Let's talk Iphone

[Purge]

Just as I said. A meh upgrade.

I'd be willing to bet that the 3GS is going to get worse under iOS5. If that's what I had, I'd be upgrading

That's me, and I'm switching to Windows Phone this cycle.

I hear ya.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Can anyone give me a rundown about the new IPod Touch? Will it have a better camera than the previous version? Any upgrade to the screen? Or the processor?

And are those prices for the IPhone listed above with a contract? If not, seems like it might be better to just buy a no-contract IPhone than a IPod.

[ravenvii]

The prices are obviously with contract. A contract-free iPhone sets you back at least $600.

[Devil]

The prices are obviously with contract. A contract-free iPhone sets you back at least $600.

Or you buy my 4 for $250 and force me to upgrade!....

[Ralph-Wiggum]

The prices are obviously with contract. A contract-free iPhone sets you back at least $600.

  

IPod Touch it is!

[kathode]

Nope, regular old nails.  imo the back is very scratch prone and I'm real careful with it, like I would be with any of my electronics.

Strange.  I only have a 3GS but I routinely keep it in the same pocket as my keys.  Looks just fine to me.

[Soulchilde]

Just as I said. A meh upgrade.

I'd be willing to bet that the 3GS is going to get worse under iOS5. If that's what I had, I'd be upgrading

That's me, and I'm switching to Windows Phone this cycle.

Yeah, I need to decide if I will go 4Gs or Galaxy S2.  My 3Gs is becoming long in the tooth and I think I am leaning Android.   Wish the iPhone would have upgraded the screen size, but I have been with apple since the iPhone 2...might be time for a change.


Siri sounds really nice, but is it practical

[Exodor]

Oy.  Who broke Apple.com



 

[rittchard]

Personally I'm upgrading primarily for the new camera.  Which is odd because I was just saying to someone the other day how lame it was to just have a camera upgrade on a phone.  But between the speed upgrade (1 second to be ready for a photo and 0.5s for the next shot, yum), the megapixel (8MP) and quality enhancements (new sensor, larger aperture), and that the OS finally allows you to use the buttons to take the photo (hooray!), I think it's going to be more awesome than ever as a camera.  I'm a lazy guy, I admit it.  I have a bunch of different small form factor cameras, but these days I rarely bring them and end up taking most my photos with the iPhone.  Having this many improvements, plus the upgrade to 1080p video, is worth the upgrade on its own (particularly in conjunction with having 64GB to work with).

[Teggy]

Just as I said. A meh upgrade.

I'd be willing to bet that the 3GS is going to get worse under iOS5. If that's what I had, I'd be upgrading

That's me, and I'm switching to Windows Phone this cycle.

Siri sounds really nice, but is it practical

Yeah, voice activation is cool, but I find that I never want to use it if there is even one person within earshot.

[Blackjack]

Just as I said. A meh upgrade.

I'd be willing to bet that the 3GS is going to get worse under iOS5. If that's what I had, I'd be upgrading

That's me, and I'm switching to Windows Phone this cycle.

Unfortunately, there are already a few million people talking to themselves loudly on their Bluetooth headsets


Siri sounds really nice, but is it practical

Yeah, voice activation is cool, but I find that I never want to use it if there is even one person within earshot.

There are already a zillion people walking around yammering on their Bluetooth headsets or whatever cellphone. I wouldn't worry that talking TO your phone is any worse than all the yammering already going on in every public place imaginable. 

[PR_GMR]

Personally I'm upgrading primarily for the new camera.  Which is odd because I was just saying to someone the other day how lame it was to just have a camera upgrade on a phone.  But between the speed upgrade (1 second to be ready for a photo and 0.5s for the next shot, yum), the megapixel (8MP) and quality enhancements (new sensor, larger aperture), and that the OS finally allows you to use the buttons to take the photo (hooray!), I think it's going to be more awesome than ever as a camera.  I'm a lazy guy, I admit it.  I have a bunch of different small form factor cameras, but these days I rarely bring them and end up taking most my photos with the iPhone.  Having this many improvements, plus the upgrade to 1080p video, is worth the upgrade on its own (particularly in conjunction with having 64GB to work with).

