iPhone 4S to 5

Bean_Flicker

Hi

Does anyone think it would be worth upgrading a 4s iPhone to the 5 ?

Seen a friend today who got a white one, must say it looked very well and I'm half thinking of upgrading now.

Or is there any rumours of the 5s or the iPhone 6 being released soon?

Sync

Just wait 3-4 years and get the iPhone 7?

But in all seriousness, the 5 is no great shakes for the extra price.

mad muffin

The next iPhone will be released anywhere from three to seven months.

Can you wait that long? If I was looking to buy a new iPhone but didnt need a new iPhone I would wait, but that's me.

CathalDublin

Like said above 5s will be out soon, Europe dates always a few weeks after the US too.
I think the screen on the 5 is a great upgrade but I've some mates who preferred the smaller screen as its a bit kore difficult to reach around the whole screen in one hand

Bean_Flicker

Thanks for all the replies,

I kind of have an itch for an iPhone 5 now, but think I'll hold out for the next iPhone alright and buy it soon as it is released only a few months to go :-D

Foxtyboxty

I'm selling an iPhone 5 for 350€ brand new in box unlocked pm me

guil

I'd imagine it will be the end of October before the 5s? gets released here

flyguy

Dunno what network your on and where you are, but lately have been comparing 3G speeds between my 5 and friends with 4/4s on same network (vodafone) and the difference is amazing. Around Dublin I get speeds of over 20Mbps (27 was highest I've seen) where the others achieved between 1 and 5Mbps. Phones tested same time/location.
So if you use 3G much it might be another reason to change to the 5

flyguy

For the non-believers:

Dietsquirt

guil wrote: »

I'd imagine it will be the end of October before the 5s? gets released here

I heard June, seems right, then the 6 in time for christmas stockings

guil

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I heard June, seems right, then the 6 in time for christmas stockings

There's no way there will be 2 flagship phones released in the same year. The iPhone was announced in may and available in tier 1 countries in June and tier 2 in July. It was that way up to and including the iPhone 4. The 4s and 5 were announced in September I think and available in tier 1 I'm September and tier 2 in October

Simon201

flyguy wrote: »

For the non-believers:

mmmm.......27kbps.... wow! :D

flyguy

Just noticed that... When you do test it says Mbps though, only on results page it's labelled Kbps (since speedtest app was updated, must be a mistake). I can tell you it's Mbps though, at times I get better speeds on 3G than my UPC broadband...

Solair

The iPhone 5 has serious 4G shortcomings outside the US market. I'd wait until the next version comes out. Apple are definitely going to support the EU networks' 4G services.

There will be plenty of 4G in Ireland later this year from all 4 major networks. The current iPhone 5 might not necessarily be compatible with them as its primarily focused on the US frequencies as those networks had launched when it came out. European 4G is still not fully launched in most markets and when the iPhone 5 launched most EU carriers' frequency plans weren't entirely clear so, you can see why Apple didn't really bother.

In the US the iPhone 5 primarily tied with AT&T and Verizon's 4G launch. I'd imagine in Europe the iPhone 5S or 6 will do the same.

Apple are going to have to make a fairly big leap. The iPhone 5 isn't really touching the latest androids in terms of specs and features.

I'd suspect a big product launch must be due from Apple later this year. Possibly summer'?

Personally, I'd hold out. The 4S is a nice phone and it'll definitely tide you over until the next iPhone version launches.

ironclaw

guil wrote: »

There's no way there will be 2 flagship phones released in the same year. The iPhone was announced in may and available in tier 1 countries in June and tier 2 in July. It was that way up to and including the iPhone 4. The 4s and 5 were announced in September I think and available in tier 1 I'm September and tier 2 in October

Agreed. They won't launch two in the same year.

My hunch would be a refresh in June with the 5S and the introduction of the cheaper iPhone as per the old schedule. Or the cheap iPhone in June and the 5S in October.

I was all set to buy the 5, having owned an original iPhone and then a 4 since launch day, but when it came out I finally said €680 is too much for a phone. I'm waiting til I'm in the States and I'll buy whatever is out then. My advice to anyone buying Apple is to leap frog i.e

iPhone 1 > iPhone 3GS > iPhone 4S > iPhone 5S

Its pointless buying the incremental upgrades as that's all they are, incremental.

flyguy

Here a photo of the test screen (says Mbps, but shows in results as Kbps).

flyguy

Solair wrote: »

The iPhone 5 has serious 4G shortcomings outside the US market. I'd wait until the next version comes out. Apple are definitely going to support the EU networks' 4G services.

