Is Having A 2 Year Old iPhone Such A Bad Thing?

[Mr. Incredible]

I bought the original iPhone for over $500 back in 2007, but AT&Ts service is horrible, and as much as I love the iPhone, I had to drop it and switch to Verizon.

Now, I've been with Verizon for almost 2 years (2 years this April), and I have one of the ********* phones out there! Ever heard of the Samsung Glyde?

Yeah, I hate it! Paid $30 for it, and its just one of the worst phones I've ever had. I had a Samsung on At&t a few years back, and it sucked, I thought Samsung on Verizon would be better, but its the same thing, so I don't ever plan on getting a Samsung product, ever.

Anyway, I've been dealing with a horrible phone for 2 years, and I can upgrade when the Verizon iPhone is released in Feb 10th. I really want the white iPhone (if it ever comes out), but I don't know if I should wait for it.

I don't mind getting the iPhone 4 now (besides, 4 is my favorite number), and then getting a new iPhone 2 years later (maybe a year later, if possible). But the thing is, an iPhone 4.2/4S/4G/5/Whatever is going to be released in July. Now, I love the iPhone 4, but I would really want to be able to use FaceTime on 3G (or 4G), instead of having to do WiFi.

But this brings me to a dilemma, since I don't know any person that has an iPhone, who the hell am I going to FaceTime with?

Well, my girlfriend is going to upgrade her phone in August with her family. I told her to get an iPhone, but she's not sure exactly on what she's going to do in August, and she doesn't really want to spend $90-$100 a month on a phone. I know I can do FaceTime with Macs in the next few months, but her MacBook needs the software update (not sure if she's going to do it), and her Laptop is nearly 5 years old (i think she needs an update, cause our video chats never connect anymore. She has an '06 MacBook, and I have a '10 iMac). The only way I can see me and her doing facetime, is if we get the new iPhone in July together.

But, again, I'm not sure if she's going to do it. And the longer I wait, the longer my next update will be. So, I'm thinking of just getting the iPhone in February, and the next iPhone 2 years later.

I've delt with a horrible phone for almost 2 years, I'm sure I can deal with an amazing phone for 2 years. One thing I need to keep reminding myself, is that I can never keep up with Technology, so I can always say, "I'm going to wait for the next one", but there is always going to be a "next one", you know?

Plus, I want to get an iPod. Does anyone here who has an iPhone have an iPod also?

I want to get the iPod Nano and turn it into a watch. I can store all my music in it (I got 5gbs of music, and its perfect for the nano), and I can store all my apps/photos/etc, on my 16gb iPhone.

I know that people get tired of the redundant, "should I get an iPhone?" threads. But i think that this is somewhat different, cause I'm asking 2 questions, and giving a scenario also with what to do also, cause of my girls situation.

Besides, is it so bad on having an iPhone for 2 years?

 

[MarlboroLite]

To be honest with you...I thought the whole video calling thing was pretty much a gimmick. All the phones will introduce it now...it sounds great on paper--hell we've always been told this was the future of telephone calls, and I'm sure The Jetsons had something to do with it!

the only people you will probably find yourself using it with are if you had kids and they were away (AND they had an iphone too) and you wanna see them, if you're a grandparent wishing to see the grand kids (and they all need iphones....I know that as intuitive as an iphone is, its beyond what most people over a certain age care to bother with....with a girlfriend...well i think the uses are pretty obvious if you're into that lol....otherwise you might try to use it a lot at first due to the novelty but really reality sets in, most of the time you don't want to show your face on a call and show what you're doing. I'm NOT saying they shouldn't have included it...I don't see any tradeoff to it being there if you want to use it. It's also wifi only.

As for the rest, the iPhone 4 is not "ancient technology" it's not "obsolete" and will not be one for a while to come. You will get most of the 5.0 upgrades coming...giving new life to the phone and able to enjoy the benefits of improvements they might make software wise, which are arguably more important than small spec bumps here and there. And if you get it now, you'll be only 2 months away from what most consider to the "BIG" upgrade wichh will be in 2012 and the inclusion of 4G. Those who decide to wait to get into a 2 year contract in July, will still have another year left on their contracts...while you and I can grab a far more important redesign much sooner. They might be the ones who regret having waited for essentially an 8 megapixel camera, 15% faster phone and negligible battery improvements.

 

[ap3604]

And if you get it now, you'll be only 2 months away from what most consider to the "BIG" upgrade which will be in 2012 and the inclusion of 4G.

