iOS 4.2 Improve Performance on iPhone 3G Greatly

Seems like the people who has gotten their hands on the GM version of the iOS 4.2 software have experimented with the new update on the second generation iPhone. Tipb gives a visual demonstration of the software compared to the previous iOS 4.1 version. The results was a system that performs far better on the older generation device than any before it.

iPhone 3G’s hardware isn’t as fast and it’s RAM is literally a quarter of iPhone 4′s but it did a decent job typing, scrolling, pinching, and zooming its way around iOS 4.2.

With the uber iPhone 4 launch that presented the best sales of any Apple product in history, Apple priorly introduced iOS 4.0. The software on the iPhone 3GS ran optimally and supported all of the new features Apple introduced, most favorably multitasking, home-screen wallpapers and folders. However, a number of features weren’t available for the predecessor iPhone device, the iPhone 3G. Although folders was present in the package, home screen wallpapers and multitasking didn’t make the cut. Surprisingly enough, with the new software, users of the iPhone 3G experienced a dramatic cut in performance from the previous 3.x versions. Many reported chronic unresponsiveness and grinding navigation to which point the device seemed “unusable”. One woman even went as far as to file suit against Cupertino claim that Apple deliberately administered these performance issues to coerce iPhone 3G owners into buying more up-to-date devices.

Anyhow, seems like iOS does indeed give iPhone 3G users a big kick in performance. We did notice some laggage in scrolling and zooming in and out of content, but compared to the iOS 4 software, this is indeed a major improvement. The GoldenMaster was released to developers the other day, which signals that a official release is right around the corner (which is typical Apple behavior).  We zeroed in that Apple would be making a release sometime around the DST adjustment for the US. Daylight Savings Time has ended on this side of the world, so we expect Apple to release the software sometime this week. Check out the video below.

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