iOS 7.1 performance on iPhone 4s?

[sanctified Veteran]

I want to buy a new phone for my girlfriend. She's having a lot of problems with her current device -an old Samsung model that run as fast as a snail-.

 

She would like to try an iPhone, but currently a 5s is out of our budget and a 5c seems like a bad investment. A 4s seems more reasonable, however I do remember people complaining a bit about the original iOS 7 speed on both the iPhone 4 and 4s, specially keyboard lag.

 

I've heard that the 7.1 update really improved the iPhone 4 performance, but what about the 4s? Is it worth to get the 4s over the 5c? She does not play heavy games and mainly use her phone for browsing facebook on wifi and playing light games like cut the rope, hello kitty coffee house and monster pet shooter.

[AStaUK]

7.1 makes a big difference, I'm running it comfortably on an iPhone4, the 4s is dual core and will handle it a lot better.  http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/ios-7-1-on-the-iphone-4-as-good-as-its-going-to-get/

[sanctified Veteran]

Thanks. Now the only thing is to convince her that her phone can't be pink without a case... Yes, that's a big deal for her hahaha

[DomZ]

I was playing on a 4S in an Apple Store yesterday and was surprised how well it handled iOS7. I have an iPhone 4 (for development purposes) and it is barely usable with iOS7

[Zoom7000]

I have an iPhone 4 (for development purposes) and it is barely usable with iOS7

 

I'd hardly say barely usable. I'm using the iPhone 4 as my main phone running on 7.0.6 jailbroken and yes, it can be annoying at times and a tad sluggish, but still more than usable.

[T3X4S]

I'd hardly say barely usable. I'm using the iPhone 4 as my main phone running on 7.0.6 jailbroken and yes, it can be annoying at times and a tad sluggish, but still more than usable.

So you think ALL iphone4 are the exact same in performance, regardless of what is installed/running ?

Dont assume

[Kriz]

Using a 4s here with latest update - Since that has been installed im finding a much smoother, faster running iPhone :)

[DomZ]

I'd hardly say barely usable. I'm using the iPhone 4 as my main phone running on 7.0.6 jailbroken and yes, it can be annoying at times and a tad sluggish, but still more than usable.

 

I should probably add a bit more context - barely usable if you started using anything more modern. After using my Nexus 4 or Lumia 1020 I want to throw my iPhone 4 out of the window because its so slow and sluggish. If you're used to the iPhone 4 speed then it would be fine. It's like when I upgraded to the iPhone 4 I couldn't believe I used to wait nearly 5 seconds for the messaging app to open on the iPhone 3G!