Those who decide to wait to get into a 2 year contract in July, will still have another year left on their contracts...while you and I can grab a far more important redesign much sooner. They might be the ones who regret having waited for essentially an 8 megapixel camera, 15% faster phone and negligible battery improvements.

Ugh

I hate being on the odd numbered versions (1, 3, and 5 coming up). The even numbered versions (2, 4, and 6 eventually) seem to get the BIG improvements while the odd numbered versions just seems to ride the coattails of the even numbered versions with very minor improvements of basically the same model as the year before...

I'm waiting for the white version regardless if it's the 4 or 5th version though. I'll have a pretty tough decision if the white version actually comes out in Feb...

Wait 4 more months for the iPhone 5 or get the white iPhone 4 and resign myself to waiting for the iPhone 6? Decisions decisions...

 

[digitard]

Since my verizon contract has been up for a bit I decided I'm going w/ the iPhone 4, and then upgrading to the 2012 LTE version when it comes out (I'm sure for early adopters they'll knock a few months off peoples upgrades to get them into the 2012 models since people will be 18 months in almost).

I figure it can go two ways:
1) The iPhone 5 comes out this summer, which we know wont have LTE pretty much, and not enough changes to make me "have" to have it. 2012 rolls around, and I grab my LTE enabled version (w/ more tweaks) and the crowd rejoices.

2) The iPhone 5 comes out and I must have. I sell my iPhone 4 online, take the few bills I get from it and put it towards a retail phone and pay a little bit more than contract price, but still keep my original contract date. Which is good for that 2012 release anyways.

Either way it works out for me. Sure I'd be buying the equivalent of 2 "contract priced" phones in a year if I sell my i4 for a decent amount when it all works out, but I'm a tech geek. I'd of spent that on something stupid anyways probably...lol. Maybe I'll convince the wife she has to have an iPhone and snag her contract for the 5. Who knows.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Plus, I want to get an iPod. Does anyone here who has an iPhone have an iPod also?

Besides, is it so bad on having an iPhone for 2 years?

I have an older iPod that I had before I got my iPhone but I don't really use it very often.

As for having a 2 year old phone, I don't see a problem with it. My wife had the original iPhone from January 2008 to June 2010 when she got the iPhone 4. I had a Motorola Q9 from November 2008 to June 2010 when I also got an iPhone 4. I plan on keeping my iPhone for 2 years. I don't always have to have the latest and greatest.

 

[digitard]

My 3g iPod Touch is now my daughters "Mini iPad". She kept wanting to play w/ my iPad but scratched the screen a little w/ her nails. So I gave her my iPod Touch and told her it was a Mini iPad. She carries it everywhere.

Even took her CD's (she's 4) and copied them to it for her. Genius I say!

 

[iStudentUK]

Besides, is it so bad on having an iPhone for 2 years?

For shame sir, for shame! That is not the Apple way, you must purchase the latest update to any Apple product you already have within 72 hours of it being released. Otherwise, you make it onto Steve Job's 'list'- and you don't want to know what that means.

More seriously, relax and go with it. Most providers still offer the 3GS as a cheaper option, and O2 (a UK provider) is offering a limited number of reconditioned 3G's (that's supposed to mean 3G plural) for no upfront cost. So there are people buying iPhones that are already 2 years old on a 2 year contract!

I wouldn't give too much weight to FaceTime, it is great for a week then you hardly use it (for example, I used it recently from abroad on wifi so it would be free). The iPhone 4 is a great device, and should continue to be fantastic for two years, then you can jump to the iPhone 6.

Do US providers offer 18 month contracts? (UK providers do for a higher upfront cost) That would mean you could get the iPhone 6 very shortly after it is released.

You can constantly chase technology, and the iPhone 5 is still 6 months away. You can enjoy 6 months of iPhone 4-ing or suffer 6 more months with your current hated phone.

 

[Dandrews524]

Do US providers offer 18 month contracts? (UK providers do for a higher upfront cost) That would mean you could get the iPhone 6 very shortly after it is released.

standard contracts are 2 years for most carriers here, which give you the lower upfront cost. we also have one year contracts, which like your 18 month contract, have higher upfront cost. what is the difference in price in the UK between two years and 18 months?

 

[Dandrews524]

Besides, is it so bad on having an iPhone for 2 years?

there is absolutely no shame in rockin an iphone of any kind (maybe not a 2g, but i still wouldnt judge), for as long as you want. its not like its a moto razr or anything. once i get my iphone next month i plan on having it for at least a year, hopefully two. im sure with some sweet iOS updates you will have enough iphone goodness to last you at least 2 years.

