There is little doubt that iOS 4 is a leap forward for the iPhone platform and one which many of us have been looking forward to for some time. Wallpapers, folders and multi-tasking have been standard in all other mobile operating systems for years, but Apple has a magical way of replicating what has been done before, but with more style and smoothness that appeals to anyone who uses their products.
The iPhone 4 running iOS 4 is super fast, smooth and pure Apple from start to finish. An iPhone 3G or 3GS running iOS4 feel like a first generation Windows Mobile device which would stutter the moment you started to do multiple things. Judging from the emails and comments you have sent in, I am far from alone in experiencing performance issues on the iPhone 3GS and this is disappointing in a device that by all accounts is supposed to be more than powerful enough to cope with the changes. Remember, we are talking about a cut down multi-tasking setup, wallpapers and folders. Just how weak is the hardware or software if they cannot handle such simple functions? My BlackBerry Curve 8310 handles all of this in the blink of an eye and so do the most basic of Symbian devices, but not the 3GS.
Games like Angry Birds, Flick Cricket and other minimalist titles start to stutter after a minute’s play. The keyboard can show hints of delays just like the 3G used to suffer from and general switching between apps and pages in an app stutter like my old jailbroken iPhone 3G used to. It is truly a bizarre feeling to ‘update’ a smartphone with software from Apple and to then find that the overall experience is similar to non-Apple smartphones.
Apple has built a reputation by hiding the workings of computers, by producing a smooth user experience which just lets you get on with your life and by always testing and testing and testing until a product works properly. Well guess what, it didn’t happen this time.
Austin: “Yep, you really need to kill apps, despite what Apple say!”
Claire: “My 3GS is slow as xxxx now! iOS 4 is xxxx!”
Billy: “Shaun, how’s iOS 4 on your 3GS? Mine is so slow it’s a nightmare. Can I revert back to OS 3?”
On my iPod touch 2g not too bad. Apps in folders might take longer to launch . Found best rebooting after sync makes a lot of difference.
I’m happy with ios4 on my 3G. Faster and better than 3.1.3.
Sid
I guess that’s because it won’t multi-task on the 3G
I’ve not found it too bad. My 3GS is definitely not as snappy as before, but I’ve not found any dreadful slowdown. Mind you once or twice a day I make a point of shutting most apps down – this is common sense despite what Apple may claim. The main problem is the quicker loss of battery life. But, call me shallow, I’d hate to downgrade and lose wallpaper. It would be nice to have the option mind you.
I used my 3GS with iOS 4.0 for a couple of days before upgrading to iPhone 4 and can’t say that I noticed any major performance issues. There was the occasional abrupt transition back to the home screen as opposed to the usual smooth animation, but, other than that. I didn’t notice any lag. Battery life took about a 5% hit, shaving about half an hour off a typical day’s use for me.
I don’t know if it was psychological or not, but I definitely felt my 3G’s performance suffer after going to iOS4. Maybe it was because I was “anticipating” the move to a faster v4 device and I just wanted it to be slow to reinforce my decision to upgrade
How can I go back to iPhone 3. Agree with Shaun- my 3GS is slow now, very slow.
Not experiencing any problems on my 3GS. I will say that the multi-tasking smacks of Windows CE where there was no close button. (And the on screen keyboard still sucks.)
A friend of mine showed me his 3G running the update and it was dreadfully slow. He wants to know if there is a way to downgrade. Anyone know if it’s possible?
Another vote for anyone know how to revert back from ios4?? I like the changes in ios4 but am running on a 3G and it is HORRIBLY slow! Almost painful to use now!
Cheers!
Upgrade to iOS4 on my iPhone3 resulted in a grindingly slow phone. I guess that is what happens when you install a more resource hungry OS on hardware that is now up to it.
I tried to get back which was not easy until I found this great walkthrough.Re-installation was easy, but I had to use ‘RecBoot’ (Mac) to force it out of ‘restore’ mode at the end. You can read the walk-through here:
http://lifehacker.com/5572003/how-to-downgrade-your-iphone-3g%5Bs%5D%20-from-ios-4-to-ios-313
I hope it works for thers too. I am please to have my phone back and ‘up to speed’.