrin]

So your saying the only way to get android updates is to root, and hack your phone.

How is that different from jailbreaking the iphone again?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[slimjim8094]

Bullshit. I dual-booted OSX and Ubuntu in about 10 minutes, plus the actual file-copy time. Hold down "C" when you start the computer, with a burned CD in the drive. Easier than fiddling with boot ordering. To be clear, this is on a relatively new MBP

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

First off, the Android version loaded on phones isn't beat to shit. It's just that custom ROMs are cleaner. Secondly, is it the fault of Google's that carrier's load things that people don't want on their phones?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Which shows you don't even understand the concept of fragmentation in regards to the Andriod complaint.

This isn't about a 3 year old phone getting the latest shiny bells and whistles. You will ALWAYS have fragmentation in the "age of device" sense, accross every manufacturer and supplier.

This is about 50 different CURRENT Android phones available running (at times) dramatically different hardware configurations. In said environment, "everybody"wants to be able to download and install "Angry Birds" but some find they can't because their just-bought phone doesn't have enough hardware under the hood to run it. Then said user bitches out the developer, who throws up his hands and tells them that their new baby isn't good enough for their game, so they can either buy a new phone or "suffer" not being able to play. These same people then think that Android sucks because their phone can't play Angry Birds, and start telling their friends that Andriod sucks, which starts eating at Andriod marketshare.

As I've said before and above, I declared iOS long ago, but I still love Android, and I firmly believe a market where both Android and Apple are strong will lead to further innovation by both camps, which will feature-bleed to the other. It is good for everyone to have good healthy market competition. Fragmentation as described hurts Andriod, causes some developers to not want to develop for Andriod at all, and hurts Andriod's reputation in the eyes of the public.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

a bootable vm is effectively the same thing. can just hold the option key at boot to pick whichever one you want.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Your.Master]

I get that you were referring to Macs when you mentioned 5 years, but to bring this back to phones, if 5 years was a whole generation then the 3G should have a while to go. But it stopped getting updates and support in March, after just over 2.5 years. The original iPhone also lasted just over 2.5 years. Some people have phones whose contracts with the phone company last longer than the phone is officially supported! Just 2.5 years of support seems short to me, even for consumer electronics.

I have a 3GS. Surely that will last forever...

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[UnknowingFool]

Your name is rather appropos because there are some key facts that you're getting wrong.

But with Apple, they care almost nothing about backward compatibility and backward portability. This makes all the G4 and G5 devices out there all but useless... before that,

That last OS that the G5 supported was Leopard (10.5) released October 26, 2007 and last updated August 5, 2009. The Power Mac G5 was discontinued August 7, 2006. The iMac G5 was discontinued March 20, 2006. The Mac mini G4 was discontinued Feb 2006. Most if not all G4/G5 were supported by Leopard after they were discontinued. From wikipedia:

Leopard can run on older hardware as long as they have a G4 upgrade installed running at the 867 MHz or faster, have at least 9 GB free of hard drive space, 512 MB RAM and have a DVD drive. Leopard however will not run on the 900 MHz iBook G3 models even though they exceed the minimum 867 MHz requirement.

Microsoft would LOVE to have the power Apple has to render OSes and hardware obsolete.

In most cases G4 hardware that started on Panther (10.3) were eligible for two major OS upgrades. By comparison, how many PCs that started out with XP in 2003 were able to be upgraded to Windows 7 in 2009? Heck how many of them were really Vista compatible and not "Vista Ready". Very few.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

1) I'm not supporting Apple
2) Wider phone choices

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Samalie]

Well, considering how Apple browbeat the carriers into NOT installing their own personal custom shitware on every iPhone, the precident was set. Google COULD have swung essentially the same hammer.

Of course, in the Android world, I think I hate Motorola (I think?) more for their locked down all-but-impossible to root devices more than carrier shitware. And yes, I know they can still be rooted...but they made it a royal clusterfuck to do.

I realize that the whole concept goes against the whole "open" concept that appeals to us geeks about Andriod, but still....shitware is still shitware. If Google browbeat the carriers (and locked down Android so they couldn't) to prevent the shitware, then they'd be the same walled garden in most ways that Apple is.

Honestly, in my personal opinion...Android isn't winning because it is better than iOS. It isn't winning because of the "open-ness" either. It is winning because their phones are cheap as fuck and do a reasonable job of emulating the iPhone experience. $200 less than an iPhone = a fuck of alot of leftover money for beer.

Yes, I know there are areas where Andriod is superior to the iPhone...but the iPhone is still the measuring stick Android is held to, and carrier shitware is an area where Andriod falls horribly short.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

"If you want a new OS, why is it so hard to believe that you will need new hardware?"
Because these things are computers, and computers should have a shelf life longer than 2-4 years. Anything that costs more than $499 + 2 year contract should have more than a few years of support.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

Your argument is also ridiculous. You don't buy computers based on resale value.. If you value resale value so much, I have an RS/6000 machine I'd like to sell you. Now, about productive PowerPC-era Macs, they're less powerful and suck u pmore electricity. That's why you don't see P2/P3 machines anymore for the same reason. Also they're much cheaper to replace and hence why they're mostly gone.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

SO what? Don't update. Everything will continue to work just fine. Or do update. I've got a development 3G with the latest iOS and it's not super speedy but it works just fine. Quit bitching that your old hardware isn't as good as the new hardware.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[pherthyl]

No. They're not computers. They're phones. Just because something has a CPU doesn't mean that it should be exactly the same as a computer. It's not like you're losing functionality here. You're just not gaining new features, which is exactly the same as on a computer. I don't expect my 2 year old desktop to play the latest games without a hardware upgrade. So quit your bitching.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

You know why I replaced my P3? Because it cost less than $200. Honestly, I haven't spent more than $1500 on computer equipment total for the last 10 years.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Gordo_1]

Where are my mod points? Yeah exactly that.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Doctor O]

This makes all the G4 and G5 devices out there all but useless...

