iOS 5 and iPhone 3GS - the advantages and disadvantages of compatibility

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@zaone the terminals have nothing to do with the applications, the target deployment is chosen according to the APIs used.
If an application uses APIs from iOS 5.0, that will be the minimum OS it runs on.

It's just that if iOS 5 and iPhone 3GS APIs don't work, it's clear that you're not reaching that user base. The developers also think about the target, it's normal, right?

We also discussed this aspect yesterday, but I see that you insist..if apple saw that the iphone 3gs has pb with ios 5, it would simply remove the limitation from the processor and make it an ipod touch 4..don't worry about it anymore I say that we are talking about a so for mobiles where if you have more than 128 mb of ram you don't have any pb considering that the bone is f well optimized.. not to mention that you published 1 month ago some pictures in which you could see clearly the os5 was tested on 3gs. I see that you like to create a state of dissatisfaction among users, put some prices for i4 and advertise it and it's perfect..

My opinion is that there won't be a problem with running ios5 on 3gs and one reason would be, for example, that multitasking on ios4 really needed a serious ram upgrade and that was the reason why it couldn't run on 3g and the difference the speed compared to ios 3.x is only noticeable when opening a folder, but now I really can't imagine what could compete with multitasking in terms of RAM and processor

I don't understand what you mean by the limitation, but please, iPod Touch 4 is from another category. Where did I put pictures of iOS 5 running on iPhone 3GS? I put with iPhone 4 a version supposed to be iOS 5. Yes, 128MB RAM is ENOUGH, that's why iPhone 3G is barely compared to iOS 4, you're right. Dissatisfaction? How about reality? I also said last year that the iPhone 3G would run iOS 4 badly, but there were some like you who said no, Apple doesn't do such a thing, blah blah blah and in the end it was true, I said it. The end of the comment makes me think that you are only looking for cancan.

@zaone: I agree, I also received emails when I had Taskulous for free asking why I didn't offer support for 3.1.3. It is clear that there are many iPhone owners who cannot use applications for the newer OS, everyone has something to lose, but this is not new, it is not only valid for the iPhone. I can no longer run Starcraft 1 on Snow Leopard, for example. Or a new version of software on OS X Tiger. This is technology, it advances quickly and we must advance with it 🙂

@Cashix: Yes, however in Romania not everyone has the money to buy an iPhone every year, let's not forget that. I am very curious to see how compatible the iPad will be with iOS 5.
For the rest, I'm back, DO NOT have any illusions that the iPhone 3GS will run iOS 5 just like iOS 4!!! iPhone 3G and iOS 4 is the best proof.

you haven't told us anything new through this article... it's only version 1.0.1 of yesterday's... what's the point of making all kinds of assumptions and being tense? what will it be...we'll get to June or when IOS 5 will be released and we'll see concretely...these discussions really don't make sense as you see/as if/maybe...and what's more, I don't believe what all the "closers" are saying " apple…

Maybe I didn't say anything new to you, but maybe I did to others. They have a point because some want to know what awaits them. If you follow the "what if" principle, this does not mean that everyone thinks that way. Many want to know before installing iOS 5 if their phone will be able to run the operating system correctly or if it will not be able to do it at all.

Zaone .. from today until yesterday I was thinking that maybe you have time to do a simple search and document yourself in terms of the iPhone hardware... secondly, maybe you can't see well anymore, I said that any phone with OVER 128 RAM runs any impeccable bone..thirdly, I see that your memory is a bit failing..a month ago you wrote an article in which you said that io5 was entering the testing phase and you posted a print screen or something showing several idevices "running" os 5, and no, I wasn't referring to that mess of a Korean article that shows an i4 with os4 beta

We'll see when Ios 5 is released. Everything else is just rumours, there's no point in getting excited already.

@Dragos: You mean this: http://www.idevice.ro/2011/05/01/apple-testeaza-ios-5-inca-din-martie-pe-toate-idevice-urile/ ? I don't see iPhone 3GS there, if you see it let me know or maybe tell me what other item it is. In that article he even asked the world why the iPhone 3GS does not appear. If so, then your memory has problems.
Otherwise, if you don't want to know what awaits you, that's ok, I know not to write anymore and I'll tell you directly then.

