Apple's iOS 4.1 actually usable on the iPhone 3G (video)

September 4, 2010 | Devindra Hardawar
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iPhone 3GWe reported a few weeks ago that Steve Jobs said an upcoming update would resolve slowdown issues in iOS 4 for iPhone 3G users. We assumed he was referring to Apple’s upcoming iOS 4.1 update, and indeed it looks to speed up iPhone 3G performance, according to this video comparison from Lifehacker.

The video demonstrates both operating systems performing the same tasks — including general Maps, Photos, and Safari usage — on an iPhone 3G. iOS 4.1 seems faster overall, but the only major improvement is in the Maps application. Other tasks seem only marginally improved. Lifehacker adds that it’s still much slower than running iOS 4 on an iPhone 3G S or iPhone 4.

For iPhone 3G users who aren’t yet ready to upgrade and want the fastest experience possible, iOS 3 still seems to be the better option. If you’re a sucker for the new features in iOS 4 (which are limited to begin with on the iPhone 3G, since it lacks support for multitasking and wallpaper backgrounds) then iOS 4.1 is your ticket.

There will likely be further speed improvements down the line for the iPhone 3G, but since it’s now a discontinued model, I wouldn’t expect Apple to invest too much time in it. And given that it sports a much slower processor than more modern iPhones, and a paltry 128MB of RAM (compared to the 3G S’s 256MB, or the iPhone 4′s 512MB), there’s only so much Apple would be able to do to eke out more speed.

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About the Author,

Devindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's National Editor and lead mobile writer. He has been writing about technology since 2004, worked in IT support for several years, and studied philosophy at Amherst College. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.

  • http://twitter.com/filmochod FILMOCHOD

    You would think a tech site would know what makes 3G slow… low memory, not processor speed., Processor speed is almost irrelevant these days for most tasks.

  • http://twitter.com/lim924 Chris Lim

    nice video..cant wait to update my iphone3g on this….thanks.Chris Lim@lim924

  • http://www.devindra.org Devindra Hardawar

    A 50% slower processor than the iPhone 3G is irrelevant? Of course it's a combination of both memory and processor, I just neglected to mention the memory speed. Updating.

  • http://yountlabs.com Marshall Yount

    Devindra,The memory speed is not a factor here. It's the total amount of memory available to applications. The operating system (and Spotlight search in particular) uses up a significantly larger percentage of the system memory than previous versions of iOS. Therefore, there is less memory available to an applications running.On iOS, when the system runs low on free memory, open applications are sent the didReceiveMemoryWarning which instructs the application to either release memory or it will be forcibly shut down.Using iOS4 on 3G hardware, the low memory situation results in rampant didReceiveMemoryWarning messages. So many that most applications are crippled.Most application developers love using the shiniest newest hardware on a day to day basis, so the older phones never get the testing they deserve.

  • http://www.devindra.org Devindra Hardawar

    Thanks Marshall, I'm well aware it was memory size ;) Just noticed that I mistakenly wrote speed there, that's what I get for replying to a comment before coffee–

  • http://yountlabs.com Marshall Yount

    Most mornings I suffer from excessive didReceiveCaffieneWarnings as well :)

  • http://radioheads.net/ RadioHeads

    Wow

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