Should You Upgrade your Old iPhone or iPod Touch to iOS4

Should I upgrade to iOS4? It’s a question we have been hearing from many readers after the newest Apple iPhone and iPod Touch software, iOS4, was released yesterday. While there are many benefits to installing iOS4 and we would normally recommend that you upgrade to iOS4 right away for the best features, there are reports of issues upgrading older devices to iOS4.

The issues started off with many users unable to download the new software as Apple’s servers came under fire from millions of eager iPhone and iPod Touch users and since then have expanded.

To start with, many users are reporting very lengthy upgrade times, as long as 3 hours, to complete the upgrade and other users have reportedly resorted to using the Restore function in order to get their iPhone or iPod Touch to accept the update.

If you are successful in upgrading to iOS4, you’re not out of the woods yet.

  • Slow and Laggy: Some users are reporting that iOS4 runs slow or has issues on their iPhone 3G devices.
  • No Phone: Others are reporting that they cannot use the phone portion of their device to surf the web or make phone calls.
  • More Limited than advertised – Mobiputing reports that even current gen iPod Touch users are receiving fewer features than expected. Most notably absent are screen orientation lock and lack of ability to change the wallpaper.
  • Blurry Pictures: Some users have reported that their pictures are blurry or grainy after upgrading to iOS4. Thankfully, this can be solved by syncing to your computer again.
  • GoodBye Contacts: iPodnn reports that due to issues with sync services some users found themselves without their contact lists. Thankfully this issue should be resolved shortly as sync services come online and address any iOS4 issues.
  • App-ocalypse: Not all current apps will work in iOS4. This incompatibility isn’t just that they can’t multi-task, but other issues. Many of these app developers have updates in to Apple and are awaiting approval of an iOS4 ready version. Currently RunKeeper is urging users to wait for an iOS4 compatible version to go live in the store; they aren’t alone.
  • Other Issues: There are also scattered reports to iPodnn of broken push notifications and MMS failures and even in very drastic cases, devices that will continually reboot after a failed update.

So, what does this mean for you? If you are going to be getting an iPhone 4 at launch you may as well wait until you get the new device designed to take advantage of all of the new iOS4 features, especially since iPhone 4s are shipping early, rather than waste a few hours upgrading your old device.

If you have an older iPhone or iPod Touch and aren’t getting an iPhone 4 right away it may be best to check and see if your favorite apps are compatible by visiting the developer’s website. If you want to be safe, you may want to wait until next week to let others get the bugs out of the iOS4 update.

How did your upgrade go? If you haven’t updated, will you still update right away knowing these issues?

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