I have iPhone 4S and iPad 3, and they keep pestering me to “upgrade” to iOS 7, version 7.0.4. I’ve read that some users have experienced problems with iOS 7. I am not desperate to upgrade, everything works OK on iOS 6.1.3
In days gone by I would have been the first to “upgrade”, but over the course of time I’ve seen many upgrades that seemed more like downgrades occur, and my apple devices get progressively slower with each new upgrade. They take out features that I like, and move things that I didn’t want or ask to be moved.
Highlights of my Apple “upgrades” :
1. Google Maps, replaced by Apple Maps, what utter crap Apple Maps is. Eventually someone told me I can get Google Maps back, they have a free app.
2. I had a video application that used to play .MKV files (in fact all video files) flawlessly, one upgrade later and nada, no, cannot play. iTunes store’s response, “all sales are final”, they wouldn’t give me my money back.
3.My old iPhone 3G just used to get slower and slower. I use that maps a lot to navigate in London, and it became eventually unusable.
4. iTunes DJ, just gone, doesn’t exist any-more, upgrade version 11 they just took it out.
5. My calculator, contacts, compass and voice recorder now live in a folder, why ?
My point is that I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that upgrades aren’t always a benefit, and sometimes they actually seem like downgrades. Windows 8 is another prime example, I’ve spoken to many people who hate not having the start button and their design for touch screen devices, on non-touch screen devices. Many people have had their machines downgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 7, myself included.
These days, I inspect each and every upgrade before installing, and don’t install it unless it’s needed and necessary.
Questions I’m left with are things like :
Why do these large companies feel they can just start taking features out, and call it an upgrade ?
Do they conspire to “break” older devices so that you are pushed in the direction of buying new ones ?
Some of you have probably already upgraded to iOS 7. What do you think ?
I’m putting it out for a Poll, do you think I should “upgrade” my iPhone 4s and iPad 3 to iOS 7.0.4 ?
Images from the public domain, Google images, we believe the source to be http://www.sporttechie.com/2013/09/10/does-ios-7-present-a-threat-or-opportunity-to-the-sports-mobile-space-an-exclusive-interview-with-willowtree-apps/
Don Charisma 
Ugh, software nowadays is increasingly going downhill, even some open-source applications like Firefox (have you seen Australis? It’s one of the reasons why I’m on the ESR channel). It’s quite frustrating.
To be honest, my iPad is still running iOS 5.1, and I don’t think I’m going to “upgrade” anytime soon.
Looked up Australis on Google, don’t have first hand experience to comment … I use waterfox because it’s 64bit on win7 and it runs quicker and smoother than chrome, plus the upgrader has a bug, so it’s an old version … works fine … I think I’ll stick with what I have for now re iOS … as the the state of software, I largely put that down to many people not having much money, the whole economy suffers from top to bottom …
I have the upgrade on my phone which is the ancient 4 . My daughter has the 4s . We both upgraded and I found at first there were a few things that bothered me… Like sliding up pages to LS them from the home button rathe than the holing and waiting for the cross to appear. But I’ve had it a little while and am quite used to it now. Due to sheer forgetfulness when i Charge the iPad2 overnight I don’t ave it on it. But I’m going to change that now since I’m about off to sleep 🙂
I’m postponing for now, I don’t desperately need to upgrade, so there isn’t any benefit … cheers DC
I awoke to a new day…the day of IOS 7 on my ipad. I decided to move on. Somehow it doesn’t seem as easy to navigate as it did on my phone. Perhaps cause I do less on my phone than I do here on the ipad. I’m hoping this isn’t a whimsy I will regret haha .
Let me know how you get on, obviously I haven’t used it so would be useful !
I will share my knowledge for sure . Just playing around now for a bit before I venture outdoors for breakfast .
🙂
I haven’t had a problem with the upgrade. The only thing i didn’t like was that the contrast of the apps wasn’t as good, but that was sorted out in settings using some of the new accessibility options. I can now at least see my phone without having to put on reading glasses! Too many birthdays my optician tells me 😀
You and me both on the birthdays … I’ll probably hold off on the upgrade for now 🙂
I have the iphone4S & haven’t done the IOS 7 update. I’m holding off as long as I can. Thanks for posting this. 🙂
My pleasure, there’s a slight consensus in favour of not upgrading and no urgency, so for now I’ll still where I am … DC
Don, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I still have Windows 7 and refuse to upgrade, and have a Samsung phone that I like, although I will upgrade that one eventually. Still hanging on to older Samsung because it has features the new one doesn’t have, but have cancelled contract on it, and am now buying minutes instead of paying monthly fees. Crazy to pay $50 a month when I hate talking on phone, and only use about 60 minutes a month. Get double minutes when I reload, so that’s a huge savings there.
