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Ask Slashdot: Is iOS 8 a Pig?
kyjellyfish writes I've been using iOS 8 for several days and aside from a few gimmicks and add-ons that attempt to achieve parity with Android, my experience has been overwhelmingly unsatisfactory. My chief complaint is that the vast majority of my apps are slow to boot and noticeably sluggish in operation. I want to point out that all of these apps have been "upgraded" specifically for iOS 8 compatibility. Previous operating system upgrades have been relatively seamless, so I'm asking whether other slashdotters have experienced this degraded performance.
On my iPad 3 it works fine.
-- Cheers!
I haven't seen that at all on my iPhone 5!or my iPad 3 ("new iPad"). Some things are snappier, even. What device are you using?
I love it on my iPhone 4S. I can't use ApplePay so I may upgrade to a six, but honestly, my nearly three year old 4S works great and has great battery life. I haven't noticed really anything negative. In fact, it prompted google to upgrade their bad Google Voice app, so that in and of itself is a plus. FaceTime audio is also pretty great.
Wanted to add - if you have 1700+ pictures (like my wife).... your phone will bog down. Make sure you have the space on your phone. iPhones do notoriously get slow when they start running out of space.
On ipad2 and iphone 4s. Battery drains faster on iPhone so I will have to turn off all location tracking, fancy graphics and background schizzle services... basically turning it into pure "caca" mode. iOS8 epic fail.
Installed across my devices, it seems fine.
iPad 2, 4, air, iPhone 6, 5.
The lack of any mention of the device he is running it on strongly makes me suspect it is one with a A5 processor. Apple supports even very old devices because it helps the developers a lot having to debug for only a single version of the os, by contrast android development and the short support cycle is a complete nightmare as one has to support accross major and even minor releases. Android app reviews are filled with "It crashes at startup" comments, this is typically not the case for apple users the tradeoff being that their devices might slow down with each new release.
3 iPads, one of the two iPad 2s bricked on u/g, had to recover it via iTunes. The iPad air (Wifi, 128 Gb) has turned indeed into a pig. Performance is so poor, I couldn't even Skype with my parents this morning, Has Apple turned into MSoft ?
What did you load it on? An iPhone 1? A 4? An Osborne Executive?
Interestingly, I haven't seen any significant gnashing-of-teeth, complaining about slowdowns, etc. on the sites where a majority of the posters are actually iOS Users.
In fact, as per usual, I am waiting a few days to see if there are horror stories, particularly regarding my two iOS devices (iPhone 4s and iPad 2), which are at the bottom of the Compatibility List; but, other than one person with a 16 GB iPad complaining about slowness (and without others piling-on), this seems to be a very reasonable and stable Upgrade; especially considering how much has been added.
I've got it on an iPhone 5 and an iPad Air and both work very smoothly. Haven't had any OS crashes or glitches (a couple apps are a bit more crashy but I hope an update from them will fix that) and speed and battery life don't seem to have had any reduction.
So far the things that make iOS 8 really attractive (handoff, continuity, new document picker) are waiting for either Yosemite or updated apps so I wait patiently but am satisfied with the upgrade as far as it goes
Not picking a side. But it's kinda funny when you think about it:
* With an Apple device, you get regular updates to iOS, but your phone will continually become slower (planned obsolescence)
* With an Android device, the manufacturer outright abandons updating the phone the moment their next handset is on sale. (Samsung seems to be the worst about this, but, even Google has done it to stock Nexus phones.)
Pick your poison. Slow, or quick. ....then get ready for your next pill.
Umm, no. Nexus devices are supported for 18 months as they specifically say:
https://support.google.com/nex...
I've owned nearly all the Nexus devices and cannot think of one that didn't get an update to the latest OS within that time frame.
It won't be popular here, but you could choose any Windows Phone 8 device, register for the Developer Preview and get the latest OS running very nicely on even the oldest, slowest models.
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "we have a protractor"
Android is a toss-up. If your phone has an easily unlockable bootloader and is fairly mainstream, then you likely can get unofficial updates or a CyanogenMOD version which will be supported for quite a while. You also might be able to find other ROMs people have made for the device, some with a more recent version of Android, some not.
If you get a model that has a locked bootloader, the company won't unlock it, and it isn't a popular enough model to get the mainstream developers to look at it, then it will probably need to be tossed.
Meanwhile though, iOS devices typically get 3 major OS updates. That is, 3 full years of support. Some iOS devices (iPad 2 for example), get as much as 5 years of updates.
Apple devices "degrade" with OS updates in the same way that Windows updates do on PCs, gradually. But even after an Apple starts no being upgradeable to the latest OS release, it stays useful for years to come. My mother is still using my hand-me-down 2002 desk-lamp iMac, which has the old PowerPC processor.
Prior to releasing an iOS, the focus on development is implementing the shiny new features.
Post release, the focus on development is to fix bugs and make the iOS work faster.
In each of the past few versions of iOS released you saw within a month a 0.01 version increment that got rid of bugs and made things noticeably faster.
You therefore have the choice of jumping on the band wagon, or waiting until the incremental release.
Windows Phone 7.x was abandoned very quickly though by hardware as well as MS and developers. They burnt a lot of potential loyal customers pre 8.x on devices like Nokia 900 lumia so trust was lost there from an already very precarious situation.
Well, that's not quite true. You can do that basically only on Nokia phones and this does not proceed from the new ownership.
Disclaimer: I have an "intimate" knowledge about the product.
The WP ecosystem is affected by fragmentation in an Android-like fashion because of how the operating system is rolled out to the devices.
MSFT said that Windows Phone 8.1 will be available to all the WP 8.0 capable devices.. and they meant it. It is 100% true.
However, the most important part of the equation was not mentioned at all: in order to install the 8.1.x version, you need a firmware to support it.
Who develops the firmware? Manufacturers.
That's why all the HTC and Samsung users are still waiting for the 8.1 update and the HTC 8X/8S are not even able to install the latest 8.1 Update 1 Developer Preview.
On top of that, using the developer preview without an adequate firmware, causes dramatic battery drains and performance issues.
Looks like the problem is not who develops the operating system, be it Apple, Google or Microsoft, but who develops the firmware of the phone.
That's why Apple can afford to keep their phones constantly updated.
As Alan Kay said, "people who are really serious about software should make their own hardware"
18 whole months!
The 3GS was released in 2009 and got a security update 2/2014
The iPhone 4 was released in 6/2010 and had the latest OS until 9/2014.
Every iPhone released since 9/2011 can be upgraded to the latest OS.
Nope. My Galaxy Nexus, purchased new from the Google Play store in November 2012, was no longer supported in October 2013 with 4.3. That's less than a year, and the reason I no longer use an Android product.
The Galaxy Nexus was released in November 2011. So you bought an old phone that was current at the time of purchasing.
However there are a metric ton of easy to install community ROMs if updates matter that much, the ability to do what you want with your device was one of the cornerstones of the Nexus project. Compare that to buying last years Iphone, want to do something where Apple says NICHT, you're shit out of luck. That is why I dont own any Apple products.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Do you realise you are actively spreading a lie, one that I have yet to figure out whether you are doing it purposefully or accidentally. Google most emphatically does not support Nexus devices for 18 months. They only support devices 18 months after initial release. Meaning you can purchase the device brand new 17 months after the initial release and only get one months support. So they provide only depreciating support regardless of purchase date, based upon initial product release date and guess what, you get zero discount for that reduced support.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen