# Apple Iphone 3gs - point4 less now or not



## waterloowelshy (Feb 11, 2011)

Hi,

Sorry for what is likely to be a very mundane post, but i am a complete technophobe.

Basically i am looking to upgrade my phone and have the option of upgrading to the Iphone with Orange.  They are offering the 3Gs handset for free or a hefty charge for the new 4 version.

I really want to upgrade to an iphone for a variety of reasons, but was wondering whether it would be pointless in upgrading to the 3gs version? I dont really want to have to part with cash to get the 4 version if i can help it.

I know the 4 version is better etc, but will the 3gs Version become obsolete and therefore pointless in the near future?

Any advice gladly recieved.


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 11, 2011)

No, it won't be obsolete, or pointless.


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## editor (Feb 11, 2011)

I _really_ wouldn't get a 3GS - it's well over a year and a half old now. You could get yourself a more powerful Android phone for the same price. If you really want an iPhone, I strongly suggest you get the iPhone 4 (even though that is 7 months old now).


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## waterloowelshy (Feb 11, 2011)

Thats the kind of reply i like to hear. A lot of people i work with have suggested that the software updates will become uncompatible with the 3Gs version in the near future as the 4 version grows. I guess they are just being overly cautious? Like I said I am pretty much a technophobe so cant imagine ill be using the Iphone for much more than a few decent apps (running / nike stuff) so am not worried baout not having the latest version. I just dont want to get it and then find it needs upgrading.

eta - that was posted in response to dogbot. now i see the editors response. agh! decisions decisions!


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## editor (Feb 11, 2011)

There's a new iPhone in the works, so the 3GS will soon be two versions old.  If you look at the problems that some people have had running the latest OS4 on the 3G, then I'd be very concerned about buying an 18 month old handset. 

Phones are getting more powerful, and the new apps - and OS -  will take advantage of that. If you're committing to such an old phone, I suspect you'll be missing out on a lot of fun further on down the line.

I'd suggest you save up for the iPhone4 - it'll be worth it - or look at some of the excellent Android alternatives.


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## Bungle73 (Feb 11, 2011)

editor said:


> I _really_ wouldn't get a 3GS - it's well over a year and a half old now. You could get yourself a more powerful Android phone for the same price. If you really want an iPhone, I strongly suggest you get the iPhone 4 (even though that is 7 months old now).


Since he said he could get a 3GS for free how could he get an Android phone for the same price?  The 3GS may be old, but it's not like if you get one now it's going to stop working in a few months.  If you're paying, sure, get a 4, but if it's free, why not?


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## waterloowelshy (Feb 11, 2011)

cheers.  That was my worry. Especially as I'll be stuck on a 24 month contract. Do you have any personal reccomendation for Android handsets? 

and basically I would just want to be using a few jogging / training apps that Nike and thos offer. Nothing fancy. I guess this would be achieveable on an Android.


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## electroplated (Feb 11, 2011)

you could also wait until june/july when the iphone 5 is expected to be released, and get an iphone4 cheaper than they are now


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## Crispy (Feb 11, 2011)

It's still a fine phone. For free, it's a great deal. You might be paying for it with the contract though, what's the deal there?


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## Kanda (Feb 11, 2011)

Check that the apps you want are available on Android. If not, you could go for the 3GS as it runs the apps you want to use. 

You don't HAVE to always be up to date with the latest OS version or whatever.


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## editor (Feb 11, 2011)

waterloowelshy said:


> cheers.  That was my worry. Especially as I'll be stuck on a 24 month contract. Do you have any personal reccomendation for Android handsets?
> 
> and basically I would just want to be using a few jogging / training apps that Nike and thos offer. Nothing fancy. I guess this would be achieveable on an Android.


You'd be _insane_ to commit for 24 months to a phone that is already 18 months old. IMO, of course.

There's several threads here discussing Android phones - there's loads of excellent ones available like the Desire HD, but I'd wait a week or so because there's a load of new releases coming through.


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## Spymaster (Feb 11, 2011)

I'd advise against both. 

I've had an i4 with Orange since September. Whilst it's a great little toy, I've found it absolutely terrible for making and receiving phone calls. It drops far too many calls, connects so that I can hear the other party but they can't hear me, and loses reception at the drop of a hat when everyone elses (non-iPhones) are working fine. 

Additionally, Orange insurance for the i4 is an extortionate £12.50/month, and if you have any problems you get referred to Apple, who make you book an appointment with a "Genius" at your nearest Apple Store, and they keep you sitting around for half an hour before blaming the carrier for the problems you're experiencing. 

If you do decide to get an iPhone, don't upgrade at an Orange shop (like I did) as you lose the right to return it within 90 days if you're not happy. Strangely, if you upgrade over the phone you retain this right. 

