So the iPhone 4S came out today, and already China's been going nuts for it. But here's the relevant question: do you really need a 4S?

Honestly? No, not in China, not if you already have an iPhone 4. I just got my 4S in December; bought in Canada and shipped over over after mine was stolen. So, having been an iPhoneless frump this fall, I'm happy I bought the 4S. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But if you already have an iPhone 4, I'd wait a year. The improvements are noticeable but marginal.

The good:
- Futureproofing: This is the most practical reason to go with the 4S over the 4--they'll support the 4S longer than they'll support the 4. It's the same thing that's happening with iPhone 3G and 3GSs: Apple recently stopped supporting the 3G (three generations old now) but is still supporting the 3GS.
- iMessage: This is Apple's answer to Blackberry's BBM, so you get free messaging to anyone around the world who's got a 4S or who's upgraded their iPhone/iPod Touch to iOS5 (the phone's new operating system). Plus, your messages show up in blue. Yay.
- It's fast. As fast as an iPad 2--both use the same A5 chip. That's pretty cool.

The meh:
- Siri. In the US, she can track you using GPS, which makes her much more useful--you can ask her to remind you to pick up your laundry when you leave the building, and she will--but there's no GPS connectivity here for her. So she's largely relegated to taking notes and writing text messages for you. It's convenient sometimes (like when you're biking), but not really: it just took me 27 seconds from start to final confirmation to text JoHo, "Where's the party tonight?" So in China, it's not quite "magic" yet. You might as well wait a year for the iPhone 5--by that time, Siri will be able to speak Chinese as well.

The bad:
- The lines
- Battery life is marginally (but not very noticeably) worse than on the iPhone 4
- It's relatively tough to jailbreak iOS5/the new iPhone right now. So if you rely on pirated apps, you're stuck for a bit.

There you have it, do as you please. On the other hand, maybe you should just splurge now. I mean, how good could the iPhone 5 be anyway? Might be a while before we get phones that look like this.