iPhone 4S or wait?

[Darxide]

My carrier contract expires in a few weeks so I'll be eligable for an upgrade.
Currenty have an iPhone 3GS, signed a 2 year contract just before iPhone 4 came out! D'oh!
Wondering if I should commit to a 4S now? And then probably be 'behind the curve' again for another 2 years!
How long do you think it'll be before a new model arrives? iPhone 5,6 or whatever they decide to call it?
Should I maybe hold off for a while?

[Scubar]

Look at the samsung phones, The iphone 4s is already way behind the curve anyway and Android OS will give you much more flexibility.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

4S has horrible battery life and still has ghost reception issues.


Samsung phones are pretty solid!

[zanzabar]

samsung has the pentile bs screen, so unless you want the galaxy nexus go htx one or maybe lg HD (but lg has terrable rom support and you have to go custom on most of their devices or they have bugs or no updates)

if you want to stay apple wait for the 5 it should be announced this summer, the 4s and 4 are not good and will be replaced something much better.

[Sailindawg]

Darxide, I'm in the same position as you. My wife went from a 3G to a Samsung Galaxy S2 & loves it. Nice phone, but i think the iPhone 4 screen is just a tad sharper, but the S2 screen real estate makes up for it. The HTC One X has caught my attention. I've checked the phone out at the store. I like the machined polycarbonate case. The S2's case feels cheap by comparison, but the S2 has expandable storage via SD card, but HTC is giving away 25G of DropBox free for two years. Maybe a wash there. The S3 is better cpu, but more of the same from Samsung.

The screen of the One X is pretty crisp. 1280x720 IPS panel. No Samsung pentile. Comparing the One X to my current iPhone 4, the only thing the iPhone has over the One X is better voice command via blue tooth ear piece. With my iphone I can log press the ear piece button & enter voice command. The Android phones don't seem to support this feature any longer. I value this for driving in the car. I don't have Microsoft sync in the car or a bluetooth enabled car stereo. Maybe I ought to consider upgrading my car stereo to the Bluetooth enabled Kenwood.

iPhone 5 is due out soon, but I'm not so sure. I'm really liking the larger screen of the Android phones, plus the customization aspect. HTC's Sense 4 seems like a less intrusive launcher compared to Samsung's Touchwiz. Not sure what iphone 5 will look like, but the rumor mill has the screen still smaller than the One X or S2/3. I'm waiting to see how it all shakes out.

[Darxide]

Well the problem with those options is I have made a considerable investment in iTunes and App store purchases.
I was never a fan of Apple products before, still not when it comes to mac's, horribly overpiced for what they are.
But 2 years ago I was torn between iPhone 3GS, Google Nexus one, or the original HTC Desire. I went with the iPhone, and I don't regret it, but it does mean if I change to Android now, I'll loose all the apps, music, TV eps, movies etc etc, I've even started using iCloud now, so yeh, I'd like to stay with Apple. For my mobile anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm still debating the same issue. Do I take a 4S now, or how long will I have to wait for the next model?
Bear in mind too, that as you guys said, the competition, especially Samsung, have upped the game considerably. How will Apple respond?

[crash5s]

Well the problem with those options is I have made a considerable investment in iTunes and App store purchases.
I was never a fan of Apple products before, still not when it comes to mac's, horribly overpiced for what they are.
But 2 years ago I was torn between iPhone 3GS, Google Nexus one, or the original HTC Desire. I went with the iPhone, and I don't regret it, but it does mean if I change to Android now, I'll loose all the apps, music, TV eps, movies etc etc, I've even started using iCloud now, so yeh, I'd like to stay with Apple. For my mobile anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm still debating the same issue. Do I take a 4S now, or how long will I have to wait for the next model?
Bear in mind too, that as you guys said, the competition, especially Samsung, have upped the game considerably. How will Apple respond?

I'm not sure what you mean by "upped the game", different phones are different products. Simply comparing specs doesn't explain the entire situation, what do you want to use your phone for is the real question. Android products tend to have better hardware at a cheaper price, but the apps just don't compare. The next model is in October, they tend to release them about a year apart. Honestly I'd wait, 4g is basically confirmed which is important enough to me.