Yeah, the new camera in the 4S sounds awesome. I'm now having trouble thinking of what they could possibly upgrade in an Iphone5 to make it a great step forward. Faster? Thinner? Longer battery life? Just can't think of anything. If a new iteration of the phone isn't announced in 2012, I'll upgrade to the 4S then.

[Fireball1244]

Well I have a 3GS and was hoping for the iPhone 5 but it looks like we are just getting an iPhone 4 with a better camera and battery life. Not too sure about the voice stuff.  I use Dragon and it's still spotty sometimes.

On the fence now.

It's not just a better camera and battery. It's also a dual core processor that's up to twice as fast as the previous iPhone 4. It likely has 1GB of memory, which is four times as much as in your iPhone 3GS. And the graphics subsystem is dramatically improved.

Just because Apple didn't change the case doesn't mean this isn't a huge upgrade to the hardware -- it is. This is a bigger upgrade than the one from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS, and akin to the 3GS to iPhone 4 upgrade.

[Fireball1244]

Crazy that the 4S price level stayed the same.

What does that mean for iPhone 5? Does it launch next summer at 299 / 399 / 499 price points?

There will likely not be an iPhone branded "iPhone 5." Logically, the next iPhone would be iPhone 6. Most likely it'll have a name like iPhone LTE. In any case, it'll probably come out next September/October at the same 199 / 299 / 399 price points that Apple has been using for a few generations now.

[Fireball1244]

Just as I said. A meh upgrade.

By what standard? They nearly doubled the processor's performance. They dramatically improved the camera. The graphics performance received a huge boost, and they likely doubled the RAM to 1 GB. There's virtually nothing inside the 4S that's the same as inside the 4. I am not in the market for an iPhone this year, but this is a substantial upgrade. It's basically the iPad 2 squeezed into the iPhone 4's case.

That's me, and I'm switching to Windows Phone this cycle.

Windows Phone 7 is impressive.

[Fireball1244]

Same phone I can't hold without a case and same phone I can't set down without placing it on cloth?  WTF

Why can't you set it down without placing it on cloth?  I don't get it.

That glass back scratches when you look at it, let alone set it down on anything.

I have the black bumper case from Apple on my phone, and haven't had any problem with scratches on the back of the device.

[CeeKay]

I don't have a case at all, and I've dropped my iPhone 4 far more times than is good for my heart yet there are no scratches on it.

[leo8877]

Apple introduces Apple Care+ which covers 2 incidents of accidental damage to an iPhone device from user mishandling

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/04/apple_introduces_applecare_for_iphone_covering_accidental_damage.html

[KC]

I'm getting one.  I hope that the number of people saying that this is a "meh" upgrade will mean that I won't have to wait as long to get it.

[Fireball1244]

Anyone who follows Apple knew that 4G was not going to be in this model. The only feature I was expecting that isn't here is NFC. I'm not clear on what people who think this is a "meh" upgrade were expecting, aside from a new case.

[Isgrimnur]

Personally, I'm thrilled.  The reason I didn't go for the 4 last year were twofold.  While the processor was finally 1 GHz, it was likely underclocked and I didn't want to spend money to upgrade to something that ran at under 1 GHZ.  The move to a dual core 1 GHZ processor blows that concern out of the water. 

The other factor was that there wasn't anything wrong with my 3G at the time.  That is no longer the case.  The device will freeze for up to a minute when attempting to enter text, especially when attempting to use the maps.  Apps routinely crash, and the bloat shoehorned into the OS has slowed everything down.  But that's to be expected from any device and any provider over the course of three years.