You mean those G4's that came out in 1999 and those G5's from 2003, making them 12 and 8 years old? Which happen to run just fine with OSX 10.5?

I'd really love to see your 12 and 8 years old PC hardware in use, and performing as well as my G4 with OSX 10.5. I gave it to my niece two years ago who to this day is really satisfied with it, using it for her everyday computing needs. It doesn't feel slower than her brother's Vista notebook, to fuel the flamewars. ;-)

There are lots of reasons to fret about what Apple does with the iDevices, but still talking about PPCs really is ridiculous.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[E IS mC(Square)]

No. He is not saying that. YOU are saying it.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[PopeRatzo]

Some Android users haven't even had constant updates due to the carriers they're with.

Wait, you think the "constant updates" to iOS have been for the benefit of the users?

Have you read any of the user agreements? Do you think the "constant updates" to iTunes are "for the users" too?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[gad_zuki!]

Err, that's because when you spend $1400-$2500 on a computer you can't do upgrades like the people who spend $750 on a computer. So they've put themselves on a 3-4 year depreciation while I've put myself on a 1.5-2 year depreciation. In the long run we spend about the same, but I have the latest and greatest and none of the hassles of owning a vintage machine and they get the "mac experience" for their money. That's their mistake to make.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[sribe]

Craigslist is filled with "great deals" for Macs with G4/G5 processors in them sold by people who already find them useless.

Those machines are perfectly usable; there's very little yet that won't run on them. (Snow Leopard, MS Office 2011.)

They're also coming up on, at minimum, 5 years old in a few months.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[sribe]

Except, the iPhone 3G however is only 2 years old for some of us. That's the length of a cell phone contract, some of us would like to get 4 years on our phones and not pay $2-300 every other year for our phones.

I know a very easy way you can get 4 years out of your iPhone 3G. For only $25 I'll explain it to you in terms I think even you can understand. Please contact me to arrange payment.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[hondo77]

No, they're pocket computers that come with a cellular phone app. Really.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[hondo77]

My 3G is almost three years old and it should easily last another year (though I'm planning on getting an iPhone 5 before that). It looks like it won't be getting anymore iOS updates but it will still work just fine. Is that a problem?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[hondo77]

You're confusing how long a phone lasts with how long it gets its OS updated. Why should Apple keep updating the software on old phones? As long as your phone is working three years later, why get bent out of shape about it? Should a car company update your two year old car when they introduce new models?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

[...]and carrier shitware is an area where Andriod falls horribly short.

That's why i got a Nexus S! It's awesome. Hardware is great and software is the newest android without the carrier crapware. Win/win.

People usually don't get my excitement with the phone and i usually just say that i'm a geek and i want the pure google operating system and i don't like the carrier additions. They usually understand, but probably don't follow in on my excitement.

That's until a couple of people at a party where we compared apps that we liked and battery life and such. I haven't had my phone for long, but based on some of the things that my newer android could do with battery usage measurement and such, they saw the appeal of my pure google phone. They thought they were on the newest android, because the phone said there weren't any upgrades available.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

hot damn! i did not know you can natively boot into a virtual machine
thanks!

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[leenks]

Mod parent up.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[UnknowingFool]

It appears I was wrong about Leopard being last updated August 2009. It was last updated May 2010.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Bing Tsher E]

Do you earn extra points for making sure you use 'shit' or 'fuck' in almost every paragraph?

Nice sustained trolling session, btw. You got a whole sub-thread wound up.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Craigslist is filled with "great deals" for Macs with G4/G5 processors in them sold by people who already find them useless.

The last G5 was sold in 2006. I imagine that users of all makes of computers find them "already useless" in the short span of 5-6 years. That's an AGE in computer years.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Samalie]

Well, if this is trolling, it wasn't my intention.

But it IS a beautiful sub-thread...shitware is a huge problem, both on smartphones and just in the PC world. And I, for one person, have chosen to take a stand against shitware.

Go Linux, Apple, Google & their own Google-branded Nexus phones, and every other PC maker that doesn't bloat our computing devices with shit.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[guspasho]

The original iPhone doesn't allow you to install iOS4, but the 3G does. These complaints come from 3G users that were convinced to install iOS4.

The promise and appeal of the iPhone in the first place is that it supports software updates, the manufacturer and the ecosystem all supports installing apps from the App Store, and Apple continually and artfully sends you OS updates that are supposed to gradually improve your phone experience. Apple convinced 3G users, explicitly and implicitly, that iOS4 would make their experience better, not worse. It explicitly said iOS4 supports the 3G, and expected (expects) that everyone migrate to it, and iTunes probably still pushes 4.2.1 on 3G users. But as it turned out, contrary to the expectation that Apple built up, iOS4 is worse on the 3G than iOS3. The phone much less responsive, not "snappy" at all, and third party apps crash constantly. A very un-Apple-like experience. And Apple doesn't allow anyone to downgrade their OS, insisting that iOS4 is the best OS for the 3G.

