Apple released iOS version 4.3.3 on the 4th May. This was for me relatively good timing as I was about to pick up a brand new iPhone 4 with an iOS that would need an update. The phone has iOS 4.3 on it, so my second task after setup was to update IOS on it. Well so I thought.
iOS 4 Logo
It is now the fourth day of trying and failing. The process is failing during the download, so before it even attempts updating the phone. Each and every time the iOS update ends with error 1403, which is a corrupt file. You only get this message after downloading the 600+ MB from Apple.
I would guess I have tried a minimum of 15 times in the past 4 days. This represents 9+ GB of download wasted for no result. The suggestions on the Apple Support Communities from a fellow iOS user is to wait a few days and try again. Hardly a solution, and I do not fancy waiting a few days and see the exact same behaviour continue. I will be shaped lickity split if it does.
I think Apple need to revise the way they perform iOS updates. Perhaps delivery of patches via small files rather than moster updates. Or if the monster updates are to continue how about splitting the download into smaller chunks (say 50 – 100 MB) that can be verified individually before being assembled into the larger update file. In the latter scenario the corrupted content would represent a lot less to download again than the whole 600+ MB.
Another thing Apple should have a long hard think about it where private customers like myself have multiple iOS devices. I have an iPad (which miraculously got 4.3.3), iPhone 4, and an iTouch in the house. Each requires its own specific download to accomplish the same base task of running iOS 4.3.3. The equates to roughly 1.5 GB just to ensure the 3 devices are up to date. Why could I not download a single smart update that includes smarts to say are you an iPad/iPhone/iTouch and then include the applicable code updates. Again this would save a lot of download limit for those of us with the devices in the house.
This all said I am not likely to jump to Android or Windows Phone 7 as a mobile compute platform. I just am not impressed by them. I float this advice on the hope that Apple may look at how they can make their update experience better and more robust for the home user.
Anyone else had a similar iOS experience or have any thoughts on how the update experience could be improved?
