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Siobhan98

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 26, 2016
44
12
Hello everyone

I have a iPhone 6 Plus but I want to buy my daughter a iPhone, she is 15 and a grade a as good as new iPhone 4s is only £69 in o2, do you think I should buy her this?

Thanks
 

smacrumon

macrumors 68030
Jan 15, 2016
2,683
4,010
iOS7 and iPhone 4s work happily together. So would recommend it. I did try iOS8 but it ran poorly, animations were choppy, apps launched slower, browsing with Safari was jittery. I was lucky I rolled back to iOS7 while a Apple was still signing it. Didn't try iOS9 because of the poor experience with iOS8, and have heard anecdotally it isn't better.
Try finding out if it has iOS7, if so, should be a useful device.
You might like to have a look out for iPhone 5s. That model was just discontinued recently and you might be able to find a special price on it still.
 

mlody

macrumors 65816
Nov 11, 2012
1,460
1,112
Windy City
Hello everyone

I have a iPhone 6 Plus but I want to buy my daughter a iPhone, she is 15 and a grade a as good as new iPhone 4s is only £69 in o2, do you think I should buy her this?

Thanks

I would recommend to get a used iPhone 5 or 5S at least. With the release of SE, I am only assuming that 5 and 5S prices tanked big time.
My 13 years old daughter had 4S till recently and the phone was so slow that it was hard to justify calling it a smartphone. Anything outside texting and calling is laggy on 4S running the latest OS. Also, if you only have current iDevices, I just do not see a point investing into a device with 30pin connector - kind of makes it more expensive if you think about it.
 

umbrokhan

macrumors regular
May 13, 2016
104
52
England
if Iphone 4S is going to lag on ios 8 or ios 9 then whats the point of getting it.
stick with ios 7 otherwise,
or get a used Iphone 5S for £110 - £130 from Amazon or Ebay

if you can't afford it. then get a budget Motorola Moto E £50 from Vodafone.
or get Vodafone Prime 7 for £75 with lastest Android 6 Marshmallow update for your daughter.
 

SuperKerem

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2012
861
257
Hello everyone

I have a iPhone 6 Plus but I want to buy my daughter a iPhone, she is 15 and a grade a as good as new iPhone 4s is only £69 in o2, do you think I should buy her this?

Thanks
No. It most likely won't come with iOS 7, especially if it's new. Get your daughter a 5c/5s - it'll definitely be worth it in the long run.
 

bodonnell202

macrumors 68020
Jan 5, 2016
2,262
2,893
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Highly unlikely that it will come with iOS 7, but should be ok if it does (note that there is no way to roll back to iOS 7 if it has been upgraded to iOS 8 or 9). However running iOS 7 also means she may have issues getting apps as many only support the latest 2 versions of iOS. Long story short, will it be useable? Yes, will it be a good user experience? No.

If you can afford it I would spring for a used 5s as prices for used models have dropped substantially since the iPhone SE was released.
 

Aditya_S

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2016
500
111
Depending on your budget, I think you should get a 5s instead. It'll perform faster, and it will be cheap as the SE just came out.
 

Paddle1

macrumors 601
May 1, 2013
4,311
2,368
If you can get an iPhone 5 or newer, that would handle current software much better than a 4s.
 

Siobhan98

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 26, 2016
44
12
if you were going to buy a phone by looking at its design would you say the iPhone 4s is a nice design?
 

Paddle1

macrumors 601
May 1, 2013
4,311
2,368
if you were going to buy a phone by looking at its design would you say the iPhone 4s is a nice design?
Yes I think it's a nice design, however, people like to call the 2016 SE's design, let alone the 2011 4s outdated, so if you care about what others might say then the design could be a con.

am sure she can wait for 5 or 7 seconds more just to open an app. not a deal breaker right?
That's not the entire difference, it's less responsive, missing features and has less app support. In addition the small amount of RAM can make apps (like Safari) crash.

When iOS 10 comes out later this year I expect it to get very obsolete, very quickly.

It's usable for now, but that's not really considering the near future. Newer iPhones can provide a better experience. It's better than nothing though.
 

bniu

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2010
1,103
284
Why do this to your daughter? Might as well not even get her a smartphone. Thinking about it, it would probably be wise to get her a 64GB 6S or SE. This way, she will have a phone that should last her the next 3-4 years.
 

nj-morris

macrumors 68000
Nov 30, 2014
1,739
639
UK
The 5S could be good. Costs £250 on O2. Trust me, she will appreciate it a lot more than the 4S. If you want a phone that's going to last her longer, chip in an extra £110 and get the SE.
 

cwwilson

macrumors 68000
Jan 27, 2009
1,797
1,197
Oklahoma City, OK
If you are really in a pinch I wouldn't go lower than a 5/5c. In all honesty the 5s is the one you should be getting for a 15 year old who's needs are going to surpass anything a 4s in today's world can handle. I mean the 4s is VERY outdated (going on 5 years old now) and applications today demand more power than it offers. The reason I say 5s is that the A7 can still run iOS decently well and for the updated security it comes with, not to mention it will run iOS 10 in the future which the 4s will not. The 5/5c are found cheaply enough as well but lack the security of the 5s and later.

Edit: Just saw you got her a SE! Good choice but to anyone else still pondering a decision like this my advice still stands :)
 
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Aditya_S

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2016
500
111
Ok thanks for your advice guys, ordered her a rose gold iPhone SE 16g in apple as she loves her apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc and I don't want her to have a slow iPhone. Thanks again.
That's good, it is as fast as the 6s, and will be updated as long as the 6s is supported.
 
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Freakonomics101

macrumors 68030
Nov 6, 2014
2,739
1,797
Ok thanks for your advice guys, ordered her a rose gold iPhone SE 16g in apple as she loves her apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc and I don't want her to have a slow iPhone. Thanks again.

Yes, very good choice! If I didn't like the Plus models so much, I would go with the SE, hands down. It's the perfect size for my hands but I like the experience of the 6S Plus better. It's all about personal preference.
 
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