You're smart, well.. there appears the ipod touch 3g and you ask me where the iph3gs is.. and I'm sure I read somewhere that even the 3gs appeared in the tests.. I told you before if you're so sure, I bet on a i4s as os5 will run on 3gs and it will run really well

That's right, as you say, I'm not allowed to speculate but you are. If the iPod Touch 3G appears, then it's probably the 3GS. I end the discussion with you here. If the following comment contains irony, it goes straight to the trash.

"iOS 5 will of course require quite powerful hardware to run smoothly (…)" - what is this "of course" based on, irrefutable visions from the crystal ball? The entire article has no basis in fact, is purely speculative and, in my (and not only my) opinion, completely wrong!

It's purely speculative, but the experience with 3G and iOS 4 says otherwise. I'm holding my hands now, but if what I say turns out to be true, I'll give them back to you when iOS 5 appears.

Unfortunately or fortunately (it depends) Apple produces both the phone (iPhone) and the OS (IOS). Microsoft managed to create an OS (Windows 7) which, from a hardware point of view, works just as well on a system running Windows XP, compared to Windows Vista which required more resources. Apple's interest is to collect as much as possible, both from phones and from applications. I don't know how many have changed their iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4 (Apple certainly knows), but it would be fair for 3GS users to be able to benefit from IOS 5, until a certain point. It would do the same as with the iPhone 3.

but what's so hard to believe babe, one hundred percent it will happen, the 3gs will work like —– with ios 5...

I think the situation should be viewed a little differently. maybe ios5 will run ok on a 3gs but will the applications still run or will they be developed for 3gs? as examples we have igo amigo which no longer runs on 3g because of the memory and I don't think that any game made with unreal engine will run on 3gs...
PS: iphone 3g has 128 mb ram, 3gs has 256 mb ram, 4g has 512 mb.
any additional active service will take up memory (now running: mail, push notification, location, etc.). if ios5 will not be "redrawn" and will follow the same idea, it will only add new things to the existing ones, I don't think that 3gs will be able to successfully run applications in ios5.

Those who want to lie can believe that iOS 5 will run perfectly, especially on the iPhone 3GS. Those who want reality should look at what happened in the summer with the iPhone 3G. Whoever believes that Apple will keep a phone that they no longer produce in perfect working order means that they know nothing about how Apple does business.

It is logical that iOS 5.0 will go to waste on the 3GS. Are you not used to Apple? 🙂
I'm sure that not all elements of OS 5.0 will be available on 3Gs, it will be limited.
Who says that 128 ram is enough for any bone to run well is speaking out of ignorance of the cause...

iOS will run on iphone 3gs, but not very well. Not because it doesn't have good hardware, but because Apple decides when you have to change your phone.

It's like playing NFS on a Nokia 3310 or running WinXP on a 486 processor!

I don't know if Apple does this on purpose... but if iOS 5 requires more resources, it's normal for it to run worse or not at all on the 3GS... probably they won't offer support for the 3GS with the new iOS because they don't want to repeat the experience with the iPhone 3G and iOS 4. iPhone 4 will probably have the same fate with iOS 6 if it comes out next year... it depends because iPhone 4 has quite powerful hardware... I can't increase the resource requirements for a phone OS to infinity

@zaone, @cashix: Have you read somewhere (or maybe just imagined) that iOS 5 would come with a feature that requires powerful hardware? Do you think that music streaming, OTA syncing, etc. will the new notification system, or what else is rumored to be introduced, require higher hardware performance?

And I know very well how "Apple does business" - the latest version of Mac OS X runs on all Macs with an Intel processor, not only the latest model! 😛

@Tigris Regalis: You are so anchored in Mac OS X that you cannot extrapolate to iDevices. Tell me what you think of iPhone 3G with iOS 4.

