iPhone 4S - Is it now behind the times?

mattyprice4004 · 26 Feb 2012 at 19:46

I was just wondering what the consensus of the OcUK Mobile ranks was - is the iPhone 4S now old hat, or is it the best phone going in your opinion?

I have the 4S, and think it's fantastic. I didn't really get on with Android, although being able to simply flash ROMs was handy.
I do miss the better-featured handsets available, though.

So, the question being - in your opinion is the 4S now yesterday's news? Discuss.

grudas · 26 Feb 2012 at 19:48

its the best iphone so no it is not an "old hat" but there are more powerful/better speced phones around

not that the 4s will struggle with anything you trow at it

so it is one of the best phones at the market as of today - could be called "the" best but it depends on your use/likes/other gadgets

Shimmy · 26 Feb 2012 at 19:56

Not at all.

You could argue the screen size and the OS is old hat though.

Hyburnate · 26 Feb 2012 at 19:58

Yeah I agree with Shimmy. Apple have been trying to get slimmer. But my fear is if they try to make the screen any bigger they will go back to square one with a thicker phone. However my point is null as I don't get on with touchscreen phones.

Tatsuki · 26 Feb 2012 at 20:07

Still up their with the best. App quality and variety along with consistent easy to use UI make it a excellent if slightly boring choice. Bigger screen and I would be happy to buy it, I prefer larger screens these days so use wp7.

sarge78 · 26 Feb 2012 at 20:25

Shimmy said:
Not at all.

You could argue the screen size and the OS is old hat though.

+1

The small screen and iOS hardware ecosystem are my major turn offs, they should keep the OS simple though.

v0n · 26 Feb 2012 at 20:38

I no longer understand why people say "small screen" when referring to iphone 4S. It is the most successful "one size fits all" screen in history of mobile phones. It's been copied by just about every manufacturer on the planet. Anything with bigger screen, ultimately, in pure sales numbers, failed. And so it should, considering the amount of research that has gone into making sure it fitted perfectly into "average" hand of any Joe on the planet. I can't imagine why anyone would want it bigger at this point in technology.

DIABLO · 26 Feb 2012 at 20:44

v0n said:
I no longer understand why people say "small screen" when referring to iphone 4S. It is the most successful "one size fits all" screen in history of mobile phones. It's been copied by just about every manufacturer on the planet. Anything with bigger screen, ultimately, in pure sales numbers, failed. And so it should, considering the amount of research that has gone into making sure it fitted perfectly into "average" hand of any Joe on the planet. I can't imagine why anyone would want it bigger at this point in technology.

So you're saying all phones that have had a bigger screen than the iPhone4/S has been a failure... :rolleyes:

have you heard of a little ol phone called the SGS2 that has sold 20 million so far? And it hardly fits that well in the hand as it has the ergonomics of a brick.

Robbo · 26 Feb 2012 at 20:48

It's arguably the best phone available, it depends on your needs.

So no, I'm not sure why you would even begin to think that it's 'behind the times'.

rustynuts · 26 Feb 2012 at 20:53

Suppose it depends on your needs and what not.

I own a Iphone 4 and it covers everything i need. But i agree with what others are saying. A bigger screen would for me put the icing on the cake.

sarge78 · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:11

v0n said:
I no longer understand why people say "small screen" when referring to iphone 4S. It is the most successful "one size fits all" screen in history of mobile phones. It's been copied by just about every manufacturer on the planet. Anything with bigger screen, ultimately, in pure sales numbers, failed. And so it should, considering the amount of research that has gone into making sure it fitted perfectly into "average" hand of any Joe on the planet. I can't imagine why anyone would want it bigger at this point in technology.

lol Welcome to 2007!

I remember when Steve Jobs called it a widescreen iPod, phone and internet communications device. 'Cover flow' took priority over slow web browsing, 300*200 video playback with no apps or gaming.