My girlfriend has a 3G and she loved it until she installed iOS4 but now she hates it. She's still under contract, too, since she got it when the 3GS was available because the 3G worked wonderfully at the time and the differences between the two models appeared negligible then. And now she's stuck in the unfortunate position of her contract expiring when the latest model is already a year old, and stuck with the grim choice of suffering with this pile of crap for another 6-12 months or dealing with this experience again in a year or two.

Why is it so hard to believe that one will need new hardware for a new OS? Because Apple told us the opposite on so many occasions, when they promised us OS updates that promised to make our experiences better, not just when they release an OS update but as a feature of the hardware itself, and because Apple generally has a good reputation for supporting its hardware well.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I know there are areas where Andriod is superior to the iPhone...but the iPhone is still the measuring stick Android is held to

You've basically just said the measuring stick isn't long enough.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[mjwx]

Compare the current resale values of other personal computers with a similar MSRP from the same era with a G5 and you'll see that the Mac has far and away more residual value.

Which is why offices are full of them.

No, wait...

They aren't.

Resale value is pointless when operational life is short. Tthe resale value of a device which is unique and out of production for 5 years with no modern successor is not comparable to a device that was commonplace which has a successor with the same architecture.

In other words, they are worth more money because they are less common and less used. Niche devices always sell for more, that does not make them more valuable.

Now Intel based Mac's are completely bucking this trend. They are going for the same as a 3 year old Dell. By switching to Intel, they now have the same operational life and yes, I've met plenty of people who use the same laptop for 5 years. Last week I re-imaged a Pentium IV laptop that had an inbuilt floppy drive for a client.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[mjwx]

In most cases G4 hardware that started on Panther (10.3) were eligible for two major OS upgrades. By comparison, how many PCs that started out with XP in 2003 were able to be upgraded to Windows 7 in 2009? Heck how many of them were really Vista compatible and not "Vista Ready". Very few.

My last three gaming PC's have been "Vista Ready" so thats almost 7 years of machines and my 2004 gaming rig was not top of the line (AMD 64 3800, 2GB RAM, Geforce 6600) so not that uncommon.

In fact, my housemate's GF is running that PC using Windows 7 and she's got no complaints. Only non-original component is the HDD.

Plenty of 2003-2004 vintage PC's can run Windows 7 (nice trick using Vista, but Win 7 is the current OS) because a lot of them ran dedicated graphics cards (ye olde days before the Intel IGM actually got good enough to use).

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because something has a CPU doesn't mean that it should be exactly the same as a computer.

Of course not, but smartphones have more than a CPU, they have all the internal components of the average desktop or laptop - CPU, RAM, GPU, sound card, network interfaces, peripheral interfaces, storage, display - and on top of that they have an operating system designed to run 1st and 3rd party applications. Aside from the form-factor, how is it different from any other computer?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Blaskowicz]

wrong, the NTVDM is still there even on windows 7, albeit in the 32bit edition only. this is because of a hardware limitation, as 64bit mode drops the ability to run 16bit applications by virtualizing a 8086 processor.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[yuhong]

And the graphics card is only required if you want Aero. At least in theory Vista and later will work on most computers from 2000 or so that have enough RAM and HD space, partly because it can use XP/2000 drivers.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[froggymana]

From a users perspective its really easy to root the Droid X. All you have to do is download Z4root, touch the screen a few times, wait a few minutes and then you're done.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[mjwx]

And the graphics card is only required if you want Aero. At least in theory Vista and later will work on most computers from 2000 or so that have enough RAM and HD space, partly because it can use XP/2000 drivers.

Lets be honest with ourselves, Vista was a pile of crap (slow, buggy) which is why the GGP chose it instead of Win 7. Win 7 is vastly improved.

A 2003 Vintage PC at least has IMHO a 50/50 chance of running Win 7, at the very least Win 7 will install (cant say if it would run though).

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[beelsebob]

You know why I replaced my P3? Because it cost less than $200.

Something makes me doubt that... maybe it's to do with the release price of the Pentium 3 1Ghz being over $600 for the cheapest one... and that's for the CPU only.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[4phun]

It's not their fault US mobile providers bend you over and charge you loads on top of a monthly fee and actually yes HTC, Nokia, Apple and Microsoft want you buying a phone every 2 years.

Some of those phone vendors seem to expect you to buy the latest and greatest every three months!

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Thing 1]

You're confusing how long a phone lasts with how long it gets its OS updated. Why should Apple keep updating the software on old phones? As long as your phone is working three years later, why get bent out of shape about it? Should a car company update your two year old car when they introduce new models?

Apple convinced me to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iOS4, and now performance is terrible. I'm switching once my contract is over, as I do not care to experience this again in the future, e.g. I get an iPhone 4, and 2 years later upgrade it to iOS6 and have it become an underperformer to convince me to buy the latest shiny.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft does have the power to render its past offerings obsolete. It would be the end of their corporation, but they certainly have the power to so it. Do you not understand that tethered obsolescence is a major part of the Microsoft business model?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[sglewis100]

Wait, you think the "constant updates" to iOS have been for the benefit of the users?

Let's see:

iPhone 1.0 -> 2.0:

• ActiveSync Support
• Third Party Apps
• VPN Support
• New Language Support
• Parental Controls

iPhone 2.0 -> 3.0:

• Push Notifications
• Copy and Paste
• MMS
• Third Party Hardware Accessories via Dock Port
• Spotlight
• A2DP
• Comprehensive GPS Support

iPhone 3.0 -> 4.0

• Background Processes for third party apps
• Fast app switching via state saving
• Local app notifications
• Folders
• Unified Inbox

Even 4.2/4.3 had huge features... AirPlay, Printing, etc. AirPlay was so good I bought an AppleTV 2 just to use it, once it started working with video and third party apps.

