The iPhone 4S: Buyer's Remorse

Like many first adopters, I was excited to see what Apple had planned at its “Let’s Talk iPhone” event on October 4. Despite rumors to the contrary, I was convinced the company would eventually announce an iPhone 5 that day, even after the iPhone 4S was unveiled. Alas, Tim Cook had no “one more thing.” Regardless, like millions of others, I decided to give Apple their twice-yearly bounty and buy the iPhone 4S. For me, this meant retiring my iPhone 4, first purchased in June 2010. Unfortunately, now I'm thinking my purchase was a mistake and here's why. For the first time, I decided to avoid the long lines and preorder my iDevice via Apple.com. I did so approximately four hours after preorders began. This meant my iPhone 4S arrived, on schedule, October 14. After getting past the three hour AT&T/Apple activation annoyance, I was finally able to sync my iPhone 4S. Since I had installed iOS 5 GM on my iPhone 4 just one week earlier, thanks to a developer friend, I was able to sync my iDevice using iCloud. In fact, within 20 minutes, all of my files, photos, and apps were successfully synced. Only then was I able to finally play around with my new piece of Apple goodness. The Good As a previous iPhone 4 owner, I could not believe how much faster the iPhone 4S runs. Saying it is the difference between night and day is reasonable, and this is from a guy that never thought the iPhone 4 was slow in the first place. I was also impressed with the iDevice’s improved camera. I’ll let others decide how much better the photos and videos are as I’m little more than an amateur photographer at best. Still, even those that might confuse Andy Warhol with Ansel Adams will recognize the iPhone 4S’s shutter speed is significantly improved. And this is a big deal since it means getting those photos that one might have missed before. Finally, there is Siri, what many on Twitter are already calling their new best friend. While many have noted the more unique responses the voice assistant provides, the service’s actual strengths are much more mundane. In particular, I like being able to ask Siri to schedule my appointments and play songs for me. Plus, I absolutely love being able to use Siri to draft text messages and emails for me. Brilliant! Now, I hope Apple improves Siri even more. In particular, I’d like to ask her for the latest news updates or maybe for a football score or two. Though not confirmed, I’m sure updates like this are coming eventually. The Bad Seriously, the iPhone 4S is amazing. For those who have never used an iPhone before or had been stuck with an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS previously, you’ll simply be amazed. Yet, as a previous iPhone 4 owner, I’m wondering if my purchase is going to come back and bite me. In particular, I’m concerned my purchase won’t allow me to buy the next-generation iPhone, which will arrive in 2012 and will almost certainly have a different form factor than the two most previous models. Consequently, my buyer’s remorse here has absolutely nothing to do with the iDevice itself. Rather, I’m not sure the iPhone 4S’s enhancements are enough to make it a must-buy iDevice for current iPhone 4 owners. My advice for these users: Wait until the iPhone 5. What do you think? Leave your comments below.

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