14 DAY TRIAL // A developer who wishes to remain anonymous shares with us an interesting tidbit today regarding the performance of Apple’s latest iOS 7 beta on the oldest-supported hardware, the iPhone 4.
The first in line to be dropped whenever Apple decides to up the ante again, the 2010 iPhone 4 could barely take the first iOS 7 beta seeded by Apple in June.
That was according to one developer we spoke to around WWDC 2013, whose claims have been echoed by other testers out there, including non-developers.
Today, another developer tells us that he’s been having the same kind of experience with iOS 7 betas on his test iPhone 4 unit. Until beta 4, that is.
According to this person, who wished to remain anonymous, “The iPhone 4 feels more alive under beta 4. The animations are a bit more snappy, and the crashes are far less frequent.”
This tester had compared various iOS 7 betas between several devices, including iPhones and iPod touches, and said he had “clearly noticed that the iPhone 4 was always the one to lag behind in performance, and graphics.”
“Not anymore,” he says, after installing iOS 7 Beta 4. “The iPhone 4 seems almost on par with the 4S right now, if you take away the slower loading times, lack of Parallax etc. [on the iPhone 4].”
That’s not to say the software doesn’t have its bugs still. Earlier this week we reported not one, but two issues that Apple needs to address in the software. One is serious, the other isn’t, but both will need ironing out before the GM rolls out.
Apple is said to have prepared two more betas for testers, as well as a Gold Master build, before the company ultimately pushes out the Final version of the software.
Apple has confirmed that iOS 7 will be compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad mini, iPads 3 and 4 (with Retina display), and the fifth-generation iPod touch.