You don't find those features... just a little bit... beneficial to users?

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

You know why I replaced my P3? Because it cost less than $200.

Something makes me doubt that... maybe it's to do with the release price of the Pentium 3 1Ghz being over $600 for the cheapest one... and that's for the CPU only.

Who buys these things when their first released? I get them later when the prices drop. I currently have an Athlon2 x4 that I bought for $100. Thanks to AMD's socket designs, the only thing I've done the last few years are CPU upgrades.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[beelsebob]

Ah, so what you're saying is "if you compare the second hand price of a Pentium 3 several years after it's released to the on release price of the G4 tower brand new, then the G4 tower comes out rather expensive". I'd like to be the first to say... no shit.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[the_humeister]

Ah, so what you're saying is "if you compare the second hand price of a Pentium 3 several years after it's released to the on release price of the G4 tower brand new, then the G4 tower comes out rather expensive". I'd like to be the first to say... no shit.

Take a new P3 that's a year or two out from release vs. a new G4 that's the same age and new, the P3 is still both cheaper to buy and cheaper to upgrade. I didn't say anything about second hand, although now that you mention it, the price difference is even greater for second hand processing capabilities. But let's go back to your original post:

Bull, I know many people who still use G4s and G5s... Sure, they're not the fastest machines on the planet, but they're also between 5 and 10 years old! You're talking about machines as old as 1Ghz Pentium 3s here, and you don't see many of them about any more, do you?

My anecdotal evidence is as good as yours. I haven't seen any G4 or G5 in years. However, we still have a few P3s running print and other low-end server duties in the backend.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[PopeRatzo]

We weren't talking about the major version updates over the past 4 years. We were talking about the "constant" updates.

Go back up the thread and see for yourself.

Re:The other thing people dislike about Apple

[sglewis100]

Nice try. Let's see then...

iOS 4.01: Fixed ActiveSync bugs, signal strength calculation issues, FaceTime identification.
iOS 4.02: Fixed two security vulnerabilities.
iOS 4.1: Added support for the newly released iPod Touch, several bug fixes, added GameCenter, added AVRCP next/previous support, security fixes, HDR photography, HD video upload via WiFi to YouTube and others, iPhone 3G performance fixes, adds Ping support.
iOS 4.2/4.2.1: Adds AirPlay (replaces audio only with video support), AirPrint, .ICS support, updated battery performance, text search in web pages, new fonts, CoreMIDI, bug fixes, security fixes and was the first release of 4.X for the iPad, adding things like multitasking, folder support, and quite a bit more.
iOS 4.2.5: Verizon release, supports CDMA
iOS 4.2.6: Verizon fix for Personal Hotspot Bugs
iOS 4.2.7: Security fixes
iOS 4.3: ASLR support, AirPlay 3rd party support, HTTP Live streaming, new Nitro JavaScript engine, enhanced Parental Control, improved video scrubbing, iTunes Home Sharing support, in-app purchases require password regardless of time since last purchase, personal HotSpot added to GSM phones, bunch more.
iOS 4.3.1: NTLM authentication fixes, gyroscope issues on iPad 2, image flicker fixes using AV adapter and TVs, fixed memory hang leading to corruption
iOS 4.3.2: fixed 3G connectivity on iPad, improved battery performance, fix for blank or frozen FaceTime video.

About the most annoying thing in any of those releases would be baseband updates which certainly may have other legitimate uses, but also cause havoc with unlockers, but according to WikiPedia most of those releases didn't change the baseband, just a couple of them.

Which update seemed like it provided no benefits to users?

What is this?

[dreemernj]

for the folders

I am not an iPhone user. What does he mean by this? Are folders something new?

Re:What is this?

[Tarlus]

In newer versions of iOS, you can group app icons into nameable "folders" in order to save space or hide rarely-used items.

Re:What is this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple really lagged on this one - home screen folders didn't exist on iOS until version 4. It was one of the 'revolutionary' features (http://www.apple.com/ipad/ios4/) that other mobile OS' had for years already.

Re:What is this?

[WitnessForTheOffense]

Yeah. Steve Jobs invented them. They're going to revolutionize how you organize files on your device. Nobody has ever done this before. Give Steve your money so he can complete that cyborg body he's working on so he can rule Appletopia's authoritarian walled garden forever!

Re:What is this?

[Anonymous Coward]

-1 Troll

Re:What is this?

[Anonymous Coward]

-2 tech

Re:What is this?

[Jonner]

Forget folders, I'm all about this new-fangled multi-tasking thing.

is this weather, or a bad chemistry experiment

[Anonymous Coward]

looks like hell. the chosen ones' 'scientists' have stepped in it once again. even the deities are attempting to disassociate themselves at this point, with floundering flagrantly friday just ahead of us? the repeat of thermal thursday will definitely be a hard one to forget, nor should we.

chemistry?

[Anonymous Coward]

Judging by the title, I thought this story was gonna actually have something to do with Chemistry.
Like maybe the iPhone 3G is made of a very specific kind of plastic or something.
Nope. Actual chemistry gets no respect here.

Re:chemistry?

