[melvinram]

Agree with most of what you said except "Apple's eschewed this option approximately forever".

Siri for only iPhone 4S when iPhone 4 hardware could support it was one chink in their impecable reputation for supporting older hardware as long as possible.

[adamjernst]

This is because the iPhone 4 is missing a newer version of the crucial noise reduction chip:

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/06/siri-may-be-iphone-4s-only-be...

The fact that Apple supported iOS 6 on the 3GS is proof that they're pretty serious about backwards compatibility.

[doomlaser]

That is not true. Siri was available in the App Store from a third party for at least a year prior to its reintroduction in the 4S, and ran on a 3GS just fine. There isn't a technical reason for it not being available on earlier models.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/04/the-original-siri-app-gets-...

[bunderbunder]

Define "Just fine." The argument is that Apple decided not to release their version of Siri on the 3GS because a hardware difference meant that the voice recognition accuracy would have been poorer.

You can't really counter that claim with the simple observation that an earlier version of Siri was available for the 4 and 3GS; that's just talking past the point. A more appropriate counter would be a source saying that the voice recognition accuracy of that version of Siri was just fine. Or at least no worse than what ended up being released on the 4S.

[taligent]

Siri the APP was available. That's different from what Apple shipped.

And especially given Apple's need to work across multiple languages we don't know if a more sensitive microphone was required.

[esolyt]

How do you explain the fact that Google Voice Search on iPhone 4 works so good that its recognition is faster then Siri on iPhone 4S?

[bunderbunder]

I'd say that's one where the most painfully obvious answer is likely also the correct one: Google is using better voice recognition technology.

[melvinram]

If this was the case, they should have communicated it.

As an iPhone 4 user, I chose not to upgrade to iPhone 5 when my contract expired because I feel like whatever gets released this coming year (5S/6) might not be compatible with iPhone 5 software wise.

[sigzero]

They did communicate it. They have communicated it for a couple years now.

[melvinram]

It wasn't part of the announcement.

[bruceboughton]

They did.

[shurcooL]

Come on, what about VIP in Mail.app and Reading List in Safari being unsupported on older devices. There's no way that the 3GS lacks some required hardware feature. Is there?

[taligent]

VIP is available for 3GS.

It is just the Offline Reading List and it could be related to the memory.

[yesimahuman]

What about when iOS 4 came out and updating rendered the 3G completely unusable? I know forward progress is great, but I felt really screwed over and forced to upgrade.