I have a friend who is looking to upgrade from her old Verizon Blackberry to an iPhone. She has 2 questions:
1) What is the most economical way to do it? Do places like Best Buy give you a better deal than the Verizon store?
2) Is getting an iPhone 4s worth it over an iPhone?
1) AmazonWireless often has good deals, but iPhones are largely fixed-price. If she's willing to go refurb she might be able to shave some $50 off the cost.
2) Depends on usage. iPhone 4 is absolutely competent. It does have a better processor and is somewhat more future-proof. While people say 4S has a "better" camera (8 MP vs. 5 MP), I argue that it has similar camera - the size of the sensor is the same as the one on iPhone 4 which means the amount of light data each pixel gets is smaller, mitigating some of the MP "improvement". Besides, the value of 8MP over 5MP is on the whole small. Siri is not a selling point for most - most people I know (or read) with 4S's don't use Siri. Perhaps it would ease the transition from a keyboard for a BBerry user, though.
While I agree in part on "future-proofing" with the 4S, I see many many 3G and 3GS iPhones in use today. It depends on how much she exercises her device. I see arguments both ways. If she can wait til the fall, the 4S will drop in price.
EDIT: I use Android as my personal phone, and she may want to play with w Android phones in the store. Some prefer the design language and interface more.
Edited by zenter, 06 July 2012 - 10:34 AM.