[Bobsama]

Look; here's my thought on cellphones. Buy what you can today unless a firm release date is within a month. Your contact is for 2 years; Sprint at least lets you upgrade after like 21 or 22 months. You're going to miss whatever generation comes after your current model (unless you buy a new one for full price & pay activation). Going back a few years, the iPhone 3G released in June 2008. If you bought then, you wouldn't be eligible to upgrade until between April & June 2010. You'd miss the 3GS (June 2009) and the iPhone 4 would release in June 2010. You can upgrade then and there. But after grabbing the iPhone 4, the 4S didn't release until October 2011, so the next-gen phone (4GS or 5) will probably release between June 2012 & October 2012. June's just around the corner, but October is 5 months away. If you've already got a cellphone sufficient for your uses, keep it and wait for the next model. Otherwise, if you don't, the 4S is a pretty damn good phone.

Samsung's upped the competition. After having a crappy free flip-phone for 3 years, I upgraded to a Galaxy S-II instead of waiting for Android 4.0 devices. I should have waited for the Galaxy Nexus--it came to Sprint a month or two after I bought my Galaxy S-II. I made something of a mistake: Sprint's WiMax network was stalled and they were bringing in LTE instead. If I could have held on for a couple more weeks, I'd have had their first 4G LTE cellphone AND Ice Cream Sandwich AND a superior set of hardware. But I didn't. Oh well. I'll "sit it out" until I can upgrade, at which point I'll probably hop aboard within a week of a new phone's launch.

[zanzabar]

why not jut convert or acquire the media you bought from itunes in a clean format, you cannot do that with apps but with music itunes has mostly unencrypted now and the video can i have no idea but there has been ways to convert them.

@bob, dont feel bad, the s2 is better than the nexus, you have a higher rez screen and the same cpu/gpu you are just missing NFC, and it is not like stock roms are any good from samsung with the ty shell that they use.

[Bobsama]

@bob, dont feel bad, the s2 is better than the nexus, you have a higher rez screen and the same cpu/gpu you are just missing NFC, and it is not like stock roms are any good from samsung with the ty shell that they use.

The G-Nex has a 1280x720 screen, dual-core A9 Cortex, and PowerVR SGX540. Compare that to the same CPU, an ARM Mali-400 GPU, and 800x480 screen. But the real difference--the difference I most definitely feel, is the G-S2 has a WiMax radio (WiMax being dead & unavailable in my market) while the G-Nex has an LTE radio (which is being rolled out). Which makes the question--will my market get LTE in the next 18 months? Will I move to a WiMax metro? If 4G LTE isn't deployed here for another year, I wouldn't mind being behind the curve--but that's the biggest difference. As for Android 2.3 vs 4.0, I'm disappointed that 4.0 hasn't yet been rolled out.

[zanzabar]

The G-Nex has a 1280x720 screen, dual-core A9 Cortex, and PowerVR SGX540. Compare that to the same CPU, an ARM Mali-400 GPU, and 800x480 screen. But the real difference--the difference I most definitely feel, is the G-S2 has a WiMax radio (WiMax being dead & unavailable in my market) while the G-Nex has an LTE radio (which is being rolled out). Which makes the question--will my market get LTE in the next 18 months? Will I move to a WiMax metro? If 4G LTE isn't deployed here for another year, I wouldn't mind being behind the curve--but that's the biggest difference. As for Android 2.3 vs 4.0, I'm disappointed that 4.0 hasn't yet been rolled out.

the wimax is on sprint and wimax was fail when compared to low end hspda+, sprint is also the reason that ICS has not rolled out yet since the wimax driver is a pain and they load it with bloat (i think that they even locked the bootloader, making it useless.) on the screen is not 1280x720 that is the software resolution the hardware is 1/3 less subpixels and 1/2 the display data. it is not that noticable since they pull blue out but use a blue bias 7.5k back light but with the screen. at a neutral 5k back light (so the colors are accurate) it looks like . the one X costs the same and the one S will be cheaper when it is out in a month so i fail to the see the point in settling for an amoled when you can get an ips that will use less power and look better than an amoled+ (the non pentile.) there is also the lg true HD that will be out in june or jully and while LG offers little to no rom updates they always leave a way to easily unlock the bootloader and gain full root so you can update it yourself.

edit- the non+ screen also gets poor battery life, the amoled+ gets better than ips since it uses the pixels only in low light but with the non+ it always needs the back light like any tft clasic lcd would so you loose the only advantage that amoled+ has when you go no + pentile

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

There's a toss up between the G-Nex & The S II. Both have pros and cons.

