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iPhone 4s not cutting edge according to US Cellular

D

dball4

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 1, 2010
165
50
Illinois
So according to 9to5mac the iPhone 4s is not cutting edge enough for US Cellular so they decided that was the reason they need to turn away the iPhone.

I will admit that I am on US Cellular right now but I am looking at switching to Sprint so I can get my hands on the iPhone and its cutting edge abilities. The current Android phone I have is falling apart, buggy, and laggy. I have to do a battery pull at least once a day because the phone freezes up and its on Android 2.3.5 and I just am not a fan of it. I love my iPad so I want to have an iPhone.

Thoughts?
 
It may not be cutting edge in terms of specs, but making it all work together in a mostly-seamless device is where the iPhone excels.
 
I used to live on the cutting/bleeding edge of technology in the 1990's and it was at many times super expensive and frustrating. I'm not like that anymore and prefer to get products that have baked for a while and are very reliable.

I think the iPhone, for this context, is still close to the cutting edge but well refined enough to be really good at what it does.
 
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Lol.

Ever listened to a used car dealer?

Yeah.
 
Since US Cellular made the decision not to go with the iPhone, of course they are going to claim it isn't "cutting edge" enough for them (or use some other excuse). Obviously, if they see customers bolting to Sprint or Verizon and decide to pick up the next iPhone, they'll change their tune.
 
KPOM said:
Since US Cellular made the decision not to go with the iPhone, of course they are going to claim it isn't "cutting edge" enough for them (or use some other excuse). Obviously, if they see customers bolting to Sprint or Verizon and decide to pick up the next iPhone, they'll change their tune.
Click to expand...

Obviously, the next iPhone will be cutting edge - with it's 4" screen, LTE and whatnot ... oh, wait. :eek:
 
lordofthereef said:
iPhone 4s is NOT cutting edge, no matter how you look at it. Thing is, a device doesn't have to be cutting edge to be great.
Click to expand...

It has Siri, which is pretty cutting edge as far as voice recognition goes. That said, it is an evolutionary upgrade, and as far as cellular radio technology, the iPhone has never been cutting edge (the first version was 2G).

On the whole, however, I agree with you that being "cutting edge" and being "great" are two different, but not mutually exclusive things.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Out of curiosity, what would you consider "cutting-edge?"
Click to expand...

We have thinner phones, faster phones, more ram in phones, more storage capacity in phones, bigger screens in phones (comparing price here now). iPhone 4S falls short in just about all of those aspects. It's still my go to phone because it's well rounded. Don't get me wrong, I love the phone, but it doesn't make US Cellular's statements strictly wrong.
 
KPOM said:
It has Siri, which is pretty cutting edge as far as voice recognition goes. That said, it is an evolutionary upgrade, and as far as cellular radio technology, the iPhone has never been cutting edge (the first version was 2G).

On the whole, however, I agree with you that being "cutting edge" and being "great" are two different, but not mutually exclusive things.
Click to expand...

Siri is awesome when it works. As it stands, I am willing to bet many, if not MOST 4S owners would say that it is their number one let down. I am sure it will get better. It's in beta, blah blah blah. As a selling point RIGHT NOW I wouldn't tell a friend to buy a 4S because Siri is all that and a bag of chips (because it's not). It's about as good as offering on other phones, if not worse at times, IMO.
 
lordofthereef said:
Siri is awesome when it works. As it stands, I am willing to bet many, if not MOST 4S owners would say that it is their number one let down. I am sure it will get better. It's in beta, blah blah blah. As a selling point RIGHT NOW I wouldn't tell a friend to buy a 4S because Siri is all that and a bag of chips (because it's not). It's about as good as offering on other phones, if not worse at times, IMO.
Click to expand...

I don't use Siri very often, but it has come in handy. Being able to ask "natural" questions is helpful (such as "where's the post office?" or "when is Hanukkah?" rather than having to structure a question in a stilted format like on other phones).

It's better than regular voice recognition (and I've used Android's on my Nexus One). I agree I wouldn't buy a phone solely for Siri yet, but it is definitely getting there. I think they should improve Siri by making more of it available offline (download some basic functionality on the phone).
 
KPOM said:
I don't use Siri very often, but it has come in handy. Being able to ask "natural" questions is helpful (such as "where's the post office?" or "when is Hanukkah?" rather than having to structure a question in a stilted format like on other phones).

It's better than regular voice recognition (and I've used Android's on my Nexus One). I agree I wouldn't buy a phone solely for Siri yet, but it is definitely getting there. I think they should improve Siri by making more of it available offline (download some basic functionality on the phone).
Click to expand...

And that is key. Siri can become a whole lot of things. Or it can not. Right now, it's a whole lot of not.

