• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

iPhone 4S |OT|

Status
Not open for further replies.
This will be my first iPhone and am wondering where I should order it. Do I go to one of my carrier's stores (Sprint) on Friday and preorder there, or do I have to order with Apple? If both are an option, which one will generally get you the phone faster? Thanks.
 
AbsoluteZero said:
I gotcha now, you mean if those customers wanted to go to the 5
Click to expand...

yes. for example I am eligible for early upgrade now but will be eligible for full on November 15th. my issue is if I get the iPhone 4S now, I wont be eligible for a full upgrade till May of 2013 and by time iPhone 5S will be coming out in a few months anyway and I am pretty sure the jump from 3GS to 4 is the kind I want to upgrade to.
 
Was thinking its not out of the realm of possibility for the iPhone5 to debut next summer. I mean.. I'm convinced that aluminum phone was real one way or another. Who knows whats going on behind the scenes, but that phone exists somewhere. Maybe they just really needed to get the CDMA/GSM thing taken care of and couldn't do that and engineer a new design on the same go.
 
So is there an MKV player for the iPhone? Will the A5 chip finally be able to play HD MKV's decently?

I own a Droid X that doesn't have .mkv support natively, using a player that tries to play mkv using ffmpeg compiles, it isn't very smooth. I heard the Samsung Galaxy S II supports .mkv natively.
 
Greyface said:
It's been 16 months not just a year (and most people are eligible for upgrades after 18 months). The hype grew the longer Apple took to release this. Many of the people disappointed are 3GS owners who've been waiting ages and don't won't to be stuck on the 'S' cycle.
Click to expand...

3GS owner here and not disappointed at all. I think this update's far better than had I simply jumped to a 4 earlier this year after getting my phone stolen. Plus I can get a white phone with 64GB of memory without having to wait like all the iphone owners who originally wanted a white phone.
 
Greyface said:
Not all of the competition has been slacking. Samsung released the Galaxy about the time of the iPhone 4, released the Galaxy II 11 months later and has dropped hints that the Galaxy III is coming in early 2012 all the while delivering the Nexus S and now gearing up for the Nexus Prime. Apple is now the biggest company in the world (going by market value) with one of the largest cash reserves, and they can't deliver an update to the iPod line or even create a similar iPhone line, in 16 months?!
Click to expand...

Why make a less successful product that you get less money from that will be cannibalizing parts needed for your most successful product that you can't keep on shelf? New iPod touches with A5s would have been great, but you would have to have your head in the clouds to think Apple was going to release an A5 Touch and an A5 iPhone at the same time.
 
Trojita said:
So is there an MKV player for the iPhone? Will the A5 chip finally be able to play HD MKV's decently?

I own a Droid X that doesn't have .mkv support natively, using a player that tries to play mkv using ffmpeg compiles, it isn't very smooth. I heard the Samsung Galaxy S II supports .mkv natively.
Click to expand...
Can't say for sure, but there are definitely apps that will play the file. Not native support, but 3rd party video apps exist.
 
I think what's a bummer is that both big launches this year from Apple (the iPad 2 and now the iPhone 4S) were all more under the hood changes, rather than drastic changes. I'll probably get an iPhone 4S, but I'm glad I've passed on the iPad 2.
 
I'm not eligible for a new iPhone till Feb 25th, but at that point I'm gonna keep on truckin' as a Number Member and not an S Member. Normally I'd be able to upgrade in June/July but waiting till October is gonna suck :(


I hope someone hacks Siri onto the iPhone 4, if it's not too shitty. I would absolutely rejailbreak to use it.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
I think what's a bummer is that both big launches this year from Apple (the iPad 2 and now the iPhone 4S) were all more under the hood changes, rather than drastic changes. I'll probably get an iPhone 4S, but I'm glad I've passed on the iPad 2.
Click to expand...
The iPad 2 shits on the original iPad. Much faster proc and a RAM bump to handle better multi-tasking. Much more dramatic jump than even the 4 to the 4S since it came with a nice RAM bump (maybe the 4S did as well, unconfirmed).
 
WordAssassin said:
I'm not eligible for a new iPhone till Feb 25th, but at that point I'm gonna keep on truckin' as a Number Member and not an S Member. Normally I'd be able to upgrade in June/July but waiting till October is gonna suck :(


I hope someone hacks Siri onto the iPhone 4, if it's not too shitty. I would absolutely rejailbreak to use it.
Click to expand...
Siri will run shitty on a non-4S simply because it likely takes advantage of the 4S's new processors, something the iPhone 4 lacks.
 
TacticalFox88 said:
Siri will run shitty on a non-4S simply because it likely takes advantage of the 4S's new processors, something the iPhone 4 lacks.
Click to expand...