If you don't mind large phones, the galaxy Note is to die for.

[trentlad]

If you had your time again, would you have waited for the iPhone 4?

... and there's your answer.

[iboomalot]

S3 is almost out and will trump the 4S and 5 iphone.

The 4" screen on the 5 is speculation but my 2 yr old EVO has a 4.3" and the S3 is 4.8" and less than 1/2" wider than an iphone.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...axy-phone.html

Quad core and a 306 ppi screen rocks.


Faster & better get the S3 it will take Apple another 18months to even catch up to the Galaxy S3



http://news.lalate.com/2012/05/10/sa...ated-for-june/

[hazardous]

S3 is almost out and will trump the 4S and 5 iphone.

The 4" screen on the 5 is speculation but my 2 yr old EVO has a 4.3" and the S3 is 4.8" and less than 1/2" wider than an iphone.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...axy-phone.html

Quad core and a 306 ppi screen rocks.


Faster & better get the S3 it will take Apple another 18months to even catch up to the Galaxy S3


http://news.lalate.com/2012/05/10/sa...ated-for-june/

The best thing about Android is the community.

The worst thing about Android is the speed at which innovation is occurring.

A great new android phone will come out, faster and better than any Apple product, except that it will be loaded up with carrier bloat. After a few months of being on sale, along comes the open source community, who remove the bloat, tweak and skin the OS, and release new kernels for more speed or better battery life. Everything is ALMOST perfect, except that there are a few little problems - a memory leak, wifi connectivity, a GPS problem etc. But surely those will be worked out in the next few months, right? Then something magical happens. Samsung/HTC/etc releases a brand new phone, even shinier than the last one! And so, less than six months after the release of the original phone, the community abandons it, and moves to the new phone. Are you ready to upgrade too? Cause if not, you're stuck. The community has moved on, and companies like HTC and Samsung devote little or no resources to releasing updates to their older models. Oh, and don't forget the other 12 models with very little product differentiation that get released at the same time, further fragmenting the community of developers.

Case and point: Android will almost always be way ahead of Apple in terms of hardware, but the lifecycle SUCKS. Atleast with Apple you get a predictable year cycle and OS updates for several years out. Android is fantastic IF you're willing to "keep up with the Joneses." If not, don't bother.

/signed a former Android Rom developer.

[trentlad]

I've always said that the critical flaw with Android is that it lacks the benefits of common hardware.

The point made above rings so true. I also had a hard time imaging why a software developer would spend the time and effort to create an application that pushes the device to it's limits and hence uses it to it's full potential if only 5% of the Android community own a phone model to run it, let alone buy it.

[iboomalot]

I think those are vaild points but I would rather do that than dumb down to the lowest thus hurting everone.

my EVO is 2 years old and has a 4.3" screen is very very close in size to a iphone. The newer HTC with 4.3" screens are even closer in width to the iphone.

Iphone 5 only has a 4" screen (speculated) and keeps all that wasted space above and below the screen like the previous models have, then it will be HUGE with a still tiny screen.

The HTC One X is 2.75" wide vs 4S at 2.31" wide for a difference of .44" but the screens are 3.5" vs 4.7"

[Khaotic]

If apps and your music collection is the among the biggest reason you're waiting - then I suggest this;

Most iTunes music is DRM free these days anyway right? You can still download the music/video to your PC and transfer it to your next phone's external SD card.
Personally, I think if the device has a camera, then having an external SD slot is a must. Sure most Android Phone's come with at least 16Gigs of internal space, but SD cards aren't very expensive these days and you can always upgrade to a bigger one later without throwing the phone away. Better yet, when you switch [Android] phones, you can take your external card with you.

If you already have a Gmail account; check out the Play store (yes, it has a silly name) and see if there are free versions of those apps you can't live without. Once you have an Android phone AND you link it to your Gmail account (pretty much an automatic process) then you can surf the Play store on your PC and push the downloads to your phone without even connecting it to your PC.

I have an iPod Touch and an iPAD-2 and still can't bring myself to own an iPhone. (I won the iPad-2 at a golf tournament and the iPod touch is my gym-time workout partner) I've had smartphones for a while - various models of Windows mobile devices and then I went to a BB. I ditched the BB for the Samsung Captivate (AT&T network) and jumped on the Galaxy S2 as an upgrade when it released. I've played with a few different SGS2 ROMS but have recently went back to stock. All in all - even with a stock ROM - I think the SGS2 is a great phone.

