To get an iPhone 4 or 4s that is the question?

[todd2000]

So I will be getting an iPhone in a few days probably. I have been using cheap Pre-Pay phones up till this point, cause I didn't want to spend a ton of money every month. I have never had a "Smart Phone." I do have an iPod Touch so I am familiar with iOs, but it is only a second generation so not the latest. So basically my question is should I get a 4 or 4s? I'de rather not spend the extra $100 for the S, but Im still not sure. I realize it's faster, and has Siri, but Im not sure how much I would use it as cool as it is (Siri that is). For comparison purposes, this is the phone I have now.. lol http://www.net10.com/phone_details.jsp?model=UCMTST_008627

So obviously any iPhone would be an upgrade, but I basically just want to make sure I will be happy with the 4... Is there anything really that bad about the 4 that would make me wish I had a 4S?

 

[stevemiller]

i'd say it depends on how long you plan to keep the phone. right now, i think the real world differences are very incremental.

but where i live, 3 year phone contracts are mandatory unless you buy the hardware outright, so i got the phone that will be least painful to be using 3 years from now: after several OS updates and developers targeting newer and newer hardware, i'm hoping the dual core will be a saving grace.

And I'm assuming that going the smartphone route, you'll be paying at least ~$50/mo (or equivalent currency) for services, so the additional upfront hardware cost becomes rather small when you consider the overall cost of owning the phone.

at least that was my reasoning!

 

[wordoflife]

I say that if you get a good deal on the 4, like 32gb for 200 or something, then you will have no regrets. I have a 4s but I'm honestly not that impressed. Battery life isn't good, I haven't found Siri all that useful, and the camera doesn't seem to be better than the iPhone 4

The only problem I see with the 99$ ip4 is that it's 8gb. We have an 8gb itouch and it's actual usable space is 6.5gb. I imagine it's less on an iPhone

 

[Small White Car]

This year they're both fine choices.

But if you're really worried about prices you might be the kind of person to keep your iPhone for 3 years before upgrading. Sound possible?

And if THAT happens then you'll be super glad you have the dual-core A5 processor in 2014 rather than the older A4. You'll be feeling pretty far behind but at least your phone won't be totally left out of all the newest software.

I think having a 4S will allow you to go further without upgrading, so think of the "extra $100" in terms of saving $200 in 2 years when you don't feel like you have to upgrade at that point.

 

[Munchkinsdad]

4s is snappier. Siri is pretty convenient and so is the dictation feature for long messages to the wife...

If this is your 1st smartphone, I would say go for the latest. If money isn't a concern especially.

Or if you really don't care, get the 4. I'm sure you will love it!

 

[Sdahe]

Go for the 4S all the way... it's like the iphone 4 with more power and you get an extra friend (Siri)...

 

[ET iPhone Home]

I'm new to iPhone as well. Got the 4S. The one thing that would convince me to spend the extra $100 is the over-the-air update capabilities, without having to sync. It's so convenient. I have a relative who has the 4 and and asks me if there are any updates so that he can sync his 4 to iTunes.

Not sure about this, but when purchasing Apps (for download), would the 4 require syncing too? These alone are worth $100 for convenience.

 

[wordoflife]

I'm new to iPhone as well. Got the 4S. The one thing that would convince me to spend the extra $100 is the over-the-air update capabilities, without having to sync. It's so convenient. I have a relative who has the 4 and and asks me if there are any updates so that he can sync his 4 to iTunes.

Not sure about this, but when purchasing Apps (for download), would the 4 require syncing too? These alone are worth $100 for convenience.

You can do those things on iphone 4.

 

[sweetbrat]

The only problem I see with the 99$ ip4 is that it's 8gb.

^^^ This. Depending on what size your music library is and what apps you want to get, 8GB may not be enough. With the extra $100 you pay for the 4S, you not only get the extra features it has, but you also get twice the storage space. That can be pretty important.

 

[FSMBP]

You can do those things on iphone 4.

You can even do these things on a 2009 iPhone 3GS.

 

[saving107]

The one thing that would convince me to spend the extra $100 is the over-the-air update capabilities, without having to sync.

You can even do these things on a 2009 iPhone 3GS.

Correct.

Over-the-air Updates, iCloud Back-up and iTunes WiFi Sync are present on all devices that are supported by iOS 5.

 

[todd2000]

i'd say it depends on how long you plan to keep the phone. right now, i think the real world differences are very incremental.

but where i live, 3 year phone contracts are mandatory unless you buy the hardware outright, so i got the phone that will be least painful to be using 3 years from now: after several OS updates and developers targeting newer and newer hardware, i'm hoping the dual core will be a saving grace.

And I'm assuming that going the smartphone route, you'll be paying at least ~$50/mo (or equivalent currency) for services, so the additional upfront hardware cost becomes rather small when you consider the overall cost of owning the phone.

at least that was my reasoning!

Well it would be a 2 year contract, and I would be on a Family plan so it would be like $40 a month.

I say that if you get a good deal on the 4, like 32gb for 200 or something, then you will have no regrets. I have a 4s but I'm honestly not that impressed. Battery life isn't good, I haven't found Siri all that useful, and the camera doesn't seem to be better than the iPhone 4

The only problem I see with the 99$ ip4 is that it's 8gb. We have an 8gb itouch and it's actual usable space is 6.5gb. I imagine it's less on an iPhone

^^^ This. Depending on what size your music library is and what apps you want to get, 8GB may not be enough. With the extra $100 you pay for the 4S, you not only get the extra features it has, but you also get twice the storage space. That can be pretty important.

Well my Library is almost 40GB so either way not gonna all fit lol, but I plan on getting a bigger iPod in a few months since my Touch is 32GB, I don't want to use the phone as my primary music player.... That being said I wasn't even considering the 16GB vs 8GB with the extra speed, better camera, Siri, and twice the space for $100 Im leaning toward the 4S...

 

[wordoflife]

Well regardless of whether it all fits or not, it's still tough to fit in 8gb. on that 8Gb ipod I have, it has 82 apps, 218 photos, 18 recorded videos, 0 songs with 492MB left. You're going to have even less space on an 8gb iphone.

there are some places which are selling a 16 or 32gb iphone 4 for 100-150$ off. Those are also something you could consider.

But basically, I'd suggest you go with at least 16gb's of storage.

 

[trajen]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4S: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Future-proof yourself and get the 4S. Besides, if you're going to spend a couple thousand dollars over the life of a contract might as well spend an extra $100 or so and get the newer model.

 

[Pipper99]

Well it would be a 2 year contract, and I would be on a Family plan so it would be like $40 a month.

That being said I wasn't even considering the 16GB vs 8GB with the extra speed, better camera, Siri, and twice the space for $100 Im leaning toward the 4S...

I would get the 4S at this point. The extra $100 is so small in relation to the cost of the 24 month contract. Think of it as $100 over 24 months is an extra $4.17 per month. I've found Siri to be very useful. The faster hardware can handle more demanding apps better than the 4, too. I don't know if you're going with AT&T (sorry if I missed this), but I've been getting about twice the download speed in the Dallas area over my iP4.