Back to 2010

[SuperKerem]

I have a 1st generation iPad that's been unused for around 4 years.

I thought it'd be fun to downgrade it to iOS 4, and install the 1.0 versions of a bunch of launch iPad apps. I've got Pages v1.0, Keynote v1.0, Numbers v1.0, iBooks v1.1, and GarageBand v1.0 running on the iPad.

And surprisingly, it runs pretty fast! Almost as fast as my iPad Pro on iOS 9, when running these old apps.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I have a 1st generation iPad that's been unused for around 4 years.

I thought it'd be fun to downgrade it to iOS 4, and install the 1.0 versions of a bunch of launch iPad apps. I've got Pages v1.0, Keynote v1.0, Numbers v1.0, iBooks v1.1, and GarageBand v1.0 running on the iPad.

And surprisingly, it runs pretty fast! Almost as fast as my iPad Pro on iOS 9, when running these old apps.

Heh yeah, I remember my iPhone 4 was an absolute beast on iOS 4. So smooth and quick.

 

[sracer]

I have a 1st generation iPad that's been unused for around 4 years.

I thought it'd be fun to downgrade it to iOS 4, and install the 1.0 versions of a bunch of launch iPad apps. I've got Pages v1.0, Keynote v1.0, Numbers v1.0, iBooks v1.1, and GarageBand v1.0 running on the iPad.

And surprisingly, it runs pretty fast! Almost as fast as my iPad Pro on iOS 9, when running these old apps.

My iPad 1 still does daily duty as the "picture tube" in a vintage portable TV. Obviously it can't run the newer apps or versions of iOS, but what it does run, runs fast.

 

[SuperKerem]

My iPad 1 still does daily duty as the "picture tube" in a vintage portable TV. Obviously it can't run the newer apps or versions of iOS, but what it does run, runs fast.

Wow, nice!

 

[braddick]

OP: Please tell us how you did this!

 

[stevemiller]

...And surprisingly, it runs pretty fast! Almost as fast as my iPad Pro on iOS 9, when running these old apps.

Nice, I did similar with my iPhone 4S using the rollback hack that was floating around.

I know its a tired argument on here these days, but it saddens me how I have to re-buy the same fundamental performance every few years. And I know we're getting "more features," but for my mobile computing usage, my needs really were met pretty perfectly by the 2010/2011 era devices.

Now maybe I would end up upgrading anyway, for stuff like touch ID for payments, and the apple Pencil for drawing. But I hate that the motivating factor usually just ends up being that I can't stand how poorly everything runs.

 

[masotime]

IMO iOS 7 and onwards are terribly unoptimized. It's a bit weird... Steve Jobs used to be famous for an insistence of efficiency in the UI, something which seems to be long gone in the software that now comes from Apple.

If it could save a person’s life, would you find a way to shave ten seconds off the boot time?" [Jobs] asked. Jobs went to a whiteboard and showed that if there were five million people using the Mac, and it took ten seconds extra to turn it on every day, that added up to 300 million or so hours per year that people would save, which was the equivalent of at least 100 lifetimes saved per year." [Engineer, Larry Kenyon] was suitably impressed, and a few weeks later he came back and it booted up twenty-eight seconds faster," [Bill] Atkinson recalled. "Steve had a way of motivating by looking at the bigger picture.

I get annoyed every time I see the slow ass animation back to the home screen from an app. Take any iOS 6- device and compare the transition to the home screen. It is much snappier. The "Reduce motion" only makes it slightly faster in iOS 7+, and still noticeably slower than in iOS 6-.

 

[Hal~9000]

Nice, I did similar with my iPhone 4S using the rollback hack that was floating around.

I know its a tired argument on here these days, but it saddens me how I have to re-buy the same fundamental performance every few years. And I know we're getting "more features," but for my mobile computing usage, my needs really were met pretty perfectly by the 2010/2011 era devices.

Now maybe I would end up upgrading anyway, for stuff like touch ID for payments, and the apple Pencil for drawing. But I hate that the motivating factor usually just ends up being that I can't stand how poorly everything runs.

Agreed. It's pretty f****d that Apple keeps us from rolling back our devices to a previous OS which might have worked better. Yeah I know, blah blah its their OS and we just rent the hardware from them, but really... just like you can with MacBooks, we should be able to roll back iOS devices. My iPad Mini 2 originally came with iOS 7 and worked great. Unfortunately I had a hardware issue with the screen and needed to get a replacement from Apple which I was dreading because I knew it would come preloaded with iOS 8 with no way to go roll it back.

