I bought the iPhone 4s only because I had a killer upgrade credit from Sprint because I’ve been a customer for over a decade. I’ve been happy with my HTC Evo, and before then the HTC Touch Pro. I thought I’d give the iPhone a try since folks rave about it. But to be clear, I do like the Blackberry that I use for work. It’s perfect for reading email on the exchange server.
Top observations:
1. iPhone4s is waaaay smaller than Evo and fits perfectly in a clutch bag- very important for fashion-oriented events. Also very important when you want to grab your phone and $10 and go out for lunch with phone in coat pocket.
2. iPhone4s is brand new and has bugs. It FROZE on me when I visited Mexico. I only owned it for three days and blam, it’s dead to the world. What a WASTE because my EVO always worked in Mexico – especially Mexico City.
3. iPhone4s unfroze itself upon return to the U.S. Still, I almost returned it today. We’ll see how it goes from here. If it stays unstuck I’ll keep it. Otherwise, return to Apple immediately.
4. iPhone4s isn’t as intuitive to use as the droid, imho. My Evo synced easily with gmail and exchange mail contacts. iPhone makes you go through extra hoops. Boo. Hiss. BUT, I do like synergy with the bank applications, yahoo mail and exchange server. I really like the gmail-esque grouping of emails in one conversation. GENIUS.
5. Had to get used to the 4s touch screen. Not my favorite, but the auto-fill for the letters works well for me. Not a fan of NOT being able to move that cursor inside of a long word. Rather, you have to delete the entire word rather than just one letter. Time consuming. But then again, maybe there’s something I’m not doing right. Anyone? Help here?
6. I haven’t had the opportunity to use Siri much because the damn phone flipped out. If Siri doesn’t start working right soon, then what’s the point? Although, Siri did set a 5 a.m. alarm for me after I asked, oh, only about 7 times for the alarm to be set. Then today, Siri started reading all my text messages out loud. BUT I didn’t ask for this service! Then as suddenly as Siri freaked out, she went dead silent. So yes, there are bugs. And no, you can’t update your own 4S because the Apple website doesn’t actually have any updates yet for this device. I checked.
7. Battery power is good. Waaaaaay better than the Evo. Waaaay better.
8. I’m not a fan of having to use iCloud to sync contacts. It’s like one more thing you have to do and register for in order to be efficient. So new users should set aside four hours or so to get it all together. This bad boy is not lock and load. You must lock, download, upload, fill out, check boxes and whatnot before you get any true functionality.
9. Going online is SLOOOOOW. Sprint doesn’t offer 4G capability for this phone. boo. Hiss. Evo is faster – although Evo’s battery DOES die in like, three hours. So it’s six in one hand half a dozen in the other when it comes to which one is better. I think I might go for a slower browser if the phone lasts longer than three hours. In fact, I am definitely a fan of the 4S regarding the batter life issue versus the sucky battery life of the EVO.
10. This 4S sure is purty. Really purty, but it’s first generation. So I think bugs are expected.
Final analysis? Two weeks into my iPhone 4s experience the best thing that I can honestly say about it is that iPhone folks who see you carry it think it’s a status symbol. They see it and say “oooh and aaaah” but honestly, the damn phone broke three days after I turned it on. That makes me feel rather peculiar about the whole business of owning such an expensive device. Even in Mexico, the waiters were like: “ooooooh! is that the new iPhone?” so yes, everyone wants it. On the flip side,my HTC Evo cost $400 and was FAST. Meanwhile, Jermaine Dupri told me he paid $700 for his iPhone4S. Wowzers# I had a good upgrade, so I only paid $200 for the 32 GB 4S.
I’m going to give it one more week. My cousins tell me that I will fall in love with it once I get more used to the platform. I wish I could have a way to just turn on my contact list without having to tell it to switch between “all contacts” “yahoo contacts” “exchange contacts” and “gmail contacts.” (and no, I won’t entertain any questions about why I have so many various contact lists. It’s just that way when you’ve been the game for a while.)
Bottom line: I figure it can only get better from here right? As long as it doesn’t freeze again, I’ll be happy. BUT, now that sprint has offered me $90 for my EVO, I’ve decided that I’ll be holding onto it in case this 4S conks out again. I also think the 4S will be fun to use in the long run, and, as long as these bugs are ironed out, will be a good device to own – especially since Sprint has the unlimited data plan.
Wish list? Wish I could sync it or have it beam directly with my EVO for the address book.
Do you have the 4S? What are your thoughts?
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