Orange are fine and have some very decent Android alternatives.

Apple tease you into Appleworld and gradually make you beholden to them. Once you're in, you're fucked!  

If I weren't locked into a contract I'd stick my iPhone up an Apple employees arsehole and kick it so the glass broke.


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 11, 2011)

Interesting, mines on Voda and the call quality is superb.


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## sim667 (Feb 11, 2011)

editor said:


> You'd be _insane_ to commit for 24 months to a phone that is already 18 months old. IMO, of course.


 
Be clear, 18 month old model, not the phone itself  If the offer was an 18 month old handset (and i would put it past some companies to try it) you'd just have to tell them where to go...... phones4u springs to mind.

But i do agree with ed..... it would be silly to get an old model, however I dont think they'll drop support to it any time soon, but they'll just stretch and stretch the hardware as thin as they can with the software, and it will work fine on their unused test phones, but in the real world where you phones been used in different temperatures and humidities, been dropped and gathered a collection of dust and skin from around the world inside the updates just wont work properly.

Personally I've got an iphone 4, and think its great, easy to use, nice to look at, lots of functionality. I've played with android handsets, and found them reminiscent of the shitty old phones like the nokia 8150...... but i really think thats down to personal experience, I've been used to the smooth mac 'experience' for quite a while now, and iOS is just an extension of that.

However of course the downside is your tied into apple telling you what you can and cant have on your phon.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 11, 2011)

Bungle73 said:


> Since he said he could get a 3GS for free how could he get an Android phone for the same price?  The 3GS may be old, but it's not like if you get one now it's going to stop working in a few months.  If you're paying, sure, get a 4, but if it's free, why not?


 
I got my Desire HD "free" on contract.


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## editor (Feb 11, 2011)

sim667 said:


> I've played with android handsets, and found them reminiscent of the shitty old phones like the nokia 8150....


Not even _slightly_ my experience with my Desire - and I've owned a 3GS to directly compare it with.


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## sim667 (Feb 11, 2011)

stupid dogbot said:


> Interesting, mines on Voda and the call quality is superb.


 
Mines fine and dandy on o2 too


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 11, 2011)

editor said:


> I _really_ wouldn't get a 3GS - it's well over a year and a half old now. You could get yourself a more powerful Android phone for the same price. If you really want an iPhone, I strongly suggest you get the iPhone 4 (even though that is 7 months old now).


 
Great advice for a technophobe, get the geekiest phone out there.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 11, 2011)

waterloowelshy said:


> Hi,
> 
> Sorry for what is likely to be a very mundane post, but i am a complete technophobe.
> 
> ...


 
I'd say go for the 3GS, it's a great phone, easy to use, most apps will run on it fine for a good while yet.


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## waterloowelshy (Feb 11, 2011)

I just bit the bullet and ordered the Iphone 4. Orange reduced the asking price for the handset to just £60 on a £35 / month contract. That swung it for me. Although i have got to be honest i went to the Apple store at lunch time and have to say that i preferred the feel of the 3gs in my hand. The roundness just felt nicer, but I am sure I'll get used to the 4.  Thanks for all the advice - i am sure i will now be back in the future annoying you with tech questions when i can't work out the Iphone!


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 11, 2011)

I would have gone for the 4 as well. I have a 3GS, and it won't be obsolete for a while, but it'll be obsolete about a year sooner than the 4 will, and the 4 is also a better phone.

I've heard more than one person say they preferred the rounder body of the 3GS though.


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## maldwyn (Feb 11, 2011)

You made a good choice and the screen is so much better than the 3gs. I plan on keeping my non-contract i4 until at least the release of i6 (or perhaps an android)


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## editor (Feb 11, 2011)

waterloowelshy said:


> I just bit the bullet and ordered the Iphone 4.


Good call. You would have been kicking yourself in a years time when the age of the 3GS started to really show in some areas and you were stuck with another year of the thing.


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## strung out (Feb 11, 2011)

is the iphone 5 really coming out in june/july as someone said up there? or is that just when it's getting unveiled/keynoted?


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## Kanda (Feb 11, 2011)

Usually released around June/July yes.


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## GarfieldLeChat (Feb 11, 2011)

waterloowelshy said:


> Hi,
> 
> Sorry for what is likely to be a very mundane post, but i am a complete technophobe.
> 
> ...



wait.

The piephone 5 will be here proably by April no point in signing a contract for 18 months if the new one is out in a few months...


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## GarfieldLeChat (Feb 11, 2011)

strung out said:


> is the iphone 5 really coming out in june/july as someone said up there? or is that just when it's getting unveiled/keynoted?


 
key note supposedly at the end of this month, release along with the pad2 in April in time for easter supposedly...


