Which iPhone to get?

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Wife is set on a new phone and it has to be iPhone. Any reason to fork over the money for the 5 over the 4s or 4? Are there any nice deals on the current iPhones that I should know about (att)?

 

[MotionMan]

Wife is set on a new phone and it has to be iPhone. Any reason to fork over the money for the 5 over the 4s or 4? Are there any nice deals on the current iPhones that I should know about (att)?

If she can wait a little while, you will be able to get the iPhone 5 for a discount.

In my extended family, we have everything from a 3G to a 5 and I think the 5 is worth the wait over a 3G, 4 or 4S (I have a 5).

MotionMan

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Thanks. I'll go with the 5. Wal-Mart has it for $130 so it's cheap enough.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Well it's a $650 phone. It just seems cheap when you end up paying $1000 or more for it over the course of an expensive 2 year contract.

 

[Strk]

LTE alone is worth it for the 5.

 

[MrX8503]

The 5 is definitely a big upgrade from the 4S.

 

[ibex333]

Having owned and extensively used both, personally, I'd advise to get the 4s over the 5, unless you just absolutely have to download stuff on the go, and do it quickly.

Reasons to get the 4s:

-Cheaper

-Feels like more of a "quality" device compared to the iPhone 5. Feels like the 4s was made when Apple iPhone was still a "premium" device. I cant help but feel that with the iPhone 5 quality has deteriorated. The painted back feels cheap, and the decreased weight makes the device feel cheaper than 4s. But all this is purely IMO.

-Camera is worse than one on the iPhone 5, but the result look "almost" as good.

-Chargers, accessories, cases and adapters easier to get/find, and cheaper.

-The earpiece/speaker is louder on the 4s. In in-call quality is crisper and louder than iPhone 5. iPhone 5 sounds too "quiet" in calls. (Again, purely IMO)


Reasons to get the 5:

-Camera is better.

-4g

Extra row of icons.

and...


Practically, and I mean practically, that's it! You will not find anything else about the iPhone 5 which the 4s doesn't have. I was very disappointed with my iPhone 5 when I got it. It offered hardly anything new, and was in some ways worse! And yet again, this is very much IMO.

 

[bearxor]

Sure. We'll just ignore the extra screen real estate. The upgraded front facing camera. The redesigned microphone system. 5ghz wifi capability. Bluetooth 4.0. The extra RAM. The extra and faster clocked GPU unit. The COMPLETELY REDESIGNED processor.

Yep. None of that really matters. The better camera lens, the LTE capability and the extra row of icons. Those are the important features.

 

[ibex333]

Sure. We'll just ignore the extra screen real estate. The upgraded front facing camera. The redesigned microphone system. 5ghz wifi capability. Bluetooth 4.0. The extra RAM. The extra and faster clocked GPU unit. The COMPLETELY REDESIGNED processor.

Yep. None of that really matters. The better camera lens, the LTE capability and the extra row of icons. Those are the important features.

LTE I mentioned.. Did you even read my post? Ok fine.. I said 4g. But what I really meant is faster data. That's all that really matters.

You're missing my point. That extra screen real estate really only amounts to an extra row of icons. A lot of movies and apps don't support the "longer screen" so arguing about it's usefulness is kinda moot point. Either way, I didn't really find the extra row of icons all that useful.. or important..

The front facing camera wasn't bad to begin with, and the upgrade to it isn't really important unless you're someone who constantly takes self pictures and talks on skype. I bet you at least 80% of all iPhone users do not use Skype often on their iPhone, and self pictures... That's very subjective. Maybe for girls or 12-15 year old guys posing in front of the mirror it IS a big deal.

Redesigned microphone system? How come I never felt that but instead felt it was worse? And if I got a lemon, how come the Apple support refused to replace the phone saying the mic is just fine?

Bluetooth? Never use it... Never did, and probably never will. I don't use Bluetooth headsets. Why add to the SAR rate which is already there from the cell radio?

5GHz Wi-Fi? I never noticed any difference. Sure it may be faster, but whatever I downloaded from wi-fi, downloaded very fast anyway.

