

How Apple Took The Fun Out of Owning an iPhone - mcantelon
http://medialoper.com/how-apple-took-the-fun-out-of-owning-an-iphone/

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dieterrams
> Of course, I could downgrade the OS back to a previous version. That is, if
> I wanted to go through a long, involved, and potentially brickifying
> process. But I shouldn’t have to do that.

Cry me a river. I bet it would have taken less time to downgrade than it took
to write that post. And there's not much risk of bricking. (He seems to think
his phone is unbearably slow now, so why not?)

He also never mentions attempting to do a restore, which has fixed the problem
for a lot people. There's obviously just something buggy that'll likely get
fixed with 4.1.

In the meantime, how many of these trivial stories are going to get FPed on
HN? (In fairness, this has probably affected more people than Antennagate. I
just can't believe every tech issue is getting trotted out here like it's an
Apple bug reporting tool. This isn't even a new problem.)

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modeless
Apple already got plenty of flak for leaving out features like wallpapers in
the name of performance; if they hadn't released iOS4 for the 3G at all they
would have been crucified by the same people. Releasing the update and telling
people not to install it would also have been a dumb idea. The only thing they
can reasonably do is allow downgrades back to 3, or improve performance in
4.1.

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cheald
I agree with you that Apple could not really have feasibly avoided releasing
iOS4 on the 3G/3GS, but the author makes a fair point that they _do_ own the
whole stack, and either didn't test performance or didn't care enough to tell
people that it would perform slower on older hardware. It's not like iOS 4 on
3GS hardware was an unforeseen combination. From what I've seen from friends
and on Youtube, the problem isn't minute, either - it's a drastically worse
experience. It seems like something like that should have been caught.

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ChRoss
I don't have iPhone 4, and can't say much how is the performance. But
according to my experience, it's software issue (memory management). After
upgrading my 3GS to iOS, my daily task is to kill all apps in the multitasking
bar when it feel sluggish. I can check from iMemGraph, the free memory is
increased substantially.

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anigbrowl
It's a bit self-centered, but seems to capture a mood all the same. I'm struck
by the contrast between the fevered increase of AAPL prior to the launch and
the resigned decline in its price since then. It's rather a shame that all the
genuine effort and progress that went into their latest device has been
overshadowed by this antenna issue, but so it goes. I'm reminded of the G4
Cube.

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ben1040
Installing iOS 4 on my iPhone 3G made me think back to when I upgraded to
Windows XP in 2001. The computer was top of the line when I bought it just 2
years prior, but XP was a total dog on it.

However, a 2 year old PC would run Windows 7 just fine when it came out. It
seems like there was a tipping point where PCs became overpowered relative to
what most people ask of them. As a result they have more staying power in the
face of software updates.

It doesn't look like we've hit that point with smartphones yet, but I wonder
when we will...

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dieterrams
This isn't actually a problem with the 3G being underpowered. Something is
buggy with the 3G build.

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ryanjmo
I actually prefer not having multi-tasking on my iPhone. I really like that
when I close an application it is gone and not running in the background
taking up memory or doing unknown things.

No multi-tasking keeps things simple, which is how I like them on a device
with a such a small screen (since you can only look at one thing anyway).

I also think not allowing multi-tasking encourages good development practices.
It encourages software that can deal with a quick exit by the user at any
time, but at the same time get them back to where they were. I find a lot of
the iPhone software nice for this reason.

In my opinion, no multi-tasking is a feature. If it were an option on iOS4 I
would turn it on.

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trezor
For some applications (like Spotify) that is simply not an option.

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thethimble
There's no end to the whining. It's either:

1\. Apple didn't put feature X into its product.

or

2\. Apple put feature X into its product.

Either way, the same group of people end up crying.

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BornInTheUSSR
Waaah!

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ilkhd2
And that was such cosy begining, with 6502 and a garage....

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fmora
I wonder if this is the beginning of the end. It seems that Android has Apple
rushing to deliver products that are not up to their usual standards. They've
had problems before but this seems much more systemic.

~~~
anigbrowl
As an Android user I'd say no. No company can consistently outdo its own hype,
let alone Apple; while the new phone/OS has proved anticlimactic (especially
after the great launch of the iPad), it's hardly a disaster. The only end I
see is to their having the smartphone market largely to themselves. They'll
lose a bit of market share over the next year, between increased competition
and an indifferent response to the new iPhone.

The biggest challenge I see in the immediate term is how to differentiate
their next offering from the competition. Of course they can further reduce
size and weight, but this is an area of diminishing returns. The current
generation of smartphones are not much more bulky than a wallet, which is
Small Enough for most people. Speed is kind of limited by the quality of the
carrier, so I think the next gen fight will be all about battery life.

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Tycho
I had a go of the iPhone 4 in the shop on launch day. My only complaint was
that it was actually a bit too light! I like the solid feel of the 3G (no idea
why this is... Maybe something to do with associating weight with heavier and
more expensive metals)

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jesseendahl
The iPhone 4 is actually 0.1 ounces (4 grams) heavier than the 3G, which makes
sense since it has more glass, less plastic, and the steel band.

iPhone 4 Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams) iPhone 3GS Weight: 4.8 ounces (135
grams) iPhone 3G Weight: 4.7 ounces (133 grams)

Sources:

<http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html>
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/specs.html>
<http://support.apple.com/kb/sp495>