In regards to battery life - it's a trade off for features......If you 'use' your phone for all the things it can do, then it's going to spend a fair amount of time plugged in to a charger. Any time that screen is on, the battery is going to get drained.

In the end, go with what makes you happy -right?!

[Sentential]

Recently bought an iphone 4s after my ipod was stolen out of my car. Never owned a smartphone before but honestly speaking as much as I love PCs and tweeking; modding for me is in select areas. My phone is not one of them. Sure I'd love to be able to underclock my phone's SOC for better battery life but that's about it. I just wanted a phone that worked and required minimal effort and as much as people may hate me for it the iphone is better for that than droid.

Does this mean I'd never get a droid? It honestly depends, I think id be more inclined to get a windows 8 phone over droid; I just have no desire to mod my phone. Plus I have stumpy fingers and my hand wouldn't wrap around some of the larger droid phones comfortably.

[Reflex1]

I would buy the iPhone 4S now. I recently just bought one about 1 month ago and I don't regret it at all. I changed back to Apple after owning 2 Blackberry phones, I used to have the 3GS when it came out, then switched over to Blackberry, owned the 9700 and 9900. And now have an Apple again.

I can understand why people on this forum prefer Androids, but I personally love the iPhone, its reliable and the battery life is good (compared to the blackberry 9900 anyways!battery didnt even last 1 day).

Maybe im the only person that will tell you to buy the 4S now, but thats my opinion. The iPhone 5 won't be out until September I think, and when it comes out, it may be a bit faster etc. but the features will remain more or less the same.

Btw, Siri on the 4S is amazing i love it!

[TehVince]

the only people who say they got an iphone and dont regret it, are the people who have never owned an android. SIMPLE AS THAT, YOU DONT GO BACK!

this stigma that surrounds apple products is insane, WELL I GOT AN APPLE PRODUCT BECAUSE IT JUST WORKS, I DONT WANT TO MOD (insert competitive product here) JUST TO MAKE IT WORK.




DO YOU REALLY THINK DROIDS (or computers running windows) WOULD BE SOLD IF THEY DIDNT WORK OUT OF THE BOX??????????? !@#$!@#$!@%#$%!@#$^$^&$&@@~$~$



oh and heres some more food for thought for the slow minded, HOW DO YOU LIKE JAIL BREAKING YOUR IPHONE JUST TO GET ANY FUNCTIONALITY OUT OF IT. have fun with your ipod !@#$



edit: obvious answer to OP, you are not missing anything with the iphone 4s or 5. you will continue to get ios updates with your 3gs, and that is the only reason to upgrade any phone. only thing your missing out on is fancy games only developed for the latest and greatest ios device (ipad 6, iphone 9x etc). ios devices always run smooth, no matter how many or whatever apps you install due to apple approving all apps before being put in the app store.

in november google will be releasing 5 new unlocked nexus phones. you should consider buying one and going off contract, save a ton of money. tmobile is $45 for unlimited data, 500 minutes, and no text (use google voice). i get 10Mbps in my home with them.

p.s. i work IT like everyone else, i am the "apple guy". i manage almost 1000 idevices. DONT TELL ME I DONT KNOW WHAT THE GRASS LOOKS LIKE ON YOUR SIDE, I ALREADY @#$% IN YOUR LAWN.

[Reflex1]

the only people who say they got an iphone and dont regret it, are the people who have never owned an android. SIMPLE AS THAT, YOU DONT GO BACK!

this stigma that surrounds apple products is insane, WELL I GOT AN APPLE PRODUCT BECAUSE IT JUST WORKS, I DONT WANT TO MOD (insert competitive product here) JUST TO MAKE IT WORK.