But hey, its great for Apples profits! That's all the really matters in the end, right?

 

[M. Gustave]

You guys are moaning about phones from 2010 being a little slow running current releases of iOS? Seriously? Do you have any concept of the increase in mobile processing power since then?

And does Samdung still support their phones from six years ago? lol

Another point: these OS updates also contain all the cumulative security updates, which you are leaving wide open on earlier versions. It's not just about "features I don't need".

 

[SuperKerem]

You guys are moaning about phones from 2010 being a little slow running current releases of iOS? Seriously? Do you have any concept of the increase in mobile processing power since then?

And does Samdung still support their phones from six years ago? lol

Another point: these OS updates also contain all the cumulative security updates, which you are leaving wide open on earlier versions. It's not just about "features I don't need".

Everything that the iPhone 4S could do instantly before in iOS 5 (email, sms, camera + the functionality of all stock apps) run 10x more slowly on iOS 9 without any additional functionality (in the examples above). (Also, security updates should have no performance impact.)

If the device could do all of the above perfectly in the past, it's clear that its processing power is enough to do the same things today. The truth is that Apple knowingly slows down these devices, by simply not optimising the OS for the older devices.

 

[M. Gustave]

Everything that the iPhone 4S could do instantly before in iOS 5 (email, sms, camera + the functionality of all stock apps) run 10x more slowly on iOS 9 without any additional functionality (in the examples above). (Also, security updates should have no performance impact.)

If the device could do all of the above perfectly in the past, it's clear that its processing power is enough to do the same things today. The truth is that Apple knowingly slows down these devices, by simply not optimising the OS for the older devices.

You have no actual proof of your little conspiracy theory, and you're completely wrong that the stock apps have 'no additional functionality' since iOS 5.

If Apple denied updates to old devices, you'd be crying on here that they're trying to force you to buy a new one. They can't win.

 

[stevemiller]

You guys are moaning about phones from 2010 being a little slow running current releases of iOS? Seriously? Do you have any concept of the increase in mobile processing power since then?

And does Samdung still support their phones from six years ago? lol

Another point: these OS updates also contain all the cumulative security updates, which you are leaving wide open on earlier versions. It's not just about "features I don't need".

i'll grant that its not a simple black and white situation, but i do feel like there is some sort of better balance that can be struck in terms of letting people who don't need the latest and greatest to still enjoy their product closer to how it performed when they purchased it. 3+ years might be an eon in what we've been conditioned to expect from smartphones, but by most other measures thats a pretty short usable product life for a $500+ device. by all means, push the envelope of tech with newer devices and OSes, but maybe lets do a little more to keep older devices running well for those who are still well served by them.

a 2010 iPhone4 has no choice but to only have security updates up to ios7 anyway. its already "vulnerable," so let those who want it roll back to ios6 and at least have a bit more responsive device. or maybe we even need to rethink the whole free updates mentality, and the cost of updates could cover the resources of maintaining security updates for more than just one year.

i don't know what the exact answer is, but i just know the 4S (or older iPad, to keep on topic) was great device that would probably still suit me today if they could maintain the quality of experience.

anyway, i always enjoy our bickering, M. Gustave. I read your every post in Ralph Feinnes' voice.

 

[Michael Goff]

Everything that the iPhone 4S could do instantly before in iOS 5 (email, sms, camera + the functionality of all stock apps) run 10x more slowly on iOS 9 without any additional functionality (in the examples above). (Also, security updates should have no performance impact.)

If the device could do all of the above perfectly in the past, it's clear that its processing power is enough to do the same things today. The truth is that Apple knowingly slows down these devices, by simply not optimising the OS for the older devices.

In the real world, they do.

 

[M. Gustave]

...3+ years might be an eon in what we've been conditioned to expect from smartphones, but by most other measures thats a pretty short usable product life for a $500+ device. urces of maintaining security updates for more than just one year....

...anyway, i always enjoy our bickering, M. Gustave. I read your every post in Ralph Feinnes' voice.

Not bickering, my good man, reasoned discourse.

