Disappointed with iPhone 4S announcement

[NigelF]

Very disappointed with Apple's iphone 4s announcement can't believe for such a innovative company it took 16 months to add a dualcore processor in the existing phone and couldn't come up with more attractive features. I don't think siri will attract majority.

I my view Samsung S2 is better value then 4S as well so one less headache for WHF to review 4S or do supertest of smart phones .

 

[bigboss]

Depends on how you look at it. iPhone 4S is a more than adequate improvement. I'm especially impressed with Siri; this alone is tempting my wife to upgrade her Google Nexus One. She's loving the new features, despite the risk of being ostracised by her sister (a Google employee) & her brother (an ex-Google employee, & Google tester)! I've never heard of anyone complaining that the iPhone is slow.

 

[Amadeus1756]

I've never heard of anyone complaining that the iPhone is slow.

I didn't think my iPhone 4 was slow until I had a go with a Samsung Galaxy S II - they're incredibly fast. But they're very plasticky.

 

[Amadeus1756]

Indeed. When I saw the prices originally quoted I thought they were good because there was no compelling reason to buy the phone and they were trying to remain competitive, but then I discovered that those were prices for a 2 year contract.

Siri is hardly a killer app. £700 is a lot of money.

Frankly, I'm amazed.

 

[John Duncan]

£700 is a lot of money.

The 4S is $199. That seems quite good value to me...

 

[Frank Harvey]

I was looking forward to updating my 3GS as I've had it coming up for 2 years, but I'm not 'upgrading' and tieing into a 2 year contract if they're going to release the iPhone 5 in a years time! I was going to say it's stupid, but then, it's a better business strategy for them isn't it.

 

[John Duncan]

OK. I get how products can be $199 in the US and £199 here. But how does $199 become £499?

EDIT - aha...from the US store: "Requires new two-year wireless service contract; sold separately to qualified customers."

Now forgive me, but *now* I'm angry...

 

[chebby]

£700 is a lot of money.

The 4S is $199. That seems quite good value to me...

iPhone 4S will be "from £499" on the Apple UK store...

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone

and the 'basic' iPhone 4 8GB will be £429...

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MD128?mco=MjU1NTYxNzA

 

[Paul.]

can't believe for such a innovative company it took 16 months to add a dualcore processor in the existing phone

The hardwear has been ready since July, its iOS5 that has caused the delay. If you look on Apples web page, Siri is listed as beta software still and that enormous server farm to support iCloud was probably a lot of work too!

 

[Paul.]

Siri is hardly a killer app? After more thought I'm not planning on upgrading my 4 (think my TV is a more pressing concern ) but I think Siri is increadible. Location based reminders is proper tomorows world stuff!

 

[chebby]

OK. I get how products can be $199 in the US and £199 here. But how does $199 become £499?

EDIT - aha...from the US store: "Requires new two-year wireless service contract; sold separately to qualified customers."

Now forgive me, but *now* I'm angry...

I hope you haven't sold your old 4 yet.

 

[Lee H]

I was looking forward to updating my 3GS as I've had it coming up for 2 years, but I'm not 'upgrading' and tieing into a 2 year contract if they're going to release the iPhone 5 in a years time! I was going to say it's stupid, but then, it's a better business strategy for them isn't it.

Then you will be buried with your 3GS

Apple tend to run a yearly replacement schedule for their phones so the next one will always be a year away.

IMO, if you have a 3GS it's a worthwhile upgrade, if (like me) you have a 4, is it really worth it? Probably not.

 

[Paul.]

I dont get it, I payed £499 for my 4 not on contract 16 months ago, the 4s will be £199 on contract same as the 4 was last year. Will be cheaper the bigger the contract. How is this different to last year?

 

[richardw42]

$199 in the USA is the subsidized price on a 2 year contract. £499 is for the sim free handset only option. Or so I thought. However I do think £319 for the 3GS s a bit OTT. Surely opportunity to get people from cheaper Android and BB handsets.

