Apple investigating issues with iOS 4 upgrade on iPhone 3G

Back when we outlined the iOS 4 features missing from iPhone 3G, we forgot one key bullet point: performance. As more and more two-year veterans of Apple's phones have taken the plunge and upgraded to the latest firmware, slowdown and battery drain issues have become a common complaint, which is even more irksome when you think of just how little the update really adds to the UI. The Wall Street Journal reports speaking to an Apple spokesperson who said the company is looking into the matter. That doesn't necessarily mean a fix is coming anytime soon, but hey, at least you can hold the darn thing however you want.

[avengers93 Posted Jul 29th 2010 6:58AM]

Wow, so much anger on this site.

[theyenk Posted Jul 29th 2010 5:34PM]

@avengers93 Apple & s.jobs' arrogance - begets anger. Just like Microsoft's dominance begets hate.

[CultOfOne Posted Jul 29th 2010 7:06AM]

Yup !!
My 3GS has had battery reduced by 30-40%. It was great now it is crap. Do something Steve !!! or else I will take my dollars elsewhere (that's the only language he understands DOLLARS) and so will lots of others.

Wake up Apple and sort this.........

[FnuGk Posted Jul 29th 2010 7:25AM]

Does this apply to the ipod touch you get with the back to school promotion?

[3Stars1Sun Posted Jul 29th 2010 7:55AM]

Maybe a free case will fix the issues... hehe

[grahamgoh Posted Jul 29th 2010 8:34AM]

This actually made me pretty furious - considering I've been a loyal iPhone user since it's launch.

I've reverted back to 3.0 until they do something about it.

[fooldog01 Posted Jul 29th 2010 8:46AM]

This is kind of funny because my buddy was just complaining yesterday about how slow his 3G was after the iOS4 update. I'm still betting they don't do a thing to fix it. Maybe they will claim a case will speed it back up.

[koehler83 Posted Jul 29th 2010 8:52AM]

Altogether now!

"They blew it!"

[urbanpeacedivision Posted Jul 29th 2010 9:23AM]

I'm really pissed because I upgraded and my battery life has gone right ou the GD window.

[SCXFAN Posted Jul 29th 2010 9:32AM]

Apple should not have bothered with the upgrade on the 3G frankly.

Slower processor and lack of Ram is a real problem.

A big reason why there is no multi-tasking.

[therock11 Posted Jul 29th 2010 10:03AM]

Since upgrading to iOS 4.0 and 4.0.1 I can only access half the apps that I used to use daily because they crash consistently. I agree that this appears to be a memory issue because just opening up safari alone and browsing a website drops the device to 8MB available and then it doesn't close safari so you are left with that 8MB for your other apps until safari crashes/closes or you kill it.

[raghavny80 Posted Jul 29th 2010 10:13AM]

Why is the WSJ reporting this ahead of engadget??? Seriously is engadget becoming the fox news of geek world denying an obvious bias for all things apple.. No Ross, Microsoft is not a nazi socialist brown shirt group and Apple is not fighting for freedom of all mankind..

[MisSharKiss Posted Jul 29th 2010 10:32AM]

Mine was freezing even before iOS4, and it's worse since. I wish I had a White iPhone 4, now I wouldn't feel like throwing my phone across the room. Not a happy iNerd at the moment.

[solarbuddy Posted Jul 29th 2010 10:38AM]

What I took away from this discussion:
1. Turn of Spotlight Indexing
2. People are really angry, Apple!

What wasn't mentioned: Activate the multitasking center and turn off ALL background apps several times a day. It seems to me (placebo?) that it gets fast again. I think some non-iOS4 app is hogging resources after being run once.

[imperyal Posted Jul 29th 2010 11:02AM]

I have an iPhone 3g running iOS 4. Not a single problem, battery lasts for 2 days of normal use and 1 day of intense use. Like 3.1.3 OS. Performance is better in most apps, not all apps but overall very good for me. When iOS4 was released lots of apps are not optimised for iOS4 and I experience performance issues, not anymore.