My prediction is we won't see Siri do anything worth actually buying the phone for until at least halfway through the 4S lifecycle. And then, we will have the next gen iPhone with Siri 2 that will not be compatible with the 4S...

By the way, both quetions you mentioned can be asked of google search (by voice), available on Android and iPhone, and both give your proper answers (I just ran it on both devices). You do actually have to read the answer using google search. I am personally ok with this, but I do know a lot of people have an aversion to reading (not implying anything about you, personally, here).
 
Let's see we have the;
Biggest screen=no
Highest res screen=no
Best screen technology=no
Highest pixel density =its close
Best chipset=no
Thinnest=no
Lightest=no
Most water proof=no
Most durable=no
Most ram=no
Expandable memory=no
Replaceable battery=no
Best voice dictation=no
Open apps by voice=no


No not cutting edge.
 
chakraj said:
Let's see we have the;
Biggest screen=no
Highest res screen=no
Best screen technology=no
Highest pixel density =its close
Best chipset=no
Thinnest=no
Lightest=no
Most water proof=no
Most durable=no
Most ram=no
Expandable memory=no
Replaceable battery=no
Best voice dictation=no
Open apps by voice=no


No not cutting edge.
Click to expand...

Good show!
 
dball4 said:
So according to 9to5mac the iPhone 4s is not cutting edge enough for US Cellular so they decided that was the reason they need to turn away the iPhone.
Click to expand...

If they aren't confident that their 3G network can handle the load of a massive influx of iPhones, that could be reasonable thinking on their part. They want to spend money on building out LTE, not beefing up their 3G network.
 
I completely agree with U.S. Cellular's statement and with Lordofthereef.
Although, we already know that US Cellular was not happy with the :apple: mafia's terms for carrying the iphone and declined the deal there is no doubt they may be bitter but the statement taken on it's own accord holds merit.

The 4s is really nothing special. Am I the only one who remembers how disappointed I felt when I watched the keynote for the iphone 4s. (Felt the same for the ipad 2) After waiting for 16 months or whatever for a new iphone and they didn't increase screen size, didn't add more RAM, and didn't change the shape or design. I'm not going to mention siri since it is software.

The 4s should have been released much, much earlier because they hardly did **** too it!!! The optimist in me wants to think that :apple: had something much better they intended on releasing but something didn't pan out for one reason or another so they went with plan B, which was the 4s. Wow, a better camera, and the processor they've had in production for 6 or 7 months already in the ipad2 (also a big disappointment hardware wise BTW). Really, it took 16 or 17 months for that???????

What about sales of the device? I don't care what the sales for the 4s say. Sales of that device were going to be through the roof regardless because it had been so long since they updated the device. Almost everyone was already eligible for an upgrade who had an iphone 4, not to mention everyone with 2 or 3 generation old iphones were going to upgrade. In addition, being available to more carriers, greatly broadened the customer base so those who didn't have an iphone yet could now jump at the chance. Don't let the sales figures of the 4s distract you.

The 4s is a complete disappointment from a hardware perspective. With a 1 year (cough) refresh cycle of the device they really do need to remain a little more cutting edge. Apple's arrogance is really showing with their latest offerings across the board over the last year and a half.

Since I converted to the world of :apple: a while back, I love :apple: products and almost refuse to use anything else. I just want them to be more on their game instead of regurgitating the same stuff with extremely marginal hardware improvements.
 
dball4 said:
So according to 9to5mac the iPhone 4s is not cutting edge enough for US Cellular so they decided that was the reason they need to turn away the iPhone.

I will admit that I am on US Cellular right now but I am looking at switching to Sprint so I can get my hands on the iPhone and its cutting edge abilities. The current Android phone I have is falling apart, buggy, and laggy. I have to do a battery pull at least once a day because the phone freezes up and its on Android 2.3.5 and I just am not a fan of it. I love my iPad so I want to have an iPhone.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You said in your post why US Cellular probably won't make it in the market and why they aren't a major player.
 
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I am pretty sure us cellular did not get the iPhone because they were scared by the terms. Problem is by not getting the iPhone now they likely seal their demise in the next couple years unless they only plan to service bad credit users.
 
KPOM said:
I don't use Siri very often, but it has come in handy. Being able to ask "natural" questions is helpful (such as "where's the post office?" or "when is Hanukkah?" rather than having to structure a question in a stilted format like on other phones).

It's better than regular voice recognition (and I've used Android's on my Nexus One). I agree I wouldn't buy a phone solely for Siri yet, but it is definitely getting there. I think they should improve Siri by making more of it available offline (download some basic functionality on the phone).
Click to expand...

