Should I buy a new iPhone 4 or 5?

dmelgar said:

I never cease to be amazed at people who don't think the iPhone 5 is a major upgrade. What would you consider to be a major update?

Everything is new and improved. LTE speed blows 3G out of the water. AT&T coverage might stink, but Verizon's coverage is pretty extensive.

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Some people don't want a bigger phone.
Don't have LTE around them
It has the same Camera (as the 4s.. but the 4 is still good)
It's marginally faster (1-2 seconds depending on the task)
Same OS (few differences)
The only thing that draws me to the 5 is how thin it is.. that's all.

It's really just more of the same.. and they didn't even improve battery life which is something that used to be highlighted.

That said.. I need a new phone like yesterday and would get the 5 if it was in stock somewhere. Seeing that I could just walk in and get a free iP4 and know what to expect with it makes me think

I find my brother's i4 to be still working amazingly well. Works like day one. Can't say that for many other phones i have tried.

I am sure i5 is amazing but i would want a jailbreak and no, i don't jailbreak for themes, i do it for some missing functionality that apple stubbornly refuses to put in. And no, i am not going android because i already had a S3 for a good 2 months and for some reason i am always not happy with android, all the way from Eclair to JB.

Since 4 beats 4S in terms of battery life, still plays all the high end apps great (played MC3 on the i4 and was amazed at how smoothly it plays, that is a 2 year+ old phone people), and is just $200 off contract (i have a retention plan from Rogers, and in Canada cellphone plans are a rip off, i do not want to renew and the only other option is a $900 i5 from after market scalpers), i think the 4 is still a safe choice.

Only thing that bothers me, is the home button. That is all. Although activator can nicely take care of it.

I agree with the people saying go 4S or higher. I don't believe $200 is worth you being stuck with a 2010 device until 2014. The iPhone 4 will probably only be semi-compatible with iOS7 and not-compatible-at-all with iOS 8, so that's something to think about. The choice is ultimately yours.

Personally, I upgraded from a 4 to a 5. Performance wise you'll notice a slight upgrade, but after a while you'll get used to it. The camera is better but if your not totally interested in photography you won't notice the difference. 4G is great but useless if your carrier doesn't support it in your area. However, you have to take into account if they'll support it with-in the next two years. IMO, the only noticeable difference from a 4 and a 5 after a while (with out a side-by-side comparison) is the screen, size/weight, and, in the long run, compatibility until iOS 9 (probably).

I'll end with this, I've had the 5 from day one and now when I use the 4, it just feels really old. However, it is by no means obsolete.

DoNoHarm said:

Hey people, are the iPhone 5's worth it?

I have an old iPhone4 that I'm happy with and I'm out of contract with AT&T. Since I live and work in buildings that have AT&T antennas above them, I know I'm going to stick with AT&T for the next two years. Therefore, it makes sense for me to sell my existing iPhone 4 for $200 and either

1) buy a new iPhone 4 for $0 (and pocket the 200)

or

2) buy the new iPhone 5 with the 200.

I don't care about Siri, the camera, or the increased size of the iPhone 5. Frankly, I'm even a little worried about the aluminum scuffing on the iphone 5 and I'm annoyed about the adaptor change. Yet obviously it's a newer phone that won't be obsolete, etc. etc.

For those who bought the iphone 5, which option would you recommend? Thanks guys!

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I would recommend the 4S. You will get the faster HSPA+ cellular data (better than the 4's 3G), and you'll get to keep the old dock connector, which is compatible with so many other things. Plus you'll get iOS support a year longer than the 4. Plus you'll get all the little upgrades you dont really care about anyway (Siri, 8MP camera, GPS turn by turn), so it'll still feel like an upgrade (and will last you the next 2 years). The only reason I think you should get the 5 is if data speed is important, since it has 4G/LTE (depends on your location).

Technology is hard enough to keep up with. Why purposely get behind? Get the 5.

I would get the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4 seems "adequate" today; however you will be kicked to the curb when it comes to iOS 7 & 8 in the couple of years that you will need to hold on to it. iPhone 4 when it came out was quite snappy and fast, however with the march of iOS updates; it seems barely able to keep up with iOS6.

Get the 4 so the people who do want a 5 don't have to wait as long.

bandofbrothers said:

Decisions, decisions !

Do I wear jeans today or shorts !

Do i buy this or that.

Man go with your gut feeling !

I always do....

For me i use the 4s and will upgrade to the 5 when stock is available.
Thats my own decision.

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That's crazy talk. Everybody know it makes more sense to jump online and let 1000 strangers on a forum make all your life decisions for!

If its going to be your next phone for two years get the 5. That way you will ensure you get all the updates. Apples always pulls this crap where they leave features out of iOS updates even if the phone still gets the next version of iOS. I wouldn't be happy with that at all.

Get the 4s. 5 is marginally faster but the 4s feels much more premium in the hand. I returned my 5 after 3 days. It felt a little cheap in the hand and looked out of proportion. Luckily I hadn't sold my 4s and Kept it.

If you really want an iPhone 4, buy a 5, sell it, buy a 4 used, and pocket a LOT more than $200 saved.

