iPhone 3 vs 4

will.in.cork

Hey everyone,

I really want an iphone and I have been looking at buying a new iphone 3 at the following link:

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/phones/3302252

I'll be using it for a small bit of surfing, download a few apps like sat nav and a few other small things. I work long hours so the phone will be mostly in my pocket and I don't use facebook of twitter so I couldn't justify buying an iPhone 4s.

My question: Will an iPhone 3s do me and is there any major disadvantages to buying an iPhone 3s over an iPhone 4s?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

W

biko

3GS and 4 use the same operating system for now, 5.1.1
4 is faster generally but not by a mile so if you want to go cheaper go with the 3gs.

You can get it cheaper on adverts.ie and also chat to the sellers etc
http://www.adverts.ie/for-sale/q_3gs/

Make sure you can distinguish between a 3G and a 3GS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzezPx2Iqn0

CathalDublin

I wouldn't bother with a 3GS, the camera isn't great, no flash, the processor is very slow especially noticeable on latest fimware and newest apps and support will most definitely be dropped when apples next phone is released which will definitely be within the next 6 months.
you should be able to pick up an iphone4 for €200-€275 unlocked and in mint condition

waynegalway

Also the 3GS doesn't have a front facing camera, which is a big disadvantage if you're thinking of doing some video calling (which is basically free between iPhone 4's using FaceTime or Skype).

The retina display on the 4 is far sharper too, so reading a lot of text is less straining on your eyes compared to a 3.

dodzy

biko wrote: »

Make sure you can distinguish between a 3G and a 3GS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzezPx2Iqn0

Very important advice. The 3G stopped at 4.2.1 as far as I remember and its dog slow when compared to later models ( as well as a lot of apps which cannot be used ). Get a 3GS as a minimum.

TBi

I'd get a 4. The 3GS is a bit long in the tooth and a bit slow. The 4 is a lot faster due to better/faster processor and double the RAM.

1ZRed

TBi wrote: »

I'd get a 4. The 3GS is a bit long in the tooth and a bit slow. The 4 is a lot faster due to better/faster processor and double the RAM.

And I'll ad thinner, high res screen and a much better design to the list.
4 all the way. Especially considering the iP5 is coming, you don't want to be stuck back in 2009.

yer man!

3GS is shíte, I have one and it's painfully slow compared to the 4. Plus the screen doesn't even compare along with the camera and also look at it!! 4 is way prettier.....

dodzy

yer man! wrote: »

3GS is shíte, I have one and it's painfully slow compared to the 4. Plus the screen doesn't even compare along with the camera and also look at it!! 4 is way prettier.....

Alot of your post is correct, but it is not sh1te. It is still a very good handset, with continued FW support, and it's gps capability, and can be picked up cheaply nowadays. And "painfully slow" is a bit exaggerated;)

biko

I have both a 4 and 3gs and I don't find the speed difference all that big, compared to the difference between 3G and 3GS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2F4O0QIzC4

But you can definitely tell the 4 is a better phone.

TBi

biko wrote: »

I have both a 4 and 3gs and I don't find the speed difference all that big, compared to the difference between 3G and 3GS.

But you can definitely tell the 4 is a better phone.

Interesting video, the 2G (original) and 3G use the same processor so should have identical speeds. It's strange that the 2G always comes last.

The 3GS and 4 are similar in speed, one main problem is switching apps. The 4 has more memory and switch between recent apps a lot faster than the 3GS.

Also loading apps isn't really a speed test, it's down to memory speed more than anything. You'd have to compare speed tests like how quickly you can move around a webpage, although the 4 would suffer because of it's higher resolution.

Wossack

my 3gs has been getting terrible lately since I put on ios5 - very slow, bad memory maybe? Safari crashes frequently enough on large webpages, youtube bombs out watching >20min videos sometimes also. Was grand beforehand

TBi

Wossack wrote: »

my 3gs has been getting terrible lately since I put on ios5 - very slow, bad memory maybe? Safari crashes frequently enough on large webpages, youtube bombs out watching >20min videos sometimes also. Was grand beforehand

The problem is that there is no virtual memory in iOS. When an application uses more than available memory it just crashes. A lot of these crashes were fixed in a later version of iOS 5 though, but it's still slow.