What was Apple thinking releasing another 3G iphone?

[techbeck]

Fact is that many users simply don't know about any of that.

True. But if I didnt know at least 1/2 of what something can do, and would use those features, then I wouldnt buy the product. Dont care what you buy...just a waste of money at that point.

[Vice]

True. But if I didnt know at least 1/2 of what something can do, and would use those features, then I wouldnt buy the product. Dont care what you buy...just a waste of money at that point.

I think you're being a bit disingenuous we are talking about people not needing to know how to turn their 3G or 4G off. Not how to work the camera or launch apps. Apple take care of the chipset as they should the user gets to run their apps and be productive with a phone that keeps all the geeky stuff under the hood where it belongs.

3G != 1/2 of what the iPhone does.

[.Neo]

True. But if I didnt know at least 1/2 of what something can do, and would use those features, then I wouldnt buy the product. Dont care what you buy...just a waste of money at that point.

You're talking about fairly technical settings though. Not to mention that most probably don't even realize it's X or Y causing their battery to drain.

Nor should they have to. The default user experience is the most important, and if your default includes a 4G chipset that limits you to 5 hours of battery life, you've got a serious problem with your UX.

Agreed.

The battery life issue and the fact that most countries Apple is active in haven't deployed "4G" yet explains why the iPhone doesn't support it.

[techbeck]

3G != 1/2 of what the iPhone does.

No, it isnt.

[McKay]

Technically most of these "4G" Phones cannot do real 4G. 4G Standards havent been agreed on, 4G is 100mb/s.

[techbeck]

You're talking about fairly technical settings though. Not to mention that most probably don't even realize it's X or Y causing their battery to drain.

Personally I think that is something people should know how to do. Tips to increase battery life if/when needed. And i think its common sense that using a data connection will reduce your battery life.

[Boz]

If it matches the 4G phones 14.4Mb/ps download speed then that's good enough for me

It's not matching other phones.. 14.4mbps is the LOWEST speed and not even close to 4G.. Galaxy S2 for example uses HSPA+ at 21mbps with theoretical limit of 42mbps (which is the real 4G) .

1/3rd of all Android phones use 4G speeds unlike iPhone 4S. It is very typical for Apple users to try to lower the impact of others when they get crap from Apple. This is nothing I'm shocked about really.

(snipped)

[techbeck]

The default user experience is the most important.

I'll agree to that.

[.Neo]

Personally I think that is something people should know how to do. Tips to increase battery life if/when needed. And i think its common sense that using a data connection will reduce your battery life.

Yup I agree that people should learn a bit more about the products they're using, however in real life that's simply not happening and Apple can't risk it. Imagine the outcry if the company released a new iPhone that by default cuts battery life in half compared to its predecessor.

[Vice]

It's not matching other phones.. 14.4mbps is the LOWEST speed.. My Galaxy S2 for example uses HSDPA at 21mbps .

1/3rd of all Android phones use 4G speeds unlike iPhone 4S. It is very typical for Apple users to try to lower the impact of others when they get crap from Apple. This is nothing I'm shocked about really.

(snipped)

In the UK we won't have what people are calling 4G networks until probably 2013 as the spectrum they want to use won't be available until 2012, the auction has been pushed back. So I'll take the fastest 3G I can get at this point.

[techbeck]

Yup I agree that people should learn a bit more about the products they're using, however in real life that's simply not happening and Apple can't risk it.

Imagine the outcry if the company released a new iPhone that by default cuts battery life in half compared to its predecessor.

I agree people would make a fuss about it. But with more and more people becoming more tech savvy, this is less and less the case. Apple better know when to adapt or it is in trouble.

[reactionary007]

They were thinking - not only will another 3G model sell in record numbers anyway - leaving LTE for next time gives a huge talking point for the next version - which people will buy in record numbers.

[Simon Veteran]

Does it really matter yet? There's barely any 4G buildout in the world except in the US, and even there it's limited to a few cities. Sure, a 21mbps HSPA+ phone would've been nice, but at the end of the day that's only theoretically 7mbps more than what we got. It won't make a huge difference in day to day use.