DO YOU REALLY THINK DROIDS (or computers running windows) WOULD BE SOLD IF THEY DIDNT WORK OUT OF THE BOX??????????? !@#$!@#$!@%#$%!@#$^$^&$&@@~$~$



oh and heres some more food for thought for the slow minded, HOW DO YOU LIKE JAIL BREAKING YOUR IPHONE JUST TO GET ANY FUNCTIONALITY OUT OF IT. have fun with your ipod !@#$



edit: obvious answer to OP, you are not missing anything with the iphone 4s or 5. you will continue to get ios updates with your 3gs, and that is the only reason to upgrade any phone. only thing your missing out on is fancy games only developed for the latest and greatest ios device (ipad 6, iphone 9x etc). ios devices always run smooth, no matter how many or whatever apps you install due to apple approving all apps before being put in the app store.

in november google will be releasing 5 new unlocked nexus phones. you should consider buying one and going off contract, save a ton of money. tmobile is $45 for unlimited data, 500 minutes, and no text (use google voice). i get 10Mbps in my home with them.

p.s. i work IT like everyone else, i am the "apple guy". i manage almost 1000 idevices. DONT TELL ME I DONT KNOW WHAT THE GRASS LOOKS LIKE ON YOUR SIDE, I ALREADY @#$% IN YOUR LAWN.

Well how do i respond to that. i guess congratulations..you've succeeded in sounding like a douche

go back and manage your 1000 idevices

[dctokyo]

Well how do i respond to that. i guess congratulations..you've succeeded in sounding like a douche

go back and manage your 1000 idevices

+1

[Sentential]

the only people who say they got an iphone and dont regret it, are the people who have never owned an android. SIMPLE AS THAT, YOU DONT GO BACK!

this stigma that surrounds apple products is insane, WELL I GOT AN APPLE PRODUCT BECAUSE IT JUST WORKS, I DONT WANT TO MOD (insert competitive product here) JUST TO MAKE IT WORK.




DO YOU REALLY THINK DROIDS (or computers running windows) WOULD BE SOLD IF THEY DIDNT WORK OUT OF THE BOX??????????? !@#$!@#$!@%#$%!@#$^$^&$&@@~$~$



oh and heres some more food for thought for the slow minded, HOW DO YOU LIKE JAIL BREAKING YOUR IPHONE JUST TO GET ANY FUNCTIONALITY OUT OF IT. have fun with your ipod !@#$



edit: obvious answer to OP, you are not missing anything with the iphone 4s or 5. you will continue to get ios updates with your 3gs, and that is the only reason to upgrade any phone. only thing your missing out on is fancy games only developed for the latest and greatest ios device (ipad 6, iphone 9x etc). ios devices always run smooth, no matter how many or whatever apps you install due to apple approving all apps before being put in the app store.

in november google will be releasing 5 new unlocked nexus phones. you should consider buying one and going off contract, save a ton of money. tmobile is $45 for unlimited data, 500 minutes, and no text (use google voice). i get 10Mbps in my home with them.

p.s. i work IT like everyone else, i am the "apple guy". i manage almost 1000 idevices. DONT TELL ME I DONT KNOW WHAT THE GRASS LOOKS LIKE ON YOUR SIDE, I ALREADY @#$% IN YOUR LAWN.

Honestly speaking but if you work in IT then you should know the ole phrase of "know your audience". This is not a matter of me being slow or not getting "functionality", I chose an iphone for a couple reasons, first and foremost it is the standard and has the most of XYZ around. Second I do not want to mod or mess with my phone. The word jailbreaking isnt in my mind; not one bit.

I'm not going to say android is any better or worse; Ive used a galaxy nexus and my phone works, theirs constantly overheats and drops calls. And for the record they have both gone through atleast 2 handsets, 3 for my mother, 2 for my sister. The only reason I changed my phone was because some jackoff stole my ipod out of my car and i exchanged it for the 16gb.

Thats part deux of the problem with your viewpoint. I have a good 50GB worth of music and a good portion of that comes from itunes; that alone puts serious weight into me getting an iphone over android.

Say what you want about the iphone but the market fragmentation of android is atrocious, yes its similar to PC and one could make the arguement there as well; fine. Just understand that I *like* modding my PC, i do NOT like modding my phone. If I could go back to my drug-dealer flip phone AND have apps I would.

If given the choice between a motorola razer (the original one) plus an ipod touch vs an android phone I would take the former. I have no desire whatsoever to get an android phone, I would however buy a Lumina 900

[Darxide]

OK well, made my decision....................I got a 4S.
I could have gotten a 16Gb free on my current plan, but I paid £200 upfront to get the 64Gb, in white!
Besides, I made that money back when I sold my 3GS on eBay! Result! So basically 'traded' my 16Gb 3GS for a new 64Gb 4S.
Only had it a few days, but so far I'm loving it. It's just all so easy. I plugged it into my PC, iTunes was like, oh you got a new iPhone, lets get started. Copied everything from my old phone. So easy!