What’s the bare-minimum iPhone?

As in, what can I put up on the Wish List (which also doubles as the Maybe at some point List) and not have it be a waste of a million-to-one shot if somebody buys it for me? – I just got a new phone, you see, and all the cool people have JesusPhones, but I can’t afford a seven hundred buck egoboo (I honestly wouldn’t have gotten the new phone if I didn’t need something for the RS Gathering and my new business cards). So what’s the oldest, cheapest one out there that still will spark that dazzling Cult of Jobs feeling to it?

10 thoughts on “What’s the bare-minimum iPhone?”

  1. I like my Samsung. Plus it was $10. I’m sure Apple is great and all, I have kids though, so there’s no way to justify the cost in my mind.

    1. I have the Galaxy S2, by the way. Got it for $10 because the S3 was coming out. I suppose when I upgrade in the spring I may get the S4. Should be cheaper by then.

  2. I use an iPhone 4 that I got for free from Verizon when I renewed my contract. I know people with the iPhone 5 and there doesn’t seem to be a substantive difference other that it has less glass so doesn’t need to be protected as much. I think they come in two varieties, 4mb memory and 8mb memory. 4 is pleanty for me, but the wife is constantly low on memory since she is constantly taking pictures and not deleting them. I think she has about 1,100 pictures on her phone (long story about why I know this). The android is actually a better phone in my opinion, but some people like their iThings.

    1. Exactly. The Cult of Jobs is something, as I know Moe understands. I have an S2 Skyrocket, and it is fantastic – and $20 with renewal in March of last year. I’ll upgrade to an S4 (Active if I can) next year.

      BTW, that S2 survived a dive into a pool on the 4th.

  3. I have the 32g model, have a handful of games and apps on it, plus forty-odd days of audiobooks, and it stays about half to a third empty most of the time. But if you were shooting a lot of video or photos I could see it filling up, I guess.

    I think it was $299 with the contract.

  4. Just don’t waste your time with anything that isn’t 4G/LTE. I recently traded my completely worn out iPhone 3 for an iPhone 5, and the performance difference was just amazing.

    1. I don’t know, unless you’re watching a lot of video I don’t think the 4G matters than much. I don’t have any complaints about the 3G speed of my iPhone 4. Also, I don’t really have 4G coverage out here in the sticks anyway. Moe is somewhere Baltimore/DC corridor though, so I’m sure he has pretty good coverage.

      1. It matters. The phone connection (I actually use mine for a phone) is far better if you have 4G – at least in my area. It’s faster for downloading anything, but the main difference is the phone itself.

        I don’t watch any video on my phone, for what it’s worth.

  5. Just say no! Yeah, I’m anti-Apple biased, but it’s based on my experience. I’m still happy with my 2+ year old Motorola Atrix (hey look Apple, I can put in a micro-SD card and expand my memory for pictures and video… Amazing!)

    Anyways, I don’t think there is all *that* much difference between the Iphone 4, 4s and 5. At least for the price. Your best bet is probably the 4s since you want to get it now, but if you can hold out until the iPhone 6 comes out and then you can get a 5 for cheap.

    1. That is the most annoying thing to me about Apple, their refusal to put SD card slots on their equipment so they can charge you an extra couple $100 for what would be a $15 SD card’s worth of memory.

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