So once I have my 4S in my hands, I will revel in the ability to finally multitask, voice command my phone, and once again have the coolest phone out of anyone I know. 

[Devil]

Wife saw the Siri demo....back IN! 

[SkyLander]

Just as I said. A meh upgrade.

By what standard? They nearly doubled the processor's performance. They dramatically improved the camera. The graphics performance received a huge boost, and they likely doubled the RAM to 1 GB. There's virtually nothing inside the 4S that's the same as inside the 4. I am not in the market for an iPhone this year, but this is a substantial upgrade. It's basically the iPad 2 squeezed into the iPhone 4's case.

That's me, and I'm switching to Windows Phone this cycle.

Windows Phone 7 is impressive.

But, but...It looks like an iPhone 4.

[Victoria Raverna]

Siri seem to be software based or are there any hardware requirement that make it impossible to implement in iPhone 4?

[Soulchilde]

I slept on this last night ....   I am now leaning iPhone 4s..... DARN YOU APPLE!!!... DARN YOU TO HECK!!!

[msteelers]

The other factor was that there wasn't anything wrong with my 3G at the time.  That is no longer the case.  The device will freeze for up to a minute when attempting to enter text, especially when attempting to use the maps.  Apps routinely crash, and the bloat shoehorned into the OS has slowed everything down.  But that's to be expected from any device and any provider over the course of three years.

So once I have my 4S in my hands, I will revel in the ability to finally multitask, voice command my phone, and once again have the coolest phone out of anyone I know. 

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

[zinckiwi]

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

[Devil]

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

Doesn't 'the cloud' take care of some of the capacity questions?

[msteelers]

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

It's not a deal breaker for me personally. I've been living with the limited memory for awhile, and even though I'm close to maxed out on my memory I can have everything I really want on there and still not worry about it. I don't keep all of my apps loaded on the phone, and I have plenty of music that I don't need on there as well. Having that extra memory is a factor, but not a major one in my decision.

[Blackjack]

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

I agree -- I even found my 16GB iPod Touch cramped. My 32GB 4th gen Touch has felt like just the right capacity. 64GB seems overkill unless you're inclined to put a lot of full movies on an iPhone or Touch (I'd be more inclined to put those on an iPad).

It does depend on what you use it for.

In the end, imho, these events never live up to expectations unless the device is launching for the First Time. That's why the first iPhone launch and the initial iPad launch seemed to generate a lot of excitement while the more recent stuff is "eh, I'll wait for the next model," as if people are convinced Apple's going to make a 5", LTE/WIMAX whatever monster that's too big to fit in your pocket and gets about 90 minutes talk time battery life, if they just wait a few months. Oddly enough, THAT would get people excited even if it doesn't seem like something Apple has any interest in making.

If one of the individual competitors truly takes off (as opposed to 15 or however many Android phone makers together) and takes a big chunk out of iPhone sales, then I'd think then you might see Apple do something drastically different.

[Jag]

Anybody jailbreak? Is there any reason this phone would be harder to do? I'm ready to switch from my Android to this iphone but only if I can get tethering to work since my work network is restricted.

[rickfc]

Anybody jailbreak? Is there any reason this phone would be harder to do? I'm ready to switch from my Android to this iphone but only if I can get tethering to work since my work network is restricted.

There is already a jailbreak out for iOS GM that rolled out to developers yesterday, so that shouldn't be an issue. The only problem would be tethering, as they can track it, and AT&T was sending out text messages to those tethering that they were going to automatically roll them into a tethering plan if they did not switch themselves.

[KC]

I noticed that the 4S has the same body dimensions as the 4.  Does that mean that third party cases are compatible?  Or did Apple move the buttons and ports to require people to buy new overpriced cases again?

Also, whatever happened to the initiative to require phone makes to use micro USB for charging and syncing?  Did Apple adopt this policy?

