As we noted earlier this week as part of our roundup of device compatibility for various iOS 6 features, several of Apple's new mapping features including Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation are not officially supported on the iPhone 4, much less the iPhone 3GS.
But as reported by SlashGear, a member of Russian site iguides has posted videos [Google translation] showing the 3D maps and Flyover working on a jailbroken iPhone 4. The poster has also included instructions for adding the functionality, although the procedure is not yet a completely straightforward one.
Apple has historically placed hardware restrictions on certain features of its iOS release, based at least in part on how well older hardware handles the specific features. In other cases like Siri on the iPhone 4S, Apple's limitations may have more to do with differentiation and marketing. But it seems reasonable to think that 3D map performance on the pre-A5 devices like the iPhone 4 simply doesn't meet Apple's requirements, and thus the company has elected not to officially support the feature on that hardware.
Regardless of the reasons for Apple's limitations on mapping features, hackers and developers will undoubtedly continue working on ways to circumvent those restrictions, and we will likely see other features like turn-by-turn navigation also come to older devices for those willing to tweak their devices to enable them. read more..
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Turn-By-Turn Navigation-Mapping Features-Iphone 3Gs-Iphone 4-Flyover
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Older Software-Iphone 3Gs-Tuaw-Ios
Dear Aunt TUAW, I'm still running iOS4 on my 3GS and have a great app, which I told my teen to download. He dilly-dallied, of course, and meanwhile the app was updated to [be compatible only with] iOS 5. Can I sync my app from iTunes to his iPod 1 and iPad 1? Why is there still no way to buy & download old versions of apps from Apple!? Your loving niece, Em Dear Em, Auntie doesn't see that happening. The overhead costs on this -- not to mention the security and compatibility issues -- would be a nightmare. It's hard enough for developers to try to find their 85% sweet spot where they cover as much of the deployed ecosystem as reasonable. To ask them to support outdated distributions too, well, that's not going to happen. For the most part, people update their firmware pretty quickly after release. Older devices (the iPhone, the 3G, and in a few months likely the 3GS, as well as a number of iPods) fall off the support list for good reasons. A natural end-of-life is to be expected. And for that matter, why shouldn't your teen update to iOS 5? It's supported, you know. Apple is in the business of selling up-to-date devices. It assumes you'll take advantage of those for 18-24 months after purchase. As it is, the 3GS was released in June 2009. Assuming that iOS 6 is not supported on it (and Auntie think's that's a fair guess), it will have had three years of active deployed life. Admittedly, that's a bit of a blow to anyone who took takes advantage of AT&T's deal, last November that clearanced still active, selling those older phones out for $0 with a two-year contract commitment. Those users will still have about a year and a half to go on no-longer-supported devices, but you can easily assume that most software devs will continue to support iOS 5 to at least November of this year. [As pointed out in the comments below, AT&T is still selling the iPhone 3GS today. -Ed.] In the end, no, you cannot buy and download old app versions from Apple, but you can always upgrade software (to a point) and hardware to stay in the current loop. Hugs, Auntie T.Dear Aunt TUAW: Why can't I buy older software for my early iDevices? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..