[Anonymous Coward]

The iPhone 3G is made of shit-onium, and iOS 4 made of crap-adium, and when you mix the two together, you get bigpileoffeces-tium.

Older models are left to die

[Eugenia Loli]

Apple needs to be a bit more carefully about older versions of the OS and models. Case in point:

1. This: http://www.osnews.com/story/24428/The_Next_Brick_to_Decorate_Your_Wall_iOS_3_x_Devices
After months this article got posted, the App Store STILL DOES NOT work properly. You still can't update an app from within the device by hitting "update". The button does nothing! You need iOS 4.x or above before you can update via iOS (so we now have to use iTunes, which I don't want to use since that iPod has no music in it, I just use it as a PDA).

2. Apple REMOVED AirTunes support from iOS 4 when the second generation of AppleTV came out. What they did exactly was to stop supporting the original AppleTV (that was still sold at the time), from within iOS. So I can't use the 1st Gen AppleTV to send audio too from my iOS device anymore. This used to work just fine up to a few months ago. After the iOS 4.2 update, the support was removed.

Re:Older models are left to die

[qwertyatwork]

I update apps on my 2g all the time from the app store on the phone. I do hit the update button, I don't use iTunes to update (all the time) and I'm on 3.1.3.

Re:Older models are left to die

[bertoelcon]

After months this article got posted, the App Store STILL DOES NOT work properly. You still can't update an app from within the device by hitting "update". The button does nothing!

lolwut? My 3.1.3 Iphone 2g updates apps through the appstore just fine. That could be the only difference between running 3.1.3 and 3.1.2.

Re:Older models are left to die

[Eugenia Loli]

This does not work here, for two different devices, and if you read the article, you will see that there are many people who can't. There are many threads about it. If you can, you're special.

Re:Older models are left to die

[MistrBlank]

What are you on? You've NEVER been able to send airTunes from another iOS Device to the AppleTV ver1 unless you hacked one or both devices.

Re:Older models are left to die

[LoganDzwon]

1. (A)App Store is part of the iOS version your running. It can not up upgrade separately. (B) Apple doesn't send engineers to your house if your phone isn't working right. (C) I've shopped for houses in Cupertino at one point, if you live nearby Apple you live in a multi-million dollar house. You can afford to replace your cell phone every 4 years, thus solving your problem. (D) All firmware updates are handled by iTunes on any version of the iOS. This is done purposefully so iTunes can create a backup of all your data before it formats your system partition and then reinstall all the system software. 2. You just making things up. No version of iOS has had any airplay features removed. No iPhone or iPod has had the ability to be a remove speaker. Only the Airport Express and the AppleTV. All of which still have those features. No version of the AppleTV has had the ability to send audio to another device.

Re:Older models are left to die

[Eugenia Loli]

No, you're using the wrong update button. Not the one for ALL apps, but in each app's page. So when you try to update apps one by one, this doesn't work anymore.

Regional Issue?

[Anonymous Coward]

What? Is this a US only issue? I am in the UK, running iOS 4.2 on an iPhone 3G, all done through apple software update. What have I missed?

And for those who are envious, don't be; it's slow as balls.

Re:Regional Issue?

[Whalou]

What have I missed?

Version 4.3.*

Re:Regional Issue?

[0x15e]

Bad summary. TFA says that the iOS 4.2 on the 3G is a far cry from iOS 4.2 on newer ones (and, hence, doesn't count) and that it sucks so bad he had to jump through all kinds of hoops to downgrade back to 3.

Re:Regional Issue?

[flinkflonk]

We have a 3G, not a 3Gs you insensitive clod! We can't upgrade to 4.3 because Steve said no.

Seriously, my 3G is at 4.2.1 and will stay there forever. iTunes (which I *do* use, because I have both music from CDs, podcasts and my calendar on that phone) upgraded my phone to 4.0 without asking much - well, ok, it threatened that I wouldn't get any security updates for it if I insisted on keeping on using 3.1.3.

So my iPhone 3G is now a Windows98 PC force-upgraded to XP, or have you seen any security fixes for 98 around lately? *That* is what those not having upgraded to 4.x are missing, mostly, because all the new-fangled stuff needs a 3Gs or 4, so you won't see much of that anyway. And, as I said, since 4.3 we don't even get those security updates. Actually I'd be very surprised if the 3G gets a Locationgate fix.

Which is exactly why my next phone will *not* be a fscking iPhone. Thanks for the (slightly rotten) fish and so on, but Android is looking better every day.

In other news, I hear Apple is making more than half its revenue with the iPhone and iPad product lines. If stuff like this isn't fixed I'd be very surprised if their rise continues.

Cutting edge news

[evel aka matt]

Startling insights...a year after iOS 4 was released. Is there really anyone who has a 3G and is considering upgrading to 4 that isn't aware of this already? In other late-breaking stories, Barack Obama won the 2008 election! HOPE PREVAILS!

Still in contract?

[Theovon]

I recall when iOS4 came out, there were people still in contract with 3G iPhones. I'm not sure if there still are at this point, bit it's kindof a lousy thing to do, to take a phone that was slow to begin with and make it even slower.

Re:Still in contract?

[BagOBones]

Ad more features on the same hardware and it gets slower.. This goes for almost any OS. The only issue here is that on embedded devices you can't always go back once you move forward.

Re:Still in contract?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm on contract with my 3G for a couple more months. Purchased it the day the 3GS launched.

Re:Still in contract?

[presidenteloco]

I have a 3G still on contract.

I stopped upgrading the OS way way back to avoid loss of tethering support.