And about the statistic of 34% of iPhone 4 users thinking their phone is 4G... what's really the difference between an iPhone 4 user who incorrectly thinks their phone is 4G, and a 4G phone user who doesn't live in a 4G market being *absolutely convinced* that their phone is faster than all the other ones? I bet if you did a survey of those people, the results would be similar to the iPhone survey.

People don't care. 4G is a buzzword. It sounds good. And to 98% of the population of the world, it doesn't mean anything other than "better."

If 34% of iPhone 4 users think their phone is "better," what's really wrong with that? They're happy with their purchase. They probably wouldn't get the full impact of a 4G phone yet. And even if they did, they probably wouldn't notice or care about it until it's mainstream enough for everyone, including phone manufacturers and software developers, to take full advantage of it - and that also means removing some of those data caps so significant data download, the only place you'll get the 4G advantage, is viable.

[.Neo]

I agree people would make a fuss about it. But with more and more people becoming more tech savvy, this is less and less the case. Apple better know when to adapt or it is in trouble.

The iPhone 4S the best selling iPhone to date, what makes you think the company being remotely in trouble? Again, the battery issue and the fact "4G" is by no means mainstream world wide explains why they're not jumping on board just yet.

[MikeGMD]

Talk about a total innovation fail. I'm sorry, but Apple, the company that boasts about having better technology, more innovation, more reliable software, etc.... LAST in the race to 4G? Come on... Just about every major phone manufacturer has released a 4g capable phone: LG, Samsung, HTC, Motorola.... There's even a 4G T-mobile My Touch.... Apple's response to the 4g race? Release another 3g iPhone...

I never liked Apple in the first place, but now that they've proven just how UNnovative they are... I'm not saying they're doomed without Steve Jobs.... but I'll bet they'll be on the downswing for a while at least... The 4g race in the cell phone market is like the space race was in the 50s and 60s... You can't be LAST, or no one's going to remember you.

Apple should be doing better than this. Not that I care per se, but it does further support my contention that while Apple pretends their products are superior, in actuality, they are not.

I have never had a 4G phone and do not miss anything .

what does 4G do over 3G that makes it so superior ?

[Vice]

I agree people would make a fuss about it. But with more and more people becoming more tech savvy, this is less and less the case. Apple better know when to adapt or it is in trouble.

I consider myself an informed consumer and if I had a phone that only got 7Mb/ps more data (14.4 to 21Mb/ps) when using 4G but lost hours off its battery life then I'd just keep it in 3G mode all the time. I doubt I'd ever be able to tell the difference between 14.4Mb/ps and 21Mb/ps on these mobile devices the bottleneck seems to be the processor in rendering the webpages not the connection speeds.

When I'm using my friends computer who has 2Mb broadband it renders pages faster than my phone does and I know my phone gets faster speeds than his because I've run numerous speed tests that say I get 7.2Mb/ps down. So to me it just feels like the phones ability to render the pages is the bottleneck.

[techbeck]

The iPhone 4S the best selling iPhone to date, what makes you think the company being remotely in trouble?

Never said they would be in trouble today or even tomorrow. Regardless if the 4s is the best iPhone to date...it seems that there are more and more negative comments from people lately with what Apple has been releasing. At least thats what I have been seeing. I used to see little to no negative comments.

[c3ntury]

They were thinking "Hey, battery life is a good thing."

Pretty much this.

Apple have often had a balance between getting current-gen features and dramatically improving them, or just giving them a nice Apple touch, or giving the world something new and innovative. Siri is an example of the former as it goes, but 4G isn't needed this early, it's not even country-wide in the UK, or in any major city yet.

[WelshBluebird]

Hardly anywhere has 4G, so its kind of pointless right now.

And it kills battery life where it is available.

And honestly, there is life in 3G yet. It is just providers cannot be bothered to put the money in.

