iPhone 4 sees speed improvements with iOS 7.1, and other news for March 11, 2014
When iOS 7.0 launched last fall, the minimum device required to run it was the iPhone 4. However as many iPhone 4 owners immediately found out, iOS 7.0 ran both slow and lacked many of the features of iOS 7 that newer devices had. But with the release of iOS 7.1 yesterday Apple has managed to rectify at least part of those issues.
Shortly after iOS 7.1 was released, reports started appearing that the latest iOS seemed to run much faster and smoother on the aging iPhone 4. Now Ars Technica has pulled together some solid data showing just where those speed improvements can best be felt as seen in their chart above. As Ars notes:
There's a measurable improvement over iOS 7.0 across all of these apps, some more noticeable than others. In a few instances, iOS 7.1 very nearly catches up with iOS 6.1.3, which is impressive given the gap between the two operating systems in some of these apps. It's not a complete recovery from the original iOS 7.0 release, but it's about as good as Apple can do with hardware this old. The small speed improvements are present throughout the operating system, and this makes the iPhone 4 feel more responsive than it did, if not always as responsive as it once was.
iOS 7.1 also helps with the UI jerkiness that was all over the place in 7.0. It's easiest to capture the difference in video-actions like launching apps or pulling up the Control Center shade are always visibly jerky in iOS 7.0, but they're smooth (or at least smoother) in the new update.
While speed improvements in iOS 7.1 will no doubt be welcome, especially among iPhone 4 owners, it should be noted that it's entirely likely iOS 7 will be the last new major new iOS revision to run on the iPhone 4.
In other news:
Apple has updated its Logic Remote app with a new streamlined interface. The Logic Remote app is an iPad companion app for Logic Pro X, MainStage 3 and GarageBand on the Mac that allows you to use the iPad's touchscreen to record, mix, and play instruments.
Macworld has some great tips on how to cut a SIM card for the iPhone 5 and 5s.
Wired has an interesting article on how one of its writers tracked Apple's commuter buses going by his house.
