Temptation
8 Jun
I still have the first-gen iPhone. No MMS, crummy camera, inferior phoning capability, etc. So I was looking forward to the iPhone 4 announcement yesterday.
Hi, I'm Sssssssteve Jobsssssss...you need thisssssss new phone.
Believe it or not, I still have a $100 Visa gift card from Christmas. I was going to get the 3GS for $99, but getting the iPhone 4 for only $99 after gift card is a pretty sweet deal.
All of the “should I upgrade?” articles I’ve read compares iPhone 4 to the 3G or 3GS, not my trusty (not) 1st-gen.
Pros:
>> A better camera. It stings that this iPhone I currently have takes worse pictures than my old beloved Samsung did. I loved posting photos on the go to Flickr and the blog, but my pictures look like mud unless I run them through one of the CameraBag filters first.
>> App-switching. I do like to hop between Safari and TweetDeck and weather and such.
>> 3G. Even though I really only use the phone when Wi-Fi’s availalble, I don’t have this now!
>> Video. Think of how much more of my banal suburban life I could share if I could take video of it!
>> AT&T. I’m already with them (From back when they were AT&T Wireless, then Cingular, now back to AT&T), so I’m used to the level of suck. Plus, no $18 upgrade charge!
Oh AT&T, thy generosity slays me.
>> iTunes. I’ve already bought a boat-load of songs from the iTunes store that work so nicely on the iPhone. I use the iPhone for my MP3 player at work so if I bought another brand of phone that didn’t support Apple’s .mp4 files, I’d have to bring both my iPod and my newPhone around with me.
>> Longer battery life. I can’t blame Apple for this one, this seems to be the case with all older phones. I charge my phone and get the fully green battery indicator. I take it to work and by the time I get there it’s at half. Then if I don’t charge it again, it runs out the NEXT day while I’m at work. I have all pushing and fetching turned off, too.
Cons:
>> Call quality. I’ve had trouble in the past with my phone dropping calls. Will this phone be better? Most of the presentation had to do with the non-phone stuff, but the longer antenna might help, right?
>> No keyboard. I never got used to the touch-screen keyboard. I typo more on the iPhone than I ever did on my late, beloved Samsung. I swore that my next phone would have keys again.
>> Stupid proprietary Apple earphones w/microphone. Although I hear better with these than I do the hardier bluetooth models, I’ve gone through 3 sets of these with just normal usage. They just don’t hold up to being tossed in my purse. If I go with iPhone4, I’m stuck with buying more headphones for the next 2+ years.
>> Stupid proprietary Apple docks/chargers. My current phone works with the charger & dock that my current (read: old) iPod does. WM’s iPhone 3G does not work with the docks. So I’d have to, at the very least, buy a new charging dock for work.
***
Ugh. I’m totally going to end up buying this phone.
