Apple holding iPhone OS 4 event, April 8th!

[muon]

So it's OK to advertise an item as such as long as it never existed?

Yes, in fact overclockers used to do that with processors. Graphics cards were mislabelled on purpose when ATI changed their naming schemes.

As long as they aren't pretending to pass something off as a (real) better product, I doubt there's anything you can do.

edit:

There seems to be a lot of confusion over this actually. It sounds like 9800gtx -> gts250 to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod_touch#Models

 

[CliffyBiro]

Yes, in fact overclockers used to do that with processors. Graphics cards were mislabelled on purpose when ATI changed their naming schemes.

As long as they aren't pretending to pass something off as a (real) better product, I doubt there's anything you can do.

edit:

There seems to be a lot of confusion over this actually

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod_touch#Models

The generations reflect the hardware.

By referring to it as a 3rd Gen device, they advertise it as having the latest hardware, which it does not.

 

[muon]

The generations reflect the hardware.

By referring to it as a 3rd Gen device, they advertise it as having the latest hardware, which it does not.

You assumed it did.

I doubt you're going to have much of an argument, saying what a name implies based on past history.

 

[Durzel]

Multitasking on the older devices would be an embarrassing experience. I agree that it's annoying and understand your frustration given the timing of your purchase, but Apple aren't going to offer multitasking on their older products if it runs like crap.

They like to have a strong hold on the user experience, rightly or wrongly.

It's not proper multitasking though. Freezing app state in the background and/or letting them do trivial small tasks is barely multitasking, you're just making excuses for Apple.

Just like there was no excuse whatsoever for iPhone 2G to not be able to support MMS (camera + data = MMS, it's not some dark science) there is no excuse at all beyond forced obsolescence for the 2G not to get iPhone OS 4.0 at all, and 3G to only got a subset of the features.

 

[mr.sly]

It's not proper multitasking though. Freezing app state in the background and/or letting them do trivial small tasks is barely multitasking, you're just making excuses for Apple.

Just like there was no excuse whatsoever for iPhone 2G to not be able to support MMS (camera + data = MMS, it's not some dark science) there is no excuse at all beyond forced obsolescence for the 2G not to get iPhone OS 4.0 at all, and 3G to only got a subset of the features.

So you'd rather it worked in a completely different way, that drained the battery and reduced the performance of other applications for no good reason other than you want "proper multi-tasking"?

 

[muon]

So you'd rather it worked in a completely different way, that drained the battery and reduced the performance of other applications for no good reason other than you want "proper multi-tasking"?

He's saying there's no reason to implement it on the 3G. Not that "proper" multitasking should be implemented.

Forced obsolescence is his point. Might make business sense, but not good for the customers (who will probably learn from this).

edit:

Although people should note that the 3G has a paltry 128MB of RAM. Way behind the 256MB the 3GS has and the 288MB the HTC Hero/Magic had.

This is ignoring the 512MB+ android phones coming to market right now.

 

[Durzel]

So you'd rather it worked in a completely different way, that drained the battery and reduced the performance of other applications for no good reason other than you want "proper multi-tasking"?

No, where did I say that? Don't put words in my mouth please. How do you know what it would or wouldn't do on the 3G and 2G? The whole "battery draining, reduced performance" thing is a total strawman.

Jailbroken iPhones seem to handle true multitasking ok (i.e. a step beyond what is being offered in 4.0), yet apparently for no good reason whatsoever it's just not being enabled officially on 2G/3G iPhones.

Like MMS which apparently the 2G can't support despite having a camera and a cellular data connection (GPRS) - which is all you need for it to work - Apple basically decree that a device won't have an update simply because, and for no other reason, than to force older devices into obsolescence.

It doesn't sit well for me, and I'm speaking as someone who has both an iPhone (2G) and MacBook Pro. I'm not anti-Apple but I certainly am anti-having features withheld from me for pure business case reasons rather than technological ones.

 

[VortexA1]

It's not proper multitasking though. Freezing app state in the background and/or letting them do trivial small tasks is barely multitasking, you're just making excuses for Apple.

Just like there was no excuse whatsoever for iPhone 2G to not be able to support MMS (camera + data = MMS, it's not some dark science) there is no excuse at all beyond forced obsolescence for the 2G not to get iPhone OS 4.0 at all, and 3G to only got a subset of the features.

lol. As per your above point if I'm accessing email: typing an email it'll freeeze while I browse but it'll still give me email notifications.
Pandora works in the background. Sat navs still run etc.
If I'm playing a game i don't want that running while I'm on the phone. I want it to come back to where I previously was.

Push notifications work too. If you've got an issue that programs can freeze when obviously some do but some still work ie pandora and others and the ones that don't need to don't then you're a pedant. Sorry.

 

[pioneer2000]

I don't understand the fascination with the amount of ram it has.... the footprint of these "apps" are tiny compared to a standard OS application - 128MB of ram should be perfectly adequate.

Devices like the PS3 do so much with just 256MB of ram.... you only need ridiculous amounts such as 512MB on a PHONE if you are being inefficient.

As has already been pointed out - proper multitasking is easily possible on the iphone 3G via JB'ing.... this is just Apple being difficult so they can sell newer phones.