Re:Still in contract?

[LoganDzwon]

Same with most propitiatory software. If you go to the store and buy a Win7 upgrade and apply it to your Vista machine, your vista license is technically superseded by the Win7 license. You have no right to use Vista anymore even if you hate win7 for some reason.

Re:Still in contract?

[Theovon]

The 3G had tethering support? Or did you jailbreak it?

Re:Still in contract?

[presidenteloco]

Yes it did briefly. On OS version 3.0 if I remember correctly. It was "fixed" (read "disabled") in the next minor release.

Re:Still in contract?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah both of my iPhone 3G's are in contract until later this summer, bought them when they dropped price because the 3GS came out.

Tethering works just fine in Jailbroken 4.2.1 (via TetherMe) the last update for the 3G. Before 4.1+ i did the manual editing of files to do tethering which wasnt too much of a pain.

Re:Still in contract?

[Anonymous Coward]

Worse, Apple "pushes" OS updates on people. While the more technologically inclined may know it's a bad idea to upgrade their 3G, but apple does everything short of forcing the upgrade. Why would an average user say no to a free OS upgrade that's recommended by the manufacturer? They're routinely told TO accept OS updates for security.

My wife's 3G is still on contract, btw, for 6 more months. A 3 year cell contract is the norm here, and as such the phone should be expected to last that long.

Only on Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you rant about installing a piece of software not designed to work for a particular device, on a device never intended to work with the said piece of software, using an installation process not authorized or supported by the manufacturer, and when it miserably fails, make it sound like it is the manufacturer's fault.

Upgrading 3g is for masochists only

[Anonymous Coward]

I upgraded my 3g iphone in August and it basically killed the phone. You had to wait like 5 seconds for any screen to open - wait 5 seconds for your typing to appear on the screen - it rendered the phone virtually unusable.
Of course when I went into the Apple store to ask how to downgrade they said you can't downgrade you are stuck with this unusable phone.
But for $300 I could get a shiny new phone

Actually, it's [relatively] easily fixable

[Nick Triantos]

I had huge perf problems with my 3G after installing iOS 4, and no update ever fixed it. However, it is relatively easy to fix, just a small bit of pain. To fix this, connect your phone to iTunes, then restore, but don't restore a backup... Do a new install. You then have to reinstall your apps/photos/music/etc., and reset all your preferences, but after doing that, my iPhone is basically back to where it was perf-wise with iOS 3.x, and I get the new features of 4.x (which I don't really care about). As others have said, it's very hard to go back to 3.x because they upgrade the baseband firmware in ways that are apparently incompatible with OS version 3.x.

Re:Actually, it's [relatively] easily fixable

[UnknowingFool]

I found the main culprit was Location Services. It's surprising how many apps want to use it. I turned it off for everything except Maps and it made the phone much more usable.

Lack of Chemistry?

[Culture20]

There's an app for that

Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[realinvalidname]

The iPhone 3G has an off-the-shelf 400 MHz CPU with 128MB RAM. The current model, iPhone 4, has a custom-designed 1 GHz CPU and 256 MB RAM. Is anyone really surprised that an OS designed to make the most of the latter is beyond the abilities of the former?

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good point overall, but for clarification it's believed that the iPhone 4 runs at 800MHz and not 1GHz like the iPad; and it has 512MB of ram, not 256.

Seriously though, this is terribly old "news."

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

please don't let the facts get in the way of the truth. Don't you know, this is slashdot.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[niw3]

What we expect is that Apple may turn off some features on older models and let the early adopters enjoy mostly SECURITY UPDATES. It shouldn't be that difficult. My 2 year old phone is without security updates for months. On the other hand, even really old Macs can 'run' OS X Leopard. Great job Apple!

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhone 4 actually has 512M of RAM.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

While your 3G numbers are correct, the iPhone 4 actually has 512MB RAM.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

The point is that Apple is designing their devices to be obsolete in 1-2 years so each Apple user must upgrade just about every year (and not just upgrade the RAM or GPU, but buy an entirely new computer/phone--this is fucking wasteful). The old trend in technology was modularity and standardization (the PC). Thats not what Apple is going for, which IMO is Very Bad therefore I never buy anything from Apple. You can make your own decision on whether you choose to support these obviously anti-consumer practices.Also note that if you support Apple, you support their business model which will then proliferate throughout the industry if successful (which it is, sadly).

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[DeadboltX]

They should have prevented iPhone 3G from being able to update to 4.x since it essentially cripples the performance of the phone for a few miniscule features. If it was easy to downgrade to 3.x then it wouldn't be an issue at all because users would have a choice. Apple could have even put a few toggle switches in 4.x that disable the performance crippling features in order to get back some of that original awe when the phone was new.

My iPhone 3G's performance was beaten over the head with sledgehammer by 4.x. It can sometimes take anywhere between 30 seconds and 5 minutes to do something that used to take 8 seconds: get directions in the google maps program. There are constant pauses and freezes that last between 10 seconds and 1 minute while doing various mundane tasks such as sending a text message or jotting down something in the notes app.

I thoroughly enjoyed my phone for the first ~2 years I had it (I even stood in line on launch day). Apple's poor handling of the aging of this product is why I will not be buying any more in the future.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[mjwx]

The iPhone 3G has an off-the-shelf 400 MHz CPU with 128MB RAM. The current model, iPhone 4, has a custom-designed 1 GHz CPU and 256 MB RAM. Is anyone really surprised that an OS designed to make the most of the latter is beyond the abilities of the former?

