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IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

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Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#81

Post by gte910h »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #75

I'm a 32GB 3GS owner on a lapsed ATT contract, and I'll be pre-ordering a Verizon 32GB 4S model on Friday. Two things bother me, but weren't deal-breakers: 1) It sucks that it still has the iPhone 4's flawed design, with glass going right up to the edge of the front and back, requiring a case so it can survive a fall. I've always preferred to keep my iPhones naked. 2) $400 for the 64GB model with two-year contract? R…

>requiring a case so it can survive a fall. I never really understood this position. First off, I've dropped my phone several times, somehow it's not even scratched that I can find

Secondly, gorilla glass is considerably harder than most internal components. I can't imagine what you'd be doing to the inside of a plastic phone you're dropping that hard.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#82

Post by tptacek »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #75

I'm a 32GB 3GS owner on a lapsed ATT contract, and I'll be pre-ordering a Verizon 32GB 4S model on Friday. Two things bother me, but weren't deal-breakers: 1) It sucks that it still has the iPhone 4's flawed design, with glass going right up to the edge of the front and back, requiring a case so it can survive a fall. I've always preferred to keep my iPhones naked. 2) $400 for the 64GB model with two-year contract? R…

I drop my iPhone onto hardwood floors at least once a week. I have a small visible scratch in the middle of the front and that's it.

I know the phones do shatter, and I've seen it happen, but I'm rough on mine and it has not been fragile.

The 64GB pricing is nickel-and-diming; storage is their pricing segmentation mechanism, so taking the highest storage option is never going to feel good; you're opting for the "I'm price insensitive" bucket.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#83

Post by WiseWeasel »

gte910h wrote: post #81
WiseWeasel wrote: post #75

I'm a 32GB 3GS owner on a lapsed ATT contract, and I'll be pre-ordering a Verizon 32GB 4S model on Friday. Two things bother me, but weren't deal-breakers: 1) It sucks that it still has the iPhone 4's flawed design, with glass going right up to the edge of the front and back, requiring a case so it can survive a fall. I've always preferred to keep my iPhones naked. 2) $400 for the 64GB model with two-year contract? R…

>requiring a case so it can survive a fall. I never really understood this position. First off, I've dropped my phone several times, somehow it's not even scratched that I can find Secondly, gorilla glass is considerably harder than most internal components. I can't imagine what you'd be doing to the inside of a plastic phone you're dropping that hard.

While it may survive drops on relatively soft surfaces like wood or carpet, I can only assume that materials such as ceramic or concrete will win over glass. I say that as someone who has worked with glass, albeit not with Corning Gorilla Glass in particular.

My naked original iPhone and 3GS phones have been dropped many times on hard surfaces (like concrete), and have only had minor dents and cracks in the plastic and metal, which I'm totally fine with. Having the glass shatter is not OK, hence the need for it to be recessed behind a protective rim, or failing that, the entire phone enclosed in a protective case, which adds to the device thickness and makes it ugly.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#85

Post by sambe »

kenjackson wrote: post #21

This is a pretty underwhelming release. At least for waiting 16 months since the last phone. I sincerely hope Apple isn't about to do a replay of the Mac. Great introduction with incredible technology. But a few years into it, begins to stagnate. HW wise this nothing like the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 was a far superior device over the Galaxy S phones. The Galaxy S II though is pretty close to this. In terms of the raw…

No doubt this upgrade will get bad press for lacking "wow" factor. Buy the phone, sell the shares.

But really, do people care so much about a redesign? Near field what? 3D?! Come on... For 3GS owners like me this is an enormous upgrade, for 4 owners it will still be very noticeable. When you add the iOS 5 improvements & cloud mobile life will be much smoother. Very much like when the 3GS came out.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#86

Post by WiseWeasel »

tptacek wrote: post #82
WiseWeasel wrote: post #75

I'm a 32GB 3GS owner on a lapsed ATT contract, and I'll be pre-ordering a Verizon 32GB 4S model on Friday. Two things bother me, but weren't deal-breakers: 1) It sucks that it still has the iPhone 4's flawed design, with glass going right up to the edge of the front and back, requiring a case so it can survive a fall. I've always preferred to keep my iPhones naked. 2) $400 for the 64GB model with two-year contract? R…

