By: Emily Sullivan
Opinion and Associate Editor
I love my iPhone.
I’ll freely admit that. I’m constantly using it to check my email, text my friends and FaceTime with relatives who live across the globe.
I will also freely admit to being a poor college student. When the iPhone 4 came out, I couldn’t afford it. I kept with my trusty Octane, and I didn’t even consider getting an iPhone until almost two years after the 4 came out.
By that time, the iPhone 5 was out and the iPhone 4 was a free upgrade.
When I excitedly texted all of my friends to let them know I finally had an iPhone 4, the most popular response I got was: “Why didn’t you get the 5? The 4 sucks.”
Talk about a buzzkill.
If you looked at any news websites, be it ABC, CBS or FOX on Sept. 10, one of the lead stories was about the iPhone 5C and 5S models.
Now my little iPhone 4 and I feel even more obsolete.
And two new phones and a software update all at once seem like too much.
I understand the idea of always wanting to be on the cutting edge of technology, and I will give credit where it’s due; the iPhone 5C and 5S are going to be pretty cool.
These new phones are going to have a multitude of features, according to a Sept. 9 ABC15 story. It will have a camera that can shoot 10 frames in one second, a dual LED flash to improve color balance and a co-processor that measures motion. The new iPhone will also have a “Touch ID” feature. Basically, you simply touch your phone, it recognizes your finger prints and it unlocks.
I don’t know if that’s cool or creepy.
These phones will use the new iOS7 software, which the company announced back in June, according to a Sept. 10 ABC News story. iOS7 will be the biggest change to the software since the first iPhone was introduced back in 2007.
If you go to Apple’s website and check out the main page for iOS7, you see all the cool new features iOS7 will include, including multitasking, updates to the camera and new updates for Siri.
But if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, in very small print, it says that not all of its features are available for all devices. The iPhone 4 is left out a few of these cool new updates, like the AirDrop option, which allows you to share photos and other files with just one tap.
I haven’t even had my iPhone for a year, and when the new software is released on Sept. 18, my phone will be worth nothing in the technological world.
Why do we have this constant need to keep updating what is already fine-working technology? Sure, smartphones are great. They make it easy to contact people on the go and stay updated with news. But even with the presence of the apparently-glorious iPhone 5, I have never felt like my iPhone 4 is holding me back.
Rumors are already circulating about the iPhone 6, and the iPhone 5C and 5S haven’t even been officially released yet.
I don’t see the need to hand over $100 to buy a new iPhone every year, and I know that I won’t be buying an iPhone 5 just so I can have a camera that includes filters.
If that makes me and my iPhone obsolete, so be it.
sullivec10@bonaventure.edu