P.S. If a badass new iphone comes out for verizon this summer, i will most likely buy it. smh

 

[iStudentUK]

standard contracts are 2 years for most carriers here, which give you the lower upfront cost. we also have one year contracts, which like your 18 month contract, have higher upfront cost. what is the difference in price in the UK between two years and 18 months?

I made a slight mistake in my post- most providers here offer a similar upfront cost for the phone (which ranges from £0 to £250 depending on the monthly contract cost) for 24 month and 18 month contracts. You have to pay about £5 more a month for an 18 month to get the same number of mins/texts as a 24 month.

When the Verizon iPhone was announced I couldn't believe how much iPhones are in the US!

 

[Dandrews524]

I made a slight mistake in my post- most providers here offer a similar upfront cost for the phone (which ranges from £0 to £250 depending on the monthly contract cost) for 24 month and 18 month contracts. You have to pay about £5 more a month for an 18 month to get the same number of mins/texts as a 24 month.

When the Verizon iPhone was announced I couldn't believe how much iPhones are in the US!

dont get too jealous of the $199/$299 price, that is subsidized. so upfront we pay the $199 then get charged a certain amount on each bill till the phone is paid off and THEN some

 

[Aatos.1]

Buy now.

Tomorrows phone or any other tech device always looks better in ones imagination.

2 hrs old is just right.

 

[iStudentUK]

dont get too jealous of the $199/$299 price, that is subsidized. so upfront we pay the $199 then get charged a certain amount on each bill till the phone is paid off and THEN some

I'm not jealous- I'm saying your prices are insane! Your upfront costs are the same no matter how much you pay a month right? Here they scale down to £0. Plus, your monthly prices are huge!

I paid £180 upfront and now £30/month on O2. I get 300mins, unlimited texts, 500Mb of data and unlimited wifi with The Cloud. That was a month after the iPhone 4 came out.

Three are currently offering- £69 upfront (~$100), 2000mins, 5000 texts, 5000 same-network mins and unlimited data all for £35/month (~$55)! Amazing deal!

 

[OllyW]

Plus, I want to get an iPod. Does anyone here who has an iPhone have an iPod also?

....

Besides, is it so bad on having an iPhone for 2 years?

I've got the iPhone 4, a 3 year old 160GB iPod classic, a 6 year old 60GB iPod photo and 5 year old iPod mini which cover all my music needs.

I'll keep the iPhone 4 until the 2 year contract finishes and had a iPhone 3G for 2 years previously. I don't see the need for constantly upgrading stuff that still works well just because there's something newer available.

 

[Aatos.1]

I don't see the need for constantly upgrading stuff that still works well just because there's something newer available.

Well said.

Although I can be guilty of being "drawn into" the lure of having the latest, that's largely confined to smartphones & laptops, as that's what I make my living with.

I have a old iPod I wouldn't give up for anything. It does the job ideally, has a wonderful patina & memories to boot.

 

[Stealthipad]

Only YOU can decide if you need a new phone. Never understood why people in these forums would ask other to make these decisions.

YOU need to decide!

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

To be honest with you...I thought the whole video calling thing was pretty much a gimmick. All the phones will introduce it now...it sounds great on paper--hell we've always been told this was the future of telephone calls, and I'm sure The Jetsons had something to do with it!

the only people you will probably find yourself using it with are if you had kids and they were away (AND they had an iphone too) and you wanna see them, if you're a grandparent wishing to see the grand kids (and they all need iphones....I know that as intuitive as an iphone is, its beyond what most people over a certain age care to bother with....with a girlfriend...well i think the uses are pretty obvious if you're into that lol....otherwise you might try to use it a lot at first due to the novelty but really reality sets in, most of the time you don't want to show your face on a call and show what you're doing. I'm NOT saying they shouldn't have included it...I don't see any tradeoff to it being there if you want to use it. It's also wifi only.

wrong....only the official "facetime" is limited to wifi only..there are plenty of non JB apps that allow video calling over 3g, yahoo messenger is one

 

[GoCubsGo]

No, I kept my 3G well past 2 years. It was not the fastest, but it served me better than AT&T ever did. I have so much more I can spend my money on, I don't need to plop down $200 - $300 each year for a phone.

 

[Interstella5555]

I don't really see a need to upgrade every year, especially in a financial sense. My 3G worked fine up to the day I bought my 4, and my GF is using it now as a Pay-as-you-go phone on AT&T with no problems. I'm certainly not buying a 5 this year, and will think about a 6 when it comes out.