I don't think a 4 will be useless- when you think about it, people still rock their 3G .. those are far from "useless.." They still function..

Nice upgrade for me from my iphone. Apps open a lot faster and benchmarks show this phone is way faster then a 4s. I don't play many games on my phone but I know the devs will take full advantage of it. I bet Real Racing will be the first. Also Devs will take more advantage of the screen space especially the Devs that release their stuff on cydia.

Minhimalism said:

I don't think a 4 will be useless- when you think about it, people still rock their 3G .. those are far from "useless.." They still function..

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Hah... have you seen a 3G with iOS 4? It's completely useless and a pain to use. Without iOS 4, 3G owners wouldn't even get most newer apps. So yeah either you upgrade to iOS 4 and make the phone slow enough to the point that its just minutes of waiting to do a simple task or you lose out on app support. The iPhone 4 is nowhere near that stage but I bet it'll slow to a crawl with iOS 7 and won't get most of the new feature.

Right now an iPhone 4 is good. But he's buying a phone to use for the next two or three years. You want future proof, you get a 5. Simple as that. It's so extremely obvious I can't believe I'm arguing for it again. The 200 dollars is a future-proof deposit. Think of it that way.

mKTank said:

Hah... have you seen a 3G with iOS 4? It's completely useless and a pain to use. Without iOS 4, 3G owners wouldn't even get most newer apps. So yeah either you upgrade to iOS 4 and make the phone slow enough to the point that its just minutes of waiting to do a simple task or you lose out on app support. The iPhone 4 is nowhere near that stage but I bet it'll slow to a crawl with iOS 7 and won't get most of the new feature.

Right now an iPhone 4 is good. But he's buying a phone to use for the next two or three years. You want future proof, you get a 5. Simple as that. It's so extremely obvious I can't believe I'm arguing for it again. The 200 dollars is a future-proof deposit. Think of it that way.

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Yeah I get what you mean about the 3G haha. But in my opinion, if he REALLY wants to save some money, the best thing to do is to get the 5, sell it for 800-900, and maybe buy a 4S for 350. He'd have the money he obviously wants to save. But yeah, I can't say I wouldn't go for the 5 either. Up to OP though.

Minhimalism said:

Yeah I get what you mean about the 3G haha. But in my opinion, if he REALLY wants to save some money, the best thing to do is to get the 5, sell it for 800-900, and maybe buy a 4S for 350. He'd have the money he obviously wants to save. But yeah, I can't say I wouldn't go for the 5 either. Up to OP though.

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Good alternative idea.

If you're really not interested in the 5 then at least get the 4S.

Get a blackberry bold 8900

Minhimalism said:

They still function..

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So do horse and buggys.

Moneymiike420 said:

Get a blackberry bold 8900

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i agree. best phone in the world.

It sounds to me like you already have your mind made up.

If you're not concerned with having the latest and greatest, get the 4.

DoNoHarm said:

Hey people, are the iPhone 5's worth it?

I have an old iPhone4 that I'm happy with and I'm out of contract with AT&T. Since I live and work in buildings that have AT&T antennas above them, I know I'm going to stick with AT&T for the next two years. Therefore, it makes sense for me to sell my existing iPhone 4 for $200 and either

1) buy a new iPhone 4 for $0 (and pocket the 200)

or

2) buy the new iPhone 5 with the 200.

I don't care about Siri, the camera, or the increased size of the iPhone 5. Frankly, I'm even a little worried about the aluminum scuffing on the iphone 5 and I'm annoyed about the adaptor change. Yet obviously it's a newer phone that won't be obsolete, etc. etc.

For those who bought the iphone 5, which option would you recommend? Thanks guys!

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You need the iPhone 5. No question.

Get at least an iPhone 4S. If you get the 4, you'll want to hurt yourself later on.

I can't imagine that anyone would be arguing that the 4 is a better phone than the 5, but the original question wasn't concerned with the latest and greatest. In fact, the OP was happy with iPhone 4 and mostly unconcerned with many of iPhone 5's enhancements. As such, any antenna issues must not be too pervasive in his/her situation. Living with someone who also owns a 4, dropped calls are a rarity here as well. As a phone it functions beyond fine for voice and text, and it's media capabilities are excellent and vastly superior to my own phone. This will continue to be the case during the next two years whether you deem it useless or not.

Regarding software, iOS upgrades aren't forced upon you, as far as I'm aware, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of apps that work just fine on an iPhone 4. Maybe the OP is content with Google Maps or the occasional 'Words With Friends' session in between real world tasks. Where are these 'average iPhone owner usability standards' you speak of? I'm sure it varies by region, but most iPhone owners I know spend very little time on their phones and just need something that works, which Apple products tend to do for extended periods of time.

mKTank said:

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I'm surprised it beat your claim of "most durability"

While we are talking about better software, where do you place the iPhone 5s maps vrs the iPhone 4s with ios5 ?

I do not disagree with your claims, though on my trip to Germany a week ago, I took my trusty iPhone 4, with google maps. iOS 6 is not a selling point between the two phones as the update is lacking any real killer features.