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Is the 4S still good?

fedecape

fedecape

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 23, 2011
414
32
Miami, FL
What's up guys

I've been trying to unlock my girlfriend's iPhone 5 (locked to SoftBank Japan) for 3 weeks. I've used every turbo sim you can think of, but they don't wanna work.
I'm buying her a local iPhone, and the 4S used is about $200 on Amazon. What do you guys think of it? Is it worth $200? Is it slow? Recommendations?

Thank you
 
it should still run smoothly, but will only be supported for 1 more year. If you have a contract upgrade coming up w/in the year I would hold off. If not $200 seems like a good price
 
I have a 4S and it runs iOS 7 well. A bit laggy on some things but still very serviceable.
 
I had the 4S for 2.5 years. I recently upgraded to a 5C because Verizon has a free 5C 32GB promotion going on. I would have kept the 4S as it did everything I needed. So for $200 thats a fair price for a phone that should accomplish most task without a problem. They also gave $150 store credit for my 16GB 4S!
 
For anything but gaming and tabbed browsing it should work fine. Email, social networks, texting etc. Just don't get the 4, that's horrible for everything if it's on iOS 7. The 4S should do most of the things someone would need in a phone.
 
My wife is very happy with her 4s, getting iOS 8 later but don't know how it would run on that. Just make sure the battery still holds a decent charge and the wifi works. The 4s I believe can have a problem with the wifi antenna meaning wifi option greyed out - sadly my wife's had just started doing this!
 
My wife has a 4S as well, and it's running like a champ. As someone else mentioned, any phone that old could have battery issues, but I don't know how you would be able to determine if the one you were buy does or not. Check craigslist too as a good source. Then you'll be able to meet the seller and see the phone before you buy it.
 
It depends on how long u intend to use the 4s, it probably won't update to ios 9 and it may not be very smooth on ios 8... If your looking for something cheap you should see if you can find an iPhone 5c for a good deal,it will last longer and has newer tech in it.
 
I think it really depends on what you want out of your phone. The 4s still works great for what it is, but you are going to have a much better experience on newer hardware...
 
I have a 4 in for repair right now. I am actually surprised how much I still like it. It is on iOS7 and is running well. The battery life has been pretty good too.
 
I've been using a 4S since January 2012 and it's still running great. Even though it's a few years old it's still a very capable phone. No issues at all with iOS 7, very smooth. Though, if I were to buy now and was looking for something cheap I would try to get a good condition used 5 or 5C.
 
Is the 4S still good?

I tried using iPhone 4 on both iOS 6 and 7, and both were so laggy as to be unusable. Switched to an iPhone 4S which is working just fine, main issue is the battery life is terrible. You can probably get one in great condition for $200-250. In my mind the $400+ that you would have to pay for a yes iPhone 5c is not worth it. Better to wait until the iPhone 6 comes out and the prices drop.
 
as a current iPhone 4S user, I say it's not worth it. Speed is fine on the 4S, and the camera is still holding up pretty nicely too, but everything else isn't. The screen is small and colors are washed out by today's standards, 3G data speed is slow (WiFi isn't particularly fast either), and battery life is absolutely awful.

If the iPhone is your only option and you only have $200, then get the 4S, but know the downsides. However, for $200, I'd say get the new Motorola Moto G 4G. It's got a 4.5" HD display, the physical size is barely larger than the 4S, capacity is at 8GB with a MicroSD card slot, it has LTE connectivity, it's got Android 4.4 with guaranteed update to the next version, and the battery life is WAY better. Speed feel about the same, and even the Moto G feels a little faster than the 4S on iOS 7. Camera is better on the 4S, but not by much. The biggest difference is that you can get the Moto G 4G brand new for $219, and a used 4S for $200+ (new one is at $450).

As much as the 4S has served me well, but I can't imagine myself keeping it after the new iPhone comes out! :p
 
Wait and get an iphone 5c, 5s or 6. Might as well pay 200 towards a newer device that you can update the iOS on it for 2-3 years.
 
I still have another year left on my contract with ATT and I currently have the 4S. It's my first iphone and it still serves me well. ATT network doesn't serve me and my area well especially since they are "upgrading" the tower. My only complaint about my phone is 16GB isn't enough; but it's fast enough for me and runs my apps well enough. I might upgrade when the 6 comes out but I'll probably wait until the 6S comes out and see if ATT improves service or go with a local CDMA carrier that also uses iphones
 
The 4S is the same since it was new. The real question is "Do I want my friends seeing me with this ancient brick?" I know I ask myself that sometimes.
 
My decision on it would be carrier based. GSM (AT&T) yes, CDMA (Verizon) no.

CDMA 3G is just too slow today.
 
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