^^ I'm going to simply ignore the above post, because I can't make heads or tails of it. And of what Little I could understand seemed to be getting personal anyway.
And in a nuthsell:
No, I don't think I have a stopgap product.
The difference between the 4 and 4S is significant if you actually care about how your phone operates. The 4 is good on iOS 5, but the 4S really performs the best, fastest and the smoothest. The upgraded HPSA+ data capabilities are a welcome improvement for someone like me, who used to carry around a separate cellular WiFi hotspot because the job demanded reliable tethering when traveling.
And even putting the above aside, the camera alone was well worth the upgrade for me. As a photographer, I've seen the camera on the iPhone models progress from something I'd never ever use because it sucked (original iPhone and 3G), to something I might use for personal photos only, and then only if I had absolutely nothing else and needed to get the shot (3GS), to something that I kinda enjoyed using now and then if I made the mistake of choosing not to bring my dSLR (iPhone 4) to "wow, I just shot a bunch of photos on this camera and it's a great point and shoot that I actually LOVE to use." (The 4S).
The fact that the outside of the phone hasn't changed much cosmetically is immaterial. MacBook Pros and iMacs have looked pretty much the same for nearly 4 years now, and yet no one ever raises a stink that they aren't worth upgrading because the cosmetics aren't any different. That's a silly argument considering the significant changes that have gone on under the hood.
Sure do, the 4s was a back out plan.
There was a lot to get in order before Steve's passing. It would have been nice to have launched the 5 for him.
Actually, the going rumor is that
Steve objected to the iPhone 5 prototype and didn't want it launched, because apparently the battery life was atrocious and the screen's form factor would be a bag of hurt for developers..
And, if the alleged iPhone 5 design that we've all seen
is actually something that came out of Apple, I agree with him. That thing looks more to me like something an Android enthusiast concocted in Photoshop to show what
he thinks an iPhone should look like. I probably wouldn't have bought it, and would've stuck with my 4. And if that IS what the iPhone 5 will be like next year, then I'll be sticking with my 4S for a good long while.
I think what really happened is that the 4S is in fact what was planned all along for this year. I firmly believe that Steve was enamored with the iPhone 4 design, and he took it personally when antennagate blew up. I think he wanted to prove that the design wasn't flawed and could be made to work right, so the "next" iPhone was destined to get the same design early on in the process, no matter what the cost. And if it took a few extra months to get the dual-antenna system working right, then so be it.