iPhone 4s Users May Want to Avoid iOS 8 Due to Performance and Screen Size Issues
Apple's public launch of iOS 8 is happening today, but there is one group of iPhone owners who may want pass on the upgrade for now. According to Ars Technica, the overall experience of iOS 8 on the iPhone 4s is degraded enough that owners of this device may want to consider bypassing the update and remaining on iOS 7, despite the new features offered in Apple's latest iOS version.
Apple's iPhone 4s was launched in 2011 and is falling quickly behind the times. It includes a much slower A5 processor, doesn't have an option for LTE connectivity, lacks Touch ID, and ships with 2.4GHz-only 802.11n Wi-Fi support. To maintain compatibility with the device, Apple has removed some features from iOS 8, including AirDrop and Handoff for apps. iOS 8 on the iPhone 4s also drops underlying support for OpenGL ES 3.0, the Metal graphics API, and 64-bit ARMv8 apps. As a result, overall app performance is slower and animations often are choppy.
The iPhone 4s suffers not only from the expected feature loss and slower performance, it also is hindered by its 3.5-inch screen. With iOS 8, Apple is designing the OS with a larger screen in mind and this limitation is apparent throughout the OS. Apps appear cramped, and those such as Mail that require text input provide very little space to compose a message.
Apple faced a similar challenge with the iPhone 4 and iOS 7 last year and managed to improve performance on older devices with its iOS 7.1 update. As a result, there is reason to hope the company can do the same this year for iPhone 4s owners looking to take advantage of iOS 8 and address some of the issues in a future update. iOS 8 will be available today and includes interactive notifications, third-party keyboard support, a new QuickType keyboard, extensions and more.
Popular Stories
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, GameCube, Wii,...
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
Top Rated Comments
OS upgrade = planned obsolescence
No OS upgrade = planned obsolescence
:eek:
A bit slower, but I can deal with it.
MacRumors, you have the worst writers and keep posting stupid "articles" like this.
Your "journalists" should be disappointed in themselves.
What kind of stupid writing is this? The device came out 3 years ago. You make it sound like it is some new, crippled device made for stupid people.
More gems from this site:
(https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1780176)
Really? Adding more RAM hurts performance?
You apparently have no idea how RAM works.
What a disappointing site.