It's also IMO pretty close to piracy. Siri R&D is paid for by people that will buy the 4S, not by people that bought the 4.
 
ivedoneyourmom said:
Why make a less successful product that you get less money from that will be cannibalizing parts needed for your most successful product that you can't keep on shelf? New iPod touches with A5s would have been great, but you would have to have your head in the clouds to think Apple was going to release an A5 Touch and an A5 iPhone at the same time.
Click to expand...


I think that's unnecessarily pessimistic. Apple was selling A4 ipads, touches and iphones at the same time. i don't think it's too crazy to assume they could handle the production load of A5 chips for three lines.

It's possible that this is a production reason and not just a money-saving reason but I don't think it's foolish to have expected an A5 ipod touch.
 
Jtwo said:
Was thinking its not out of the realm of possibility for the iPhone5 to debut next summer. I mean.. I'm convinced that aluminum phone was real one way or another. Who knows whats going on behind the scenes, but that phone exists somewhere. Maybe they just really needed to get the CDMA/GSM thing taken care of and couldn't do that and engineer a new design on the same go.
Click to expand...
Why can't Apple produce two models?

ivedoneyourmom said:
Why make a less successful product that you get less money from that will be cannibalizing parts needed for your most successful product that you can't keep on shelf? New iPod touches with A5s would have been great, but you would have to have your head in the clouds to think Apple was going to release an A5 Touch and an A5 iPhone at the same time.
Click to expand...
I thought this was the point when Apple would go for marketshare; they'd replace most of the iPod line and introduce the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and iPhone nano and finally provide midrange and lowrange devices. Instead Apple decided to go for (even more) profit. *shrug* Time will tell, as always.
 
LCfiner said:
I think that's unnecessarily pessimistic. Apple was selling A4 ipads, touches and iphones at the same time. i don't think it's too crazy to assume they could handle the production load of A5 chips for three lines.

It's possible that this is a production reason and not just a money-saving reason but I don't think it's foolish to have expected an A5 ipod touch.
Click to expand...

I used the word release for a reason. Apple did not release the A4 iPad, iPhone, and Touch all at the same time, it was a staggered release. I think they will release an A5 Touch, but I consider it silly to think that they would release it at the same time as the A5 iPhone. Give it a few months.
 
Can not wait to upgrade. My iPad 2 is noticeably faster than my 4 and with possibly 1GB of RAM I can not wait. Esp the better camera. This phone is exactly what I want and since I bought day of last year I am upgradable. Plan on doing that again for the 4S. I''ll actually make money selling my 4.
 
LCfiner said:
I think that's unnecessarily pessimistic. Apple was selling A4 ipads, touches and iphones at the same time. i don't think it's too crazy to assume they could handle the production load of A5 chips for three lines.

It's possible that this is a production reason and not just a money-saving reason but I don't think it's foolish to have expected an A5 ipod touch.
Click to expand...
Pretty crazy looking back at the iPhone 4 launch now.

Shipments estimates were "three weeks" all summer. In October they changed to "5-7 days" and then in November they finally went to a regular "24 hours".

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/05/iphone-4-shipping-estimates-improve-to-5-7-business-days-in-u-s/
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/11/02/iphone-4-availability-now-at-within-24-hours-in-u-s/
 
planar1280 said:
why isn't Siri on iPad 2? same processors
Click to expand...
It might be because it's recently developed. However, if they want, they can probably just do a firmware update with it, or make it an App for the iPad 2 only, if it's possible to do so.
 
I was going to new york this novemeber and wanted to get an unlocked iphone from the apple store there.
The OP says 4S is a worldwide phone. Does that mean that if I buy the unlocked version I could use it with my company sim card in europe?
 
TacticalFox88 said:
It might be because it's recently developed. However, if they want, they can probably just do a firmware update with it, or make it an App for the iPad 2 only, if it's possible to do so.
Click to expand...
Neither the iPad 2 nor iPad have the Voice Control feature so I'm inclined to think that Apple is simply interested in keeping the Siri exclusive to the iPhone 4S

SpacePirate Ridley said:
I was going to new york this novemeber and wanted to get an unlocked iphone from the apple store there.
The OP says 4S is a worldwide phone. Does that mean that if I buy the unlocked version I could use it with my company sim card in europe?
Click to expand...
yes
 
SpacePirate Ridley said:
I was going to new york this novemeber and wanted to get an unlocked iphone from the apple store there.
The OP says 4S is a worldwide phone. Does that mean that if I buy the unlocked version I could use it with my company sim card in europe?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can.
 
Greyface said:
Why can't Apple produce two models?

