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I just bought an iphone 4 - should I have waited?

J

juliancs

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 24, 2006
424
1
I've never had an iphone before, simply because I could not afford them. I'm scoring/doing audio for games on the ios now, so need one. My parents have kindly helped out to make it a quasi-xmas gift.

I see that the ip4 is 'approaching the end' of it's cycle, and people say a new one will be out in June.

I'm not so much bothered about this - seeing as it is hard, without unlimited funds, to keep on top of the latest and greatest.
What I'm really asking is, how long before the ip4 becomes "obsolete"? I'm targeting this at folk who have had the older iphones and perhaps are still using them? I asked my mum to order it for me (it is cheaper in Singapore where she lives) and it's been three weeks since so I can't return it. I assume I could sell it in a few months and get a good price (have protectors and a case standing by for as soon as it comes out the box), but the question remains whether that is necessary- even if one comes out in July, will it be a change like from the 3 to 4? Or Minor updates? Will I be able to upgrade to the latest OS?

Excuse the speculatory nature, I'm new to the iphone and its workings.

Thanks in advance.
 
It's Apple - there will always be a new one out in June/July.

At it's end? I wouldn't say so. They will continue making the iPhone 4 after June/July, if just in a 8GB version; the new one is also expected to not be the giant step from the 4 like the 4 was from the 3GS - it will be more along the lines of the 3G->3GS, some hardware upgrades, but not much.

I'm still on a 3G, and I might skip the 4 - but I won't have the money free to afford to upgrade (on a want, at least) for another few months at least. If they come out with a good iOS4 build for 3G (I'm on 3.X) I will be able to hold off a couple months until the refresh. But if I had the cash now? I'd snap up an iPhone 4 definatly.

If you're worried there will be some big feature you want on the next phone, just keep your current one well cared for :)
 
Noone knows if it will be minor updates or major. And yes you will be able to update your i4 to the newest os.
I say enjoy your phone. The next iPhone is at least 6 months away. If you keep waiting for things you will not get to enjoy much.
 
6 months of iPhone 4 enjoyment is worth a lot. I'm expecting a 4GS type upgrade, but you'll be able to keep your iOS up to date like what was said above. The iPhone 4 won't be obsolete any time soon. I just bought mine 2 weeks ago and no regrets coming from an EVO.
 
It will probably be another year or 2 before it really starts to feel out of date, apple has been good about supporting existing hardware for 2 years and the 3G I got in June 2008 didnt start to feel out of date until spring of this year when the current gen of smartphones started getting released. As a developer however if apple does come out with a dual-core this year you might be a little behind the curve if your apps can't take full advantage it.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm bursting with excitement to start playing around with this thing. So many apps!

I just realised my contract ends with O2 in September. Will have been a 3 year stint, so worst case I'm sure I can get the new iphone cheap when re-signing then.

Thanks again!
 
No, u should be lucky that you have one. There are a lot of people that really want one but cannot afford one these days.
 
Last edited:
Why buy then ask? Enjoy what you've already purchased. Clearly you wanted it enough tonopen your wallet.
 
End of it's life? It was just release a few months ago!

Myself, I bought a new 32 gig 3GS weeks before the iPhone 4 came out. I wanted to wait because you never know about a first gen phone - and as it turned out, there were problems. Most people don't have them, but I'd just as soon not take the chance of more dropped calls, yellowish screen, fragile back plate and antenna problems. My 3GS is humming along just fine.

I'm still on the fence, though, about upgrading. If they damn well would have bumped the screen size up just a bit, it would be a no brainer (that one still boggles my mind). Very disappointed that they kept the 3.5 when they already redesigned the whole thing. That, alone, kept me and a lot of other people from upgrading.

Mileage may very :)
 
You made a good buy man. This was my first Iphone too, and I've always wanted to get one since the first gen came out, but never could because I was with Sprint. Pretty sure you won't regret buying one. Enjoy!!
 
The good things about buying the iPhone in Singapore are adequate pricing and being carrier-free.

Purchased mine in Singapore, and really enjoying it. Had a 3G previously, so the iPhone 4 is a great improvement, spec and design-wise.

I thing you won't feel it being outdated for at least 1.5-2 years from now. And then you'll probably have enough funds to upgrade. Cheers and enjoy your iPhone!
 
Nope.

I say this as someone who has owned every model of iPhone, and upgrades yearly.

You shouldn't have waited. The odds that the next iPhone will be radically different are slim (not nonexistent, mind you). I do think it will be an incremental thing, like what happened with the 3G to 3GS upgrade.

You have to start SOMEWHERE. If you kept on waiting for a new iPhone and finally bit the bullet, you'd ultimately still not find it to be perfect. Nothing is.

If you'd been here when iP4 came out and you had seen all the people who were mad because it was their first iPhone and they thought it didn't work as well as it should, you'd have seen why it's all up to the individual.

I like my iP4. It's got a beautiful display, and works quite well for me.

Is it perfect? Again... nothing is. Enjoy!
 
Try to keep your IP4 in excellent condition and you will have no problem selling it for a good price. Which will be about 75% the cost of the the IP5. So if the IP5 turns out to be a major upgrade from the IP4, you'll have very little saving to do.

I doubt the IP5 will be a major upgrade though, but given the hardware issues many have with the antenna, complaints about being covered in glass, and the demands/competition, Apple just might go a major direction despite it's previous upgrade history.
 
juliancs said:
I've never had an iphone before, simply because I could not afford them. I'm scoring/doing audio for games on the ios now, so need one. My parents have kindly helped out to make it a quasi-xmas gift.

I see that the ip4 is 'approaching the end' of it's cycle, and people say a new one will be out in June.

I'm not so much bothered about this - seeing as it is hard, without unlimited funds, to keep on top of the latest and greatest.
What I'm really asking is, how long before the ip4 becomes "obsolete"? I'm targeting this at folk who have had the older iphones and perhaps are still using them? I asked my mum to order it for me (it is cheaper in Singapore where she lives) and it's been three weeks since so I can't return it. I assume I could sell it in a few months and get a good price (have protectors and a case standing by for as soon as it comes out the box), but the question remains whether that is necessary- even if one comes out in July, will it be a change like from the 3 to 4? Or Minor updates? Will I be able to upgrade to the latest OS?

Excuse the speculatory nature, I'm new to the iphone and its workings.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Yes!

But you should have asked the question before you bought it!
 
I would just enjoy the iPhone 4. The only thing you MIGHT be missing is the 4G, and that's if it even comes with it. The original iPhone skipped out on 3G technology at first, so we'll see what happens. I for one think it would be bad business to let android get a year head start with 4G devices, but Apple does crazy things...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm waiting for the iPhone 4 to come to cricket before I buy...
 
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