Should I give up my broken BlackBerry for a fancy new iPhone 4S? hello, maybe
So I’m sitting here looking at my beat-up BlackBerry 8900, contemplating the future. I already have several Apple products so an iPhone is the next logical step. Everyone else seems to be making some version of the iPhone these days, or the Droid, in smaller but no less passionate numbers. However, I am immune to the siren call to stop living in the slums around 2009 and embrace the Right Now.
What’s my problem? I mean, we’re talking about the new iPhone 4S, with SIRI, for God’s sake! Why would I have thought twice about pulling the trigger on that pre-order I started placing two weeks ago? Why do I still have to walk through the doors of the nearest carrier to drop off my tired old BlackBerry zero and get that shiny new (well, refreshed) iPhone 4S hero?
I’m out of contract, after all. I am new to the iPhone. My BlackBerry’s battery is so depleted that I can only use the phone when it’s plugged in. In fact, it defiantly locked up for an hour this morning when I left my charger at home and refused to boot from its USB cable. I had to borrow an old BB charger…from a guy who has an iPhone.
Stop looking at me like that. I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I work for a technology blog. I am not ashamed.
I am well aware that I am THE target market for the iPhone 4S. So why haven’t I assimilated?
Color me a slow adopter. The 4S is intriguing, but despite not yet having joined the iPhone faithful, I was among the many disappointed that the iPhone 5/6/TBD name did not come to fruition. I can, and I can, buy the 4S and I’m sure I’ll be more than satisfied…
At least I will be until the fateful day next year when Apple announces the new iPhone X2 Awesome with Siri Personal Assistant hologram, like a real assistant sitting next to you! and a telepathic text app. So those who resisted for whatever reason will gloat in self-satisfaction because they are in the market for the REAL deal. In the meantime, I’ll be staring longingly at you through the huge glass window of the Apple Store, limply holding my suddenly and profoundly obsolete former tech wunderkind, a tear rolling down my cheek.
It will probably rain too. Sad days are like that.
But all is well now, when 4S is all we have. Still, I have to wonder: Are people buying the 4S just because it’s the new thing NOW? Nobody likes waiting. Telling me I need to upgrade simply because Apple released the next in its line of awesome phones and, you know, everyone’s supposed to have one because… well, because Apple did and we just are? How many people really need to upgrade their cell phones (despite the remaining 7 dino-cell users, of course)?
I wonder if some of those who “went ahead” and bought (I’ve heard some people say it that way) wish they had exercised a little more patience once the shine wears off. Will they still be happy with their purchase a few months from now, when enthusiasm for the 4S is once again overshadowed by talk of the REAL deal? Right now the 4S has ascended to the throne because it went unchallenged, but just a few weeks ago we complained that it was just a simulator. I suspect we will resume those rumors again in a few months. Word on the street is that Steve Jobs’ last great efforts will be reflected in the future model, and you can bet good money it will be something else.
If I buy a 4S now, will I regret not waiting for the flashy one that arrives a short time later? Normally, I would advise that one never try to wait for technology to pass; that’s a fool’s game you can never win. But in this case we are talking about a fir tree in the medium term against a guaranteed and pending total review. Siri is a great new feature, but I don’t need Siri. The iPhone 5/6/name TBD, however, may be so packed with spectacular life-changing must-haves that you wish you’d bought a new BlackBerry battery and waited.
On the other hand, sometime next year is a long time to wait. And I try not to be held hostage to the whims and schedules of others when I can help it. At the end of the day, a new phone would be nice.
So as I look at my worn BlackBerry, I ask myself: Am I the buyer who wants something new now? Am I the buyer who thinks I really shouldn’t wait any longer to upgrade my glorified old paperweight cell phone? Or am I the buyer who, despite all the hype, can tell myself that the iPhone 4S is ultimately not the iPhone for me and survive a little longer with what I’ve got?
Wow options. It’s a bit Woody Allen here, isn’t it? Maybe just a little. I’ll make up my mind and let you know what I decide, when I decide, and why.
And you? Why did you buy -or not buy- the new iPhone 4S?
-The Luddite
