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Would you rather have the "tic" or the "toc"?

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puma1552

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Nov 20, 2008
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Given Apple's seemingly two year design cycle for the iPhone, would you rather have the hot new "tic" version (3G, 4, next iPhone) or the refined "toc" version (3GS, 4S)?

I had a 3G which was a huge pile, and now have a 4S which I absolutely love, so as of right now I would say I prefer the "toc" cycle, but I haven't yet had one when the newest "tic" comes out.

Which cycle would you rather be on, if you only updated every two years?
 
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I had the iPhone 3G and now the iPhone 4. I'll probably be getting the next iPhone, I prefer the redesigned models.
 
If exterior is more important, I say tic.

If interior is more important, I say toc.

If you want the freshest designs, tic is the only way to go. But if you want the best internals from that same design, toc is the way.

I fall in the tic years (2008, 2010), but I am more of an internal parts person myself. The drawback of falling in the tic years is if you don't like the new design, you may have to put up with it for two years. The toc years is more of "been there, done that" externally, but you do get the best guts for that same design.

For me, it doesn't matter. Every year an iPhone gets IMPROVED internally unless we are talking about 2007-2008 when the back design was different, but the original and 3G shared the same innards sans the 3G band from the former. I now think the original iPhone was the best ever in design and the most unique even if it resembled the iPhone 3G internally.
 
You had it wrong from the beginning

Original iPhone - tic
iPhone 3G - toc
iPhone 3GS - tic
iPhone 4 - toc
iPhone 4S - tic
 
iMikeT said:
Original iPhone - tic
iPhone 3G - toc
iPhone 3GS - tic
iPhone 4 - toc
iPhone 4S - tic
Click to expand...

Internally the 2G is a tic, but externally it doesn't have a place in the cycle. Thus making the iPhone 3G the tic. However the general public uses the iPhone 3G tic cycle.
 
Not sure I worry too much about which cycle I'm on. I get what I want when I want it. I also don't feel the need to upgrade every time Apple releases a new device. I got my iPhone 4 on release day, but I did not upgrade to the 4s as I did not think that it was worth it.
 
wtf is tick and wtf is toc?!?!?! lol

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ucfgrad93 said:
Not sure I worry too much about which cycle I'm on. I get what I want when I want it. I also don't feel the need to upgrade every time Apple releases a new device. I got my iPhone 4 on release day, but I did not upgrade to the 4s as I did not think that it was worth it.
Click to expand...

Whatever is going on here, im with this philosophy.
 
Savor said:
If exterior is more important, I say tic.

If interior is more important, I say toc.

If you want the freshest designs, tic is the only way to go. But if you want the best internals from that same design, toc is the way.
Click to expand...

This.

The years that don't have external design changes tend to have more internal changes. So what are you counting as tic? Internal changes or external?

So while the OP picked 'toc' (3GS, 4S) as his favorite, I'd argue that THOSE are the 'tic' years when things really change the most.

But the naming doesn't really matter. Whatever you call it, yes, I suggest the 2nd years of a design, but NOT because they're "more refined," as you said. But rather because they represent the biggest changes to the phone. (Which actually makes them less refined, if you think about it.)
 
Im in the "toc" cycle, because you get a great design, and internals that pushes it to the maximum. Remember, the graphic chip of the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.... no upgrade, but harder to push
 
Savor said:
If exterior is more important, I say tic.

If interior is more important, I say toc.

If you want the freshest designs, tic is the only way to go. But if you want the best internals from that same design, toc is the way.

I fall in the tic years (2008, 2010), but I am more of an internal parts person myself. The drawback of falling in the tic years is if you don't like the new design, you may have to put up with it for two years. The toc years is more of "been there, done that" externally, but you do get the best guts for that same design.
Click to expand...

I'm on the tic cycle. Honestly,I could probably go for either cycle. But I will say the disadvantage of the tic cycle is it does seem the phone doesn't stay as relevant as long (the 3G was definitely showing it's age when the 4 came out, the 3GS now that the 4S is out is still being put out and it can even still run the newest OS ok. Where I feel my 4 is starting to feel a bit like it's getting bogged down some so I wonder if it will do the next OS ok).

Anyways, this year I'd rather be on the tic cycle since that's what the next one will be out ;). Which I am (yay, new phone!). But I think the toc cycle probably does put out the better phones (and I think the 3G was probably the worst of the iphones honestly. I loved mine, don't get me wrong, but it had a lot more improvements I wanted than i want out of my 4 (There's a lot less I want improved in my current iphone than I did in the 3G) and it ran about 2 years of OS's and then it really was not fast enough to decently do any newer OS where the 3GS seems to at least do 3 years of OS's).
 
Personally to me, the 3G to the 3GS was a major leap in speed, where as the 4S from the 4 was less compelling because the 4 was already very good, so it makes it hard to decide at such an early time in a products lifestyle. I would probably say if I had to pick now, the tic, because as I said, the S jumps are becoming less meaningful it seems.

If I can afford it though, I'd go yearly.
 
If it's a good phone, I'd want both. So far every upgrade has been worth getting for me. Once I sell the old phone I always either break even or end up paying a small amount extra (always less than even the subsidized cost even if I am buying off contract).
 
I'm fine with either.

After using my 4S for a while, I certainly see how much more slower the iPhone 4 is.
 
My first iPhone (although, not my first iDevice) is the 4S, so I guess that puts me on your "toc," schedule.

I don't really care either way, as long as I get two years out of my phone. I'm honestly just glad to have an iPhone, since it integrates so well with my iPad 2. It is a huge improvement from my DroidX/Droid2.
 
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