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## Sunray (Feb 15, 2011)

The reception thing I think is less a general fault with the Phone generally but one that is a combo with location and perhaps a dodgy phone.  They sell 11 million a quarter of these phones.  Its not problem for all of those people. Anandtech has said the iP4 has the best low area coverage of any phone he's ever tested and that man is more than thorough.  

As I said on a different post, the iPhone 4 could have lasted for two years without a slightest problem. Its got as good tech as any phone out there has, there is little to differentiate them these days apart from some putting in dual core beast CPUs without any actual reason to do that apart from draining the battery more. 

I still think the 3GS is a very decent phone. Runs iOS very capably.  I've used the 3G with iOS and its fine, its not super fast but it was never a fast phone in the 1st place so I'm not sure what people were expecting.

Aerial gate at the start of the iP4 means that you will see it eradicated in true Apple marketing glee sometime in the next 5 or so months.  Expect iPhone 4s or something like that. Perhaps it will have a touch area at the back like the NGP seeing how close Apple and Sony engineering teams are.

Most impressive thing Apple could do is produce a new battery that makes their iPhones last a week.


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## waterloowelshy (Feb 17, 2011)

Im with you on that. The iphoen 4 has been amazing so far. And that is coming from somebody that used a 'builders' phone with no smart capabilities for the last 5 years up until this week. Honestly i am staggered by how much you can do with it and how it can simplify work / leisure activities etc.. it was worth buying just for the runkeeper app which i am now able to use while jogging - staggeringly brilliant!

the only gripe i have is that my battery life is pretty bad. 100% charged when i left the house at 8.00 am this morning and its already down to 50% by 4 o clock. I have only used it lighty at lunch time and on the train this morning. The same thing happened yesterday as the battery life went down to 5% in the course of a days use. Not ideal at all. Ive only had it a week so far and im hoping it will improve. Otherwise ill have to take it into the shop to see if there is anything that can be done - im already dreading being without it!


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 17, 2011)

Smartphones are a lot more battery hungry, but some things you can do to help preserve it are to turn down you're screen brightness and turn of wifi and gps when you're not using them.


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## Sunray (Feb 17, 2011)

waterloowelshy said:


> Im with you on that. The iphoen 4 has been amazing so far. And that is coming from somebody that used a 'builders' phone with no smart capabilities for the last 5 years up until this week. Honestly i am staggered by how much you can do with it and how it can simplify work / leisure activities etc.. it was worth buying just for the runkeeper app which i am now able to use while jogging - staggeringly brilliant!
> 
> the only gripe i have is that my battery life is pretty bad. 100% charged when i left the house at 8.00 am this morning and its already down to 50% by 4 o clock. I have only used it lighty at lunch time and on the train this morning. The same thing happened yesterday as the battery life went down to 5% in the course of a days use. Not ideal at all. Ive only had it a week so far and im hoping it will improve. Otherwise ill have to take it into the shop to see if there is anything that can be done - im already dreading being without it!


 
I get 3 days light use with my iPhone 4, make sure nothing is running the GPS in the background as that will kill the battery.


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## waterloowelshy (Feb 18, 2011)

would you reccomend always having location services turned off then until its needed? 

I have been closing the apps down as i go from the bottom scroll screen and things seem to have improved slightly. I have used the phone lightly from fully charged at 9.00 this morning and its now 70% full. So a loss of 30% battery power in 8 hours. Not sure if that is good or bad?

Maybe the battery just needs to go through a few full cycling charges before it reaches full capacity. I didnt charge it fully on first go, and there seems to be debate over whether this would have ruined the battery life going forward. doh!


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## Sunray (Feb 22, 2011)

I've had 35 apps open and still got a few days out of mine. Only rogue GPS apps will actively drain batteries too much.


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## waterloowelshy (Feb 24, 2011)

Sunray said:


> I've had 35 apps open and still got a few days out of mine. Only rogue GPS apps will actively drain batteries too much.


 
any places i should be looking for the rouge gps? i am onto a replacement battery now and its still nto great battery life. i try to turn off apps when i have finished with them but its still draining down. i do use the runkeeper app which has gps but onylreally use it for 30 - 40 mins at a time and always close it down after finished


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## Bungle73 (Feb 24, 2011)

waterloowelshy said:


> any places i should be looking for the rouge gps? i am onto a replacement battery now and its still nto great battery life. i try to turn off apps when i have finished with them but its still draining down. i do use the runkeeper app which has gps but onylreally use it for 30 - 40 mins at a time and always close it down after finished


 
Just switch off GPS from the settings (you can control which apps have access to GPS from there too).


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