There will be plenty of 4G in Ireland later this year from all 4 major networks. The current iPhone 5 might not necessarily be compatible with them as its primarily focused on the US frequencies as those networks had launched when it came out. European 4G is still not fully launched in most markets and when the iPhone 5 launched most EU carriers' frequency plans weren't entirely clear so, you can see why Apple didn't really bother.

In the US the iPhone 5 primarily tied with AT&T and Verizon's 4G launch. I'd imagine in Europe the iPhone 5S or 6 will do the same.

Apple are going to have to make a fairly big leap. The iPhone 5 isn't really touching the latest androids in terms of specs and features.

I'd suspect a big product launch must be due from Apple later this year. Possibly summer'?

Personally, I'd hold out. The 4S is a nice phone and it'll definitely tide you over until the next iPhone version launches.

Afaik the 4G works fine with the euro freq, from what I recall it was only the 4g iPad that wasn't compatible. Did not hear this of the iPhone 5 (seems to work on 4G EE in the UK as well).
I do agree on features versus android and hope apple will do better on the next one. My contracts lets me upgrade yearly so luckily I don't have to decide to wait for the next one or not...
A 4s is a nice phone, the major diffrence with the 5 is speed and size/weight. Features wise your not missing anything.

Solair

flyguy wrote: »

Afaik the 4G works fine with the euro freq, from what I recall it was only the 4g iPad that wasn't compatible. Did not hear this of the iPhone 5 (seems to work on 4G EE in the UK as well).
I do agree on features versus android and hope apple will do better on the next one. My contracts lets me upgrade yearly so luckily I don't have to decide to wait for the next one or not...
A 4s is a nice phone, the major diffrence with the 5 is speed and size/weight. Features wise your not missing anything.

It only works on one of the bands being used and may/may not work here or on many other EU networks.

You'd be far better off waiting as there's definitely a big enhancement to the radio chipset for LTE due as "worldwide" chips are now available that allow devices to talk to all the LTE bands not just a handful.

There's information in the mobile forum about the LTE networks and Apple list which bands the two models support. There's one that primarily targets South Korea and another that's primarily focused on the US and just happens to have one of EE's bands covered.

Networks here are likely to use lower frequency 4G bands as it gives them far better signal propagation.

Model A1429
(GSM model)

1 (2100 MHz) (Not used in IRL)
3 (1800 MHz) (OK for IRL)
5 (850 MHz) (Not used in IRL)

Irish allocations:

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/fs/img/4Gallocations.png

800Mhz
900Mhz
1800Mhz

UK allocations are mostly 800MHz and 2.6Ghz, except for EE which also is using 1800Mhz

wanderrr

ironclaw wrote: »

I was all set to buy the 5, having owned an original iPhone and then a 4 since launch day, but when it came out I finally said €680 is too much for a phone. I'm waiting til I'm in the States and I'll buy whatever is out then.
.

Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but I'm interested in this because I don't know much about the technical differenes between US and European networks, and the different models of the phones - e.g., I was looking at a case for a 4 online the other day and saw that it came with a note that it "fits the AT&T model only". I would have assumed that all iPhone were manufactured to the same specifications.

So, why would a case fit one network's model but not another network's? In your case, if you buy an iPhone next time you're in the US, will it work the same way with an Irish network as a phone bought here would? Or are there differences but they don't matter to the functioning of the phone?

ironclaw

wanderrr wrote: »

Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but I'm interested in this because I don't know much about the technical differenes between US and European networks, and the different models of the phones - e.g., I was looking at a case for a 4 online the other day and saw that it came with a note that it "fits the AT&T model only". I would have assumed that all iPhone were manufactured to the same specifications.

So, why would a case fit one network's model but not another network's? In your case, if you buy an iPhone next time you're in the US, will it work the same way with an Irish network as a phone bought here would? Or are there differences but they don't matter to the functioning of the phone?

All iPhones are the exact same size wise. However, the Sprint iPhone is a CDMA phone. The AT&T is GSM. The difference is CDMA has no sim card so the phone is very slightly different on the sides.

The 4 and 4S also slightly differ in volume button position.

wanderrr

ironclaw wrote: »

All iPhones are the exact same size wise. However, the Sprint iPhone is a CDMA phone. The AT&T is GSM. The difference is CDMA has no sim card so the phone is very slightly different on the sides.

The 4 and 4S also slightly differ in volume button position.

Thanks for that, it's good to know.

As regards using a US phone in Ireland, I had thought about it a bit before I got my phone because I knew someone who could have got one from a US Apple store and brought it back, but I was told by one of the providers here that there would be problems using it here because the firmware wouldn't be compatible with their network settings. I thought it sounded a bit suss but, as I say, I'm not very tech-savvy so didn't know enough to argue would I be right in saying that US-bought phones function here in exactly the same way Irish-bought phones do?