 

[Durzel]

lol. As per your above point if I'm accessing email: typing an email it'll freeeze while I browse but it'll still give me email notifications.
Pandora works in the background. Sat navs still run etc.
If I'm playing a game i don't want that running while I'm on the phone. I want it to come back to where I previously was.

Push notifications work too. If you've got an issue that programs can freeze when obviously some do but some still work ie pandora and others and the ones that don't need to don't then you're a pedant. Sorry.

I was replying to the guy that pre-supposed that I wanted "proper multitasking". I don't, I've never said I wanted that, it's a misrepresentation of my position with an attack on it based on speculation (battery life, performance, etc). Like I said, a straw man.

Again for the cheap seats - pausing an application in the background and/or allowing privileged applications (GPS, etc) to do minor things is a good idea, but withholding "task pausing" from 2G/3G simply because Apple want to force those users to upgrade, not for any technological constraint (ala MMS), leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Non-iPhones manage proper multitasking with less RAM and less processing power, but apparently iPhone 3Gs are ZX Spectrums now.

I'm somewhat unaffected by this turn of events because I was intending to get the next gen iPhone anyway, but this is yet another reminder that Apple persue a modus operandi of forced obsolescence, and whatever new iPhone they release this year probably "won't support" whichever new features Apple come up with in iPhone 5.0 or whatever, simply because Apple decide it won't.

 

[Kainz]

Careful. No JB'd screenies here, or I'd posted mine just to laugh at apple's pathetic claims that the 3G can't multitask well, or have no 'wallpaper'.

 

[cu3ed]

Dont know which is worse to have to read, comments that dont undersatnd what was shown in teh conference......or poeple the bleet on about their JB phones, im mean really...you are gloating about wallpapers!?...

oooOOOoooo...wallapapers...you have fun with that...ill be using the thing for actual work.

 

[meghatronic]

I love how people keep throwing around the "battery" argument. The iphone battery can't get worse !

I have a 10yr old palmtop that can multitask and has a battery life in excess of the iphone, which to be fair is about 12 hours.

 

[Slogan]

It's not proper multitasking though. Freezing app state in the background and/or letting them do trivial small tasks is barely multitasking, you're just making excuses for Apple.

Well their equivalent to multitasking then. It was called multitasking.

Given that I'm sceptical about battery life of "multitasking" on the 3GS, I would imagine that it's even worse on the older models, which have less grunt.

 

[Yas786]

Wow is that all then??...oh well guess multi tasking is a good addition...nothing been mentioned about hardware then??.

Wonder what the 7 apps its restricted to as well ie the multi tasking....i guess Apple still wants people to do things their own way.

I await the ads claiming that multi tasking is like the greatest thing EVAR on the iphone lol.

Wonder if the hardware will be any good though ie improved battery life anyone??

 

[Kainz]

Dont know which is worse to have to read, comments that dont undersatnd what was shown in teh conference......or poeple the bleet on about their JB phones, im mean really...you are gloating about wallpapers!?...

oooOOOoooo...wallapapers...you have fun with that...ill be using the thing for actual work.

It's hardly gloating given that a stock iphone springboard wallpaper looks dull after about 5 seconds. Add some gorgeous gradient/texture wallpapers to your phone and trust me, it'll look visually stunning vs an average users wallpaper.

It's sad to hear apple come out with yet more claims that older hardware can't do x y & z, when it clearly can. Cut & Paste, MMS, Background apps, Springboard wallpapers - they are/were possible and already so well implemented.

 

[Demon]

Well with the iPhone, I think he may be right. Jobs suggests that multitasking is quite restricted to their 7 things. So you can only multitask music, or VOIP etc

Whereas with Android, an app running in the background can do anything, so there is far more scope for a background service to drag the whole phone down to a crawl

Or have lots of little apps running in the background not taking up much resource, but providing useful functionality, you can spin it any which way you want

What 7 things is it restricted to? if those 7 things include 3rd party apps, it doesn't sound too bad, but if you still can't play a 3rd party game, then answer a text message and go back to the game etc, it's going to be practically as useless as it is now..

 

[Feek]

Nobody has said that wallpapers won't be available on the older phones, in fact there's no details of exactly what will and won't be available. I'll be very surprised if simple wallpaper changes aren't supported on the older models.

 

[mr.sly]

No, where did I say that? Don't put words in my mouth please. How do you know what it would or wouldn't do on the 3G and 2G? The whole "battery draining, reduced performance" thing is a total strawman.

Jailbroken iPhones seem to handle true multitasking ok (i.e. a step beyond what is being offered in 4.0), yet apparently for no good reason whatsoever it's just not being enabled officially on 2G/3G iPhones.

Like MMS which apparently the 2G can't support despite having a camera and a cellular data connection (GPRS) - which is all you need for it to work - Apple basically decree that a device won't have an update simply because, and for no other reason, than to force older devices into obsolescence.

It doesn't sit well for me, and I'm speaking as someone who has both an iPhone (2G) and MacBook Pro. I'm not anti-Apple but I certainly am anti-having features withheld from me for pure business case reasons rather than technological ones.

Sorry I mis-read what you'd said. Makes total sense now.

I agree they could be hold it back to force people to upgrade, but they could have a very genuine reason for doing it as well. We'll have to wait for people to dig through the SDK and see how it's implemented.

 

[gord]

Where's the synopsis of what happened?

I'm a 3GS user so I guess I'm fairly happy but I prefer it when other people tell me what to feel.