3Gs or 4? (for OCR and general Pleco performance)

[caesartg]

Hi Mike

Assuming Pleco for Android is a good ways off, I was thinking of either going for a second-hand 3GS or buying an iPhone 4. I can get a second-hand 3GS for about half the price of a new iPhone 4 bought outright so was trying to work out which to pitch for.

However, checking these forums, you indicate that the 3GS and 4 perform somewhat differently but I wasn't able to find more info on this.

As OCR is the main reason I'm getting one and I have the option of going for one or the other, I'd like to know more about the difference so that I can work out if it's worth the extra $400 or so. I checked YouTube to see if there were videos showing OCR running on the two devices but I'm not sure whether the three YouTube vids I found feature the 3GS or 4. Is there any chance you could post a vid of OCR on the 3GS as well (assuming the vid already up there is on the 4) or give more details here about how the two differ (including if there's a major difference in the whole Pleco experience between the two devices)? If you already have this info somewhere, could you point me to it?

Hope NZ is turning out well for you (or will do if you're not already there)! Noticing your interest in LOTR in the Pleco video, any interest in and opportunity to visit some of the magnificent countryside featured in the movies?

Thanks

Ben

 

[mikelove]

Is there any chance you could post a vid of OCR on the 3GS as well (assuming the vid already up there is on the 4) or give more details here about how the two differ (including if there's a major difference in the whole Pleco experience between the two devices)? If you already have this info somewhere, could you point me to it?

It's actually not something you'd be able to spot in a video, honestly... the framerates are fairly comparable, the main negative I've seen on the 3GS compared to the 4 is that its autofocus isn't as good; can't work at quite as close a distance, and has a harder time holding on to a focus lock reliably as you move around a page. The lower-resolution camera might make things a bit harder for still-image OCR, but we haven't done enough testing with that to know how big an impact it makes (still a highly experimental feature) - it wouldn't make a difference in video since you're not using all of the resolution anyway. The fact that the iPhone 4 has 2x as much RAM might mean it does a better job running iOS 5.0 (6.0?) than the 3GS, but that's a ways away...

So honestly, unless you're really really fussy I can't imagine the difference would be worth $400 unless you also wanted an iPhone 4 for other reasons (screen clarity, e.g., which is as delightful in Pleco as it is everywhere else on the 4).

Hope NZ is turning out well for you (or will do if you're not already there)! Noticing your interest in LOTR in the Pleco video, any interest in and opportunity to visit some of the magnificent countryside featured in the movies?

Turning out OK, certain things can be frustrating ($150 WiFi routers and terrible pay-per-GB internet connections to hook them up to, e.g.) but it's nice to be able to get on a plane without even going through so much as a metal detector. The Hobbit filming story was literally front-page news for a week until it was displaced by a lot of grousing about public transit funding in Auckland and some sort of Kiwi crop blight. Most of the nifty LoTR stuff seems to be from around Wellington or various parts of South Island and I haven't visited either yet though they're both coming up in the next few months now that OCR's out the door...

 

[gato]

I can get a second-hand 3GS for about half the price of a new iPhone 4 bought outright so was trying to work out which to pitch for. I'd like to know more about the difference so that I can work out if it's worth the extra $400 or so.

You can get a used iPhone 4 on eBay for about $500-600.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iPhone-4-Blac ... 3cb2698be9

I think iPhone 4 is definitely worth the extra cost. It's got a much better screen, better battery life, better reception, faster CPU, more memory....

If you compare used to used, the cost difference is probably only about $200.

 

[caesartg]

Thanks Mike - if I can get a bargain on a 3GS, I'll go for it then. Must be strange being out in the sticks after the Big Apple. I'm from the countryside, myself and when I head back home from the city, the sudden quiet really hits me. Here in Taipei, even when it's quiet, there always seems to be constant ambient noise.

Thanks for the suggestion, Gato - have to say, I am very tempted to go for the 4. In fact went to the local shop to hand over my cash yesterday and buy one outright but the guy just laughed at me - turns out demand hugely outstrips supply here and I'll have to go on a quest around the city to get one. I looked into eBay and it seems from the typical completed listings prices I'd save $50 on a 4 after shipping and domestic offers are factored in but I'd probably be best just going for a new one with local guarantees. If I was in North America though, it would be a no-brainer.

 

[gato]

Wow, supply is still so tight. Here in mainland, smuggled in iPhone 4 are pretty widely available in electronics shops at close to the Apple Store retail price (sometimes above, sometimes below, depending on availability).

You'll probably be very tempted to upgrade when "iPhone 5" comes out next summer if you get a 3GS now, whereas if you get a 4, you probably won't as much.

iPhone 4's screen resolution is much denser that after using 4 for a few days, individual pixels become very noticeable on the 3GS screen.

 

[mikelove]

Must be strange being out in the sticks after the Big Apple. I'm from the countryside, myself and when I head back home from the city, the sudden quiet really hits me. Here in Taipei, even when it's quiet, there always seems to be constant ambient noise.

Oh definitely - in the last 15 years the smallest city I'd lived in was Seattle; most of my time was in Chicago, Boston, New York, and Beijing and even the smallest of those (Boston) has more people in its metro area than live in the entire nation of NZ. (Beijing probably has that many living in 海淀区 nowadays...) So it's really pretty eerie not being able to walk down the street and get a slice of pizza at 3am

You'll probably be very tempted to upgrade when "iPhone 5" comes out next summer if you get a 3GS now, whereas if you get a 4, you probably won't as much.

The 5 will probably have a dual-core processor, though, so there could be some very exciting possibilities with that... still, we're less than halfway through the 4's life cycle so it's a fine time to buy one of those. And it's doubtful they'll be able to improve on the screen much for a few years at least...