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Is it worth upgrading from a 4S to a 5?

So I'll admit it. I am a little bit of an apple fanboy. Let me say that I do appreciate and like some of the Android phones and Windows. Im looking forward to seeing what google's new nexus will be and the Nokia Lumia 920 looks pretty sweet. That said, I have invested heavily over the years in the apple ecosystem. I've had every iPhone except the 3GS. When I saw the 5, its everything I wanted the 4S to be. I keep on going back and forth about doing an early upgrade and just getting it but I dont know if its enough for me to do it. Maybe its the new gadget hype has me all worked up. I want to know if anyone upgraded from the 4S to the 5 and if its worth it?

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I have the 5 and had a 4S before - which now is my wife's phone. There is nothing revolutionary about the 5. It's a series of small improvements. With the 4S you already get the Siri enhancements, panorama camera, etc.

If I can point to any single factor in your decision, it is LTE. If you are in an area with good LTE support, and the extra speed is valuable enough to you to justify an early upgrade, then by all means upgrade.

Other than that, the rest is fairly minor, all things considered. Thinner, lighter, faster.

Keep in mind that the extra speed is of no real benefit yet - there aren't any apps which use it, unless you are doing processor-heavy work already, such as video, photo, or audio work. These things will definitely run faster, but is that enough to justify an early upgrade? Probably not.

If you watch a lot of widescreen video on your phone, the new screen is a big improvement. That extra half-inch makes for a significantly larger picture, since you use more of the screen (less or no letter-boxing).
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I have the 5, and I had the 4 on AT&T. My wife currently has the 4S on Verizon. If you're the kind of person who wants the "hot shit", well, the 5 will be the hot shit until Apple comes out with the 5S or whatever. The Nokia and Nexus are never gonna draw the attention of iPhone. Samsung reduced the price of the GSIII by $100 at the announcement of the iPhone, a clear sign of defeat.

I agree that the biggest benefit right now is LTE and wow it is fast. If you're on ATT with your 4S you already have 4G (HSPA+) and LTE is faster but it's probably not worth the step up considering the cost. If you have Verizon though, you are still on 3G and so the LTE will be a bigger difference, though you still can't talk and surf at the same time.

If you can find a buyer for your 4S and essentially make the switch with paying less than $100 I say you should definitely do it, since you love Apple products and you probably think about getting the 5 over 100 times during the day. If you want to keep your 4S I don't think shelling out $500 is a good idea in this case.

If you were you, see how much you can get for your 4S and go from there. In the meantime, back it up to your computer so if you have to sell it on short notice you can and just swing by the Apple/Verizon/ATT store later that day to get your new phone.

For just a quick review of the 5 my only gripe is getting used to the headphone jack being on the bottom. Other than that, it's better in every way. Bigger, but less glass so it's actually more durable. The thinness is really noticeable and everything else is minor upgrades, but still upgrades. Since I just got it, I really haven't been able to test out the battery life, but syncing takes a fraction of the time and the new processor speeds up all the first party apps in the noticeable way. The new headphones are cool, but just another minor upgrade.
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I myself do not have the iPhone 5 or will order it any later. Currently I own an Android phone, but that aside, the every to years a new phone schedule is the best. Everything above is possible, if you have enough spare money and you are a bit of crazy. I mean, the new phone does not make your old phone any worse, it just stays the same and next year you have an even better phone. The difference will be even bigger and you can enjoy the speed boost etc. even more.
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i like you have a lot invested in the apple ecosystem from video, music and applications.

how do you use your device now? for me the phone has become a secondary device to my iPad 3 with 4G. the iPad has become my go to device and the phone is really just used for taking calls and texting.

i will admit i have been really really really tempted to go down and get the phone this is the 1st iPhone i have not upgraded to but i just don’t use the phone like i used to now that i have the iPad.

other than speed, extra screen real-estate, better camera lenses and the thinner design iPhone 5 really doesn’t offer anything that the iPhone 4s doesn't have. With iOS 6 the 4S has all the same software features that the the 5 has.

good luck on holding out and not getting the phone. i think if you can hold out for the next few weeks you will be fine. Also if Apple does release a new “iPad Mini” this fall that should help diminish the hype machine around the iPhone because they will be now focused on the new apple hotness.
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