iPhone 4/4s vs sub-$150 Androids of 2014
iPhone 4 had a beautiful and sharp display. Cheap Androids generally use bad viewing angles of TFT and QVGA (800x480). If you want 720p, the smallest display is 4.3 inches offered by the Sony Xperia acro S and Z1 Compact. Most are QVGA with ppi under 250 (below Retina).
iPhone 4 only had single core. Many current cheap Androids have dual core but still lag or the touchscreen isn't as sensitive even for a capacitive.
iPhone 4 still offered great sound. Most Androids can be weak and the speaker placed foolishly on the rear.
iPhone 4s had a GPU 7x faster than 4. Most cheap Androids use GPU worse than Adreno 305 and Mali 400. My girl has a Mali 400 on her $150 Lenovo A516 released last year and it still lags on games or crashes.
iPhone 4 had one of the best battery life ever with its sub-1500 mAh. Most Androids in the low price range would be lucky to give you 5 hr SOT or half what the iP4 offered.
Apple still updates iPhone 4/4s with iOS8. Most Androids from 3-4 years ago didn't even get to Ice Cream Sandwich! The current cheaper ones still get heavier Jelly Bean or KitKat but with 256 MB of RAM.
iPhone 4 is generally a better option than most current Androids priced under $150. Most OEM's have failed to offer a cheaper and smaller phone on par with Apple's 4.5 year old flagship. If you can replace the battery and any unresponsive home or power button, iP4 is quite serviceable even today. This is Apple's ENDURING quality.
The advantages cheaper Androids have is they usually offer a removable battery and expandable memory which surprisingly most flagships (sans Samsung) omit one or both. Some offer dual sim or more and FM radio. And yes, if you are stuck on Gingerbread, many apps can still work. If you are stuck on iOS4, you are almost forced to update for many apps to work.
I only found ONE Android which offered ok specs for cheap ($80) but it comes from a local brand here in the Philippines - Starmobile Play. It has a 2000 mAh which is quite large for a QVGA/4-inch screen and a Yamaha speaker. It also offers KitKat with 512 MB but a dual core MediaTek. It isn't bad and quite smooth although gaming is weak and lacks a front cam. But it probably loses in design, display, camera, and a few other areas vs iPhone 4 which is expected for its price. And I just don't trust local brands' reliability.
The only worthy Androids under $150 is the Xiaomi Redmi 1s and Asus Zenfone 5. Both are more worth it than Moto E. Their specs are on par to Moto G's and should surpass even iP4s but both are very hard to get.
Apple iPhone 4 (2010) vs HTC One (2013)
Most areas, HTC wins. It is nearly three years younger. It has a better and sharper display (my iP4 was quite warm), faster SoC, excellent external sound, and gaming with the Adreno 320. Plus, I just prefer Android and Sense more than iOS. But when I compared both my phones last year, iPhone 4 actually held its own in a few key (hardware) areas.
First off, internal sound. HTC One was fantastic esp with Beats switched on but iPhone 4 was quite loud too and very balanced sans Beats. Next was camera. M7 became horrendous months later. Same applied to iPhone 4 as I found it a bit overrated with its lens flare. But iP4 lacked any purple tints. Even before the M7 started giving me purple photos months later, the cam was never impressive. And the last was surprisingly Wi-Fi browsing. The iPhone 4 had introduced us to Wi-Fi "n" while M7 gave us Wi-Fi "ac". Yet, iPhone 4 was nearly just as fast opening websites and connecting. Also design is very close but I prefer M7 by a little as I hate glass rears but iPhone 4 is definitely better for one-handed use. The iP4 easily won on battery life.
So iPhone 4/4s are really great phones that can stand the test of time vs newer multi-core and cheaper 2014 Androids or against a 2013 HTC flagship which won multiple awards for best smartphone of the year. I generally don't miss mines since I longer can tolerate iOS. And if I did, I would rather get the faster 4s instead since I wasn't aware back in 2010 that Apple would offer us "s" models every odd numbered year. But I can understand that nearly half a decade later, people are still using iPhone 4 or Android phones close to those specs. The iPhone 4/4s were the best sub-4 inch and perhaps "compact" smartphones of all-time.
What the chart can really be saying could be that many older smartphones are quite serviceable even today. It's why I still see many BlackBerry QWERTY phones still around too and those are older. Not everyone needs all the bells & whistles when most probably only need to do maybe less than 10 different tasks per day. Call, text, email, browse, social networking, and music. With watching videos, games, ebooks, and camera on occasion.
Most phones circa 2010 can do many of those tasks quite well and in a smaller package. 2K res, 6 inches, octa-cores, 13 MP, $500+, 1M apps offered when you need less than 50, gimmicky features, those are overkill to most people esp for folks who can't have phones while working. Things like that is only for bragging rights for people who can afford the latest & greatest.
"Apple's problem is it still believes the way to grow is serving
caviar in a world that seems pretty content with cheese
and crackers," gripes former Chief Financial Officer
Joseph Graziano.
