10 reasons for not buying an Apple iPhone 4

Finally the iPhone 4 is officially available in India. It can be bought from either Aircel or Airtel at prices starting from 34K. The 16 GB version is priced at Rs 34,500 and 32 GB version is priced at Rs 40,900. So, is this the right time to buy one? In my humble opinion, it is NOT and I have 10 reasons for it. They are,

1. iPhone 4 is old

Yes, iPhone 4 is an old phone which is released in the previous year (June, 2010). It means, you’re paying a premium price for a one year old technology. A new iPhone is expected very soon (In October if not in June) and will make your device one generation older.

2. Iphone 4 is not dual core

As it is older by 1 year, it does not have dual core processors. You can buy  smart phones with dual core processors at much lower prices (For eg: LG Optimus 2x for around 26 K) and it is the standard for any new high end smart phones.

3. iPhone 4 does not have full HD video recording or playback

Unlike the newer dual core mobile phones which is capable of playing and recording full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels or 1080P) video, the iPhone 4 can just play or record 720P (1280 X 720) videos.

4. iPhone 4 GPU is not powerful enough

The iPhone 4 GPU is one year old and is not the best for future games. Most of the latest high end mobile phones feature a more powerful GPU.

5. iPhone 4 pricing is unjustifiable

The iPhone 4 is selling at an unreasonable price in India. Why should we pay a premium price for a one year old product? Simply, the pricing does not make sense when considering the device is locked to the network.

6. We should teach Apple a lesson or two

So far, Apple released their iPhones in India by almost the end of their life cycle. Most of the other manufacturers (Samsung, Nokia, HTC, LG etc) release their latest phones in India along with their global release. If Apple really thinks they can sell their old phones in India for a premium price, we should teach them a lesson or two. If they’re not releasing their products on time, we don’t need it.

7. iPhone 4 does not have a Super AMOLED Plus Display

AMOLED displays has excellent contrast and eye popping colors. Simply, it is the best display technology available for mobile phones. But, sadly, iPhone 4 does not have this Super AMOLED screen. Though the iPhone 4 has a little higher resolution (the so called retina display at 960 x 640 px), it simply can’t match the Super AMOLED Plus experience. Also, the 3.5 inch screen is not big enough by current standards.

8. iOS is not the most desirable mobile OS anymore

In a recent survey in US, people selected Android OS as the most desirable mobile operating systems. Google Android is more customizable and more open.

9. Android application store (Android Market) is growing at a higher rate than the iOS appstore.

Android market is growing at a faster rate and it is expected that by August of this year, it will surpass Apple’s Appstore in total number of available applications.

10. The most powerful smart phone ever released is available at a lesser price

Samsung’s Galaxy S2, which is the most powerful smart phone at present is released in India and will be available from June 1^st week. Iphone 4 simply fails in comparison. See the specs below.

• 1.2 GHz Dual core SoC with 1 GB RAM (iPhone 4 has only 1 GHz Single core processor and 512 MB RAM
• 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus display with scratch resistant Gorilla glass  (iPhone 4 has only 3.5” IPS LCD)
• Full HD (1080P) video recording and playback (iPhone 4 has only 720P video recording and playback)
• 8MP camera in rear and 2MP in front (iPhone 4 has only 5MP camera in rear and VGA camera in front)
• Light weight (116g) and super thin (8.5mm) (iPhone 4 is 137g and 9.3mm thin)
• It can even play 1080P videos inside Adobe Flash player (iPhone 4 does not support Adobe Flash)
• 3G data speeds upto 21 Mbps (iPhone 4 has 7.2 Mbps)

Above all, this phone has a reasonable MRP of Rs 33,600/ and should be available much cheeper from stores (expect 30 – 32 K). So, do you really want to buy an outdated, powerless phone for Rs 34,500 or the best mobile ever released for a much lesser price? Of course, the choice is yours. I’ve made mine and counting days to touch my hands on the mighty Galaxy S2.

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