Slashdot Mirror
Tim Cook Says Power Management Feature In Older iPhones Will Be Able To Be Turned Off In Future Update (macrumors.com)
In an interview with Rebecca Jarvis of ABC News, Apple CEO Tim Cook touched on the ongoing controversy over power management features in older iPhones. He says that a future update will allow customers to turn off the power management feature that has caused older iPhones to slow down. Mac Rumors reports: According to Cook, when the power management features were first introduced in iOS 10.2.1, Apple did explain what was going on, but following the controversy, he believes Apple should have been clearer. The company did indeed mention that the shutdown issue was caused by uneven power delivery and explained that its power management system had been tweaked, but there was no clear notice that it could cause devices to operate more slowly at times. Cook says Apple "deeply apologizes" to customers who thought the company had other motivations. Apple is introducing better battery monitoring features in a future iOS update, and Cook says Apple will also allow customers to turn off the power management feature, which is new information that the company has not previously shared. The majority of the interview was focused on the announcements that Apple made today. The company plans to contribute $350 billion in the U.S. economy over the next five years, as well as issue employees a bonus of $2,500 of restricted stock units following the introduction of the new U.S. tax law.
Wrong. 5S is not included in the cheap batteries, despite being still supported with IOS 11. Only 6 and newer are getting cheap batteries and there is already a 3 month wait time.
The issue isn't about how long the battery lasts. It's about how much power the battery can supply at a given moment. There's a huge variance in how much power the phone needs depending on what you're doing at the moment. Accessing flash memory, enabling GPS/camera/bluetooth, downloading data, stressing the CPU, are all things that will make the power draw go up. You need to make sure the battery can handle the power spikes. If the battery can't handle the load, the phone just shuts off with no warning.
The update slows the phone down any time the battery can't output enough power. Most of the attention is focused on old batteries, but cold weather can trigger it too. The original reason for the change was to deal with new phones with plenty of battery power remaining abruptly shutting off in winter weather. The phones wouldn't turn on again until you got them indoors in warmer air, at which point they'd realize they had plenty of power remaining.
They didn't make it configurable because their main concern was making sure people outdoors with ice & snow on the ground had functional phones.
Yep. And if Tim Cook wants to make an impression, he'd let users make their own decisions about what version of iOS they want to run, and give them the ability to side-load apps. This is just simple pandering in an attempt to avoid regulation.
1. You are free to run whatever version of iOS you want to LEAVE on your Device (there actually are NO "Forced Upgrades"). But, I will CERTAINLY agree that you SHOULD be allowed to "Downgrade" to an earlier version of iOS, if you Upgrade and then decide it doesn't suit you or your Device. But, that's why I never Upgrade an older Device until I let a few months go by to see what the performance issues, if any, affect those who do Upgrade. For example, I am "avoiding" Upgrading my iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 11, because of reports of performance issues with iPhone 6 and iOS 11.
2. You have been able to Side-Load ANY App you want on an non-jailbroken iOS Device running iOS 8 or later, using a couple of different methods:
a. If you have a Mac, you can use XCode to Compile and Install any number of "Open Source" iOS Apps written in Swift and Obj-C (and possibly other languages) sprayed all over the intarwebs (or, uh, you can WRITE your Own!). XCode is a Free Download (again, if you already have a Mac), and you only need to be a Registered Developer if you are going to submit your Glorious App to the App Store.
Slashdotters should be familiar with this distribution method, because it is PRECISELY how thousands of Open Source packages are distributed for Linux and other platforms.
Here's a list on Github:
https://github.com/dkhamsing/o...
And while you MUST use XCode, due to Code-Signing Requirements to submit to the App Store, (and also because it is probably still the best overall IDE for iOS Development), there ARE a few non-XCode iOS Development toolchains available. Caveat: I know NOTHING about these, what platforms they run on/support, etc. But here they are:
https://www.jetbrains.com/objc...
https://www.xojo.com/
https://www.visualstudio.com/v...
https://coderunnerapp.com/
b. Using the Freeware Cydia Impactor utility, you can use a Mac or Windows (and maybe Linux?) PC to Install pre-compiled ".ipa" Files, WITHOUT needing to Jailbreak the iPhone... Then, all the User has to do is "Trust This Publisher" ONE TIME, and VOILA! The onus is on the USER (just like any good Slashdotter would want, right?) to decide whether they want to do this...
http://www.cydiaimpactor.com/
Here's a list of some sites that host free iOS .ipa Files:
https://www.gocydia.com/free-i...
BOTH of these methods have been available and officially-supported since iOS 8 was released in September, 2014.
But by all means, do keep up your mindless Apple-Hatred.
Oh, and you Apple Haters and other Slashtards can ALL STFU about "Walled Garden", FOREVER, got it?