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So what's everyone's take on the new news from Apple?

I've seen a lot of mixed opinions, including even from the LRR Crew's twitter accounts. I'm curious how other people feel about it?

As for me, I was as surprised as anyone that they decided to launch an iPhone 4S and not an iPhone 5 (or both). For a brief period of time I thought Apple might announce a simply AMAZING iPhone 5 in addition to the iPhone 4S (which was exactly what I was expecting the iPhone 5 would be).

Another thing that sticks out to me is that when the iPhone 4 came out, I looked at it and thought "But that's just a cosmetic redesign with no major hardware improvements to speak of, nobody would want to upgrade to that". Now the iPhone 4S is announced, and I think to myself "this is a completely new phone from the ground up, but using the same cosmetic appearance. Why didn't they call this the iPhone 5? This is competitive in the market (not mind blowing, but competitive)." But what happens? The iPhone 4 is a huge success, and tons of people complain about the minimal difference between the iPhone 4 and 4S, and they'll wait until the iPhone 5 instead.

I may never buy an Apple product in my life, but the free lessons in consumer psychology I'll happily accept!

Disclaimer: IMO

I really don't see what's so great about it. It's just an slight upgrade, really. If I had an iPhone 4, I wouldn't even bother.

Vigafre wrote:Disclaimer: IMO

I really don't see what's so great about it. It's just an slight upgrade, really. If I had an iPhone 4, I wouldn't even bother.

Double the ram, WAY faster processor, and a better camera. Far be it for me to advocate Apple products, but what more are you looking for?

Really? What's mind blowing about this? It's faster and has a better camera. Compared to the improved performance, camera, and display of the iPhone 4, I'd agree this is the minor upgrade.

It's about features, not performance.

JackSlack wrote:It's about features, not performance.

Personally, I don't agree - I'd rather have the performance.

my iPhone does about everything I want or need it to, I'm perfectly happy to see it do those things faster.

-m

Matt wrote:Personally, I don't agree - I'd rather have the performance.

my iPhone does about everything I want or need it to, I'm perfectly happy to see it do those things faster.

I mean in response to the original question: Why is this being seen as unimpressive? Features are your selling points. Most people just do not get excited by specs.

Yeah, I'm unimpressed with the lack of features, and I can't justify buying a new phone just so I can load a page in .5 seconds instead of 1.

However, I currently have 3GS, and I'd be willing to buy a 4S because of the upgrades (and the kinda small price difference between the 4 and 4S), but to upgrade from a 4 (at this time) just seems dumb to me.

While I would LOVE the camera upgrade (we shoot a lot of On The Run footage on iPhones), I don't feel any need to upgrade at all.
I'll wait for the 5.

iOS5 however, I am going to install on my phone SO HARD.

Hey Graham, any news on when that clubbing will be going up? Also I'll finish that BTS video I shot tomorrow.

Matt wrote:

JackSlack wrote:It's about features, not performance.

Personally, I don't agree - I'd rather have the performance.

my iPhone does about everything I want or need it to, I'm perfectly happy to see it do those things faster.

-m

This opinion makes sense to me. It also scares me that we agree on this

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I can understand the lackluster opinion that the 4S doesn't come with many impressive features also. The bulk of the new content is content copied from Android (and iMessage is clearly a copy of BBM). Others, like the friend finder is just odd, as it would work much better as a cross platform app, not an OS specific one.

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I also found it interesting that for the first time in many years, this press conference led to an 18 point drop in stock value, followed by a rebound so the final stock price was only down 2.1 points. Still, that is unheard of for Apple. When the conference was going on, my friend joked to me that Apple's stock might only go up 20 points instead of 50 points. We were ALL floored that it dropped.

As far as it goes, we'll see. I don't feel any pressing need to upgrade, but then, I ALWAYS feel the need to upgrade. It depends on how my savings are going.

Digital Dolphin wrote:I can understand the lackluster opinion that the 4S doesn't come with many impressive features also. The bulk of the new content is content copied from Android (and iMessage is clearly a copy of BBM). Others, like the friend finder is just odd, as it would work much better as a cross platform app, not an OS specific one.

The friend finder is basically Google Latitude, just built in without needing to download an app; only thing that's different is the "temporary allowance" thing (which is a good idea). Siri seems great demoware, but I have no idea how useful it will be in practice... how many people actually use the voice dialing or whatever features of their current phones?

Still, the hardware upgrades are very nice. I'm guessing it's not an "iPhone 5" because it's not "revolutionary", just evolutionary. (It doesn't change everything, again.) Hopefully other manufacturers will follow suit with better camera hardware on phones. I'm firmly in the Android camp, and that's about the only thing that I really wish I could have.

I also found it interesting that for the first time in many years, this press conference led to an 18 point drop in stock value, followed by a rebound so the final stock price was only down 2.1 points. Still, that is unheard of for Apple. When the conference was going on, my friend joked to me that Apple's stock might only go up 20 points instead of 50 points. We were ALL floored that it dropped.