 

[The_Lhc]

GAH! I@m spitting mad they didn't give it a slightly different number and put it in a marginally different case! I don't pay my taxes for this!!!

 

[Lee H]

GAH! I@m spitting mad they didn't give it a slightly different number and put it in a marginally different case! I don't pay my taxes for this!!!

It's 3 grammes heavier! What more do you people want!?!

 

[chebby]

I'm happy with my iPhone 4 32GB that I got back in June and it didn't cost me much (under a contract) after I got an excellent trade-in on my old 3GS.

I wasn't sitting around waiting for an iPhone 5 either, so I don't feel disappointed.

I just needed to upgrade to iPhone 4 (back in June when my old contract expired) for the correct software levels/hardware to get the best from AirPlay and be compatible with the latest releases of iTunes.

When this contract expires, I might just buy the biggest iPod Touch available (or even an iPad) if they haven't been scrapped by then.

 

[The_Lhc]

GAH! I@m spitting mad they didn't give it a slightly different number and put it in a marginally different case! I don't pay my taxes for this!!!

It's 3 grammes heavier! What more do you people want!?!

Well, 5 grammes, obviously.

 

[AEJim]

I think the main disappointment aside from lack of new styling/bigger screen is that the improvements weren't really necessary so few people will even notice - no-one I know had a problem with the camera or found the processor to be slow on the iPhone 4, without a bigger screen it doesn't really need better processing at present anyway.

The whole Siri thing seems to be the big new feature but is it just me being sceptical that thinks you could run that perfectly fine on any previous iPhone but then the 4S wouldn't have a USP? I'm sure it could have just been included with iOS 5. This upgrade was 16 months in the making and the Android phones are improving every few months, this could actually be the first time Apple loses ground in the phone market.

Just hope they release a real "5" around my upgrade time of July next year!

 

[ric71]

I've had my 32 gig iPhone 4 for 6 weeks now and I am not disappointed at all by the release of the 4s. It may be the better phone but I think the 4 is the dogs after having had Blackberries for years. I knew the new phone was imminent but I am not prepared to chase technology with each new release. I knew the 4 would be getting iso5 so that in itself is a huge update along with icloud.
When my contract is up in 2013 I will get the iPhone 5 or 4s gti or whatever it will be called.
The iPhone 4 is still fantastic and will be even better on iso5.

 

[John Duncan]

The whole Siri thing seems to be the big new feature but is it just me being sceptical that thinks you could run that perfectly fine on any previous iPhone

Apparently it requires a lot of processor grunt.

I suspect iOS5 may be the same...

 

[The_Lhc]

The whole Siri thing seems to be the big new feature but is it just me being sceptical that thinks you could run that perfectly fine on any previous iPhone

Apparently it requires a lot of processor grunt.

 

[AEJim]

The whole Siri thing seems to be the big new feature but is it just me being sceptical that thinks you could run that perfectly fine on any previous iPhone

Apparently it requires a lot of processor grunt.

I suspect iOS5 may be the same...

Yeah, I'm expecting it to destroy the standard "4" much like the last iOS did to the old 3G, again I'm cynical about the operating system itself being the problem or is the issue designed in to warrant the upgrades... I fear I'm becoming a grumpy old man...

 

[Lee H]

after having had Blackberries for years.

Useless fact time. According to BlackBerry, there is no plural for BlackBerry. You can say BlackBerry smartphones, but no other pluralisation.

 

[Amadeus1756]

When I first used a Blackberry (2001 I think - before they were released in the UK), I thought they were brilliant. My wife has one for work and now I'm amazed they sell any at all. Their usability is terrible. It's like using a BBS rather than a web site, and using maps - I don't know why they bother!

In fairness, Blackberry do seem to be producing newer models but they still sell a lot of the ones which present mail as if it's a raw SMTP stream.