Phone nerds were let down when Tim Cook showed off the iPhone 4S because it didn’t deliver on the wild expectations that they built up in their spec sheet obsessed minds. The screen stayed the same tiny 3.5 inches, the cellular radio got bumped up to only 14.4 Mbps max theoretical download speeds, and worst of all the design wasn’t changed. Samsung used those pain points to create a hilarious commercial saying that people should buy the Galaxy S II instead. Anyway, it soon became apparent that the geek crowd was wrong, that the iPhone 4S had no problem breaking sales records, and now thanks to a survey conducted by ChangeWave Research, we know that the iPhone 4S really is the best iPhone Apple has ever produced. Starting with overall customer satisfaction, 77% of iPhone 4S owners said they were very satisfied with their new gadget, versus 72% of iPhone 4 owners in a survey that was done in July 2010. What exactly do people like about the iPhone 4S? Siri is a favorite, with 49% of the 215 people surveyed saying it’s the feature they like best. Ease of use follows with 39%, next up there’s the camera with 33%, and then faster web browsing with 24%.
On the flipside, what do people hate about the iPhone 4S? Battery life is at the top of the list, with 38% of iPhone 4S owners complaining about having to charge their device way too often. Next is the “lack of 4G capability”, which scores an amazing 30%! How much of that is due to operators pouring million into marketing 4G and how much of that is due to actual slow network speeds? After that there’s the folks complaining about the screen size, that makes up 11% of iPhone 4S owners. Everything else after that is network related issues.
If Apple makes the iPhone 5 last longer, throws in a larger screen, and adds LTE in there, then they’ll have yet another record setter in their hands, which makes 2012 all the more interesting to watch. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait until October of next year to see what Cupertino’s labs have brewing inside.