 

[CZK]

Nice wall of text sir.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

That's the thing with Facetime, even though its only WiFi only, there are still stuff like Skype that allows you to do Facetime on 3G. I know I can do the same thing with Verizon, IF they were able to do voice and data at the same time, which they can't with CDMA, but they will be able to with LTE.

But I tell myself, I can deal with not having to do video chat over a phone. People have just been making regular phone calls for decades, and it's worked out perfectly fine, so I can deal with it...but it is pretty damn cool! lol.

Besides, I heard that its glitchy when doing facetime, so I should give it a few years until they improve on the hardware and data use in the future.

As for the iPod. I want to get the iPod nano and turn it into a watch, it looks really cool! Plus, it has 8Gb of space, and my music library is 6.30Gb, which is perfect to store all my music in an iPod nano/watch, and then store all my apps (117), photos (982 pics), and some movies (got 71) in my 16Gb iPhone.

The only reason as to why I love the iPhone is this:

-Simple phone calls
-Visual Voicemail
-Conversation Texts with Multiple People
-Youtube
-Safari
-HD Camera
-iPod, Movies
-Easy to use Calendar
-Voice memo

I know that most of these features can be found on another phone, but I love the way Apple does it, plus its touch screen is one of the best, if not thee best!

 

[neko girl]

I have an original iPhone, jailbroken on T-mo. It has a cracked screen because I dropped it hard one time. It runs a little slow, but the phone is pretty solid and does everything I need.

It's not so bad having a 3 year old (2 year old?) phone..

What Apple has added since:
FaceTime, with 2 cameras, one of them is a much better still camera with flash
MMS
Faster, more responsive, better screen
Some official customizability
Official multi-tasking

 

[Dandrews524]

I'm not jealous- I'm saying your prices are insane! Your upfront costs are the same no matter how much you pay a month right? Here they scale down to £0. Plus, your monthly prices are huge!

I paid £180 upfront and now £30/month on O2. I get 300mins, unlimited texts, 500Mb of data and unlimited wifi with The Cloud. That was a month after the iPhone 4 came out.

Three are currently offering- £69 upfront (~$100), 2000mins, 5000 texts, 5000 same-network mins and unlimited data all for £35/month (~$55)! Amazing deal!

lol oh wow my bad. i didnt think the UK subsidized their phones at all. all i ever see in tech forums is Europeans that complain about paying $800 for a phone. you guys have it better than we do in the states. now IM jealous of your sweet pubs and cheap mobile plans

 

[macjunkie33]

Reason I'm getting the iPhone 4

Thought I'd throw my worthless 2 cents in.

I jumped in and got the Droid 1 on the release day and thought I was cool showing off my new phone to everyone and yes it was the newest thing for a whole 2 months until the next Android phone came out and the new phone got the new upgrade, and I had to sit and wait for it to update, and wait and wait. Each release of Android digs the Droid 1 further and further into its grave. My wifi doesn't work, my apps crash, my battery life is crap, my paint is peeling off, WHAT A MISTAKE! I can't live life wishing reading about what is coming out I need to spend my time being productive and not be sucked into these marketing games.

The whole "iPhone4 is already old and outdated" is just angering. I have had my Mac for 2-3 years and I never sit around wishing I had the new one the day it came out (unless you are 4-5 years behind in hardware which my PowerbookG4 proudly sits and still works like a charm). This is why I am loyal to Apple. No matter how many revisions there are they always keep customers up to date with software. There stuff is quality and having software and hardware control guarantees a great experience for everyone. This is where Android fails miserably. I am done with playing those games.

There are many reasons why I get angry when people say "Don't get the iPhone 4" or "You should wait to get the iPhone5." I've been buying into this way of thinking for too long. I might sound like I'm trying to justify my decision to upgrade now but really I just don't understand why I shouldn't get an iPhone 4. It's a great phone is it not?

I am looking forward to having a solid phone with a solid network that will guarantee that my data plan won't increase for the next 2 years and I can have my unlimited data. Is 4G worth paying 40-50 bucks a month for a capped plan that is just ridiculous. I can absolutely deal with "slow" speeds for 2 years until the prices come down to earth. I mean what are people downloading torrents on their cell phones now? I don't get the hype. It's grabbing emails and sending text messages and downloading documents that I care about doing.

Can't wait. iPhone here we come.

 

[Liberal]

I don't see anything wrong with it.

I have an iPhone 4 and I have a 3rd Generation iPod that I use as my main music player. I keep my original iPhone as a backup.