Apple has announced that iOS 5 will run on the iPhone 3GS as well as the iPhone 4, the latest iPod touch models, and the iPad. But will older hardware support all the new features? Apple hasn’t made any formal announcements, but since older iPhone and iPod touch models don’t even support every feature in iOS 4.x, it seems like a safe bet that the iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3rd generation might not get all the latest features.

Now that users are starting to dig into iOS 5 beta, we’re starting to get some answers.

We currently know that the 3GS will not be able to run iOS 5’s new image-editing abilities to their full potential. Red eye removal, image cropping, and magic wand will not be supported.

iOS 5’s Safari on the iPhone 3GS supports the new Reading List feature, but the new tab bar which sits right below the address bar and the Reader feature seem to be missing (both were demoed during the keynote on both an iPhone 4 and iPad 2). Urbergizmo notes that iMessage, Apple’s version of BBM for iOS, is also missing. Of course, all of this is true of the beta version only, and could change by the final release of iOS 5 this coming fall. 

To watch a demo/review of the first iOS 5 beta on the iPhone 3GS, check out the video below:

via 9 to 5 Mac

William

William Shaub is a performance major at Juilliard who balances a life in music with heavy doses of writing and tennis. He loves tech journalism, and spends an enormous amount of time on a smartphone. You...

2 replies on “Which iOS 5 features are missing on the iPhone 3GS?”

  1. Hey I’m still using my iPhone 3G and still bloody happy with it ha!

    I would have upgraded to #4, but I was so pissed with Apple for completely bricking my phone with ios4 (though fortunately fixing it with 4.2.1) that I swore they wouldn’t make me upgrade till #6 comes out. No Apple, you will NOT make me UNHAPPY with my phone! ;P

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