iPhone 4s now, or wait for the 5 next year?

juniper said:

I'm still struggling along with my old Palm Centro (really!). I'd like a new smartphone. Should I wait for the 5? Get the 4s?

I'll probably keep whichever one I get for at least 2 years.

What would you do? 4s now or wait for the 5?

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That's just the hype backlash that comes after literally every Apple product launch since the original iPhone. Most of the reviews I've read are quite positive.

If you don't already have an iPhone 4 (or something similarly recent) then I'd say definitely go for it and get the 4S. I still have a dumb flip phone, so I'll be partaking of the new Apple. If money is an issue, then definitely look at a 4, which is still pretty damn good, or a 3GS, which is free now with a 2-year contract.

Most of the haters seem to be down about the lack of a case redesign, which isn't really something I care about (I like the current design anyway), and the antenna has been redesigned if you're worried about that.

Internals-wise, the new A5 chip is nearly twice as fast as the old iPhone 4, with about 7x faster graphics. It's extremely competitive with any recently-shipping phone out there, and blows the iPhone 4 away performance-wise.

Additionally, the camera is upgraded to 8 megapixels, but more importantly, they've added an additional fifth lens and increased the aperture width, which should ensure greater clarity even with the increased number of pixels and better performance in low-light conditions. Many reviews are calling it competitive with high-end point-and-shoots and low-end DSLRs. I'm not a photographer, so it'll probably be the best camera I've ever owned.

Personally, as someone interested in machine learning and natural language processing, what I'm most excited about is Siri. I've balked at voice recognition and voice commands before, but really taking advantage of natural language processing techniques so that I don't have to memorize a bunch of commands and being context-dependent and meaning-interpretive are the real selling points here. Everyone has voice recognition. I'm interested in the natural language aspect of Siri, and I look forward to trying it out. And finding out all the neat Easter eggs... my favorites that reviews have reported so far:

"Open the pod bay doors."
"We intelligent agents will never live that down, apparently."

"Open the pod bay doors."
"That's a rather insensitive thing to say to an intelligent agent."

"What is the answer to the ultimate question of the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?"
"42."

"I love you."
"I hope you don't say that to those other mobile phones."

"Can we be friends?"
"I respect you."

"Will you marry me?"
"My End User License Agreement does not cover marriage. My apologies."

Apple works differently from most manufacturers. Apple is about making one product, making it well, and revising as needed. There will never be a dozen different models of iPhone.

This disappoints some techies, who are always looking for bigger, faster, more! Apple isn't going to make a model with a larger screen, for example, just to please those people. It will only make a model with a larger screen if it truly believes it's a better option than the current one.

Here's a comprehensive review from Macworld's Jason Snell on the iPhone 4s.

It's also worth noting that the iPhone 3gs also got lacklustre reviews from some techies when it was first released. Over two years on, Apple is still selling it as its base model, because it's a very solid phone that still stacks up against the competition.

Moving up, the iPhone 4 adds a bunch of features like retina display (great for games) and Face Time (video calling). The iPhone 4s has an even faster chip, a camera that takes better photographs than some point-and-shoot digital cameras, and Siri (which looks very cool, though currently a bit limited).

If it were me, I would get at least an iPhone 4, because in two years the 3gs will be four and a half years old. That's a long time for a tech product in an industry that moves as fast as mobile phones.

Cheers.

Personally, I'm going to hold out for the iPhone 5. My 3GS is still holding strong and doing what I need it to do. Sure, I'd love a faster phone and those extra features but it's not worth it. It's a lot like my iPad1. Upgrading to iPad2 just isn't worth it to me. When they eventually come out with an iPad3, maybe I'll upgrade.

I'm on a 3GS and up for a new phone. I'll probably move to the 4 (not 4S) because I can get it for 99 bucks. Then I'll hang out and wait for version 6 or some such.

As for the iPads, and every other cellular connected consumption device, what would make me happy is to charge me X for my cellular plan -- however many minutes of data, voice whatever access, total -- regardless of which devices I sign in on. Stop billing service per device and start billing it per user.

Williebee said:

As for the iPads, and every other cellular connected consumption device, what would make me happy is to charge me X for my cellular plan -- however many minutes of data, voice whatever access, total -- regardless of which devices I sign in on. Stop billing service per device and start billing it per user.

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One day, hopefully.

In the meantime, if you have a phone that allows other phones to connect to it via either bluetooth (as the iPhone 3gs does) or as a wireless hotspot (as the iPhone 4 does), you can connect your wi-fi iPad to your phone and use its data plan. Obviously, it's an extra step, but it's a very handy feature.

Cheers.

Most of the reviews I've seen say an upgrade isn't really necessary if you have a 4, but definitely worth it if (like me) you have a 3GS. What's really exciting is the Siri personal assistant, which is 4S exclusive; although that exclusivity seems kind of artificial given that it was happily running on previous models before Apple bought the company.

I think it's unlikely that whenever the 5 comes out it will be wildly different to the 4/4S; they seem to have nailed the form factor and any improvements will probably be software-based apart from a faster processor and some extra tweaking for the camera? So I think the 4S is going to be more future-proof than previous iterations.

iOS5 is up and available for download.

ZDNet has some nice info on it.

Encrypted messaging and some cool camera improvements.

juniper said:

Yah, I'm going to go for the 4s, I've decided.