Anyway, I don't know what the deal is with the 4, maybe a hardware limitation, but I have two 4s running 9.3.2, and they are definitely usable. The animations are a bit slow, no doubt, but I'm not all that picky, I used to happily use Windows Mobile on an HP pocket pc.
So we're talking about a phone from October 2011, fully supported and functional today in 2016. Any other company would've left you in the dust at this point.

 

[mcdj]

I took my poodle back to the pet shop and got a wolf. Runs much snappier.

 

[SuperKerem]

You have no actual proof of your little conspiracy theory, and you're completely wrong that the stock apps have 'no additional functionality' since iOS 5.

If Apple denied updates to old devices, you'd be crying on here that they're trying to force you to buy a new one. They can't win.

Sorry, but what did I say that was untrue? No proof? In fact there's plenty. For example,

What functionality has been added to the email/sms/camera app that justifies the slowdown shown above?

Again, it's simply because Apple doesn't bother to optimise for the older devices. There's no reason for the email app to take twice as long to launch. Apple does have the resources, but if the older iPhone worked just as well as the newest one (which Apple could do if they wanted) nobody would upgrade.

I know you're referring to this as a 'little conspiracy theory' in a condescending manner, but there's no conspiracy here. It's all pretty obvious.
[doublepost=1465730292][/doublepost]

In the real world, they do.

Ok....why do security patches cause a performance impact?

 

[bufffilm]

If Apple denied updates to old devices, you'd be crying on here that they're trying to force you to buy a new one. They can't win.

I'd be delighted if Apple dropped updates on the older hardware. My ipad2 has been on ios7 (and staying there) and I dread the day Apple has to 'restore' my device.

 

[M. Gustave]

...there's no conspiracy here.

We're in total agreement!

 

[Channan]

You guys are moaning about phones from 2010 being a little slow running current releases of iOS? Seriously? Do you have any concept of the increase in mobile processing power since then?

And does Samdung still support their phones from six years ago? lol

Another point: these OS updates also contain all the cumulative security updates, which you are leaving wide open on earlier versions. It's not just about "features I don't need".

Nobody supports their phones from 6 years ago. 6 years ago, the iPhone 4 hadn't even been released yet, and the iPhone 4 stopped getting updates a few years ago.

 

[M. Gustave]

Nobody supports their phones from 6 years ago. 6 years ago, the iPhone 4 hadn't even been released yet, and the iPhone 4 stopped getting updates a few years ago.

Sorry, five years ago. The 4s is on current 9.3.2.
You're nitpicking.

 

[bufffilm]

Sorry, five years ago. The 4s is on current 9.3.2.
You're nitpicking.

And you're ignoring our point...I'm in favor of dropping support for the older devices.

 

[oldmacs]

And you're ignoring our point...I'm in favor of dropping support for the older devices.

Best of both worlds would be Apple allowed downgrading. I love that my iPad 2 has gotten up to iOS 9 - would be fairly useless to be by now if iOS 7 was the last. However, if Apple just signed old installs of iOS, then you could choose which one to install. Since only techie people would do this (its hidden in iTunes) it would not be an issue.

 

[Channan]

Sorry, five years ago. The 4s is on current 9.3.2.
You're nitpicking.

I'm not. There's no doubt Apple supports their devices longer than anyone else, but people exaggerate all the time to make Apple look way better than the competition and that's what I thought you were doing.

Just a few days ago someone tried saying the Galaxy S7 should have a better camera than the 6s since it came out a few months ago where the iPhone came out a year ago. Made it seem like the iPhone is about a year older when it's only a little over 5 months older.

 

[bufffilm]

In the real world, they do.

Not really.

Sometimes other related software components have to be upgraded as well to patch the hole , but generally security updates have minimal impact on performance. At least with Windows devices.

The problem lies in that Apple doesn't roll out security updates solely. Often they are lumped in with other updates and that's when performance starts to suffer. And that's why many people just accept the lie that getting security updates means your device may get slower.

 

[0007776]

If Apple denied updates to old devices, you'd be crying on here that they're trying to force you to buy a new one. They can't win.

There is room between not providing updates and forcing them on you if you have to restore for some reason. They could win by keeping their support as it is now, and changing their policy to allow iOS devices to be downgraded to an older OS. They could even put up a big scary warning that you are going to a less secure OS if you try to downgrade, and make you recognize that before you install.