I personally felt iOS 5 is better on iPhone 4S than iOS 9 was.
Because really, are all the new features in iOS 9 more valuable than having a responsive and smooth user experience?
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iOS 9 on the oldest idevices: iPad 2 - iPhone 4s
- Thread starter Retromac2008
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I personally felt iOS 5 is better on iPhone 4S than iOS 9 was.
Because really, are all the new features in iOS 9 more valuable than having a responsive and smooth user experience?
It is what it is. The reality is that some people don't care, don't notice or what have you. Others notice more or care more. However if there is a simple fix until apple optimizes some of it's code I don't understand why people just don't it.
Why do we have to choose between beautiful aesthetics and fluid performance? The reason I buy Apple products because they're supposed to be uncompromising in user experience. Agreed, I can easily turn on Reduce Transparency for my iPhone and get a pure black wallpaper so I can go all out minimalistic. (which looks quite good by the way since my 6S+ is space grey)
The bigger problem is with the iPads (no pun intended). Turning on Reduce Transparency on my iPad Air does make it more smooth. But, it breaks the white virtual keyboard where keys don't darken when they're pressed which makes it nearly impossible to tell if you pressed the right key or not. For iPhones turning off transparency works well, but for iPads its more like getting stuck between a knife and guillotine.
Why should I turn down visual effects on a barely year old device?I dont pay 700 bucks only for me to us reduce transparency some months down the line
Nobody has to do anything. It was merely a suggestion. I can't speak to the ipad air, I can speak to the ipad 2 and 6s. But if it were me and I were really bothered by it, I would tweak the settings and be done with it until apple optimizes some of the code. These types of threads have been around since ios 6 and my take is that ios 9 is one of the best releases in years. There are quite a few 6s+ in work at this point, and I've asked those people about the stutter and lag and they look at me like I'm crazy. So not everybody is unhappy with their devices. And for what it's worth this thread is about the ipad 2 and 4s.
Come on, this is thread about the oldest devices. Stop posting about iPhone 6 shuttering here. There are many other threads for that.
Ps. I was happy how iOS9.1 worked on iPhone4s and with iOS9.2 it is even better.
Owning an iPad 2. In my opinion it ran a bit better on 8.4.1 than on 9.1; and the problem is mainly in Safari. Sometimes the homescreen stutters in a weird way, usually directly after using Safari. The stuttering disappears after a second or 10.
But there are two features I like in 9: the new cursor movement option and the Save-to-PDF feature in Safari.
Apps run just as decent as always, the only problem is that they get swapped away immediately when you switch to another app. Maybe that last thing is the main reason for why it feels slower and slower in daily use with each new iOS release: the RAM left for apps is decreasing each time probably.
But there are two features I like in 9: the new cursor movement option and the Save-to-PDF feature in Safari.
Apps run just as decent as always, the only problem is that they get swapped away immediately when you switch to another app. Maybe that last thing is the main reason for why it feels slower and slower in daily use with each new iOS release: the RAM left for apps is decreasing each time probably.
Of course. I rather have an iPhone 4S that has limited features with speedy performance and always responsive interface. Instead of a new version of iOS where new software features are mostly geared towards new hardware. Not to mention new versions of iOS are better optimized for newer hardware. To me, the amount of new features in iOS 9 aren't worth the trade off of having a less responsive UI with choppy FPS and lag across the board. (Strickly speaking of iPhone 4S. I've seen speed comparisons of iOS 5 vs. iOS 9. What I derived from the videos was that I should always take caution before installing software updates for iOS. I want my devices to stay fast.)
But installing new iOS versions on older hardware often makes the device feel slower than if I never updated at all after I took it out of the box.
Yes, and iOS 9 is laggy as hell on these two devices. Laggy as hell is relatively compared to the fluidity of iOS 5 of course.
On a going on 5 year old device, I would rather have function over some loss of "fluidity". Having an iphone 4 on 7.1.2, IOS 9 is light years ahead of 7.1.2 and was able to crash safari with ease on 7.1.2 on some websites. My ipad 2 is not the speediest thing in the world, but can hold it's own on ios 9.
Well, we all have our preferences. I'm taking caution updating my 6S+. Since I know iOS 13 on 6S+ will be most likely laggy, judging from what happened to the 4S if you decide to update past iOS 5.
Too many things don't work on iOS 5. You have to strike a balance between features and speed. 7 8 or 9 would be ideal. A lot already doesn't work on iOS 6 (even Facetime is broken), I'm sure 5 is even worse.
You can keep old versions, but they become less viable over time.
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I wanted to thank you for the advice. Did a reinstall of iOS 9.1 on my iPad 3 and it's running a lot smother now. Hasn't crashed in a week and a half (compared to up to a few times a day) and it seems to be quicker than before. A bit sluggish at times, but very usable now.
