Choosing your next iPhone: a TUAW Guide

I have been eligible for an upgrade since spring and have been impatiently awaiting the Apple iPhone roll out only to be very disappointed that they were not releasing an iPhone 5 (LTE). I do not want to be pinned down for another 2 years by upgrading to the iPhone 4S (I currently have the 3GS). I will continue to impatiently wait until an LTE compatible iPhone is released.

I am looking to by an iPhone 4S and possibly three iPhone 4s to replace my teenagers lagging iPod Nanos, feature phones and digital cameras in one package.

Here's a question: will the iPhone 4s sync through an ExpressCard 34 USB 2.0 port on a Macbook Pro that allegedly has USB 2.0 but turns out to actually have USB 1.0?

Just a newb question, but what time on Friday the 7th does the Pre-ordering open? Is it midnight pacific or some realistic time during the day?
Thanks

@ MTC47
You do realize if you are 'waiting for the next iPhone' that you will in fact, be waiting for the iPhone 6? The 4S is only the iPhone 4S by title, but it is truly the iPhone 5. Not to mention had they called it the iPhone 5 and put it in a slimmer case, nobody would be b****ing. All the internal upgrades are great. People are just mad because they 'won't look special' when they hold the 4S against the 4 and it looks the same. Wah.

Nothing about the 4S really blew me away, so I'm gonna hold out and see how well iOS 5 runs on my 2-year-old 3GS. It still runs fast and suits my needs just fine right now.

So, how, exactly, would one go about purchasing a "used out-of-contract iPhone 3GS" and use it with a Pay as You Go data plan? This is pretty much exactly what I'm interested in, but it's strangely difficult to find out how to go about it (probably because the big carriers want you to shell out $75 / month).

I think this is the most appropriate guide yet: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple

Glad to see the "iPod Touch + dumbphone" option here, that's what I have been doing for a while. But nobody is covering the real tragedy of the Tuesday announcement: No development of the iPod Touch whatsoever!

Clarify this for me, please:
People talk about iCloud like it is going to mean no pictures and videos or music will live on your device. If they don't live on my device, taking up my storage, then they will be using my data plan when I want them, or inaccessible if I have no service. So, since I have a limited data plan I should choose to have most of my stuff stored on my device too, right?
Also, how does it work with the photos and videos I take - won't I have to delete them in order to keep them from eating up my space? If so, will accidental photos/videos and garbage shots be added to the cloud - and persist after I delete them?
I think I need a better understanding of iCloud before I pull trigger.