iPhone 3G upgrade dilemma: how long should I wait?

v0id

Member
May 30, 2003
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Yeah, this thread is probably similar to a lot of other ones in this forum, but I'm curious as to what you all think.

I've had an iPhone 3G for a little more than two years now. My contract expired about a month ago. AT&T reception isn't great where I live - calls occasionally drop in my room, and I have to go elsewhere in the house or outside to ensure solid reception. I don't make or receive calls a whole lot, but it is pretty irritating when it happens. Mostly I use my phone for web browsing, listening to music when I'm in the car, at the gym, or out and about, and some very occasional casual gaming (Angry Birds, etc). My phone itself is still in pretty good shape but it seems to have gotten a lot slower/laggier over the past two years. Maybe I'm just noticing it now, but it's definitely annoying. Also, wi-fi no longer seems to work for some reason.

I'd like to get a new phone soon, and probably change carriers, but I'm a bit ambivalent about the current and upcoming upgrade options. I'm pretty sure I want to switch to Verizon, since I've had it in the past at this location, and reception was better than AT&T. I like iOS fine, and I'm not necessarily against getting another iPhone, but I think it would be neat to pick up an Android device and fool around a bit with tweaks and customization. Mostly, however, I'll be looking for two things:

1) Dual core processor - I don't want to deal with any more laggy OS or programs
2) LTE/other 4G network support* - I don't want to deal with any more laggy web browsing

*My city (Santa Cruz, CA) isn't an LTE launch city, but it is reasonably sized and pretty close to Silicon Valley so I figure 4G will be coming sooner rather than later.

A big (4"+) high quality screen would also be nice. Price isn't really an issue. Plan cost isn't really an issue either; I figure I'll get screwed anywhere I go. I don't think I consume enough bandwidth to be REALLY worried about the usage caps on any of the networks.

The upcoming Moto Atrix 4G looks really neat, and might be launched in March, but I would be stuck with AT&T. It's also not clear to me what the what 4G network the "4G" in the name refers to or how that will work. Verizon Droid Bionic looks good but apparently won't be out until summer (?!?). Neither the HTC Thunderbolt or LG Revolution appear to be dual core.

Do you all think I should just suck it up and wait six or more months for the Bionic? Stick with AT&T and pick up the Atrix when it's released? Look at the Thunderbolt or Revolution, since dual core isn't necessarily the best thing since sliced bread? Pick up the Verizon iPhone 4 next month? Stop asking dumb questions since none of these phones have been released yet?

Cliffs:

- Tired of iPhone 3G
- Unhappy about the wait for 4G/dual core phones
- Venting fruitlessly
- ???
- Profit!
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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If you're worried about laggy performance and laggy browsing then Android isnt the OS for you. Dual core may help alleviate that problem, but I would wait and see what the performance is like when they're released.

If I was in your shoes, I'd wait for the iPhone5 in the summer.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
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Wait for iPhone5 and Dual-Core android phones running 2.3, and compare them, then choose after.
 

Puddle Jumper

Platinum Member
Nov 4, 2009
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If you're worried about laggy performance and laggy browsing then Android isnt the OS for you. Dual core may help alleviate that problem, but I would wait and see what the performance is like when they're released.

If I was in your shoes, I'd wait for the iPhone5 in the summer.

You may have a point with a "laggy" os but the stock Froyo browser consistently outperfoprms Safari. In fact when I got a chance to play with the new iPads at work I couldn't believe how horrible the browsing experience was compared to my Captivate and it's only running 2.1 which has a much slower browser than 2.2/2.3.
 

kaerflog

Golden Member
Jul 23, 2010
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You may have a point with a "laggy" os but the stock Froyo browser consistently outperfoprms Safari. In fact when I got a chance to play with the new iPads at work I couldn't believe how horrible the browsing experience was compared to my Captivate and it's only running 2.1 which has a much slower browser than 2.2/2.3.

Since I have both the vibrant and the IP4 in my possession right now I can make an unbiased comparison.
Web browsing under wifi are basically the same.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
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You may have a point with a "laggy" os but the stock Froyo browser consistently outperfoprms Safari. In fact when I got a chance to play with the new iPads at work I couldn't believe how horrible the browsing experience was compared to my Captivate and it's only running 2.1 which has a much slower browser than 2.2/2.3.

It's because the iPad only has 256meg of ram. Wait til you use 2.2 on your Captivate. It's going to be slower than 2.1 and the iPad.
 

richierich1212

Platinum Member
Jul 5, 2002
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Use Dolphin browser on the captivate, just make sure to disable plugins if you're running 2.2 if you don't need flash all the time
 

airdata

Diamond Member
Jul 11, 2010
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I had a 3g for 2 years and it was really really slow compared to the iphone 4.

One thing about the verizon iphone thing I found weird is the timing... They're probably going to have some kind of Iphone refresh in june/july... and then you're gonna have all of these verizon people w\ their 6 month old iphone 4 wanting to trade up.

