Steve Jobs was the visionary co-founder, and later chief executive, of Apple, makers of the Macintosh computer, the iMac, the iPod, iPad, and iPhone, and the man behind the astonishing success of the computer animation firm Pixar, makers of Toy Story and Finding Nemo. As a result, he did more to determine what films we watch, how we listen to music, and how we work and play than any other person on the planet.

Today was the long-awaited iPhone announcement, and I must say that I am personally disappointed with what we were given.  For those of you who are aware of my tendency to lean in favor of Apple, and sometimes push people more towards their products than I have in the past, it may come as a surprise when I say that I will be waiting for the next version of the iPhone before I waste one of our upgrades on this one.

I've had every version of the iPhone, and i have to say that I have truly enjoyed the experience.  Aside from the limitations that Apple puts on customizations and a few other things, it really is the best phone on the market in my opinion.  Some may read that statement and ask "Then why do you have a Motorola Atrix running Android now?" and the answer is simple...I am a developer and wanted to start writing Android apps.  However, I have now put that on the back burner and want to focus more on iPhone/iPad apps instead.  That and the fact that I got my mom and my aunt and uncle to buy Android phones since they wanted smartphones and the iPhone was somewhat cost-prohibitive, so I needed to be familiar with Android so that I could answer their questions.

As a .Net developer I obviously can't switch everything to Mac and still be productive.  But I have my 15" MacBook Pro, iPad 2, Apple TV, and Missy has her 21" iMac, so Apple is definitely a big part of our lives.  Each time I upgrade phones, Missy is happy to get my previous model, and right now she has my iPhone 4 while Aubrey's iPod Touch is floating around somewhere too.  So the only reason I'm even considering getting another iPhone is so that I don't get any glaring looks when I need to test the latest version of my apps.

The new iPhone 4S is a good device, but its not enough to make me want to spend the money for it.  Sure the camera is better, but the iPhone 4 camera does a really great job with the pictures that I take.  We already have a video camera that does 1080p video, so that does nothing for me, and Siri may be nice, but I just don't see myself using it much.  The A5 processor is nice, but my iPad 2 already has that.  So really the only thing left is the new 64gb model, but I'm not spending $400 just to have it.  I guess the HSDPA speed is nice too, but if I really need that much speed my Verizon 4g MiFi is actually faster, so I can always connect to it.

So what would have made me think twice about buying the new iPhone?  For starters if it had at least a 4" screen like my Atrix, I would like that.  There were rumors of it happening, but Apple saw things differently I guess.  Also if the 64gb model was cheaper I may reconsider.  Memory prices are down right now, so at this point it's just price gouging by someone in the mix.  And since the iPod Touch 64gb model has been out for some time now, it's not like there's a massive R&D cost that needs recouped.  Then throw in some new feature that would be unexpected, and I may be singing a different tune.

With that said, it is a worthwhile upgrade if you're coming from the 3G or 3GS.  The 4(S) is a dramatic improvement over the previous versions in terms of speed, quality of display, and overall aesthetic features.  Aside from the antenna issue with the 4 (which I never really had any problems myself) the only other issue I have is the proximity sensor "thinks" that I moved the phone away from my face is I put it on my shoulder to use both hands for something.  Other than that, I do recommend the upgrade from the 3G(S) but not the 4 to 4S.

At this point though I'm going back to the iPhone, and sticking with the iPhone 4 until the next iteration arrives.  For now I picked one up on eBay in excellent condition, so I will once again be back in the iPhone clique.  I'll keep the Atrix as a backup, and for when I decide to pump out a couple apps, but for now it feels good to be back.