Better camera lens is true, and I did say camera is better. But in reality it doesn't feel much better, and the results, although better, are not MUCH better.

and the completely redesigned processor... Is only good on paper. In reality, there are no apps that REQUIRE the faster CPU or benefit greatly from it for that matter.

Again, as I already said in my OP, this is all very much IMO. For the OP to have just another perspective from yet another person.

 

[bearxor]

Well, you get that the last paragraph is sarcasm, right? The last paragraph are the things you mentioned. The "truly important" things.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

The 5 is cheap as it is (with an upgrade).

Also, OP has chosen

Thanks. I'll go with the 5. Wal-Mart has it for $130 so it's cheap enough.

 

[Hunt3rj2]

If you can afford the iPhone 5, get it. No questions asked it is worth it. If you're going to get bent over for two years, don't regret the phone.

 

[Mopetar]

If you're not in a hurry, you may as well wait for the new one to come out. Even if you don't want to buy the new model, it will result in a price drop across the board for everything else.

 

[MrX8503]

LTE I mentioned.. Did you even read my post? Ok fine.. I said 4g. But what I really meant is faster data. That's all that really matters.

"4G" on the 4S is a lot slower than LTE. In fact 4G is unusable in metro areas whereas LTE is fine.

You're missing my point. That extra screen real estate really only amounts to an extra row of icons. A lot of movies and apps don't support the "longer screen" so arguing about it's usefulness is kinda moot point. Either way, I didn't really find the extra row of icons all that useful.. or important..

No I think you're missing the point. A lot of movies don't support the longer screen? Ever heard of widescreen movies? As for apps, most apps do support the larger screen. Apple enforced a rule that devs can't update their app unless its compatible with the larger screen and all new apps are required to support it.

Ever heard of a browser? The most used app that benefits the larger screen. Aside from that, the color accuracy blows the 4S away.

Better camera lens is true, and I did say camera is better. But in reality it doesn't feel much better, and the results, although better, are not MUCH better.

Actually it is a lot better. Look at low light shots.

and the completely redesigned processor... Is only good on paper. In reality, there are no apps that REQUIRE the faster CPU or benefit greatly from it for that matter.

It's good in the real world. Everything is faster and smoother. The camera leverages the cpu for photo processing for better pictures. Performance is going to widen with iOS 7 as well.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

If you're not in a hurry, you may as well wait for the new one to come out. Even if you don't want to buy the new model, it will result in a price drop across the board for everything else.

Wife was still using a 3gs. I couldn't ask her to wait it out any longer. Most people including myself would have upgraded two years ago. She has the 5 and is happy so it worked out. Personally I would have went sg4 but she wasn't hearing it.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Well it's a $650 phone. It just seems cheap when you end up paying $1000 or more for it over the course of an expensive 2 year contract.

We get a 21% discount due to her job so that eases the pain.

I don't exactly see how we pay extra for something we were going to keep regardless?

 

[Rakehellion]

Wife is set on a new phone and it has to be iPhone. Any reason to fork over the money for the 5 over the 4s or 4? Are there any nice deals on the current iPhones that I should know about (att)?

There will probably be an iPhone 6 or equivalent in a month or two, bringing down the price of the older models. But if she isn't running apps or anything, the 4S will be enough.

 

[JAG87]

Anybody who can afford an LTE phone now and buys a 3G phone is dumb. In a couple of years 3G is going to feel like Edge feels today. LTE is way faster, there's no denying it.

And ibex333 must have never heard an UWB call on the iPhone 5... maybe due to carrier not supporting it, or other party not having an UWB capable phone. 4S better call quality? You must be deaf.

Add to that the fact that the 5 has a better screen, is lighter, thinner, faster, that's all just gravy.

 

[gorcorps]

Well it's a $650 phone. It just seems cheap when you end up paying $1000 or more for it over the course of an expensive 2 year contract.

Which means nothing if you're going to use the same provider anyway. I'm so sick of this argument

 

[chin311]

5 if not only for the LTE

3g sucks, especially with Verizon

 

[dlock13]

5 if not only for the LTE

3g sucks, especially with Verizon

Bingo. Nailed it.

 

[WelshBloke]

IPhone 5,it's better in pretty much every way, this shouldn't even be a question.