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Ask Slashdot: Is iOS 8 a Pig?

Posted by timothy on from the not-intended-to-denigrate-pigs dept.

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.

21 of 504 comments (clear)

  1. Alright smart guy by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What did you load it on? An iPhone 1? A 4? An Osborne Executive?

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    1. Re:Alright smart guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It would still be a problem because Apple shouldn't allow the upgrade to be installed on a device which can't run it properly.

    2. Re:Alright smart guy by macs4all · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think we found the Apple fan boy...

      ...Who at least has the Cajones to submit under his own Username, COWARD.

    3. Re:Alright smart guy by zarthrag · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Why can't all fpga/microcontroller manufacturers just release free optimizing compilers???
    4. Re: Alright smart guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I saw a significant battery drain the day I upgraded, but this wasn't repeated the following days. Whilst I initially thought it was the soaps, it might merely have been transient - a combination of using the phone a lot more playing with new features , and perhaps some background activity associated with an upgrade in place. After the first day it's been normal.

    5. Re:Alright smart guy by macs4all · · Score: 5, Insightful

      * With an Apple device, you get regular updates to iOS, but your phone will continually become slower (planned obsolescence)

      I don't think that "planned obsolescence" means what you think it does.

      What you have with iOS on older devices is the race between Moore's Law and "Feature Creep". That is not "Planned". It just is.

      It would only be "Planned Obsolescence" if the user was forced to install an iOS Upgrade. But they aren't; so it isn't.

      So, it is not a matter of "picking your poison". Apple attempts to offer its OS Upgrades as far back as they can, even if some of the oldest devices may, in some cases, and then, only for some users, suffer a bit.

      That is why the prudent iOS User with hardware > 1 Generation "back", waits a few days/weeks to see if they should Upgrade. After all, all it takes to not Upgrade, is to, well, not Upgrade. You iOS Device will continue to work exactly as always.

      When will supposedly tech-savvy Slashdotters actually get that? Seems like "Willful Ignorance" to me...

    6. Re:Alright smart guy by CODiNE · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Features don't come for free. But really Apple could avoid this whole problem if they didn't block downgrading. Let people try if they think it'll run fast enough on the oldest supported device, then let them change their minds If it doesn't.

      But the problem is they want to prevent jail breaking and as a consequence downgrading is rare.

      --
      Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
    7. Re: Alright smart guy by binary+paladin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Google's lack of long term support was one of the two reasons I just switched to iOS. I've seen a couple 4S (the oldest supported by iOS 8) that are still working just fine. However, Kitkat on my Galaxy Nexus? "No way man... that phone phone is like 18 months old man." Kitkat even lowered the memory needs of the OS.

      I fail to see how Apple offering long term support on their devices is somehow planned obsolescence versus Android devices which are just flat out abandoned by those unwilling to install custom roms.

    8. Re:Alright smart guy by sabri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You think there is something funny about this?

      At least he has the cajones to admit his mistakes, with his username, COWARD.

      --
      I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
    9. Re:Alright smart guy by Wycliffe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Umm, no. Nexus devices are supported for 18 months as they specifically say

      You're trying to argue but I think you just proved his point. Considering that most phones in the USA are
      still sold with a 24 month contract, having only 18 months worth of support is a complete joke. 48 months
      should be the bare minimum but even then it's hard to argue against the fact that both sides are doing their
      own version of "planned obsolescence". Some of this will happen naturally as newer systems are faster
      but it's annoying when you are forced to upgrade just to maintain status quo. I had an older android
      phone and eventually had to upgrade because many of the apps stopped supporting my phone.

    10. Re:Alright smart guy by macs4all · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Features don't come for free. But really Apple could avoid this whole problem if they didn't block downgrading. Let people try if they think it'll run fast enough on the oldest supported device, then let them change their minds If it doesn't.

      But the problem is they want to prevent jail breaking and as a consequence downgrading is rare.

      While I agree that it would be nice if Apple would make a provision to downgrade on older h/w to the Revision - 1 (only); the truth is, it is enough of a pain to modify existing data-structures that I would bet that you would be hard-pressed to name any Mobile OS that allows a clean and simple "downgrade" without completely wiping the device.

      And you are right; it does leave the door open to Jailbreaking>

      But for most Android owners this isn't an issue; because they almost never get an Upgrade anyway...

    11. Re:Alright smart guy by amiga3D · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I've got a Samsung S2 Skyrocket and my wife has a Samsung Note 3. My Skyrocket hasn't had an upgrade available since just after I bought it over 2 and a half years ago. The Note 3 upgraded just after I bought it but it's only 3 months old. I've seen my friend update his iPhone 3 times now and he just put iOS 8 on it. He says it didn't seem to slow it down any and he's waiting on the next iPhone to upgrade so he must be okay with it. I don't have phone religion but I wont buy a phone without an SD slot so that leaves Apple out.

    12. Re:Alright smart guy by Bert64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Only you are, if you ever need to wipe your phone and reinstall then you are only able to install the latest version of iOS, unless you've previously jailbroken and cached the previous versions - which isn't officially supported by apple.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    13. Re:Alright smart guy by Moderator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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 World is Yours.
    14. Re:Alright smart guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You think there is something funny about this?

      It's hilarious to see Slashdotters being so easily manipulated by Apple's Social Media Managers (SMMs).

      They've pushed the real discussion so far down that nobody'll read anything which might threaten the RDF...

    15. Re:Alright smart guy by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      18 months, huh? you think that's long enough?

      I still have my N1 phone and its still in nearly new physical condition. bugfixes and security updates stopped several years ago. should I throw it out? even CM is not updated for this phone.

      otoh, I have pc's that are more than 10 yrs old, STILL SECURE and STILL able to be updated.

      fuck google. they are children with a short attention span. they make linux look like something worse than MS or apple (even MS and apple give more updates than google does on older hardware.)

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    16. Re:Alright smart guy by SJ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So you bought an old phone that was current at the time of purchasing.

      It seem he bought a current phone at the the time of purchasing. Because... that's what was currently available.

      The warranty starts from the date of purchase, not the date the design was handed over to manufacturing.

      If Google supports a phone for 18 months, then they have to support it for 18 months from the date it was last officially on sale.

    17. Re:Alright smart guy by Malc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You must have serious amounts of spare if you think it's an acceptable solution to go looking around an online community for solutions like this. I don't have the time nor inclination to do this with every device in my household. Maybe once because it's interesting, but that's pushing it. It's a phone or table device FFS, I just want it to work and spend my time more usefully.

      Furthermore, if the device was current at the time it was bought, it's irrelevant how long it was since the original release date. It's reasonable to expect a useful support period. What the grandparent post described is totally unacceptable.

  2. Smells like a troll! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    An iPhone user talking up Android and pissing on IOS 8. Smells like a troll.

    Regardless, no problems for me on either a 5 or 5S.

  3. Multiple devices, works great by thoth_amon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been running iOS8 since pre-beta on multiple devices, including phones and iPads. I've had no problem, nothing at all like you describe.

    If you're so inclined, I'd try a fresh install and see if that makes things run better. You can always restore from backup later.

    I assume there was nothing strange about your iOS7 install, like being jailbroken, right?

  4. Willfullly blind? by Uberbah · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Fandroid talk starts in his first sentence:

    gimmicks and add-ons that attempt to achieve parity with Android

    You could of course say the same thing about every Android device evah while pointing at the very first iPhone, save the screen size of the Galaxy.

    Zombie Jobs isn't holding a gun to your heads. Just try buying what you want, that does what you want, without pretending that your personal product preferences came carved on tables sent down by God.