Which iphone is perfect for my dad?

S

siratherock

macrumors newbie
Hi, I finally convince my dad to get an iphone after I had a great experience with it. He's not into technology that much, meaning he doesn't care if he get the latest tech. So I'm deciding between iphone 3g refurbish ($50) and 3gs ($199). He'll use this mainly for internet, emails, maps, and probably some business apps. My concern is, will there be any advanced apps in the future that is only for 3gs? Also is it worth getting a 3gs for an old guy who doesn't do hardcore gaming and stuff, he'll just do the basic stuff.

In overall, imagine a guy in his 50s, not a tech person, and would mainly use the phone for emails and internet and business (he's a businessman). Is it worth to get the refurbished 3g for $50 or the 3gs for $199? It would be nice to save some money. What do you guys think?
 
Because of the nature of your father and his low-tech lifestyle I think the iPhone will be a lot for him at first. Therefore, spending $50 on the 8GB refurb is a great idea. Save yourself some cash and let him sit on the 8GB for a while. It is a great phone with the most capacity you can get over other phones without the use of external mSD cards.

$50 + a real nice case = happy dad.
That is what my mom did but she paid $100 for hers I believe. She loves it and coming from a RAZR it is a great for her. Not to mention she has managed to learn how to write novels in her text messages which is good for her bad for her daughter (me).
 
Have you let him play with yours? For an older person, who's not much into technology the iPhone can be hard to get used to at first, especially the typing and the zooming in and out. Anyway, I'd get the cheaper 3G for him, unless he'd like to use the voice recog capabilities of the 3GS. It's one of the only reasons I'd like to have the 3GS, since it can be quite difficult to make calls while driving.
 
^ So that is why you didn't call? :p

The voice recognition is a good point. My mom saw a 3GS commercial and about flipped out when I had to tell her AT&T sold her the previous gen. I knew it, I told her that before she bought, but the AT&T guy said they all run 3.0 software. That is not a lie but it is not exactly giving the bigger picture.
 
As jessica has said, a 3GS would be a really big leap from a standard phone, especially if your dad isn't really a tech person. I think he'd be swamped with all of the different capabilities and settings that he'd end up getting confused/irritated with the iPhone and want to downgrade to another phone.

I'd suggest the refurbished 3G as well, or even an older, yet reliable 2G iPhone. Both of those have the capabilities that your dad needs. If you're on AT&T though, I'd recommend a 3G. 3G speeds > 2G by far.

As for any 3GS exclusive apps that are being released, only time will tell. There are some features which are exclusive to the 3GS, but aren't important enough for what you say your dad's needs are.

Congrats to your dad, and compliments to you for helping your dad get one.

:apple:Dustin
 
Yes, jessica, I was calling and ended up crashing my car. :)

I don't the 3GS is any more complicated to use than the 3G. The issue IMO would be the voice recog vs. the aditional cost. Only you would know the cost/benefit of that.
 
Yeah the additional cost is not +/- $50 here, it's quite a handful of cash for something someone may ultimately hate.
 
I'll get the cheaper 3G for him, since he's not into technology. That extra money can go on a nice case and/or some apps from the App Store that he might find useful.
 
You know, when it comes to "newbs", I don't necassarily think slower is better.

I mean, newbs are specifically the kind of people that press a button, expect an instance responce, and press the button 20 more times while they wait. They're the kind of users that hear something on TV or in the paper (like video recording), and assume their iPhone can do it (and why wouldn't they?).

A slow iPhone will likely be a turn off - just spend the extra 50 bucks.
 
Refurbished are the best.. Ill tell you why.

75% of refurbished phones never leave the store.. They go to activate them, and the person changes their minds about the phone, the gb size or whatever, but after a ESN is tied to an account (new or old) the phone must be sent back to the company if it is not purchased that day. New phones are not individually tested to make sure everything works right.. so you might get a brand new phone that is a lemon.. but refurbished, they are ALL tested for everything.. so you pretty much know that it is not going to mess up.. I worked for at&t as an assistant manager for 2 years, and that was the main concern with people.. worried about getting refurbished phones.. I usually always get refurbished.. because they are cheaper and i feel a little more at ease about getting a phone that is a lemon..
 
JennaMcDowell said:
Refurbished are the best.. Ill tell you why.

75% of refurbished phones never leave the store.. They go to activate them, and the person changes their minds about the phone, the gb size or whatever, but after a ESN is tied to an account (new or old) the phone must be sent back to the company if it is not purchased that day. New phones are not individually tested to make sure everything works right.. so you might get a brand new phone that is a lemon.. but refurbished, they are ALL tested for everything.. so you pretty much know that it is not going to mess up.. I worked for at&t as an assistant manager for 2 years, and that was the main concern with people.. worried about getting refurbished phones.. I usually always get refurbished.. because they are cheaper and i feel a little more at ease about getting a phone that is a lemon..
Click to expand...

Not only that, but also the fact that if you do go to the apple store to get your phone checked out and they end up replacing it, you get a refurb anyways!

I went to the genius about a month after i got my 3G and ended up with a refurb and it work fine.

So when the new iphone comes out next year, if i have to option to get a refurb, i would definitely be getting it!
 
siratherock said:
Hi, I finally convince my dad to get an iphone after I had a great experience with it. He's not into technology that much, meaning he doesn't care if he get the latest tech. So I'm deciding between iphone 3g refurbish ($50) and 3gs ($199). He'll use this mainly for internet, emails, maps, and probably some business apps. My concern is, will there be any advanced apps in the future that is only for 3gs? Also is it worth getting a 3gs for an old guy who doesn't do hardcore gaming and stuff, he'll just do the basic stuff.

In overall, imagine a guy in his 50s, not a tech person, and would mainly use the phone for emails and internet and business (he's a businessman). Is it worth to get the refurbished 3g for $50 or the 3gs for $199? It would be nice to save some money. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

While no-one knows whether future 3rd-party apps will be written for 3GS only, the main reason I'd go for the 3GS over a 3G is nothing to do with 'future proofing' but with speed. If your dad isn't into technology so much it won't make any difference to him that he has an inferior model, as long as the user experience is good - and there's no doubt at all that a 3G iPhone will be noticeably slower than a 3GS.

Slower in opening apps, closing apps, finding and connecting to wifi networks, browsing, opening web pages, scrolling around pages, zooming in and out, opening emails.... As the owner of an original iPhone (pretty much the same performance as the 3G) I was staggered by the difference in usability when I got a 3GS instead. Since you're committing to two years, go for the best experience.

Just because your dad is in his 50s (which is not 'old') and not into technology, doesn't mean that he'll be tolerant to sluggish performance or lack of features!
 
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