No, not surprised at all...

But Apple fanboys made a very big deal out of the fact old Iphones get updates where other phones do not and were very vocal about it. Now this is coming back to bite them in the arse.

A measure of schadenfreude is permitted here.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhone 4 has 512MB RAM.

In terms of Apps, Apple needs to put up iOS version restrictions on apps within the store so it's clear to consumers when/if they purchase an app if it will work on their device or not. Doesn't seem that hard.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then why do you allow the old phone to update the OS. If it can't run the OS, don't allow it to be installed.

Re:Slow day for Apple-bashing?

[RavenManiac]

Not quite. Apple THINKS it's designing devices to quickly become obsolete, but forgets repurposing.

I was seriously considering replacing my iPod Touch v.1 with a new Touch 4 for its speakers, mic and camera. Then I found out that I'd need more than a spudger to open the Touch 4 to replace a battery, etc. It's GLUED shut so you need a heat gun AND a spudger to open it. It's designed so that very delicate parts are very likely to break, as in the 80GB iPod where the socket for the battery is thin plastic that breaks off when you unplug it to install a new battery.

My son dropped his iPhone 3G and cracked the corner of the glass. He "needed" a new iPhone 4. He gave me his 3G and it's better than the Touch 4, cracked glass and all. But I need to figure out how to make it mine, jailbreak it and unlock it so I can use it overseas. Maybe not. My Nokia smart phone is a much better phone than any iPhone--better reception, camera, and sound, so the 3G is my new Touch! Free is good.

Legacy support isn't good if it holds you back.

[mosb1000]

The 3GS is available today for $50 with a new contract, so it's not like Apple is asking a lot with the upgrade. The 3G does more today than it did when the last one was sold. Apple shouldn't support users who have long since stopped providing a financial benefit to apple if it would mean hobbling new devices purchased by paying customers today. It isn't worth it for them to try to keep "customers" who aren't even willing to pay $50 for the new features.

Re:Legacy support isn't good if it holds you back.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The 3GS is available today for $50 with a new contract"

You seem to imagine the price of that two year contract doesn't
matter in your calculus of how much it costs to upgrade to a
newer device.

But for the person who understands that a an unlocked iPhone 3G
can be used for significantly less money on T-Mobile's network,
the difference in real cost is significant.

Re:Legacy support isn't good if it holds you back.

[mosb1000]

And apple makes money from this how? It would be very counter-productive for Apple to support users who are willing to go to such lengths to avoid paying for the new features they would be getting.

Re:Legacy support isn't good if it holds you back.

[sglewis100]

"The 3GS is available today for $50 with a new contract"

You seem to imagine the price of that two year contract doesn't matter in your calculus of how much it costs to upgrade to a newer device.

But for the person who understands that a an unlocked iPhone 3G can be used for significantly less money on T-Mobile's network, the difference in real cost is significant.

I heard the Internet is real fast when you do that.

Apple has no more planned obsolescence than others

[perpenso]

Apple has no qualms about making your computer obsolete so you have to buy new things. The promise of the PC was that you could keep upgrading on and on with inexpensive parts. That's not as true as I would like it to be, but it's not exactly a lie either.

Not a lie but somewhat misleading. Apple's computers are basically laptops, and hence no less upgradable than comparable PCs. Keep in mind that the iMac and mini are basically laptops embedded behind a monitor or without a monitor. All-in-one PCs designs like the iMac have similar limited upgrade options. Similar story for the ultra compact PCs comparable to the mini. Also keep in mind that Apple does offer computers in traditional tower configurations and their size, airflow, etc is such that you can fiddle with the components. Admittedly PCs towers are far more cost effective for most users. I think the real problem with Apple's product line is that they only produce a tower for the high end users, they don't offer a simplified tower for average users - basically what most PC towers are. So Macs are pretty much like their comparable PCs, Apple just ignores one particular niche of the market.

But with Apple, they care almost nothing about backward compatibility and backward portability. This makes all the G4 and G5 devices out there all but useless... before that, the 68XXX based machines. Now, with multiple iProducts out there, they are also abandoning the people who bought their iProducts less than 5 years ago expecting them to spend more money

Just like PCs. I had a Dell Latitude with a Pentium-M 1.6 GHz and 1GB RAM running WinXP. It was OK, but an upgrade to Vista would have seriously degraded the performance. Much like the iPhone 3G running iOS4.

I'm guessing Apple is already regretting their decision to go with Intel based architecture.

Bad guess. Going Intel basically doubled their market share.

Why would this story be on here now?!

[theJML]

Seriously, I've been running iOS 4.x on my 3G iPhone since it was released. 4.0 kinda sucked... but 4.2.1 seems pretty stable and much faster than the other 4.x variants. Version 4.0 was released June 21, 2010... that's almost a full year ago. If you haven't upgraded to 4.x yet, you've either decided long ago you're not going to, or you're living under a rock.

Re:Why would this story be on here now?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here. 4.2.1 was running fine on my iPhone 3G... until I put it through the washing machine last week but unfortunately I can't blame Apple for that.

Maybe just this guy?

[kehren77]

I have iOS 4 installed on my gen 2 iPod Touch and it runs just fine.

Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

"New OS doesn't run well on old hardware!"

Notice these dumb stories turn up when we've gone a few days without an Apple story to bitch about.

Here's an idea!