@zaone: Due to the hardware limitations of the iPhone and iPhone 3G, their OS had limited multitasking (only pre-installed apps), no push notifications, and no copy&paste. Only after the hardware had evolved, could these functions be implemented on the new iPhone models, but obviously the first two generations of iPhone could not cope with such a thing, as it was known from the beginning (when it was decided what to be dropped from Mac OS X when the iPhone version was derived from it – the current iOS).

I don't see any more hardware-intensive additions coming to iOS 5, the new features being talked about don't require significant additional resources, so I don't see why iOS 5 wouldn't run on the iPhone 3GS.

The big problem with the 3GS won't be until after the new iPhone (probably in the fall, it sounds like) when there will likely be apps that will run well on the new iPhone, average on the iPhone 4, and not at all (or very limited) on the 3GS – always there are applications that demand the maximum / make the most of the existing hardware. But this does not apply to the operating system, which must be modest in its consumption of resources, which it leaves to applications (that is why the greed of Windows is not appreciated, which consumes a lot for itself and does not really leave as much as it should for apps), so it makes sense that iOS 5 is not designed to be a huge resource hog (which would also lead to accelerated battery drain, and Apple has always wanted to increase battery life, not decrease it).

Well said, a bit beside the point, but well said. The iPhone 3GS has a 600 Mhz processor and 256 MB RAM, does this seem like powerful enough hardware to you? I don't, iOS 5, no matter what it brings, will represent an evolution and will require more resources to function. The fact that you don't see additions to iOS 5 is one thing, but they will exist because Apple cannot reheat the soup for the 4th time with only a few unimportant novelties. It is heard that the new functions do not require additional resources? What functions are we talking about here? The big problem with 3Gs will be when iOS 5 comes out, not when another iPhone comes out, iOS 5 will run hard on 3GS. Does the operating system have to be modest in resource consumption? Check on iOS 5 how much RAM you have free on the 3GS and we're also talking about available resources.
iPhone 4 does not run iOS 4 perfectly, whether we are talking about terminals with jailbreak or terminals without. There is lag when opening certain applications, there is lag when making calls, Safari freezes if you open several tabs, I don't see where the 3GS is or why it would work better on iOS 5.

@zaone: Powerful hardware for what? For a mobile phone yes, for applications to edit 3D movies, to model molecules, for astronomical calculations, to run a robotic factory, for space programs or SETI@home maybe no.

I also don't understand why evolution is always equated with wasting resources. Even in IT, Windows 7 required no more resources than Windows Vista, and Mac OS X Snow Leopard uses fewer resources than Leopard (the previous version).

The news will not be unimportant, but they will still apply to a mobile phone, with a small screen and more limited functionality compared to a desktop computer, and for which battery life is very important. I don't think iOS 5 will be so gourmand that it will require the equivalent resources of a laptop just to run the OS!

After all, what do the hardware details matter if I can do everything I want on a phone? And on the 3GS I have no problem running the apps I need / like (of course, not with Retina resolution). Even if I don't-know-what app shows me that I don't-know-how-much RAM free, it doesn't bother me at all when I do something on the phone, and I also know that on Apple operating systems the RAM is not emptied when close the app, but only when it's really needed, otherwise the closed app is kept in memory to be opened faster next time, which is reported by various apps as RAM busy (but without any practical relevance).

In the end, the whole article and the dialog in the comments start from the premise, so far unfounded (based on certain information or at least on rumors), that new functions will be introduced in iOS 5 that will necessarily require a lot of additional resources. And this premise seems to me (until proven otherwise) wrong.

I have the impression that you live in a bubble in which only certain information enters, the ones you want to perceive. With each new version of iOS, functions were introduced that required additional resources. Even if in reality the iOS does not consume as much as Apple made it seem, still the old iPhones always ran out of something and the iOS ran heavy on them. Is it really that hard to understand? Every year the same thing happened and I can't understand where your thinking comes from since everything we are discussing now HAPPENS for 3 years now.

@Tigris Regalis – I personally went through ALL the ios and iphone/ipad versions. my experience so far supports what Zaone wrote above. I think that if ios is not completely rewritten, just like your example with win xp/win 7, then any new thing will consume the resources of the iphone. as the competition with android / win phone 7 is big, then apple is forced to come up with a lot of news.
and a personal question: do you think that ios 4.x works as well on 3gs as on 4g?

