A few weeks ago, I posted that I had no plans to upgrade from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S. There were several good reasons for this. Here is an excerpt from that post:
…As excited as I am about the quantum leap Apple has made in its AI interface with Siri (the new personal digital assistant that is only available on the iPhone 4S,) I have decided to wait for the iPhone 5. Read more
iPhone 4 Day is here. There’s a line right now at South Park Mall in Charlotte, NC that stretches into the parking decks, but I’m not in it — and today I’ll be explaining my decision.
I was one of the many lucky AT&T customers whose equipment upgrade eligibility date was changed to allow me to jump on Apple’s newest iPhone as soon it rolled out. The change in eligibility was made about one month ago, so I’ve had plenty of time to think this over from every possible angle. It’s been a tough few weeks, but I’ve come a decision that makes perfect sense for me and I’m solidly happy with it: instead of upgrading to the iPhone 4 — I upgraded my 8GB 3G to a 16GB 3GS.
Lots of Reasons, in No Particular Order
Considering I didn’t even jump on the iPhone bandwagon until November 2009, the upgrade from the humble 3G to the noticeably faster 3GS with more memory may seem to be minor — until you throw in this week’s release of iOS4 which takes the iPhone 3GS into a whole ‘nother notch on the evolutionary scale. iOS4 brings beautiful new options to the UI, such as the ability to use wallpaper on the homescreen, and to group apps into folders — but these features don’t appear on the iPhone 3G. iOS4 also brings 5x zoom to the camera (an improvement that does trickle down to the 3G). I’d spend the whole day writing about new features if I were to go on, so I’m stopping here, with a link for you to read more if you are interested. (Apple.com)
Another really important reason is the price. With my equipment upgrade discount from AT&T, I could snag an iPhone 4 for a little more than $200. When it comes to phones, I like to wait a little less than a year from the newest iteration’s unveiling before I buy, because I always get a much better deal. But now is a very auspicious time to pounce on an iPhone 3GS, since retailers have drastically slashed prices ahead of the new release. I went through Best Buy Mobile, and with my Reward Zone points and their trade-in program, I got my shiny new iPhone 3GS for only $66. Cha-ching!
There are things I’ll be doing without for a while, that can only be done on the iPhone 4 — such as FaceTime (live video calling), recording HD video, and loving that Retina display that packs 960 x 640 resolution into a 3.5-inch screen. I think I can manage.
Well, for a while at least. ;)
