Would an iPhone 4 be too slow at this point?

[tfinch2]

My wife and I are on Virgin Mobile, and she is currently using an HTC One V. She has an iPad 2 and I think I would like to get her an iPhone.

I've been watching the iPhone prices on virginmobileusa.com, and noticed the price of the iPhone 4 has been marked down to $200. I do not think it is going to go much lower, and considering the phone is discontinued I should probably pull the trigger as once it is out of stock it will probably be gone for good.

My only concern is that the phone may be too slow at this point. I do not think that it will support iOS 7 either, but my wife won't care. I don't really pay attention to what she has on her iPad now. She may still be running iOS 5...

Anyone still using an iPhone 4 that wants to chime in on the speed of the device? I've also considered a 4s, but that jumps to $360.

EDIT: After my wife played around with her friends iPhone 4, she told me that she thought it was fast enough for her and that she wanted one. I ended up getting it at Target, so I was able to get another 5% off with my Red Card.

I installed iOS 7 last night, and I must say I am pretty impressed. It seems to run just fine.

I agree with the folks that mention that $200 is a bit high, but it is a small price to pay to keep my wife happy, and much better than paying 2-3x more for a newer model. I also get the $5 discount for setting up autopay, so that's another plus.

Now let's just hope she doesn't break it. I put it in a case before I gave it to her.

 

[gmaster456]

It's pretty sluggish at this point. App load times can be frustratingly long and even doing basic things can make it stutter. I don't advise getting it at this point but if you do I would probably stay on iOS6. iOS 7 isn't going to do the 800mhz single core A8, 512mb of RAM and 4 year old mobile GPU any favors.

For her usage based on what you've said it may work for her. And the nice thing is you're not locked into a contract. But if you can I would go with at least the 4S or one of their newer android phones but that may not be financially feasible.

The 4S from virgin is also the 16gb model while the contract ones will be going to 8gb.

 

[Eug]

I have an iPhone 4 running iOS 7 (GM release version). It's much, much better than I expected, and my wife is quite pleased with it.

But to be honest, it's too slow for me for my primary phone, but then again I felt the same way with iOS 6 on it too.

The 4S (judging by my iPad 2) should be snappier and very decent for full-time usage (even for me for UI speed), but it's still a 3.5" phone with no LTE. Mind you, that doesn't bother my wife or my sister, and my sister does a lot of business traveling yet the lack of LTE doesn't bother her. It annoys the heck out of me though.

Strangely enough though, my RAZR HD (which has a much faster CPU than the 4S, and twice the RAM) feels even slower. I think part of that though is the fact that 4.1 Android Jelly Bean doesn't include TRIM support.

 

[desura]

I had an ipod touch 4g 32gb.

Same processor speed as the 4 I believe.

I found it frustratingly slow also. In the end, I only used it for music.

iphone 4 does have more RAM...

But, at min I would only consider the 4s at this point. And even then...I'm not finding it that appealing. Still pretty high price, the 3.5" screen does feel cramped compared to the 4" screen, don't like the sharp edges, kind of heavy and fragile with the glass back screen.

 

[Eug]

I had an ipod touch 4g 32gb.

Same processor speed as the 4 I believe.

I found it frustratingly slow also. In the end, I only used it for music.

iphone 4 does have more RAM...

But, at min I would only consider the 4s at this point. And even then...I'm not finding it that appealing. Still pretty high price, the 3.5" screen does feel cramped compared to the 4" screen, don't like the sharp edges, kind of heavy and fragile with the glass back screen.

The RAM likely makes a huge difference. It's likely the reason that iPod touch model doesn't get iOS 7 support, considering it has the same CPU as the iPhone 4.

 

[bearxor]

If she's just doing really basic stuff with it, there's no problem with the iPhone 4.

It's slower, sure. But still completely usable.

 

[Eug]

Depends on the usage as you say. If she does a lot of surfing on the phone, then she may not like it much. I find the iOS 7 UI speed on the iPhone 4 OK, meaning just a bit slower than iOS 6, with neither being fast, but Safari speed is quite slow.

I am getting around 2700 ms for SunSpider on the iOS 7 iPhone 4. My Android dual-core phone gets around 1400 ms. Meanwhile, my iMac gets 185 ms. (Lower is better.) My Android phone renders webpages much faster than the iPhone 4, and it's quite noticeable, even though in terms of the UI, the Android phone lags.

Plus, as mentioned, 3.5" is a bit on the small side for surfing.

 

[jpeyton]

Would an iPhone 4 be too slow at this point?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: think long and hard about dropping $200 for a phone that was released over 3 years ago. The iPhone 4 is on the precipice of being cut off from all future iOS upgrades, so at most you've probably got 12 months of usage before you'll have to upgrade again.

At minimum, get a 4S.

 

[Eug]

Yep. I'm 99% sure the iPhone 4 won't get iOS 8. That said, there's nothing stopping his wife from using it for a while after iOS 8 is out.

But agreed. $200 for such a phone is quite a bit. The only reason we're still using this 3 year-old phone is because we already own it... from our purchase three years ago.

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, but this is $200 brand new off contract. The 4S, as noted, is almost twice the price. Is the 4S worth an extra $160? For the usage outlined, I just don't think so.

 

[dguy6789]

Getting an Iphone 4 today is like getting a Nexus One today. Huge nope.

 

[jpeyton]

Yeah, but this is $200 brand new off contract. The 4S, as noted, is almost twice the price. Is the 4S worth an extra $160? For the usage outlined, I just don't think so.