Same, sticking with windows 7 for now … and my phone is on pay as you go 🙂
Best way to go, at least for me. I can take the money I save and go out on a shopping spree for something I want even more but didn’t realize it until I stopped and really saw how much I was wasting on the phone bill. Plus, with a new number, some of the pests who have only the old one aren’t bothering me any more.
Double-whammy then … I’ve been off the “contract” for a long time now … it does mean I have to pay more for the phone when I upgrade, but at the moment I spend like maybe $5 a month on phone calls … a lot of the time I use skype for “long-distance”
I’m still with ios 6.1.3 and didn’t want to go to 6.1.4 as there was no jailbreak and you couldn’t downgrade unless you have SHSH blobs. And I’m using good ol’ iPhone 4 and it does everything I could ask for. I have another iPhone 4 with new ios installed and I can see it’s laggy/laggier than my main phone. Also I don’t like the UI of the new iOS. Also there’s no JailBreak out there yet. So in my case upgrade is something I avoid at all costs.
This will change when I decide upgrade my phone to latest and greatest however for time being I will happily use my £5 t-mobile SIM-only plan.
Good to hear, thanks for letting me know … iOS 7 has had a lot of bad press, so probably I’ll be sticking with 6.1.3 as 6.1.4 is likely unavailable on my unjailbroken devices … when it comes time to upgrade, I’ll be looking around more carefully at the samsung stuff … and personally happy with my £2 topups here works just fine !
Cheers DC
Happy to see some like minded people here.
You can’t revert it back Don. Once you upgrade to a new version, there is no going back, no matter what. 😦
Oh really, well these are more reasons not to upgrade … I might try and find out if I can switch off the annoying pester messages about the upgrades. Hopefully I’ll get a clear picture from everyone’s comments and might be useful for others who are debating the same thing.
Yeah, I thought I’d let you know that even backing it up, you can’t get the old IOS back. See how clever they are at making us buy new phones? Of course, this is true with most operating systems even on computers. As technology gets better and people want more stuff, the old OS becomes slower and can’t handle the new stuff any longer at the same speed. 😦
Yes it’s annoying, and it’s clever in some ways, but I think people may be starting to wake up to the truth !
Only as the dissipation of the middle class continues. We the people have so much power but we don’t use it. We could stop buying this stuff and then these companies would have to accommodate, but as long as people can afford to replace a phone every two years (which is what I do), then companies will continue to do what they do. At least imho. lol And that isn’t much! haha
Makes sense, but with less and less prosperity around people may start (or have already started) to question being funnelled into upgrade every two years. I think I’ve decided to stick with iOS 6 until there’s significant reason to do otherwise. Thanks for the chat … cheers DC
only way to backup data AND iOS version is when phone is JailBroken and you save SHSH blobs which lets you ‘restore’ to the version in case you accidentally upgraded to ios7. Jailbreak is only possible if you’re still on iOS 6.1.3 as you cannot even downgrade from 6.1.4. Hope it helps.
That helps a very lot, so I’m fairly convinced 6.1.3 is where I’m staying for now !
Truth is, your devices, especially the iphone 4s will run slower. also battery life on the phone will decrease. Don, take a look at Apple’s own forums and you will see all the complaints. I am very happy with my iOS 6 and I have an iPHONE 5. and iPAD 2.
OK, that’s great to hear, glad the opinions are coming in … I just figured out I could probably take a backup and then revert to the backup if I don’t like it, but there’s a lot of ifs and effort for something I’m not sure I really want.
Yea, I will eventually get iOS7, but only with the purchase or upgrade to iPHONE 6 or a new ipad. I really do not want to upgrade my devices. I am perfectly happy the way they are and I wish Apple did not force it’s consumers this way.I have played around with iOS 7 on friends devices and It’s not really worth it to me. I dont even upgrade my apps because they are looking more like iOS 7 versions. I made that mistake upgrading Google Chrome on my phone.