Hmm, I thought that Apple's stock price usually did drop during/right before major announcements, and recovers right after. I'm pretty sure that's what happened at least during the iPhone 4, iPad, and iPad 2 announcements.

Digital Dolphin wrote:

Matt wrote:

JackSlack wrote:It's about features, not performance.

Personally, I don't agree - I'd rather have the performance.

my iPhone does about everything I want or need it to, I'm perfectly happy to see it do those things faster.

-m

This opinion makes sense to me. It also scares me that we agree on this

... says the guy with a 3D camera in his phone, and who I've never seen with the same hardware twice. :p

-m

Matt wrote:

Digital Dolphin wrote:

Matt wrote:Personally, I don't agree - I'd rather have the performance.

my iPhone does about everything I want or need it to, I'm perfectly happy to see it do those things faster.

-m

This opinion makes sense to me. It also scares me that we agree on this

... says the guy with a 3D camera in his phone, and who I've never seen with the same hardware twice. :p

-m

I only have a 3D phone because it was the only phone that met my minimum spec requirements on my existing service provider. I don't care about the 3D function (although it can make a fun conversation starter).

And come on, you'd only seen me with a Blackberry up until PAX this year You just don't remember because it wasn't worth remembering!

But yeah, when it comes to phones, I look at specs / performance, basic functions, then special features. Stuff like voice support is so low on my list of interests it doesn't register.

My thoughts are; OK, it's cool, not a lot of new features (probably why it's called the 4S and not the 5), but nothing really selling me on it.

My fear; Siri is Skynet.

Also: I actually think Siri is very, very cool.

I might buy one... or alternatively, a 3GS, now that they're super cheap.

Cheap as FREE!*


*with 2-year contract

Not here they're not. And I don't ever get 2 year contracts on my main number anyway, so.

I just needed an excuse to break out a Cheat Commandos reference.

As someone who's had a 3GS since it was released 2 years ago, upgrading to the 4S makes plenty of sense. The camera upgrades (w/flash) and processor speed increase alone will be nice.
Besides, if there's lower interest in the 4S, it'll make it easier for me to get one.
I wonder if this will be the Apple pattern for a while, alternating releases being a performance refinement of the previous generation?

I think there are some things that you're missing, Dolphin, when you say the 4s is exactly what you thought the 5 would be, and when you say that the 4s represents a huge upgrade, while the 4 did not. Apple tends to leapfrog spec bumps and major feature additions year-on-year, with the "S" models representing the former and the numerical iterations the latter.

The iPhone 3G was not a huge upgrade over the original–same exact guts, same exact camera–but it added 3G connectivity, which represented a major new feature to entice buyers. The 3Gs, which came out a year later, contained a major spec upgrade, but made only minor changes to the featureset (auto-focus on the camera, etc.)–something new for to keep sales up and entice original iPhone buyers to re-up their AT&T contracts. The iPhone 4, while maintaining most of the guts of the 3GS, added a front-facing camera, gyroscope and double-resolution screen: the last of these, again, representing a major new feature to entice buyers–specifically e-book readers wary of using a small, low-resolution screens, and...well generally anyone, because that screen is super-nice.

Given this pattern, the 4s is exactly what it should be: a major spec update to the existing feature set of the 4. I would expect an iPhone 5 to have a cosmetic redesign, and some sort of major new feature, but largely the same specs as the 4s. At this point, it is expected to be much thinner, feature a 4" screen, and have some sort of 4G/LTE/whatever support. The "S" series effectively gives Apple an extra year to make major hardware innovations, and gives 3Gs owners something new to buy now that their contracts are up (with some faith that there isn't another hardware refresh immediately around the corner).

With all the speculation about the iPhone 5 that's been floating around, I think everyone hoped Apple would skip the 4s and go right into the 5–and who knows, maybe that was on the table at some point and they just couldn't make it work. The year-and-a-half wait for a simple spec bump may indicate that plans for the 5 fell through and Apple just needed to get something out this year. Regardless, it's a new iPhone that does all the things iPhones do, lives within the Apple ecosystem, and almost meets the specs of a Galaxy S II.

I will probably buy one because I need a new phone and am bought into that ecosystem.

/Jer rant.

So what I'm getting from all this is that Apple produced a new product which is, on the whole, not that different from the previous one, just better at doing some of the jobs it does.

And we are surprised because..?

It's going to sellout...hard.

Actually that's not surprising either.

Maybe people would be more at ease if they had a cardboard cut out of Steve Jobs standing on stage.

Jer:
I'm curious, did you expect the 4S announcement and NOT a 5 announcement? I think it's easy to connect the dots you did *now*, but prior to this press conference, the 3GS was the odd one out.

Also, I don't know what kind of features people are expecting from an iPhone 5 beyond the iPhone 4S, but I think the feature set offered isn't bad. It brings iOS back up to where Android is currently, and it looks fairly sturdy.

Honestly, my biggest beefs with this phone are the continued lack of native USB and microSD ports.