Now the only question is - black or white? Decisions, decisions.

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I got white. I have a black iPad 2. Variety.

Installed iOS 5 running on my iPad. I see it looks like they've finally fixed the issue where you lose all your folders when you restore after a software update... So that's good.

Notifications centers is pretty nifty, and I don't mind it being stolen from Android. Reminders will be useful. Even more useful with Siri when my 4S gets here. And the split keyboard on the iPad is pretty nice for portrait typing.

And having my calendars and reminders finally sync across my Mac, iPad, and phone will be a godsend. Thanks, iCloud.

While we're on the iPHone, does anyone know what the name of that game they show on the commercials, with the frog and you drop things into it? Thx.

Shadow_Ferret said:

While we're on the iPHone, does anyone know what the name of that game they show on the commercials, with the frog and you drop things into it? Thx.

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Cut the Rope, I'm guessing.

Shadow_Ferret said:

While we're on the iPHone, does anyone know what the name of that game they show on the commercials, with the frog and you drop things into it? Thx.

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Torgo said:

Cut the Rope, I'm guessing.

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That would be the one.

And it's not a frog. It's a cute monster. Of some sort.

It gets delivered to your house in a box. And you have to feed it.

Kind of like small children.

I got my iPhone4, after putting up with a razr for yearrrs (and beating the tar out of it until one day it snapped), and have never looked back. I won't upgrade until my contract lets me do so reasonably (prolly in two years).

I was happy I got the iPhone when I did because Verizon was offering unlimited data. I dunno if they still are, but I refused to deal with ATT since they had no such offer (not for a long time since). If I'd gone with ATT, my bill would have been nearly $50 less since I would have stayed on family talk, but why go with a Lexus just to drive it around the block a few times? (I don't have daily access to good wifi, but even so, I can be in the car or at the airport and it doesn't matter how much data I use)

/ramble

Fenika said:

I was happy I got the iPhone when I did because Verizon was offering unlimited data. I dunno if they still are

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Unfortunately, they no longer do. Only Sprint.

Luckily for you, you should be grandfathered into keeping your unlimited data whenever you do upgrade.

Sage said:

I've been waiting on the 4S (or 5, since we didn't know it wasn't going to be 5) to come out so that I could buy the 4 at a lower price.

But after hearing the improvements, which include the antennae problem. battery life, and an option for more memory, I'm torn between the 4 and the 4S.

I use my iPod for everything except, of course, calls. I love it, and so going to an iPhone and consolidating everything makes sense to me. My current phone is over 3 years old. I got it for the keyboard inside because so many of my friends love to text, but the screen inside hasn't worked for 6 months, so texting is mostly out (or excruciatingly slow). I'm the type who carries my iPod everywhere and sticks my phone in my backpack and forgets about it, so having it be one device would mean fewer missed calls too.

But anyway, since I have so much music and videos on iTunes, having more memory is very very tempting. But it's just so expensive...

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Dropping the extra $200 or so on the initial investment makes a lot more sense when you remember that both of them come with contracts, and then look at the price of what you'll be paying for those contracts anyway. A couple hundred dollars is barely a dent in that. If you need the extra storage space, go for it.

ETA: On the other hand, if you use iCloud, you may not need the extra storage space after all, and might be fine with a 4 instead.

Updating my iPhone 3gs to iOS 5 wiped all my apps. I'm syncing them back now, but it's going to take hours for them to copy, and all my lovingly-organised folders are gone.

I think this is the first time I've had a problem with an Apple update, which I guess is pretty good across three laptops, three iPods, an iPhone and an iPad. Still, annoying. Googling suggest other people are having these kinds of problems as well, so it might be worth waiting a couple of days unless you absolutely need iOS 5 now.

Cheers.

Georgina said:

Updating my iPhone 3gs to iOS 5 wiped all my apps. I'm syncing them back now, but it's going to take hours for them to copy, and all my lovingly-organised folders are gone.

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Did you backup beforehand? Generally iTunes automatically backs up the device before a software update and then restores it after the installation is complete.

Yep, I backed up beforehand.

It restored my contacts, calendar, email and media (photos, music, videos). Even the pages I had open in Safari are still open. But no apps.

Cheers.

juniper said:

Antenna problem on the 4 or the 4s? You mean a problem on the 4 that's fixed with the 4s?

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The latter.

The 4S has two antennas that it can dynamically switch between based on which has better signal.

Georgina said:

Updating my iPhone 3gs to iOS 5 wiped all my apps. I'm syncing them back now, but it's going to take hours for them to copy, and all my lovingly-organised folders are gone.

I think this is the first time I've had a problem with an Apple update, which I guess is pretty good across three laptops, three iPods, an iPhone and an iPad. Still, annoying. Googling suggest other people are having these kinds of problems as well, so it might be worth waiting a couple of days unless you absolutely need iOS 5 now.

Cheers.

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Having had problems every single damn time I update the OS on my 3GS, I carefully backed up and synced before installing iOS5, and I still ended up having to drop into recovery mode. Irritating, but I managed to get my phone back and working eventually with minor loss of my folders.

The main argument against the 4S appears to be that it hasn't been redesigned. IE: How can anyone tell you have the newest version?
If you don't care about that, there's no reason to wait, unless - as has been said - you already have a decent enough phone.