[theyenk Posted Jul 29th 2010 5:31PM]

@imperyal - You my friend are a s.jobs bot. I can unequivocally say that you do not really use your phone if your phone lasts "a day of intense use" I would melt your phone in 3.8 hours with just my left hand. You son need to try harder.

2 days of normal use!?!?
Normal use for you must be, constant standby in air plane mode!

Looking at your phone while it sits on the table and daydreaming about how sexy it is... might be a method of "using" your phone but most people would say your doing it wrong.

[imperyal Posted Jul 30th 2010 8:35AM]

@theyenk Come on, did I beet you or something? I use my phone as a normal person, i have 64 apps installed, i use facebook on the phone. Of course, I think i can drain my battery in 3/4 hours too. If you want a more simple answer: my battery life is ruffly the same in iOS4, OK? And I can guarantee you, my phone lasts 2 days of normal use, some calls, sms and a little of facebook, not in games of course!

[mikefj2004 Posted Jul 29th 2010 12:08PM]

My phone is terribly slower then previously. Ever since I upgraded to ios 4.0 on my 3G it takes much longer to run apps on my phone. 9/10 times when I attempt to open up the settings app on my phone it’ll take 30+ seconds to complete. I’ve noticed that when I’m playing music while the display is asleep, I’ll attempt to turn on the display but it takes forever for the screen to pop up to type in my password. Finally when I do successfully put in my password the album view for my phone is always appearing and so I have to wait for the phone to calibrate it’s position to realize that the phone is in a vertical position and not a horizontal one. SMS and contacts takes a million years to open and when they do, there very buggy. Typing on my phone is very laggy, sometimes I can finish typing a whole sentence before it displays what I’ve typed. I’m very furious with Apple and they need to come up with a fix for 3G owners.

[drewmcd621 Posted Jul 29th 2010 2:52PM]

Jobs: "If you install iOS4 on any of our competitors phones, their phones have issues. So you see it's really an industry problem"

[Loohall Posted Jul 29th 2010 4:00PM]

My 3GS is now the worst phone I have EVER owned and I owned a phone Zak Morris would be proud of.. Freeze during calls (handy) all app freeze and return to home screen. Apple has taken us backward. I have to wait another 8 months on my contract to upgrade myself AWAY from apple

[Charlieboy189 Posted Jul 29th 2010 4:17PM]

Wow! I've got my iPhone 3G back. It was the spotlight indexing that was causing all the slow down for me. Found an idiots guide to turn it off here http://www.neowin.net/news/sluggish-ios-4-performance-on-the-3g-we-have-the-fix hope this helps others.

[Banonymous Posted Jul 29th 2010 4:41PM]

It also appears they took the ability to send pics via text with this latest update anybody having an issue like this too?

[theyenk Posted Jul 29th 2010 5:24PM]

Wow Engadget, what a crappy "article" it is more of a paragraph - with a couple of links to internal items tagged apple or antennagate - awesome-town thanks!! You didn't even link to the WSJ article!

You offer no analysis, tests that you ran, no real input or value added on the topic. Might as well start a new section called "Sources say...", or maybe "Problems exist...".

My iPhone 3G was unbelievably slow after upgrading to iOS 4.0.
Starting and closing apps
Bringing up txt msgs (OMG slow)
Bringing up contacts ( " " )
Lock ups trying to make or receive phone calls
Music would skip when the phone would do things (incoming txt msg, or opening an app)
All and all it was craptastic

I just upgraded to 4.1 -- and it seems somewhat resolved... But I also deleted dozens of apps, txt histories, contacts, trying clean the bugger up while everything was sooo slow.

I am interested if they snuck OS fixes in addition the only advertised fix: "improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display". Which IMO is more of an application of math rather than just lying to us.

Android here I come...

[lywell Posted Jul 29th 2010 9:45PM]

Apple, come on, get this bug solved soon!