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Apple iPhone 4S
5.0
final rating

reviewed on
this review has been viewed 1166 times

Criteria Comments Rating
  • Reception and call quality No comments good
  • Display No comments awful!
  • Battery life No comments so-so
  • Camera No comments —
  • Ease of use No comments great!
  • Design and form factor No comments awful!
  • Portability (size / weight) No comments so-so
  • Media support No comments awful!
  • Durability No comments poor
  • Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) No comments awful!
Detailed review
Very limited overpriced device for today. Its very limited as far as media formats and app integration with the operating system. The lcd is pretty small compared to competitors and it doesn't support 4G LTE. When iphone came out it was revolutionary, but now its stale and just ridding the name Apple got from the first iphone release. Its also upsetting that apple basically blocked siri from old phones forcing ppl to buy this phone when there really isn't much else of a reason to upgrade. The one pro i see is the camera, its very competitive with other smartphones in its class.

Comments (7) subscribe to this review's comments

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Slaguru

Slaguru

Ecosystem Poor.. Sure.
claypool

claypool

Apple ecosystem is really bad. Its very closed and restrictive. You must use apple devices for the rest of your life or you lose all your media purchases. Apple also blocks alot of media providers from selling their media on apple devices. Which limits competition and blocks you from buying stuff that you could use on a non apple device if you ever decide to get one at some point.
JohnCrawford

JohnCrawford

I'm curious why you would rate the display and the design / form factor as "Awful". The display has the best resolution available on the market today. How is that an awful thing? What qualifies as a great or even good display to you? Design / form factor is subjective, so I guess I'm just curious what you don't like about that aspect of the iPhone 4S? Personally I think it's a very nice looking device.

I see you've added your reasons for rating the ecosystem as "Awful", but I disagree with you. The app store is very robust and the availability of accessories (even from 3rd parties) is abundant. Also, music purchased from iTunes can be played on any mp3 capable device, Apple or otherwise, so you don't "lose all your media purchases" if you switch to another device. I believe you would lose Movies and other video media purchased from iTunes, so your assertion is only partially true. Also, apps would not be compatible with non-apple devices, but the same is true for Android devices, so this isn't much of an argument.

I suspect you either have unattainably high expectations for your devices, or you have a grudge against the iPhone 4S.
claypool

claypool

The Display on the iphone 4s is no where near the highest resolution. Search google for "highest resolution cellphones". The first result is a link to phonedog.com with a list of the highest resolution cellphones. They have 40 of the highest and the Iphone 4s didn't even make the list. I gave it a low rating on display/form factor mostly becuase its one of the smallest displays on all smartphones.
On media. As of a year ago you can no longer purchase media in any app unless its an apple app and apple media. Also some itunes songs can be played on mp3 players not all. You also lose all movies or tv shows. My comment was not on app compatibility because that is pretty much true with most ecosystems.
JohnCrawford

JohnCrawford

I think you may be confused. The total number of pixels alone is irrelevant unless one also considers screen size. The iPhone's 640 x 960 resolution seems paltry to a competing HTC phone with 720 x 1280 resolution until the screen size of each is also considered. The HTC's 4.7" display means there are 312PPI, while the iPhone's 3.5" display has 326PPI. I'm sure there are other competing phones out there or that are coming to market soon with as high or higher pixel density as the iPhone's, but your assertion that the iPhone doesn't even make the top 40 list of highest resolution phone displays is absurd, as is the entirety of your review. Thanks for reading. Jesus loves you. :)

en.wikipedia.org­/wiki­/IPhone­_4S
en.wikipedia.org­/wiki­/HTC­_One­_X
claypool

claypool

I am not confused, you said resolution and not pixel density in your original message. If you had said pixel density Iphone 4s is not the highest but they are closer to the top on that. Some examples of higher pixel density phones are the htc rezound (342ppi) and the sony xperia s (342ppi) pixel density. Anyhow like I said in my last message I gave a low rating on display because of the size. The only other phones that have 3.5" displays are low end phones.
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