I basically upgraded to 9 when it first released on my iPhone 4S, experienced unbearable lag and promptly downgraded back to iOS 8.4.1 while it was still being signed. Curious to see if 9.1 remedied any of the lag issues, I started pouring through these forums looking for the answer. But here's the thing... people sometimes convince themselves that the phone is just as smooth on iOS 9 as it was on previous software, or "as smooth as it ever has been" so I know this is a terrible gauge.
Recently I found this channel, iAppleBytes on YouTube and he has been fantastic with doing comparisons of different versions of iOS running on the iPhone 4S (among other phones). This video put an end my questions about 9.1, and I am staying on 8.4.1.
Recently I found this channel, iAppleBytes on YouTube and he has been fantastic with doing comparisons of different versions of iOS running on the iPhone 4S (among other phones). This video put an end my questions about 9.1, and I am staying on 8.4.1.
According to the video, imo, iOS 9 is close enough to iOS 8 on a 4s I would update without a moments hesitation.
Fair enough. It's just a good point of reference for people making a decision. I personally can't deal with the keyboard delay.
Yes, and this is the biggest issue with the 4s on iOS 9
I do believe that it is better in terms of smoothness. Overall they launch apps similarly (iOS 8 v 9) with iOS 9 having longer launch times but the actual animations are fantastic on the 4s. On iOS 8, they often felt choppy or "laggy" but on iOS 9 everything is much smoother especially the app switcher.
Hopefully the keyboard and typing delays get fixed because that is the major knock against iOS 9 on the 4s I must admit.
Otherwise, it would be much better than iOS 8
I think iOS 9 is worth it, although I had to reload to clean up the mess iOS 7&8 made of my iPad. The number 1 reason is the mDNSResponder, which makes web pages load immediately on iOS 9, instead of the pause at 1/4 of a page I used to get on iOS 8. If you've read the thread, YMMV, but overall after reloading my iPad 3, life's been great.
I upgraded from iOS7.1.2 to 9.1 yesterday on my iPad 2. I felt forced into to doing this, as Pages/Numbers/Keynote on the Mac is incompatible with Pages/Numbers/Keynote available for iOS7.1.2, and I use all three extensively.
Pros:
• Safari renders much faster.
• Safari crashes much less. And when it does, it just reloads the tab instead of crashing the application.
• Some games run better. Alto's Adventure runs noticeably smoother, ie. more FPS, and with less random loading spikes. Quite surprised by this.
Cons:
• App launch and quit is significantly slower. Both the time itself, but animations also lag quite significantly more. This is the worst thing about the upgrade IMO.
• Safari is much heavier. Takes MUCH longer to launch and be ready, animations lags more. Opening tabs is slower. Selecting the location bar takes more than a second for you to see a response. If you spend most of your time in Safari, don't upgrade from iOS7.
• Most things are marked slower, such as switching between applications, going through Preferences, etc. Curiously, it does happen on and off, as sometimes things responds as fast as I would hope for, and other times there's a clear lag.
Am I satisfied? Well, I would never have updated if Pages/Numbers/Keynote was compatible, let me put it like this. It is not much worse than 7.1.2, but the overall speed bumb here and there makes it clear that there's a difference. Still useable of course, but it is clearly showing its age. I hope 9.2 brings optimizations, you know, the ones Apple promised when they announed iOS9.
Pros:
• Safari renders much faster.
• Safari crashes much less. And when it does, it just reloads the tab instead of crashing the application.
• Some games run better. Alto's Adventure runs noticeably smoother, ie. more FPS, and with less random loading spikes. Quite surprised by this.
Cons:
• App launch and quit is significantly slower. Both the time itself, but animations also lag quite significantly more. This is the worst thing about the upgrade IMO.
• Safari is much heavier. Takes MUCH longer to launch and be ready, animations lags more. Opening tabs is slower. Selecting the location bar takes more than a second for you to see a response. If you spend most of your time in Safari, don't upgrade from iOS7.
• Most things are marked slower, such as switching between applications, going through Preferences, etc. Curiously, it does happen on and off, as sometimes things responds as fast as I would hope for, and other times there's a clear lag.
Am I satisfied? Well, I would never have updated if Pages/Numbers/Keynote was compatible, let me put it like this. It is not much worse than 7.1.2, but the overall speed bumb here and there makes it clear that there's a difference. Still useable of course, but it is clearly showing its age. I hope 9.2 brings optimizations, you know, the ones Apple promised when they announed iOS9.
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I have an iPad 3 as my daily driver. And I would say it's more usable than on 8.4.1. (I am using 9.2 beta 4 currently) so update it if you're on iOS 8, but if you're on iOS 7, think twice before you act.