So, idk if it would be worth while or not to wait until they refresh the iphone later on?
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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You may have a point with a "laggy" os but the stock Froyo browser consistently outperfoprms Safari. In fact when I got a chance to play with the new iPads at work I couldn't believe how horrible the browsing experience was compared to my Captivate and it's only running 2.1 which has a much slower browser than 2.2/2.3.

Froyo loads pages faster but its not as fast as Safari when it comes to scrolling and pinch/zoom.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
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I would wait but if you're really bored you could probably pickup used Captivate or Vibrant for cheap and fool around with it for 6 months. At most I would say you would lose $100 selling it later when the phones you want are released. You could also sell your 3g.
 

Puddle Jumper

Platinum Member
Nov 4, 2009
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Froyo loads pages faster but its not as fast as Safari when it comes to scrolling and pinch/zoom.

Uh, zooming in and out is what was so bad on the iPad. Even the slightest bit of zooming resulted in excessive checkerboarding while nothing like that at all happened on the Captivate.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,811
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Froyo loads pages faster but its not as fast as Safari when it comes to scrolling and pinch/zoom.

It's about the same. Galaxy S has gpu assisted web browsing. It works on 2.1. Broken on 2.2. Works again on 2.2.1.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
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Uh, zooming in and out is what was so bad on the iPad. Even the slightest bit of zooming resulted in excessive checkerboarding while nothing like that at all happened on the Captivate.

You and I know that. It's likely due to the lack of ram on the iPad. But you're going to lose some of that fast browser experience when you upgrade to 2.2. 2.2.1 fixes that again.
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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Uh, zooming in and out is what was so bad on the iPad. Even the slightest bit of zooming resulted in excessive checkerboarding while nothing like that at all happened on the Captivate.

...and zooming/scrolling stutters on Android devices.
 

v0id

Member
May 30, 2003
162
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Hmmm. General consensus seems to be "wait". I probably won't deal with picking up an interim phone since I don't want to have to sell it again when a better phone comes out in the summer. Don't know if I could get much for the 3G when the time comes, but who knows. If nothing else, at least my mind will be totally f'in blown by the time I pick up a phone that's 5x as fast as the 3G.
 

pm

Elite Member Mobile Devices
Jan 25, 2000
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I would advise waiting too. If you are thoroughly annoyed with your 3G, buy something used on Ebay (like a 3GS, or a Droid Milestone) and stick it out on AT&T until the summer. Your 3G is still worth a bit on Ebay/craigslist, so sell your current 3G and buy a used Droid Milestone (GSM), or iPhone 3GS or some other Android phone. The cost difference is likely to be about $100-$150 and then that will keep you going until late this summer when all of the new stuff shakes out.

Uh, zooming in and out is what was so bad on the iPad. Even the slightest bit of zooming resulted in excessive checkerboarding while nothing like that at all happened on the Captivate.
I have an iPad and I'm not sure what you are talking about... I don't see checkerboarding while zooming. It's pretty smooth.
 
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ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,134
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I know that I'm losing patience with my 3G as well... it seems to have developed a memory leak, which causes applications to fail loading unless I "reboot" the phone once a day. Grr.
 

kaerflog

Golden Member
Jul 23, 2010
1,899
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Hmmm. General consensus seems to be "wait". I probably won't deal with picking up an interim phone since I don't want to have to sell it again when a better phone comes out in the summer. Don't know if I could get much for the 3G when the time comes, but who knows. If nothing else, at least my mind will be totally f'in blown by the time I pick up a phone that's 5x as fast as the 3G.

The iPhone 3G 8gn will sell for around $150 if unlocked and in good condition.
I sold a 3G 16gb on CL just last week for $200 in excellent condition
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
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It's about the same. Galaxy S has gpu assisted web browsing. It works on 2.1. Broken on 2.2. Works again on 2.2.1.

You have a link for this? I've heard that the Galaxy S phones had a GPU assisted Browser, but when I played with a co-workers stock Epic, it wasn't any faster than Dolphin HD on my Droid 1. I was confused.
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
4,529
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You have a link for this? I've heard that the Galaxy S phones had a GPU assisted Browser, but when I played with a co-workers stock Epic, it wasn't any faster than Dolphin HD on my Droid 1. I was confused.

Supposedly the Galaxy S series has some kind of GPU acceleration. However I don't know if this applies to their web browser.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
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Supposedly the Galaxy S series has some kind of GPU acceleration. However I don't know if this applies to their web browser.

It's fast but yes, there is still many instances that it studders. Don't know why anyone is trying to deny it.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Supposedly the Galaxy S series has some kind of GPU acceleration. However I don't know if this applies to their web browser.

Naustica specifically said Browser. I couldn't tell the difference browsing a few sites on his stock Epic vs my Droid 1. Admittedly, my Droid 1 runs Cyanogenmod with a 1Ghz kernel. Still, I did a few comparisons between Dolphin HD and Browser, hitting KTAR.com, CNN.com, Dailytech, Android Police, Droid Life, and Goosemoose. Seemed identical to me. We both get solid reception on our respective carriers in the building.