I’m rapidly reaching similar conclusions, thanks for your comments, they are appreciated:)
Sure, anytime 🙂
🙂
No issues with iOS 7 for me.
Oh one more thing….upgrades will inevitably slow your phone down because the object is from apple’s standpoint….buy a new phone!!! It will NEVER get faster with newer iterations. That’s just how it works.
This is one of the things that worries me, I don’t have money for new device so don’t want to render my current device unusable based on making an upgrade I can’t then downgrade … having said that if I take a backup first I might be able to revert back if I don’t like it… hadn’t thought of that !
The 4S will be bogged down by IOS7. I had a 4S and IOS7 seemed to slow it down for me, but I’ve heard others say it doesn’t. I bagged it for a 5C. I traded in my 4S at the AT&T store and got $200 credit for it, so my 5C cost me a whopping $35! I LOVE IOS7 on my 5C. It’s zippy and fast and really great. My iPad2 is slow from the IOS7 upgrade but I think hubby is getting me an ipad air for xmas, so I deal with it. Hope that helps!
Thanks Laura:)
I’m a technologist so I’m usually a first adopter as well, however, the iOS upgrades from 5.0+ have been really buggy. Speed to market is the only thing that matters in software development. Things that weren’t acceptable before (in terms of quality) have become rather pedestrian because of demand. I upgraded my iPad but not my iPhone. I dislike the UI of iOS 7 and think Apple went all Windows 8’ish on the thing [why? why? why?] whereas Windows 8 tried to go all Apple’ish. When Windows 8 came out I thought that there wasn’t anything better that could have happened to Apple. Then Apple came out with iOS 7. [seriously, why?]
There are only a few features on iOS 7 that are somewhat intriguing to me. Otherwise, I’m staying put for the time being.
Thanks that’s awesome … I seemed to be noticing a gradually decrease in Apple quality, and this just goes to shore up.
I thought Win 8 and iOS 7 have more of an android feel about them, and I’m thinking why, when they already have their own personalities ?
My strategy for “upgrade” will probably be to put it off as long as possible, in these days of cheapness, upgrades often end up being more like downgrades … perhaps iOS 7.0.5 or 6 !
Warm regards
DC
I have the ip5 and I refuse to update to 7.0.4. My phone is working fine for now.
That’s fairly much where I’m coming from, if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it … why do I need to upgrade something that’s working fine? Cheers DC
Hmm, tough one. I hated ios7 when I upgraded but now I’m used to it. I think you will get on all right with it after a while Don.
My friend has already upgraded without any issues, but thought it’s an issue that others might want to share opinions or experiences …
All good with you ?
Cheers
DC
As I said, when I first did it I thought ‘wow, this is cheap and ugly’ (and some of it is) but after a while I’ve gotten used to it. There is some good and bad. The trouble is, more and more apps will start getting updated for iOS7, so if you don’t update you end up getting left behind!
LOL, I don’t update my apps either, not after having functionality taken away … it does look Android-esk at a first glance … perhaps more reasons to consider a samsung device next time rather than apple ! cheers DC
I’m an Apple whore I’m afraid haha!
In fact on groupon they are offering the new 5c at 9.99 for the phone, £27 a month with unlimited data and texts and 500 mins on T Mobile. That’s me sorted for next two years haha
The iPhone was the converter for me into apple-whore-dom, but there mishandling of me over several issues is pushing me to look at other avenues like samsung-android … I have a friend who sold his iphone in favour of a samsung, I nearly fell off my chair when I saw it, this guy has macbook pro, ipad and (had) iphone … A UK deal is good if one is in UK, but I paid full price for unlocked iPhone 4S, £500 so will make do with that until there’s a good deal for unlocked Samsung or iPhone … The camera and ipod part I use a lot, so those would be factored in in my choice …
Don’t quote me but I have a feeling iPhone 5 may be unlocked already? I may be imagining that though! Good luck in your iOS7 quandary though!
I’d be surprised with the deal you mentioned if you can put any simcard in that phone, part of the deal is that you are paying off monthly the cost of an expensive phone. Perhaps they know they have you over a barrel with the contract, so maybe you can change the simcard … I don’t honestly know !
So I’ve had one definite for and one definite against in the comments so far, let’s see who else turns out once yanks wake up.
Cheers
DC
Haha