[sfunk1x]

UPGRADE YOUR PHONE. If you care so much about problems with 4.0, why not upgrade to 4.2.1? It's a significant performance improvement over 4.0 on the 3G. But for fux sake, get a newer device. Seriously. I had an HTC G1 that I hobbled along with Cyanogenmod updates, but old hardware can only do so much. It's like asking an Edsel to do what a BMW M5 does.

all iOS 4 not created equal

[n8r0n]

I would have completely agreed with the premise of the topic when iOS 4.0 was released. It brought my 3G to a crawl. But, the majority of the sluggishness problems were fixed in iOS 4.1. Don't lump the current version in with the original release of iOS 4.

It obviously would have been better if Apple actually tested 4.0 on 3G devices, which would have immediately revealed a problem. They apparently didn't, or didn't care .. which is bad. But, the fix did come.

Also, a lot of the observed problems may actually have less to do with the OS version, and more to do with the fact that most users don't use the optimal method of upgrading their OS. If you just accept iTunes' prompt to upgrade when you connect your iPhone, you'll likely eventually wind up with a phone that's bogged down and sluggish. I've had much better results instead backing up my phone (apps, data, music, etc.), then using the "Restore" process to go to the new OS as a clean slate. You then, of course, have to restore from backup, after going to the new OS. It's an extra step, and probably shouldn't be necessary, but it gets better results than the basic "upgrade".

Make sure you're not confusing these two issues (OS suitability for older hardware, and the problems with direct upgrades).

http://www.enscand.com/roller/enscand/entry/upgrading_iphone_3g_to_ios4

Breathe new life in to your iPhone 3G with Android

[sycotic]

Simple, install iDroid and forget iOS :)

http://www.idroidproject.org/

Why I put my money on open handsets.

[w0mprat]

Whenever I update my Android phone to a newer version it only seems to get faster, slicker and more features. There's also a plethora of aftermarket ROMs which in some cases beat out stock carrier stuff on performance, stability and features.

Every update to my old iPhone had gotten slower, and features were introduced that Android already had.

Of course we know Apple does this deliberately, there's no incentive for them when they have billions to make, and they will quietly introduce features they see doing well on Android. .

You pay a premimum for ccess to Apple walled garden in more ways than one. That's just how it is.

iPhone1 just cries

[Rastignac]

More and more new apps are iOS4.x only. Old compatible apps are being upgraded and some are now iOS4.x only. And iTunes upgrades apps without checking compatibility first (it overwrites old compatible ones with new incompatible ones without a warning !).
People with iPhone1, at iOS313, are doomed.

Re:iPhone1 just cries

[presidenteloco]

Yes. This definitely sucks. I've been bitten by it.
I kept my previous cell phone for 8 years. I like not wasting functioning tech objects.
It's going to become harder to do that it seems.

Slashdot's icons confuse me

[Missing.Matter]

Slashdot has an icon for Apple, iPhone, and iOS, and yet this gets tagged with handhelds?

How is this news?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've known this since about ten minutes after iOS 4 came out...

get real!

[Anonymous Coward]

Some of you folks need to get real! A phone is NOT a computer! Its main function is to make and receive calls. Phone makers need to get back to this basic functionality, and quit trying to make computers out of devices not suited to perform computer functions.

Re:get real!

[LodCrappo]

Ok.. who let Grandpa use their computer?

BTW.. posting this from my phone. You mad bro?

Re:get real!

[RavenManiac]

BEST basic phone, hands down: Nokia 1100.

It's rubber! It has phenomenal reception, sounds great, easy to use, and it's got a built-in flashlight. Battery life is better than any other phone I've ever used; standby, at least 2 weeks; turned off, it will hold its charge for months. Talk all day. Text longer. Can't do that with an iPhone.

Has a loop so you can attach a lanyard to wear around your neck. Good for hiking, walking, driving.

Sometimes simple is better. [Find it on ebay for $10-$1000]

AT&T-Mobile

[tepples]

an unlocked iPhone 3G can be used for significantly less money on T-Mobile's network

T-Mobile? Isn't that (soon to be) a division of AT&T?

US only problem

[mjwx]

Yes, I know there are areas where Andriod is superior to the iPhone...but the iPhone is still the measuring stick Android is held to, and carrier shitware is an area where Andriod falls horribly short.

This is only a problem for users in the US. In Europe or Australia we can simply buy phones outright which have no carrier customisations installed.

Ive got it!

[Anonymous Coward]

My solution:

Don't use a P.O.S. iPhone.

Replaced mine today with the Arc (now that Rogers FINALLY has a phone I somewhat want...)
and nothing of value was lost.

5 minutes using Android and I'm happier than with iOS

Xcode is 5 bucks??

[Anonymous Coward]

The most surprising part of that article for me was his mention of Xcode costing 5 dollars on the Mac App Store. It's always been free on the developer page, and it looks like it still is. Doesn't it still also come on the DVD with a new system? I guess maybe some people want to pay a few dollars for the convenience of having it auto-update, though personally, I never want my development environment to change versions on me without my explicit instruction. Too many times a new version will deprecate APIs, force me to upgrade project files, change key bindings, etc.

iOS4 supports 3G, just not all features.

[Anonymous Coward]

Who needs to jailbreak to run iOS4?! My 3G is running 4 and doing it fine. Yes, it's a tad slower (it's really screwed with GPS startup) but my upgrade worked fine the official way.

The price of the really cool science and tech news on Slashdot is having to wade through crap by people who don't know what they're talking about.

Telling the truth

[bmservice]

Yes, hardware is overloaded on OS4