I drop my iPhone onto hardwood floors at least once a week. I have a small visible scratch in the middle of the front and that's it. I know the phones do shatter, and I've seen it happen, but I'm rough on mine and it has not been fragile. The 64GB pricing is nickel-and-diming; storage is their pricing segmentation mechanism, so taking the highest storage option is never going to feel good; you're opting for the "I'm…

Wood is softer than glass, and it's normal that the glass doesn't shatter in that case.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#87

Post by tptacek »

gwright wrote: post #79
tptacek wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, when I'm near the end of my contract, AT&T is happy to offer me subsidized iPhone pricing. But they haven't offered me any breaks earlier than that.

You seem to think that someone else got a break that you didn't get but then you describe a situation that sounds exactly like what everyone else has experienced. I'm not sure why you have an expectation that any carrier would subsidize a new phone before you've effectively paid them for the previous phone. Obviously there is room to haggle on the margins of the contract but the entire business model of subsidized ph…

Read upthread.

I have no expectations about subsidized pricing. I am not price sensitive. Someone said something, I expressed surprise. That's all.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#88

Post by gwright »

alexg0 wrote: post #70
tptacek wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait what? I've been AT&T since the original iPhone and AT&T has never let me upgrade, despite the massive amount of money I spent on my mobile plan.

Really, they let me upgrade from 3G to 3GS to 4. And I waited to get 3G few month after it originally came out. See this article on from 2009: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10266781-37.html update: Based on my recollection, with 3G and 3GS, AT&T only asked for 1 year contract, not two. When new iPhone was released, sometime in June or July, anybody with contact renewal through October was marked as elegible to si…

More information please. What does 'let me upgrade' mean?

You can always upgrade it is just a matter of how much of a subsidy you want. Near the end of your contract you'll get the full subsidy on the new phone. One month into your contract you won't get any subsidy on the new phone.

There seems to be some people here who think there is a super secret way to purchased phones at subsidized prices without fulfilling (or nearly fulfilling) the contract on their previous subsidized phone. I don't think so. TANSTAFAAL

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#89

Post by illumin8 »

kenjackson wrote: post #71
tptacek wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone 4 is (apparently) Apple's most successful product launch ever. It has been for me their most useful product ever. I am rarely without it. It's my phone, my music player, my camera, my alarm clock, my kitchen timer, my only game system, and often my web browser. It is also the most solid-feeling, elegant, understated thing Apple has ever sold me. Apart from "faster", "better at connectivity", and "better at…

Apart from "faster", "better at connectivity", and "better at taking pictures", where does Apple have to go with this thing? A new chassis design? Why? And that's my fear. The first decade of the 2000s' Apple would answer this question with something you didn't think you needed. But it was a gamechanger. I could imagine Steve Jobs walking out on stage and saying: "We did the Retina Display. We changed displays foreve…

3d is a fad that will most likely never be a differentiating feature in a cell phone.

How many people at the Sprint store are seriously going to pick up the HTC Evo 3D and say "screw the iPhone 4S, I'm buying this thing because it's 3D!"

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#90

Post by jesseendahl »

masklinn wrote: post #69
jesseendahl wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, so far there is no pricing available for an unlocked version of the iPhone 4S, and I assume the contract versions will carrier locked within the USA :(

Unlocked phones are available in most countries which are not the US. They're... not cheap. On the french store, the unlocked 4S is advertised as starting from 629€ (which would be for the 16GB version)

Yeah, I realize they are available in most other countries, just not historically the U.S. Which is why I was super excited when they finally started selling unlocked iPhone 4's in the U.S. this past summer. I seriously hope they don't go back to only selling locked phones again. Thankfully, it does look like an unlocked version will be available. If you go to the Apple Store Online, then to the iPhone 4 page, on the right hand side you see a section titled "Get answers before you buy," and below that "About the unlocked iPhone." Clicking on that gets you to this page: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iph... which reads: "The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a contract commitment. You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States.* The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint."
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