Dades

OP, I wouldn't be too bothered waiting for the 5S (probably Oct/Nov) as it will be a relatively small change.

On the other hand if you upgrade now you'll be closer to an upgrade for whatever full redesign (iPhone 6?) comes the following year. Just something worth thinking about.

ironclaw

wanderrr wrote: »

Thanks for that, it's good to know.

As regards using a US phone in Ireland, I had thought about it a bit before I got my phone because I knew someone who could have got one from a US Apple store and brought it back, but I was told by one of the providers here that there would be problems using it here because the firmware wouldn't be compatible with their network settings. I thought it sounded a bit suss but, as I say, I'm not very tech-savvy so didn't know enough to argue would I be right in saying that US-bought phones function here in exactly the same way Irish-bought phones do?

If you buy it, SIM Free from an Apple Store, you'll have no problems at all. Once you get home, pop in your sim card, sync it with iTunes and it will configure itself to the network (if the network is iPhone approved) if not you might have to enter a setting or two. Nothing major or problematic.

super_furry

ironclaw wrote: »

iPhone 1 > iPhone 3GS > iPhone 4S > iPhone 5S

Its pointless buying the incremental upgrades as that's all they are, incremental.

I've gone that way - have a 64gb 4S that I'm out of contract with in August. Don't think I'll be going for the 5S though unless there's a drastic overhaul now. I don't really like the 5, don't feel it offers anything my 4S does and I'm dubious that any prospective 5S will change things.

Solair

If predict the 5S will just implement the European, Aussi & Japanese LTE frequencies and maybe introduce NFC capability and a slightly faster processor.

Bean_Flicker

[QUOTE=Solair;83838904

Apple are going to have to make a fairly big leap. The iPhone 5 isn't really touching the latest androids in terms of specs and features.

I'd suspect a big product launch must be due from Apple later this year. Possibly summer'?

Personally, I'd hold out. The 4S is a nice phone and it'll definitely tide you over until the next iPhone version launches.[/QUOTE]

This

was reading up on the Samsung S4 13 million megapixel camera etc, I would nearly have to say Samsungs software is ahead of Apples.

I love the look and feel of my iPhone but will have a look at both the iPhone 5 and the Samsung s4 when it is released here.

mad muffin

Solair wrote: »

The iPhone 5 has serious 4G shortcomings outside the US market. I'd wait until the next version comes out. Apple are definitely going to support the EU networks' 4G services.

There will be plenty of 4G in Ireland later this year from all 4 major networks. The current iPhone 5 might not necessarily be compatible with them as its primarily focused on the US frequencies as those networks had launched when it came out. European 4G is still not fully launched in most markets and when the iPhone 5 launched most EU carriers' frequency plans weren't entirely clear so, you can see why Apple didn't really bother.

In the US the iPhone 5 primarily tied with AT&T and Verizon's 4G launch. I'd imagine in Europe the iPhone 5S or 6 will do the same.

Apple are going to have to make a fairly big leap. The iPhone 5 isn't really touching the latest androids in terms of specs and features.

I'd suspect a big product launch must be due from Apple later this year. Possibly summer'?

Personally, I'd hold out. The 4S is a nice phone and it'll definitely tide you over until the next iPhone version launches.

You are mistaken. The iPhone 5 works perfectly fine with LTE in Europe.

Bigcheeze

flyguy wrote: »

Dunno what network your on and where you are, but lately have been comparing 3G speeds between my 5 and friends with 4/4s on same network (vodafone) and the difference is amazing. Around Dublin I get speeds of over 20Mbps (27 was highest I've seen) where the others achieved between 1 and 5Mbps. Phones tested same time/location.
So if you use 3G much it might be another reason to change to the 5

The reason you're getting those speeds is that you're on 4G. It is being tested in certain areas by the carriers. Your iphone 5 supports 4G but your mates 4S does not so they can't get those speeds.

flyguy

Yeah I was thinking that at times too, but should I not see LTE displayed then (instead of 3G)?

Bigcheeze

flyguy wrote: »

Yeah I was thinking that at times too, but should I not see LTE displayed then (instead of 3G)?

I'd imagine the network symbol is something transmitted by the cell and probably not enabled until official launch.

Solair

mad muffin wrote: »

You are mistaken. The iPhone 5 works perfectly fine with LTE in Europe.

Only on networks operating at 1800MHz

See post above with details of bands being used in Ireland.

They need to support several other bands before the device can work across most Euro networks.