[hispanicgamer]

I am going to preorder my iPhone 4S on Friday and will be opting for the 64GB. I have had  the 3GS for the last two years and can finally upgrade with AT&T. What with all the goodies coming with the 4S it makes the decision a no brainer.

[Purge]

iPhone 5 or whatever will have inductive charging for its battery. With wifi data transfer, they could conceivably have a sealed unit.

[Chaz]

Ah, inductive charging.  That sounds awesome in theory, but it's going to make charging away from home a big PITA, and makes car chargers way more expensive and inconvenient. 

[ravenvii]

I noticed that the 4S has the same body dimensions as the 4.  Does that mean that third party cases are compatible?  Or did Apple move the buttons and ports to require people to buy new overpriced cases again?

Also, whatever happened to the initiative to require phone makes to use micro USB for charging and syncing?  Did Apple adopt this policy?

Yeah; they just released a microUSB adapter.

Big whoop.

[Isgrimnur]

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

I agree -- I even found my 16GB iPod Touch cramped. My 32GB 4th gen Touch has felt like just the right capacity. 64GB seems overkill unless you're inclined to put a lot of full movies on an iPhone or Touch (I'd be more inclined to put those on an iPad).

It does depend on what you use it for.

They may feel fine for now, but given that I've spent three years with my current 16GB phone and would love to spend three years with the newest one as well, I'm more than willing to pay for the highest memory version now and have a built-in higher ceiling for expansion down the road. 

[rittchard]

I wasn't thrilled by the Siri stuff but I watched the demo and I'm now thinking it could turn out to be one of those "dark horse" features.  I'm talking about a feature you don't really think you care about, but somehow you try it out a couple times and it slowly creeps up on you and a few months from now it's something you wonder how you did without it.  Similar in some ways to before the iPad came out, there was a lot of discussion and question on usefulness or usage cases or where/how you'd use it.  In time if something works well people will find ways to use it.  I could imagine that happening with Siri, particularly when combined with the new Reminders and other OS features.

Say I'm reading GT and CK posts about an obscure new game I should check out.  Normally if enough time passed, I'd either have to email myself to remember the name or dig through a bunch of pages to figure out where I saw it, or type or write myself a note.  With Siri, I might just grab my phone and say "Remind me to check GT about XXX" and it would enter a note in for me.  The next day or whatever when I see the note I could just say "Find XXX in gaming trend forums" and if it worked right it would find me the link. 

[Blackjack]

This is why I didn't upgrade past my 3G and have been holding out to see what their new phone would be. Now it's just a financial question of whether to spend the full $200 for the 4s, or just the $100 on the iphone 4.

8gb is extremely limiting. I'd be completely content with the 4's performance, but not its capacity.

I agree -- I even found my 16GB iPod Touch cramped. My 32GB 4th gen Touch has felt like just the right capacity. 64GB seems overkill unless you're inclined to put a lot of full movies on an iPhone or Touch (I'd be more inclined to put those on an iPad).

It does depend on what you use it for.

They may feel fine for now, but given that I've spent three years with my current 16GB phone and would love to spend three years with the newest one as well, I'm more than willing to pay for the highest memory version now and have a built-in higher ceiling for expansion down the road.  

Well, I mean "feels fine" in that so far I've never used more than about 17GB of my 32GB. I have hundreds of photos and tons of videos (both ones I've taken using it, and ones taken with a regular digital camera and transferred to it), but I don't really bother watching theatrical movies or TV shows on it anymore -- I found those to be the real space-killers, so to speak.

So I don't see myself shelling out for a 64GB iPhone or Touch. I actually think something like a 24GB device would be perfect for me  but it seems like we're stuck with the 8-16-32-64 format, presumably for technical or cost-effectiveness reasons, and 32GB is probably about right for my needs, with plenty of room for Growth.

Since I'm already on Verizon I guess it would make sense for me to go for that version. I'd be curious about Sprint in terms of their unlimited plans, if they'll be able to offer that on the 4S.