I thought this was the point when Apple would go for marketshare; they'd replace most of the iPod line and introduce the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and iPhone nano and finally provide midrange and lowrange devices. Instead Apple decided to go for (even more) profit. *shrug* Time will tell, as always.
Click to expand...
They're producing three models, one of which is free on contract. They also added a carrier in the US. In what world is that not going for increased marketshare?
 
ivedoneyourmom said:
I used the word release for a reason. Apple did not release the A4 iPad, iPhone, and Touch all at the same time, it was a staggered release. I think they will release an A5 Touch, but I consider it silly to think that they would release it at the same time as the A5 iPhone. Give it a few months.
Click to expand...
By "a few months" you mean 12, right? :)

I'd be very surprised if apple updates iPods after Xmas or next summer. It'd be a pleasant surprise but I highly doubt it.

And the A5 has been in production for months with the iPad so I would call this a staggered release as well.
 
Tobor said:
They're producing three models, one of which is free on contract. They also added a carrier in the US. In what world is that not going for increased marketshare?
Click to expand...
Apple's market share on the mobile front is absolutely ridiculous, which I expect to increase exponentially with Sprint too.
 
Tobor said:
They're producing three models, one of which is free on contract. They also added a carrier in the US. In what world is that not going for increased marketshare?
Click to expand...
Those are old models and, at best, the iPhone 3GS can now be considered a midrange device (~$400 is still a lot for an off-contract phone). It's a bid to squeeze more profit out of their existing designs not creating new models to attract different segments of the market.
 
Tobor said:
They're producing three models, one of which is free on contract. They also added a carrier in the US. In what world is that not going for increased marketshare?
Click to expand...


I doubt they're still producing the 3gs, just lots of left over inventory.
 
LCfiner said:
By "a few months" you mean 12, right? :)

I'd be very surprised if apple updates iPods after Xmas or next summer. It'd be a pleasant surprise but I highly doubt it.

And the A5 has been in production for months with the iPad so I would call this a staggered release as well.
Click to expand...

True, it has been made for months, however we don't know if the new iPhone has a smaller modified A5 or not yet. I actually think Apple will want to do a product somewhere between the 4S and the iPad3, but I've been wrong about Apple's strategies in the past, so who knows. They also haven't done a major update to iTunes this year either, so there is a chance that they have decided to completely move their multimedia event (iPod, iTunes, TV) to a different quarter.

I really think that the delay in announcement has much more to do with the holiday season than it does with any production issues. It sucks a bunch of people got their hopes up for an larger screen just because of a 4 month delay, but it seemed kind of expected with how the iPod market was moving.

I think over time the Touch and the iPhone will merge into a single product line, but currently the way the market works makes that impossible. It is also certainly possible that they won't ever be updating the iPod line again, if they can figure out how to make most would be touch owners into iPhone owners then the Touch line has out lived its usefulness.
 
Greyface said:
Those are old models and, at best, the iPhone 3GS can now be considered a midrange device (~$400 is still a lot for an off-contract phone). It's a bid to squeeze more profit out of their existing designs not creating new models to attract different segments of the market.
Click to expand...
The 4S is not an old model. It's a new model, and to suggest otherwise is silly. Is the 2011 MacBook Air an "old model"?

As for the cheapskates, they'll happily buy a 3GS and iPhone 4 and save money. They don't need to design a new model to sell to a larger market.
 
Tobor said:
The 4S is not an old model. It's a new model, and to suggest otherwise is silly. Is the 2011 MacBook Air an "old model"?

As for the cheapskates, they'll happily buy a 3GS and iPhone 4 and save money. They don't need to design a new model to sell to a larger market.
Click to expand...
? The iPhone 3GS and 4 are old models, that's what I was referring to as old models.
 
This works out great for me, even though I don't really want a 4S I can still upgrade to it from my 4, will get £260 cash for the 4 trade-in and use that as deposit for the upgrade to the S on Vodafone.
 
The more and more I read this thread, the more and more I want to upgrade. And I have someone willing to buy my 4 for 400 tomorrow as well.

Too tempting.
 
Vik_Vaughn said:
Anybody know the off-contract prices for just the regular '4' now?
Click to expand...


550 bucks from the canada store. will be the same is USD, when offered. (that's only 100 less than the 4S. seems like a poor deal, imo)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Foldable iPhone renders
2
79
1K
Trilobit replied
Oscars 2026 |OT|
2 3
116
117
Reizo Ryuu replied
Movies You’ve Watched Lately | OT | - 2026
|OT| Social  7 8 9 10 11
537
5K
Billbofet replied
No, you´re not getting old: iPhone keyboard is broken
15
664
TheUnicornGuy replied
Winter Olympics 2026 [OT] - Milano Cortina
5 6 7 8 9
406
3K
Shifty1897 replied
Top Bottom