I'd rather roll the dice and go used if a $200 iPhone 4 was on the table.

 

[Kneedragger]

I'll have to agree with the majority. My Iphone 4 sucks right now. Don't even bother with one.

 

[shady28]

My wife and I are on Virgin Mobile, and she is currently using an HTC One V. She has an iPad 2 and I think I would like to get her an iPhone.

I've been watching the iPhone prices on virginmobileusa.com, and noticed the price of the iPhone 4 has been marked down to $200. I do not think it is going to go much lower, and considering the phone is discontinued I should probably pull the trigger as once it is out of stock it will probably be gone for good.

My only concern is that the phone may be too slow at this point. I do not think that it will support iOS 7 either, but my wife won't care. I don't really pay attention to what she has on her iPad now. She may still be running iOS 5...

Anyone still using an iPhone 4 that wants to chime in on the speed of the device? I've also considered a 4s, but that jumps to $360.

I've been using an iPhone 4, my wife has the 4S. I've also used a Droid Bionic from work for the past ~15 months.

The 4 works ok, especially for mundane things like email, web browsing, texting, social apps, etc.

That said, my wife's 4S is quite a bit faster. It's a dual-core where the 4 is single core, and places where the 4 lags slightly the 4S is buttery smooth. If you go with AT&T or a GSM network the 4S is 4G (14.4Mbit/sec vs max 3Mbit/sec on CDMA networks). That's slower than LTE on paper, but in practice there's not much difference - coverage is a much greater factor, and one that you don't have control of.

We've compared the 4S to the 5 in Apple stores numerous times, and my opinion is that there is no significant difference in speed.

In other words, my recommendation would be to get a 4S. You can get them for ~$300 used, or about $400 less than a new 5S and about $300 less than a 5C.

 

[foghorn67]

I couldn't stand how long it took for the camera to fire up. It was fine when it was on IOS 4. By the time iOS 5 hit, it was painful.

 

[openwheel]

Even the iPhone 4S is too slow. No one should consider a phone without LTE anymore. Even those on MVNO.

 

[Eug]

I've been playing around with the iPhone 4 with iOS 7 some more. It remains usually of reasonable speed, but I've noticed occasional times where a certain action would lag longer than usual. Most of the lags I've seen as described above last under 1 second, but for example I tried to sign off from my Apple ID. It then "hung" for a couple of seconds or three before loading up the popup dialogue box. This only happens occasionally but it still happens.

This is much less noticeable on the iPad 2 (which is analogous to the iPhone 4S).

Note that I occasionally got this behaviour on iOS 6 as well. iOS 6 generally now feels as fast as iOS 5, but not always. I think happens a bit more often in iOS 7, but you should not think you'll be lag-free even if you decide to stick with iOS 6.

I know your wife doesn't have heavy phone needs, but I agree with jpeyton that you should consider at least checking out the used market for the iPhone 5... or else spend the extra cash for the new iPhone 4S (or else a used one). Unfortunately, the 4S is also missing LTE and the bigger screen.

Note though, the importance of LTE varies with location. Around my home neighbourhood, HSPA+ is fast, so I don't really need LTE here. However, downtown (Toronto), in some spots HSPA+ is occasionally very slow, because it's so congested. LTE in those same spots is nowhere near as congested... although that will likely change soon with all the new LTE phones coming online this year. But none of this really matters if she doesn't have much data needs with her phone.

 

[tfinch2]

Thanks for the input everyone.

My wife doesn't care much for mobile data. Just as long as she can check Facebook/Instagram, make a call, and send a text.

Camera quality matters somewhat, and I think the iPhone 4 should be okay.

As far as dropping more $200-250 on a phone. My wife is on her 4th in 6 months. Not going to happen.

At this point, I think the 4s may be a better bet. I will continue to look for a deal.

 

[lopri]

And you must use a case with that phone. Nothing wrong with cases, but knowing that the phone malfunctions without a case is not OK for me. I agree with others that the 4S should be the bottom line if you pay for an iPhone today.

 

[gmaster456]

$300 http://www.ebay.com/itm/in-box-Appl...dition-Read-/271278101286?hash=item3f296f5326

 

[Roland00Address]

I can not in good conscious recommend a Iphone 4 or a 4s on Virign Mobile, for both lack lte, and Virgin Mobile aka Sprint 3G CDMA network is pure crap.

 

[Eug]

$300 http://www.ebay.com/itm/in-box-Appl...dition-Read-/271278101286?hash=item3f296f5326

Phone might have from light to more visible signs of use on screen, side housing, back housing, edges and on overall phone....

 

[gmaster456]

Phone might have from light to more visible signs of use on screen, side housing, back housing, edges and on overall phone....

Well it is...how should I say this.....used?

He said his wife goes though phones fast anyway so better to demolish a used one than a brand new one.

 

[bearxor]

And you must use a case with that phone. Nothing wrong with cases, but knowing that the phone malfunctions without a case is not OK for me.

Presuming you're talking about the iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue. Keep in mind that the problem only affects GSM iPhone 4's. The CDMA iPhone 4 uses the same antenna system as the iPhone 4S.

 

[Eug]

Well it is...how should I say this.....used?

He said his wife goes though phones fast anyway so better to demolish a used one than a brand new one.

It's the part about the screen that worries me, especially since they don't provide a picture of the real one, and just use a stock picture.

In contrast, my iPhone 4 screen is absolutely flawless even after 3 years, because I paid $2 to put a screen protector on it.