Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 12th Jun 2012 23:59 UTC
So, iOS 6 will make its way to devices all the way back to the 3GS... But many key features are not available at all on the 3GS, and even the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 are seeing features held back. "Some features, like the VIP List for email, the Offline Reading List, and Shared Photo Stream won't work on the iPhone 3GS. Even flagship iOS features like Flyover, turn-by-turn navigation, and FaceTime over cellular won't work on recent devices like the iPhone 4 or the iPad 2 - not to mention the iPhone 3GS." Pretty scummy and misleading.
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Member since:2009-05-19
Member since:2005-07-06
Considering that my 3GS was in use for longer than most people keep cell phones
That's fairly unlikely... you close yourself in the perception bubble of your atypical place (for example, one of relatively few where Apple sees any notable adoption), so you might believe so.
But most mobiles are used more than 3 years (and are actually owned by their users, the prepaid-using 2/3rd(+) out of over 5 billion mobile subscribers in the world).
Anyway, Apple doesn't really bring things in iOS6 which make it iOS6 - it's mostly about maintaining compatibility of new SDK with a phone they still sell; plus the name, version PR.
They update it because they want to continue dumping the obsolete hardware of 3GS, which gives them exorbitant profit margins (instead of, say, dropping the price of 4 to the level of 3GS - which most likely would still be nicely profitable)
And it probably took more effort and testing to cut some of those features out - at least for part of them there doesn't seem to be any good technical reason for exclusion.
(features which on Android are often brought by application updates, BTW)
Member since:
2005-07-06
An upgrade doesn't mean "every feature" is available, it means one is receiving something much larger than an "update." iOS 6 brings many significant new features even to the 3GS. If only the features going to the 3GS were offered as the sum total of iOS 6, it will still be a really nice major release.
Considering that my 3GS was in use for longer than most people keep cell phones and it is still retired at this point, I just don't see how people can complain about this unless they just like complaining.