Upgrade question: Iphone4 or 3GS?

Mic2904

Hi all,

I am just about to upgrade on my contract (actually might do an early upgrade this month). I am pretty sure to get an Iphone, though I am not sure which modell I should go for. Obviously I would love to have an Iphone4, but its rather expensive, esp since I wouldnt like to pay more than roughly £30-35 a months. SInce I have been with Orange for the last few years, build up a hand full of magic number and stuff I am not looking to much for mins and messages and ideally wouldnt like to leave Orange.

So my question is simply, if the 3GS is still a very decent phone or if I should really go for the Iphone4? I have checked the Internet for comparision and their isnt too much in between them, though you can argue that the battery life is much of an advantage.

I also need to keep in mind that I will most probably be entering a new 18 months contract which means, no new phone til then...


As for the price, I dont think the Iphone4 will be significantly cheaper in 2 months time, will it?

What would you do, or maybe did you go for a 3GS, although the Iphone4 is out already?

Thanks for your answers.

Markus

Evie82

I upgraded yesterday. I am with Voadafone and had the option of an Iphone 4 but I would of needed to pay £30 for the handset and gone for a £60 a month contract to get it.
I like the look of the Iphone 4, however the Iphone 3GS is really not that different in terms of what it can do and I could get it for free with a £35 a month contract. Needless to say I went with the 3GS.

I suspect the Iphone 4 will hold its price for a while yet as its still out of stock and on back order in most places.

Andyblizz

I would go for the iPhone 4. (if you can afford the initial payment)

I had my 3GS for 12 month and it was an excellent phone. And i loved it.

But my iPhone 4 is so much better.

Pro's over 3GS

Speed
Battery life (My 3GS normally just managed a day, iPhone 4 normally has around 35% left when i go to bed)
Screen (the iPhone 4 screen is so much better than 3GS)
Apps (all the lastest app's will work on iPhone 4 fully, cant be said for older models)
Feel (The handset depsite being nearly 25% thinner weighs a lot more but feels a lot better)

Con's

Cost
Death Grip (I have never suffered with it, but you do get a free case now ....Until 30th Sept anyway)



When i had my 3GS i purchased it as a PAYG handset and got a 12 month Simplicity sim for it. £20 a month. (the contract was great, loads of minutes and text, Unlimited Internet, 4 text for 1 MMS, and 4 text for 1 when abroad)

I was going to get a sim free iPhone 4 from apple and continue with my simplicity contract.

But then i saw tesco's offer.

12 month contract - £20 a month (250 mins, unlimited text, 1Gb internet)

While the inclusive stuff was less than i had before it wouldnt actually cost me another more a month as my useage was below these limits, the only things i will now get charged for will be MMS and Text abroad that i didnt before but in the year i sent less than 100 MMS and less than 200 abroad text so not a hugh amount if i had to pay.


The best thing about the tesco 12 month contract are the handset are slightly reduced,

16gb - £349 (Apple price - £500)
32gb - £429 (Apple Price - £600)

So my entire cost for my new 32Gb is £429 + (12 x £20) = £690

And i sold my 16Gb 3GS for £250

Mic2904

Thanks for your answer, but in regards to the screen I have been reading that the difference is barely visiable to users, is that right.

Its simply the payment for the Iphone4 that makes me think. I dont want to spend £200-300 and still enter a 24 months contract... Just dont really see the point... yet

Andyblizz

There is a massive difference between the screens.

i googled it quickly to find a pic

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/23/iphone-4-and-iphone-3g-screens-go-head-to-head-under-the-microsc/

And i would say that is a very good example.


However if you have never seen an iPhone 4 screen you would still be happy with a 3GS screen.

Andyblizz

http://www.gadgetvenue.com/iphone-4-iphone-3gs-screen-comparison-06143746/

jonthedog

Just to add to the pros for the iphone 4 vs 3GS, the camera is much improved on the '4' and actually has a LED flash/'illuminator' and a forward facing camera. This is nothing more than my 3 year old Nokia has, but the camera/video facility on the 3GS is unacceptably poor, imo.
The screen on the iphone 4 is the best resolution you will ever need on a device of this size (you eyes literally can't resolve anything more). To put this into perspective, you can view a 'normal sized' web page, i.e. one designed for a desktop, and still make out every bit of text without the need to zoom in...can't do that on a 3GS.
I should say that Orange is the single most expensive place by far to get an iphone 4, however, and unless you are already some how tied into Apple products you probably should consider other phones like an HTC Desire or Samsung Galaxy S, which in many ways are better than the iphone 4, and much better than the 3GS. I think I'm going to take my iphone 4 back and wait for the Nokia N8 myself....Nokia phones seem to 'just work', to borrow apple's catchphrase.

The_Cappuccino_Kid

I have a 3GS and am very pleased with it.

Most of the shortcomings - folders, multi tasking etc - were dealt with by the o/s upgrade.

The camera is very poor but that is not in itself enough for me to upgrade. I'm hanging on to mine until the iPhone 5 appears.

That said, if I was buying from scratch, I would probably go for the 4, just because it's the latest / newest / spangliest!

That didn't really help, did it?

timberflake

Mic2904 wrote: »

Thanks for your answer, but in regards to the screen I have been reading that the difference is barely visiable to users, is that right.

Utter rubbish! The screen on the iPhone 4 is much much better than the previous models, and is better than any other phone currently on the market.

jonthedog

timberflake wrote: »

Utter rubbish! The screen on the iPhone 4 is much much better than the previous models, and is better than any other phone currently on the market.

Probably a little harsh. Certainly the iphone 4 screen is noticably better the 3GS, but you are unlikely to notice any difference between the iphone 4's screen and that of its main smart phone competitors...by their own admission, Apple have made the resolution fine beyond what is detectable by the human eye, so it's debatable whether having a slightly higher resolution than other phones is as important as the overall screen size, brightness, etc.

bingy_burge

timberflake wrote: »

Utter rubbish! The screen on the iPhone 4 is much much better than the previous models, and is better than any other phone currently on the market.

Yea its like the difference between dvd on a crt tv and blu-ray at full hd 1080p LCD.

Now when i look at my 3gs the screen looks awful and grainy! You can see the squares on the 3gs after using my 4.