My biggest disappointment about Siri is that it cannot work without network access. Cellular data isn't always reliable (especially in NY), so the thing jus times out pretty often. With the "old" voice recognition on the 3GS and 4, at least I was able to play albums and voice dial people without having to rely on a data connection.
 
lordofthereef said:
And that is key. Siri can become a whole lot of things. Or it can not. Right now, it's a whole lot of not.

My prediction is we won't see Siri do anything worth actually buying the phone for until at least halfway through the 4S lifecycle. And then, we will have the next gen iPhone with Siri 2 that will not be compatible with the 4S...

By the way, both quetions you mentioned can be asked of google search (by voice), available on Android and iPhone, and both give your proper answers (I just ran it on both devices). You do actually have to read the answer using google search. I am personally ok with this, but I do know a lot of people have an aversion to reading (not implying anything about you, personally, here).
Click to expand...

Siri isn't enough, on its own, just yet, but when combined with other features make it attractive.

Also, I am well aware of what type of voice recognition is available on Android. I have owned a Nexus One since January 2010. Siri is a lot better, and, as I indicated before, allows for "natural" speech. Also, the commercials do a pretty good job of indicating how Siri is different. Tell your Android phone that "I'm locked out" and it won't be telling you where the nearest locksmith is.

----------
terraphantm said:
My biggest disappointment about Siri is that it cannot work without network access. Cellular data isn't always reliable (especially in NY), so the thing jus times out pretty often. With the "old" voice recognition on the 3GS and 4, at least I was able to play albums and voice dial people without having to rely on a data connection.
Click to expand...

Hence the reason I think Siri should be adjusted to revert to the old voice dial in the event that data isn't available. I agree that data coverage in NYC is pretty bad. I can get signal, but too often there are too many people on the network and data doesn't get through.

----------
Tec972 said:
The 4s is a complete disappointment from a hardware perspective. With a 1 year (cough) refresh cycle of the device they really do need to remain a little more cutting edge. Apple's arrogance is really showing with their latest offerings across the board over the last year and a half.

Since I converted to the world of :apple: a while back, I love :apple: products and almost refuse to use anything else. I just want them to be more on their game instead of regurgitating the same stuff with extremely marginal hardware improvements.
Click to expand...

Apple is on a tick-tock schedule of updating the iPhone. The 3G was a big improvement. The 3GS was incremental. The 4 was a big improvement, and the 4S is incremental. The 5 is likely to be another big jump.

It makes sense. Most people sign 2 year contracts and don't upgrade every year. The 4S is a big improvement from the 3GS, and thus is perfect for people whose contract on the 3GS just came to an end. Next year, there will be an iPhone that will be attractive to those whose contracts on the iPhone 4 will have just run out.

Also consider where technology is right now. LTE chipsets are fairly widespread, but haven't yet made the leap to 28nm technology that will improve battery life. That is coming next year, just in time for the iPhone 5. Similarly, screens with enough pixels per inch to support a significant increase in resolution (e.g. doubling or 1.5^2) aren't quite feasible yet but will likely be within the next year or so.
 
Perfect point

KPOM said:
Apple is on a tick-tock schedule of updating the iPhone. The 3G was a big improvement. The 3GS was incremental. The 4 was a big improvement, and the 4S is incremental. The 5 is likely to be another big jump.

It makes sense. Most people sign 2 year contracts and don't upgrade every year. The 4S is a big improvement from the 3GS, and thus is perfect for people whose contract on the 3GS just came to an end. Next year, there will be an iPhone that will be attractive to those whose contracts on the iPhone 4 will have just run out.
Click to expand...

That's it right there.

If the reason you upgrade your phone is to have the Next Best Thing then the jump from a 4 to a 4s is little more than a hop. I can see why someone considering the 4s in light of the 4 might be disappointed. If you're upgrading to a 4s from a 3gs or 3, on the other hand, you're probably a pretty happy guy or girl.

Face it, if you want the phone with the Best Specs you better commit to buying a new phone every 4 or 5 months. The underlying technology is evolving that fast. I fully expect my iPhone 4s to last two years. Maybe there will be a compelling alternative to the iPhone 5s or 6 or whatever at that point, maybe there won't be. Right now, I'm happy with the phone I bought to replace my aging iPhone. (By the way, I gave the aging phone to my 12-year-old niece to use as a pay-as-you-go phone, and she was ecstatic. Still works flawlessly, just...kinda...slow with iOS5. Not that she cares. :)
 
US Cellular has a few pockets of LTE service in obscure areas. For instance they have their high speed network in Maine, but not in Boston or New York, which are the 2 hottest business markets in the north east.

Based on this I would have to say that the US Cellular network is not on the cutting edge.
 
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