Josh Ong
Lifehacker has posted a video comparing an iPhone 3G running iOS 4.0 with one running iOS 4.1. In the "tests," which are shown side-by-side, iOS 4.1 bests iOS 4.0, sometimes by as much as 10 seconds.
iOS 4.1 won all four tests, which involved sending a text message, locating a store in Google Maps, displaying a photo, and loading a website. The tests were conducted on a single iPhone and then stitched together. The version of iOS 4.1 used was a "final release" version.
In testing, the most noticeable difference was "UI responsiveness." The UI for iOS 4.1 "didn't get stuck nearly as much" on interface elements or when entering text.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs announced Wednesday that the iOS 4.1 update will ship on Sept. 8. Jobs specifically mentioned iPhone 3G performance as a "bug" that would be fixed with the update. Long-awaited proximity sensor and bluetooth fixes will also be included in iOS 4.1.
Users who upgraded to iOS 4 on their iPhone 3G have reported serious slowdown of their phones, with some units becoming "unusable." In July, Apple told the Wall Street Journal that it was aware of the reports and looking into the matter.
Several key features of iOS 4, such as multitasking and data protection, are disabled on the iPhone 3G.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
71 Comments
Like people are saying on Lifehacker and Gizmodo, there needs to be a test between 4.1 and 3.1.3. 4.0 is so bad that anything is going to look better while 3.1.3 is the benchmark for the phone.
I wonder if it's a bug-fix or an overall improvement to the code or the stack. The latter would mean improved performance on all devices running iOS 4.1, where the former would probably mean no improvements for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 users.
great point i downgraded my iphone, did some tweeks with my wifes iphone (turned off searchlight)
that did improve it, but it still isn't quite as responsive as my 3.x
soooooo, when someone does this comparison i will wait till it makes sense, i don't want to go through another downgrade
The video has two iphone 3GS's being demonstrated, not 3G's...
I wonder if it's a bug-fix or an overall improvement to the code or the stack. The latter would mean improved performance on all devices running iOS 4.1, where the former would probably mean no improvements for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 users.
4.1 appears to be marginally faster across the board, but the 3G iPhones that were affected (not all were having this problem) are seeing huge gains. So it appears there is some code refining and a big fix for whatever was ailing some 3G iPhones.