shiva

4s is a lot faster and has a better camera, 5 is faster still, has a bigger screen and better front camera and a slightly better rear camera

Blue Cat

can't afford the 5 at the moment but the 4 is right down in price, I really only use it for twitter and FB etc, I don't use the camera function that often either as I carry my sony with me most of the time

shiva

how cheap is a 4 then? might pick one up for an xmas pressie if its dirt cheap

Blue Cat

http://store.apple.com/ae/browse/hom...family/iphone4

1699

Eeyore

The lack of Flash is a bit of a non-argument, given the massive growth of HTML5. After all, even Adobe has abandoned mobile Flash now

Not sure what you mean by "no Adobe reader" because there is an official Adobe Reader app in the App Store (it's been there for over a year), and I was able to open PDFs in iOS before that anyway.

And as for the closed system, doesn't bother me at all. The people who complain about it tend to be the hacker types; normal people - say, 95% of smartphone users - don't have an issue with it, because everything they need or want to do is handled by authorised apps anyway.

Blue Cat

Emirates Avenue 4S is 2297 but he hasn't got any 4's left, I just checked

shiva

double the storage and speed for 500 odd chips more is a much better option. 8gb will fill up really fast

Irishbeekeeper

i have a 4 and did not upgrade to the 4s coz i didnt want to pay extra ONLY for a slightly better camera and the software that talks back at you i.e. SIRI

the iphone 5 is a great phone, i have used it a few days, really fast and really sexy but too expensive in my opinion
if your not in a hurry right now then wait for its price to come down in a month or so, etisalat and du will come up with package plans for the iphone 5 in december and from what i hear from my minions inside that the prices will be very attractive, plus you wont have to run around having the sim card cut down to 'nano'-size (this is the tech bit : the iphone 4 and 4s use a sim cut down to the micro-size where as the iphone 5 uses a sim card cut down to nano-size) usually if you buy a factory unlocked phone you can throw any sim in it anywhere in the world and then run it (pre-paid / post paid doesnt matter) but then u have to get your sim cut yourself hence the hassle

but if you go with a contract mobile like voda, orange, or etisalat or du in this case then u dont need to worry about anything, you just pay the money and get a working phone and start using it, only drawback is that since it will not be a factory unlocked phone, you wont be able to use any other sim in it i.e. lets say if you wana use it back in the uk etc. (well there is a way to crack it / jail break it but i wouldnt recommend it, its a bit complicated and has always has issues)

if you ARE in a hurry then go for the 4s coz i dont think you will be able to find a brand new 4 anymore....well there are a few brand new 8GB iphone 4 available in the market but I find the 8GB cap is too little, I use a 16GB one and sometimes I find myself thinking that i should have gone for a 32 GB one instead (too many pictures of myself in it)

and as far as Samsung / Android.....i curse all of them! The new S3 is great....for hitting someone in the head coz its so large!! I thought the point of mobility was smaller in size...NOT the other way around! And the android OS was an idea stolen from Apple anyway!! I hear Samsung have a new phone coming out...the S-Brick!!

hnd

If FaceTime is important to you then be careful where you buy it in the UAE, also note if you buy from the Apple on line store and your Apple account is based in the UAE it will shipped to you without FaceTime.

iMessage doesn't work on my latest iPad either but that's not a problem as I use Whatsapp most of the time anyway.

Bahtatboy

My 4 is fine--pics and vids great for computer viewing. Loads of great Apps which work great. I occassionally use the "phone" feature, which seems to work OK too

Eeyore

All tech companies steal from each other, but Apple still seems to be the best at taking ideas and making them really work as products.

Isn't there some kind of issue with Android not being a true standard? Meaning that different brands of Android phone have varying levels of support for Android's various features? Or did I misread that?

Victor Meldrew

So when you buy an iPhone or iPad in the UAE, it doesnt have Facetime installed or Facetime just diesnt function?

If it isn't installed isn't it just a case of downloading from App store next time you are back in UK?

Also... I bought an iPad in UK, as did my daughter. They both have Facetime on, but when we try to contact through Facetime, it says it is 'connecting' but then doesnt eventually connect (unavailable or something like that). Is this because we are trying to connect within UAE and it is blocked in some way?

Regards other comments, I worked my way through smartphones from Nokia N72 (which was stolen from work), Blackberry Torch (way too clunky, though the trackpad was really good), then I debated for a long time between Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4. I went for S2 but, now having an iPad, wished I had bought 4 or 4S to sync.

I really like the simplistic exterior design of the iPhone and am really pleased that they kept the same(ish) design for the 5, just a little longer and thinner.

Guess what I will be using by this summer? iPhone 5 - can't wait til prices go down a little more.

archie159

The iPad (3) I bought earlier this year, via a Groupon voucher from a Dubai supplier, DOES have Facetime installed - but I have never used it, as I use Skype instead (which does work fine in UAE).

Irishbeekeeper

No facetime will be installed but it might not work here. I think the port for facetime might be blocked in the UAE, I know for a fact that Viber and Trango (almost similar apps) are blocked, I also know for a fact that Skype does not work properly on some Du connections

Blue Cat

we bought our 4s from Emirates Ave and facetime works, I think it is the phones you get via Etisalat, Du and Apple Dubai that are blocked.