iPhone 3GS ot iPhone4?

[ibex333]

After trying T-Moble with G2 in NYC I am forced to go back to AT&T because at least with AT&T I had reception in my work building...

Lucky for me my AT&T contract expired, so these guys will be happy to have me back. My choices are pretty much limited to theiPhone here, because the Samsung Captivate is not the Samsung Vibrant and the HTC Aria is well.... NOT HTC G2 ; )))

The choice comes down to iPhone 3GS ot iPhone4. I heard the iPhone 4 had a ton of problems at launch worst of which is it's antenna issue. - Totally unacceptable.

I see many people using the iPhone 4 and they seem to be happy, but can someone tell me what is the current state of these phones? Do they still have a ton of problems? It is worth getting the iPhone 4 over the 3GS anyway?

Thanks.

 

[saratoga172]

I went from an iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4 and couldn't be happier. Faster, more memory and a much nicer screen. I haven't had the antennae problems everyone else has been having. I don't hold my phone with two hands or three fingers in awkward positions.

 

[Pliablemoose]

The antenna issue is a joke, motice how you don't hear about it any longer?

It was all the nerds that didn't own one screaming about it.

 

[kaerflog]

I was using a IP4 extensively for about 3 months before selling it and now using the 3GS.
Without a doubt since you are signing a new contract, IP4.
You can get it for refurb for $149 so I wouldn't hestitate.
Only reason why I sold the IP4 is because I aso had a 3gs and I knew I could get alot more money for the IP4.
For normal usage, the 3GS is just as fast as the IP4 but the higher resolution screen is what set the IP4 apart.
Night and day really.
Better camera and a flash.
Plus the IP4 is just a sexy looking phone.

 

[ibex333]

Thanks very much!

 

[purbeast0]

kind of off topic ... has anything official been said about iphone on verizon?

 

[Oyeve]

I have several friends and family members with iphone 4s and they all bitch about dropped calls, and they know squat about tech. which is a shame cuz it is the best of the iphones. Screen is still o small IMO

 

[GoSharks]

The antenna issue is a joke, motice how you don't hear about it any longer?

It was all the nerds that didn't own one screaming about it.

Not a joke and causes real issues when you have low signal to begin with.

 

[TheStu]

kind of off topic ... has anything official been said about iphone on verizon?

At some point the iPhone will be on Verizon. If the 5 year exclusivity agreement is to be believed, then the earlist you can expect to see the iPhone on Verizon is next year. Apple almost certainly has CDMA iPhones in the lab. When the iPhone 4 was released, it was said that the antenna testing facility had been in the works a while, and the antenna design for the iPhone 4 had been worked on for 2 years. In much the same way that Apple had working intel builds of OS X since 10.0, they absolutely have a working CDMA prototype.

Officially... nope, not a word.

 

[akugami]

The antenna issue is a joke, motice how you don't hear about it any longer?

It was all the nerds that didn't own one screaming about it.

I agree that Apple haters made a bigger deal out of it than those using the phones. HTC recently had a phone with antenna issues. Was posted on a few sites including Daily Tech but no one posted it on here. From the outrage and numerous posts on the iPhone 4 antenna issue, one would think that it was a major major issue to Anandtech users.

The thing with the iPhone antenna is that even impartial reviewers like Anand did a test on it and it's only when the signal is really weak that you'll have issues with the iPhone 4 antenna. Assuming you have decent signal strength, it should perform similarly to other phones.

The iPhone 4 is not flawless. The antenna attenuation is an issue but it's been overblown. There have also been reports of broken glass due to pressure on the scratches that may accumulate (though this seems to be more along the lines of rare cases). There will also be Apple related issues which are the heavy handed censorship that Apple employs.

 

[MotionMan]

I went from the 3g to the 4 recently and I could not be happier. Same with my wife and sis-in-law. My bro-in-law upgraded from the 3gs to the 4 and also has no complaints. (We got them for $99 on Black Friday.)

Faster, better screen, more camera features...

and the dropped calls/antenna issue is all vapor-rant, IMO.

MotionMan

 

[Fingolfin269]

The iPhone 4 antennae issue is so bad that when one is near my Evo it actually deteriorates the signal my Evo receives. And they're on completely different networks! WTF Apple!

Ok, yeah I'm joking. If I had to choose between the 3gs or the 4 it would be easy. 4 all the way.

 

[Bateluer]

I agree that Apple haters made a bigger deal out of it than those using the phones. HTC recently had a phone with antenna issues. Was posted on a few sites including Daily Tech but no one posted it on here. From the outrage and numerous posts on the iPhone 4 antenna issue, one would think that it was a major major issue to Anandtech users.

Apple did a quiet update to the iP4, costing the exposed metal antenna with a nonconductive coating. iPhone users, in general, are more used to substandard network access regardless, after dealing with 4 generations of iPhones with poor antennas all running on AT&T's subpar network.

The HTC WP7 phone with the Grip of Death issue still wasn't nearly as bad as the iP4's antenna, and it also had a MUCH lower number of people purchasing it too. I've seen people complaining about it on some WP7 dev boards, but because fewer people bought it, you don't hear about it as much.

 

[akugami]

Apple did a quiet update to the iP4, costing the exposed metal antenna with a nonconductive coating. iPhone users, in general, are more used to substandard network access regardless, after dealing with 4 generations of iPhones with poor antennas all running on AT&T's subpar network.