@Tigris Regalis: I think you don't know the difference between being able to roll the bone and rolling the bone well.
When I updated my 3G from 3.1.3 to 4.0, I cursed my days, the UI froze, it was much harder to respond to commands, without opening any application.
In conclusion, the iPhone 3g supported 4.0, but the experience is execrable, I preferred to stay with 3.1.3.
I am convinced that this is exactly what will happen with 3gs, this is what will happen with iPhone 4 next year and so on 🙂
I don't agree with something like that, with desktop systems it takes at least 2 years until a bone appears and that one doesn't ask for I don't know what resources, but we don't have it, what does it do...

@zaone: Indeed, you are talking about the last 3 years and you think you are talking about the future. Another context, another situation.

@Lucian: I don't understand why you think that "novelties = greater waste". I mean if iOS 5 comes with eg streaming or OTA sync features, do you think it needs a more powerful processor or more RAM? Even when you're not streaming or syncing?

As for iOS 4, I've had no issues with it on either the 3GS or the 4. I generally focus on the apps I'm in anyway, not timing the OS when switching between them.

You see everything as limited. I withdraw, I would take the discussion to the end.

@Cashix: I still believe that PAST performance issues are related to the introduction of demanding features like multitasking etc. on some systems that were known from the beginning to have a hard time dealing with something like this (that's why Apple didn't introduce those features from the beginning), but in iOS 5 we won't have something like that, so I don't think the problems will repeat FUTURE.

Where else do you put that the 3GS is in Apple's current offering, so I don't see how it would cut support for one of the current models (even if the model was released earlier)?

Another context, another situation!

@tigris regalis – any new option added must be supported by hardware. taking your example with streaming, I can tell you that yes, if it is implemented, you will need more RAM and a more powerful processor. for streaming and ota synchronization, you will even need a faster memory, a better network card, more services running in the background and if you don't have enough resources, apple won't implement them on 3gs. if from all the news 3gs won't work with the majority, then apple won't release ios5 for it.
the hardware differences between 3gs and 4g are very big. 4g has b/g/n network, faster flash memory, bigger battery, faster ram, faster gsm mode, display that consumes less current, etc.
there was a rumor some time ago that the OS for PCs is far behind the hardware. on mobiles, the hardware tries to catch up with the OS. finally... stop playing.

@Tigris I hope you're right and it will also work on 3gs, it would be a plus for everyone, but I'm skeptical about it...

@zaone, I appreciate your patience. :)))) difficult with some, I bet that most of them are owners of 3Gs
and hopes that they will have an iOS5 for 3Gs.
I personally think that they will not release iOS5 for 3GS because it has not been manufactured for almost a year or so. If they are still for sale in Romania, they are remnants of stocks that have no chance of being sold in developed countries. There are still a few months and they will stop production of the iPhone 4 with the launch of the iPhone 5. The remaining iPhone4 stocks will obviously be sent to third world countries. And so on.
On another note, when has there ever been a major operating system update and you didn't feel a decrease in the speed of a device?
This is what happened with Windows Mobile and Android.
It was the same when windows mobile 6 appeared, which works on a terminal designed for wm5, but... Woe to his mother.
A new operating system always has extra functions and improved cosmetics, otherwise it wouldn't be new :))))
I can say that already iOS 4 on the iPhone4 goes almost to the limit, I don't feel reservations in the phone's processing power, I have big reservations about iOS5 in terms of speed.

@Tigris regalis, you were saying something about "demanding functions like multitasking" introduced in iOS4…….
Did the world go crazy???
We no longer know what multitasking is?
Does the shit brought by Apple in iOS have anything to do with multitasking?
Apart from the fact that you "pick up" the application from the bar instead of reopening it, I don't see any difference.
Those applications do not run in the background, they only occupy some memory and zero processor.
I opened the test 5 navigation applications and all the games on the phone (about 20 I think) then
I left them ALL in the background and tested the phone on navigation using Tomtom.
It ran perfectly as if it were the only open application.
Take another Windows Mobile device (which supports multitasking since the beginning of time 🙂 ), open two GPS applications or two games and observe how the phone heats up....
So let it be easier with the multitasking and other examples you listen to.