Shimmy · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:12

v0n said:
I no longer understand why people say "small screen" when referring to iphone 4S. It is the most successful "one size fits all" screen in history of mobile phones. It's been copied by just about every manufacturer on the planet. Anything with bigger screen, ultimately, in pure sales numbers, failed. And so it should, considering the amount of research that has gone into making sure it fitted perfectly into "average" hand of any Joe on the planet. I can't imagine why anyone would want it bigger at this point in technology.

The phone doesn't need to be physically any bigger, it's a good size.

It's the large bezel which is annoying, you could easily fit a 4" screen inside that body.

For example the Galaxy Nexus does away with any hardware buttons and has a thin bezel allowing a 4.65" screen, the GS2 which is the ~ same size has a 4.3" screen.

Robbo · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:16

Despite the iPhone screen being small by many standards, I do find the various functions work nicely with the screen size, despite there being an occasional lack of things on display compared to the likes of the Galaxy Nexus.

Em3bbs · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:39

Shimmy said:
For example the Galaxy Nexus does away with any hardware buttons and has a thin bezel allowing a 4.65" screen, the GS2 which is the ~ same size has a 4.3" screen.

Bad example really, considering that the soft buttons on the Nexus take up most of that extra space.

Rich_L · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:41

Honestly no, it's about 'right' with the times when looking at comparable phones out now, which shows how quite astonishingly good a phone the original iPhone 4 was given that the 4S was a pretty minimal upgrade.

That said over the next few months when the various ICS and W7 phones start to hit the market I think you will start to see a gap emerging.

Shimmy · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:48

Em3bbs said:
Bad example really, considering that the soft buttons on the Nexus take up most of that extra space.

They're not permanent though. They disappear when playing a video for example.

You can get rid of them all together and just navigate using thumb controls if you want.

cymatty · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:48

Em3bbs said:
Bad example really, considering that the soft buttons on the Nexus take up most of that extra space.

Well yes and no, they are there most of the time. However for the important times when you dont want them there like when watching a film or browsing the web they can disappear giving you the full screen.

Edit - Damn it, ginger child and all that

v0n · 26 Feb 2012 at 22:01

DIABLO said:
have you heard of a little ol phone called the SGS2 that has sold 20 million so far?

20 million in 12 months, was it? Versus 40 million in 3 months. Fair enough, "failure" is too strong of a term for something that sells in 10s of millions, but we are still talking Tesco vs Spar in terms of numbers.

And it hardly fits that well in the hand as it has the ergonomics of a brick.

There isn't really point of arguing this. It might not fit yours but it fits hands of more smartphone buyers than any other smart phone on the market.

You can pin iphone 4S to the wall of shame for a lot of things. The stagnated os without even most basic customisation options, the phone constantly snitching on you and your location and sending data to mothership and what's worse for that very purpose never switching off its 3G connection, not even when wifi is enabled, which causes power drain and decreases battery life (something that apple fails to acknowledge is a problem for months), the main selling point (Siri) still not working as anything more than 5 minute party gimmick anywhere outside US 6 months after release, the lack of updates to crazy bugs (5.1 is a beta for months now) etc etc. One thing you cannot pin it for though - is lack of appeal, lack of crowd appealing ergonomics and not being perfect "average joe" phone.

I'm sure there will be more users picking SGS2 for OS, speed and customisation despite almost embarrassingly geek-tablet size and screen that's too wide for single hand, one thumb typing than number of people that buy 4S and think "darn, if only the screen size was bigger"...

v0n · 26 Feb 2012 at 22:04

Shimmy said:
The phone doesn't need to be physically any bigger, it's a good size.

It's the large bezel which is annoying, you could easily fit a 4" screen inside that body.

Wasn't the bezel designed that way to avoid hand grip triggering the screen? I think I actually remember someone on TV saying it was tested by using runners to hold the phone in their hand with headphones connected.

Robbo · 26 Feb 2012 at 22:09

v0n said:
I'm sure there will be more users picking SGS2 for OS, speed and customisation despite almost embarrassingly geek-tablet size and screen that's too wide for single hand, one thumb typing than number of people that buy 4S and think "darn, if only the screen size was bigger"...

Are you getting the SGS2 mixed up with the Galaxy Note?