iOS 7 on iPhone 4 tested, camera is much faster to open
The three-year-old smart phone isn't exactly racing under Apple's new software, but appears to be doing fine -- and the camera is much quicker.
iOS 7 has made its grand debut at last, arriving on the iPhone 4, 4S and 5, as well as the iPad 2 and more recent tablets. But how does it handle on the elder statesman of the group -- the iPhone 4?
The oldest mobile to be granted access to iOS 7, the 4 was released in 2010, and is no spring chicken by smart-phone standards. It was far from speedy running iOS 6, so how does it handle the latest, more advanced edition?
The answer, so far, appears to be 'not too bad'. Our iPhone 4 running iOS 7 (pictured above sporting a natty Lego case) is very usable. While we noticed a small amount of stutter when swiping through homescreens and menus, it's nothing too bad, and certainly not much slower than it was running iOS 6.
Camera timing test
Yesterday, in a rare burst of foresight, we timed how long it took the iPhone 4 running iOS 6 to open the camera app -- something that takes noticeably longer on older iPhone models, and is liable to drive owners of these less up-to-date mobiles up the wall.
The camera app on the iPhone 4 running iOS 6 took a whopping 6.25 seconds to open, from the moment we tapped the icon to the camera view activating.
With the iPhone 4 running iOS 7, it only took 3.3 seconds to open. That's still an annoying delay, but is at least one meaningful indicator that iOS 7 hasn't completely crippled Apple's older iPhone. It's far from lightning fast, but feels usable.
How is it for you?
Have you put iOS 7 on an iPhone 4? How have you found it? Is there anything you've found that's particularly good or bad? Let me know your thoughts and discoveries in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