@K4talin: Maybe it wouldn't hurt to do some research before commenting. The iPhone 3GS currently being sold are not unsold stock of the 3GS, which was offered in 16GB and 32GB variants, but new 8GB models produced as a low-cost iPhone model intended to be offered alongside the iPhone 4. The unsold stock the 3GB and 16GB iPhone 32GS were liquidated shortly after the iPhone 4 was released, with a $100 discount in the US, as I recall.

Do you want examples of updating the operating system without performance drops? Upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7! 😛 Or upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard to Snow Leopard. To give just a few recent examples. 🙂

I don't understand how you noticed that iOS 4 would run "at the limit" on the iPhone 4 - you probably mean the applications, although I can't imagine which applications don't work well for you, probably those in Cydia. Or you have problems with iOS after jailbreak/unlock. 😉

As for multitasking, of course the world knows what it means – multiple apps running in parallel, which is much more demanding than running one app at a time, as you yourself realized when your phone burned up . It's always harder to multitask - or do you only think when you stop breathing? 😀

And I don't see why it bothers you that Apple has found a method of multitasking that makes the applications run very well and the terminal does not heat up! Bravo to them ... and shame on those who only know how to find knots in the rush and spots in the sun! 😛

@tigris regalis – when the 3gs iPhone 3g was released, it was only produced in the 8gb version, just like when the 4g was released, the 3gs was produced in the 8gb version and the 3g disappeared from sale. I assume that with the release of the next iPhone model, the 3gs will no longer be produced and the iPhone 4 will be the "cheap" version of the iPhone. This sales system will probably disappear when Apple produces more iPhone models. I assume that when the iphone distributors will no longer have iphone 3gs and 4g in stock or will be on sale, the launch of the iphone 5/4gs will come closer.

@tigris regalis.
The best way to talk to yourself is not to.
In fact, I also noticed how Zaone stopped explaining things to you.
The man studies a lot, and does not come with information heard in a gossip in front of the building.
I can tell you that you are good at hardware and software.
I have been repairing mobile phones for about 5 years and now for about 3 years I have been repairing laptops at the reballing level
of chipsets. Please stop trying to explain how multitasking works.
In fact, between two laptop repairs, I don't have time to think because I have to breathe.
Muhahaha.
I understand the knot in the hair, but with the spots in the sun, where did you get it from?
Or in your concept the sun does not have spots on it?
The iPhone only heats up if it does nothing (probably the case of your phone)
I'm in England and I apologize anyway, I didn't know that 3 GB 8GS are sold in Romania even at this time. It's different here. They are NOT SOLD FOR LONG.
I don't know how you remember that the stocks of 3GS in America were sold immediately after the launch of iPhone4. Did someone send you the status update?
Are you the one who says that on a computer from the Windows XP era, if you install Vista, it moves the same way? Go brother and read the "minimum requirements" category for XP and Vista and make a comparison.... See what you would give. Yes the same? Or you would use a comma somehow.
Zaone ami, I apologize for being "off topic"... I got on my nerves.
In general tigris leads to something like this, but I think you got used to it.

I would have written more but I have to take a few minutes to think now... Then breathe.
After that, I'll get another laptop, to fix it (but I don't think you know what that is).

@K4talin: All respect for your work, but in the field of smartphones I see that you are not very up to date!

iPhone 3GS no longer sold in the UK? Please visit Apple's UK website and find out more: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone

As for upgrading to Windows, I meant going from XP to 7, OR from Vista to 7. I think you got it wrong.

And you see I've been assembling computers for a decade and a half and troubleshooting them for even longer. So don't beat me up with your vast knowledge...little kid! 😉

Now I see that you also repair computers.
I will quote a classic in life:
"You see everything as limited. I withdraw, I would take the discussion to the end"
By zaone.