Granted this is something they should have done in the first place. And the comment about iPhone users was pulled out of thin air. Now, AT&T's network is not as good as Verizon's but it's not like Verizon's is vastly superior to AT&T's. AT&T does have the second best network. I don't know how you list that as substandard.

The HTC WP7 phone with the Grip of Death issue still wasn't nearly as bad as the iP4's antenna, and it also had a MUCH lower number of people purchasing it too. I've seen people complaining about it on some WP7 dev boards, but because fewer people bought it, you don't hear about it as much.

HTC is a pretty big Android OEM. I've seen their phones touted all over the place, not just this forum. Yet when their phone had an issue there is zero out of the Android community about it on here. Hell if nothing else one would think they would mention it in case someone was in the market for an Android phone and to steer clear of this one. Nope, sweep it under the rug and don't mention it. Rumors of an Apple issue. And some of them were rumors, multiple threads are started. Gee, wonder why.

On the opposite side, we have a bunch of people who are die hard Android enthusiasts. They participated in numerous threads about how big of an issue the iPhone 4 antenna issue was. Even though they had never used one and were relying on anecdotal evidence. Even though numerous impartial reviewers and testers of phones who had used the iPhone 4 said it wasn't a big deal. I guess antenna reception issues are huge. Unless it's on an Android phone.

Personally, I've posted in some Android threads because even though I use an iPhone 4, I'm not oblivious to Android. I usually steer clear of any "problem" threads because it doesn't affect me at this time and I'm not here to crap on any one platform.

 

[tysjiang]

iphone4, it's faster and better built than the 3gs

as for the antenna issues, I have the same amount of dropped calls as I did with the 3gs (at&t sucks)

 

[cKGunslinger]

Sounds like the answer is iPhone 4?

I saw on FatWallet that WalMart is selling iPhones and giving including a $50 GC. For qualified upgrades, they have a 3GS for $97 + GC, and they have the 4 for $197 + GC. So is the iPhone 4 is worth the extra $100?

Also, not to sidetrack this thread for my own use, but has anyone bought a cell from WalMart before? I have 4 phones on AT&T, and my 18-month upgrade is available tomorrow. I was going to upgrade my wife's line with an iPhone and give it to her on Xmas day. Surely the WalMart employee can handle this, right? I only ask because even when I go to an AT&T store they seem to take 30-45 minutes to figure out what's going on with upgrades, my account, my corporate discount, grandfathered unlimited data plans,etc.

I just want to buy the phone for $197, wrap it up, and put my wife's SIM card in on Christmas Day when it's opened and have everything work.

 

[DivideBYZero]

The antenna issue is a joke, motice how you don't hear about it any longer?

It was all the nerds that didn't own one screaming about it.

OMGHI2U!

 

[rcpratt]

Obvious choice, 4.

I won't be getting a 4 when they come to Verizon in 1Q '11, though. That technology will be what, 6-9 months old? No thanks.

 

[kaerflog]

Sounds like the answer is iPhone 4?

I saw on FatWallet that WalMart is selling iPhones and giving including a $50 GC. For qualified upgrades, they have a 3GS for $97 + GC, and they have the 4 for $197 + GC. So is the iPhone 4 is worth the extra $100?

Also, not to sidetrack this thread for my own use, but has anyone bought a cell from WalMart before? I have 4 phones on AT&T, and my 18-month upgrade is available tomorrow. I was going to upgrade my wife's line with an iPhone and give it to her on Xmas day. Surely the WalMart employee can handle this, right? I only ask because even when I go to an AT&T store they seem to take 30-45 minutes to figure out what's going on with upgrades, my account, my corporate discount, grandfathered unlimited data plans,etc.

I just want to buy the phone for $197, wrap it up, and put my wife's SIM card in on Christmas Day when it's opened and have everything work.

The IP4 uses micro sims.
I guess you can upgrade to the IP4 and tell them not to activate right away but then you need to cut your wife's old sim card to put it into the IP4.

 

[cKGunslinger]

The IP4 uses micro sims.
I guess you can upgrade to the IP4 and tell them not to activate right away but then you need to cut your wife's old sim card to put it into the IP4.

Ughh.. I didn't realize it didn't use the normal sim. Can they delay-activate it or something? I'd really like it to be a surprise, but still usable on Christmas Day

 

[kaerflog]

Sure you can.
Once she opens it, just call ATT and have them activate the IP4 with her number.
Her old sim will them be deactivated.

 

[zerocool84]

The antenna issue is a joke, motice how you don't hear about it any longer?

It was all the nerds that didn't own one screaming about it.

Any Apple release is infinitely bigger than any other release for anything else in electronics so if there's an issue of course it's going to get blown out of proportion. Also of course people were complaining that didn't have it. How do we know something sucks? We read about it. You don't need to own something to know something is wrong with it.

 

[Rottie]

if you can afford a 3GS then go for it it is no big deal about an IP4.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Any Apple release is infinitely bigger than any other release for anything else in electronics so if there's an issue of course it's going to get blown out of proportion. Also of course people were complaining that didn't have it. How do we know something sucks? We read about it. You don't need to own something to know something is wrong with it.

I know a dozen or so folks with an iPhone 4, not one of them has the problem, and nearly every one of them has the original launch model...

 

[kaerflog]

Yeah, I used an IP4 for 3 months.
No dropped calls but then again I don't talk that much.
I just got a hold of another IP4.