You can easily get over 5Mbps on a good 3G connection (using HSPDA - speed test done on Three UK). That is enough for 99% of people on a phone.

[.Neo]

Never said they would be in trouble today or even tomorrow. Regardless if the 4s is the best iPhone to date...it seems that there are more and more negative comments from people lately with what Apple has been releasing. At least thats what I have been seeing. I used to see little to no negative comments.

The vast majority of the complaints about the iPhone 4S so far are those who had unrealistic high expectations and wanted a totally redesigned phone. There's also the rule that people who complain make a fuss, yet people who are satisfied remain largely quiet. I haven't seen more complaints about the iPhone 4S compared to other models.

[Astra.Xtreme]

wah wah wah. It's pathetic how some people always complain about Apple before actually using their head...

It's hard enough to get good 3G coverage, let alone find any 4G coverage. Obviously the exception is those around big cities.

Even though I should get 4G coverage in this area, why would I want to pay the extra $10/month for it when I won't get it anywhere else? 4G is a complete bust right now because they won't roll it out to more parts of the country/world.

Hell, I'd consider Apple being innovate in the sense that it keeps out useless features until they are worth it for the mass majority.

If the new iPhone was 4G, it would sell like crap because people would have to shell out additional monthly fees for a feature that 95% of the users would never use. There would be a massive outroar of people complaining about how Apple forced 4G on them...

Gee, I wonder why they didn't make it 4G...

[Boz]

Hardly anywhere has 4G, so its kind of pointless right now.

And it kills battery life where it is available.

And honestly, there is life in 3G yet. It is just providers cannot be bothered to put the money in.

You can easily get over 5Mbps on a good 3G connection (using HSPDA - speed test done on Three UK). That is enough for 99% of people on a phone.

Spoken by someone who obviously never used 21/42mbps 4G speeds.

It's like dial up or DSL folks saying how it's good enough compared to cable speeds LOL.

Once you try the real speed you never go back. But hey, maybe in another 2 years when you get iPhone 5 since that's the only thing you can do.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Spoken by someone who obviously never used 21/42mbps 4G speeds.

It's like dial up or DSL folks saying how it's good enough compared to cable speeds LOL.

Once you try the real speed you never go back. But hey, maybe in another 2 years when you get iPhone 5 since that's the only thing you can do.

FYI, comparing a hard-wired system to a wireless system is pretty stupid...

His point was that 4G is barely available anywhere, so regardless if it's fast, it's still pointless if nobody can use it.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Then if you dont know what your phone can do, then you cannot use a smart phone. So you should stick with a basic cell phone IMO. And I am not just talking about Apple....Android and MS to. Doesnt take long to read up about what you buy and lean the features and what it can do.

What?

Why do people need to know what GSM/CDMA Radio they have in their phone, they press on and it comes on, they plug it up to itunes and their stuff syncs automatically.

[Vice]

Spoken by someone who obviously never used 21/42mbps 4G speeds.

It's like dial up or DSL folks saying how it's good enough compared to cable speeds LOL.

Once you try the real speed you never go back. But hey, maybe in another 2 years when you get iPhone 5 since that's the only thing you can do.

What can you do with the 21 / 42 Mb/ps of 4G that you can't do with the 14Mb/ps of the iPhone 4S?

You have to keep in mind Boz that 4G is like so far in the future with regards to availability that it's way off peoples radars. Like anyone in the UK as I said before probably won't have any access to 4G networks until 2013. By then two other iPhones will probably have come out.

All I know is I get 7.2Mb/ps on my phone over 3G and for what I use my phone for that's a good amount. Heck there is only like one big network in the UK that offers unlimited data now. The others are offering data packages from 250MB to 1GB. That's not enough to stream HD movies even if you have a phone with speeds fast enough to do it without any buffering. And it's similar in the USA with AT&T and Verizon axing their unlimited data. Sprint still offers it but they never had the iPhone until now and we know how iPhone users gobble down data.