iOS 7.1 Speeds Up iPhone 4, Still Not as Fast as iOS 6

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Image: Mashable, Will Fenstermaker

By Pete Pachal2014-03-11 19:33:30 UTC

Apple’s release of iOS 7.1 on Monday included a number of improvements, but there’s one demographic who should really take notice of the update: iPhone 4 owners. iOS 7.1 significantly improves the performance of the phone, although it’s still not up to iOS 6 levels.

In a thorough examination of how the update runs on the iPhone 4, Ars Technica compared the launch times of several built-in apps between iOS 7.1, iOS 7.0 and iOS 6.1.3. In general, apps run noticeably faster on the iPhone 4 after updating to iOS 7.1, but there’s still a significant gap when compared with iOS 6.1.3.

See also: 10 Free iPhone Apps You’ll Use Every Day

For example, the Camera app takes 2.63 seconds to load in iOS 7.0 but just 2.2 seconds in iOS 7.1. However, that’s still slower than iOS 6.1.3, which loads it in 1.9 seconds.

In fact, almost none of the apps match or beat their speeds under iOS 6. Messages is the sole exception, whose launch time got stretched from 1.57 to 2.8 seconds upon the jump to iOS 7 but is now down to 1.5 seconds.

In anecdotal testing among iPhone 4 users in Mashable‘s office, users noticed performance improvement upon updating the iOS 7.1. Although iPhone 4 owners noted it was still slower than more recent iPhones, it was “definitely faster” than before.

Ars attributes much of the added snappiness to a better speed in the animations of iOS 7. With iOS 7, Apple introduced animations that make apps appear to “zoom” as they load. Some criticized the effects for making them dizzy, but they also added to the load times of some apps.

In iOS 7.1, those animations have been accelerated, so apps load just as fast as before. Users can still switch a setting the “reduce motion,” which changes the “zoom” to something more like a fade-in/fade-out effect, but the load time is unaffected.

As the report notes, the performance improvements in iOS 7.1 likely represent the last set of changes that will bring any meaningful enhancement for iPhone 4 users. The phone is almost four years old, and Apple typically ends support for the most recent version of iOS after a multi-year period; it’s expected the iPhone 4 won’t be supported by iOS 8.

BONUS: All the New Stuff in iOS 7

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Topics: apple, Apps and Software, iOS 7, iOS 7.1, iPhone 4, Mobile, Tech

Mashable

iOS 7.1 Speeds Up iPhone 4, Still Not as Fast as iOS 6

Germany, under pressure, speeds investigation of Nazi-looted art

By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:57am EST

1 of 8. File photo of a print of the painting ‘Lion-Tamer’ by artist Max Beckmann is displayed in a book about the German expressionist at Lempertz auction house in Cologne November 4, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay/Files

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany, under pressure to hasten inquiries into Nazi-looted art works stashed in a recluse’s flat, has sent legal experts to help local authorities in Munich resolve myriad ownership issues, Focus magazine reported on Sunday.

The federal government’s intervention follows criticism that authorities stayed silent too long about 1,406 art works by European masters they stumbled upon last year.

Focus, based in Munich, said the government sent “several staffers” to the Bavaria justice ministry on Friday.

“The federal government is working hard to ensure that information about the confiscated works of art is made available as there are now indications that Nazi persecution could be involved,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the same day.

Focus, which broke the Nazi art story a week ago, also said on Sunday customs experts believe some of the art cannot be legally returned to its original owners because it came from state museums – and restitution claims would likely fail.

Customs officials seized the paintings, sketches and sculptures from Cornelius Gurlitt in February 2012. They were hoarded by his father Hildebrand, a war-era art dealer put in charge of selling “degenerate” art by Adolf Hitler.

“A large portion of Hildebrand Gurlitt’s treasure confiscated from his son can probably not be returned to the rightful owners,” Focus magazine said, quoting from an internal customs office analysis made for the Finance Ministry that refers to 315 pieces of the “degenerate” art work found.

The legal status of the art remains murky and disputed nearly 70 years after World War Two. Some legal experts say Gurlitt may even get to keep it but others say Germany could nullify his ownership under the 1998 Washington Declaration, a set of principles for dealing with looted art.

The secrecy and the delay in publishing an inventory of the works, estimated to be worth up to 1 billion euros ($ 1.34 billion), has been criticized by those who say that publicizing such finds is vital to finding their rightful owners.

The Nazis plundered hundreds of thousands of art works from museums and individuals across Europe. Many are still missing.

The Munich trove been hailed as one of the most significant discoveries of looted art, fuelling speculation about its provenance and claims from heirs of Jewish collectors who were robbed, dispossessed or murdered by the Nazis.

The 79-year-old recluse at the centre of the mystery, Cornelius Gurlitt, has vanished. He has not been charged but has been under investigation for tax evasion and concealment.

On Sunday Bild am Sonntag newspaper said Gurlitt had been seen near his Munich apartment last Monday. Der Spiegel news magazine said it had received a confused-sounding letter signed by Gurlitt dated November 4 asking that it not use his name.

“The good news is about that is that Cornelius Gurlitt alive,” Der Spiegel wrote.

Separately, German authorities confiscated 22 paintings on Saturday from the house of Gurlitt’s brother-in-law Nikolaus Fraessle near Stuttgart, Bild am Sonntag said, after Fraessle called police himself to hand the art works over.

The federal government, which ordinarily leaves such cases to state justice officials, stepped up its involvement after the United States asked it to publish a list of the art works.

Focus quoted German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle as saying he was taking a personal interest in the case and that behind many of the paintings found “are quite likely dramatic stories of people pressured and persecuted” by the Nazis.

The apparent official reluctance to publish an inventory infuriated families whose ancestors were robbed by the Nazis.

Charlotte Knobloch, a leader of the German Jewish community in Munich, said it was bad enough that the looted art had not been returned sooner, but it would be a scandal if it turned out officials had wasted 18 months since its discovery.

“It can’t be possible that the injustices of the past are compounded now,” she said, appealing to Merkel to take charge.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Reuters: Lifestyle

Germany, under pressure, speeds investigation of Nazi-looted art