Why I sold my iPhone...

There's supposed to be LTE service coming to the 4S in a few months. I've been told this by a guy I work with who's been using Apple products for years and knows his crap when it comes to the iPhone. He still has the 4 and is holding out for the 4S until that happens.

I'm not asking for the biggest screen (that award goes to the Samsung Note). But something a little bit larger would be nice on the iPhone.

This is a pretty poor excuse. The AT&T company rumor mill says that Apple just hasn't been willing to shell out the bucks for it...yet. LTE/Battery Life has very little to do with hardware. For example, my Galaxy S2. Straight out of the box, a full charge would last me a full day. It'd be almost dead by the time I got home. So, I decided to root the phone, load a custom ROM and now my battery life is 3 days (the same as my old iPhone 3GS). And that's with decent usage.
iPhones also have better batteries than any Android.



As for when I said "Apple dropped the ball", I never said anything relative to sales. But for my preference, they just took too long to get things going. To me, they had the best phone up until the 4. Now I prefer my rooted Samsung.

How is this possible? Thought LTE required an LTE chip.

There is a possibility Apple already included the chip on the 4S, making it LTE capable. However, the software was not there. LTE usage does burn through your battery. The key is having good software so the phone knows when to use it.

All smart phones (even iPhones) use data in the background. Even a rooted Android. The idea is to make the phone switch to 3G (or on my phone it switches to EDGE/2G) when you are not actively using the device.

Maybe we have a misunderstanding of the meaning of the phrase "drop the ball" but I don't think anyone without a few screws loose would claim Apple made a mistake or failed with the iPhone 4S. He doesn't like it != dropping the ball. If you think Apple's Q4 earnings and iPhone sales (which far surpassed any estimates by analysts) is dropping the ball, then, yes, your opinion is wrong.

Maybe later 4S phones are going to be getting the LTE chip.

I don't think the phone is worth an upgrade = I think the dropped the ball. Sales numbers show other people might disagree because obviously a lot of people bought it (my wife included), but other people's opinions aren't why I buy a product...I think different.

To be honest, you could put an Apple logo on a brick and it would outsell every phone out there. Apple makes a good product. Hell, it's great. There's a reason I stuck with it for so long. But the time had come to make the switch.

The 4S wasn't worth the upgrade. It was simply a fix to all of the problems that plagued the 4.

The rumors I've read on the iPhone 5 (which could be unveiled as soon as this summer) says it may have be getting a 4" display over the current 3 1/2".

It's not really an excuse, it's just the limitation of current hardware. LTE chews more battery. You can always turn it off I suppose, but then that kind of defeats the point of having it (my opinion). Apple wants better batteries before they include LTE, that's just the way it is.

3 days of charge on a smartphone is a pretty phenomenal battery life. I've never heard of that, and I've certainly never got it. I don't think that's what *any* smartphone manufacturer is shooting for.

If you find the best experience to be a rooted Android phone, then more power to you. Apple doesn't think you should have to root your phone to get the best experience.

The 4S does not have the hardware to do LTE. Pretty much every phone gets a teardown after it's released. There is no LTE chip.

What were the problems that plagued the 4?

Actually, there are so many Android phones out there, they've been outselling the iPhone for a while. Apple probably won't continue that in the next quarter but it'll be a lot closer with their availability on the three major carriers now.

Most people upgrade every 2 years, though. While you or I may upgrade every year, the 4S is still worthy of an upgrade if it's an iPhone that you're wanting. Some people just find it disappointing when the iPhone doesn't come out with a new form factor every year but the specs are just as bit as good if not better in every category vs the GS2 except for the lack of LTE but that's not a downside for those of us that don't live in a city where LTE/4G is available. When it comes out on the new iPhone later this year, I plan to disable it so that it won't suck my battery down. Because if 3G was any indication, Stillwater will be getting LTE in 2016.

Geek fight.

I had a 3G about three years ago. After my contract expired and I was eligible for "upgrade," I moved away from the apple products. Luckily, I am not an "app" buyer, so I wasn't that locked in.
I had no issues with the build quality or screen of my 3G. My problems were with the software and the battery. My battery didn't last through a work day with what I would consider "typical" usage patterns. I did very little data transfer and relied mainly on phone and txt functions. Frequently my phone would not notify me of pending voicemails. I had to dial in to find out if I had any messages (one time I dialed in to find that I had 18!!!! voice mail messages going back two weeks!). Also (completely anecdotal), upon receiving new iOS updates, primarily released for the 3GS, my 3G would slow frequently to unusable levels.

I "upgraded" to a Palm Pixi Plus. I have been quite content with its webOS interface and performance for the past (almost) two years. Only recently has the battery started showing significant drain. I will fully anticipate reluctantly joining the Android side, with a motorola handset, when I sign a new two year agreement in March.

I know, that's why it doesn't make sense.

Ok, long reply... here goes:

If Apple is sitting around waiting for a better battery or a bettery LTE chip that doesn't drain power, then they will be waiting a very long time. LTE just drains battery. Just like WiFi. It's a matter of software engineering. Your phone should not be connected to LTE 100% of the time.

My iPhone 3GS regularly achieved 3 days of battery life. It was not jailbroken, either. IMO, the 3GS was the best phone of it's time.

Usually, you do not have to jailbreak Apple phones because they do a good job of getting the right software to manage the phone. Android devices do not. It's unfortunate, but luckily, rooting and jailbreaking phones is easier than signing a new contract with AT&T.

Poor signal. Dropped calls due to phone refusing to switch towers correctly while driving. Later version of the 4 improved a lot. But it was irritating, to say the least.

What? When comparing the GS2 Skyrocket vs the iPhone 4S, the GS2 is either the same or better in every category except talk time and display resolution.

Stillwater is already covered by LTE. As is sNorman, OKC, Edmond, & Guthrie.

So since we're on the same page here in regards to where each phone stands:

iPhone 4S: Longer lasting battery, higher resolution display
GS2: LTE, bigger screen

All other specs such as chip speed, RAM, camera, etc. are pretty much the same.

Which brings me back to my point in wondering how Apple dropped the ball with the iPhone 4S (in your opinion). They've done everything that every other cell phone manufacturer has done and that's improving the specs with what's currently available.

Through who? Neither at&t or Verizon list Stillwater on their 4G coverage maps.

http://www.att.com/network/

http://network4g.verizonwireless.com/#/coverage

If you're going to call the RAM size and CPU speed a draw, then the screen resolution is a draw as it also has minimal difference (though it slightly favors the iPhone).

i4S = Dual Core 1.0ghz
GS2 = Dual Core 1.5ghz
i4S = 1GB RAM
GS2 = 1.5GB RAM


AT&T does not list Stillwater as LTE. I'm not even sure what cities are listed right now. I work for AT&T and get exceptional LTE coverage throughout all of Stillwater. Just don't expect the data speeds to compare to Verizon, as AT&T caps the data speeds at 10mb/s.

Also, the Skyrocket and iPhone 4S were both released the same month.