# Should I buy iPhone 5S



## thebluebumblebee (Nov 11, 2016)

I know, I know, I'm very late to the smartphone "thing", especially for someone who worked for McCaw Cellular dba CellularOne (now AT&T) back in the 90's. 
So, my question is whether it's a bad idea to purchase the iPhone 5S at this time?  Total Wireless has it for $150 and I'd hope to get up to 4 years of use out of them. Is that unrealistic?  Any idea how long Apple will continue to provide (full) support?  Anything that screams NO to anyone?  BTW, I don't care about ApplePay.  I'm actually looking at getting 4 of these for my family.  This is my current phone. 

(Total Wireless is a sub company of Tracfone that runs exclusively on Verizon.)


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 11, 2016)

I enjoyed my 5S and sold it on to another happy owner. I have a 6S now and man the difference was pretty noticable. But then I always skip one so is was 3S, 4S, 5S, 6S. I do miss the more compact size, not a fan of huge phones. But yeah if you can get a good deal on it, it's a great phone and well moving up from that Motorola you are gonna be warping into the future.


----------



## Disparia (Nov 11, 2016)

Asked my wife, the Apple user, and she made a face. Her expression changed after I showed her what you are currently using and that it would be 4 of them for your family. Thinks it's a good way to move into a smart phones as it's simple to share, connect, and more on the iOS platform.


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 11, 2016)

Jizzler said:


> Asked my wife, the Apple user, and she made a face. Her expression changed after I showed her what you are currently using and that it would be 4 of them for your family. Thinks it's a good way to move into a smart phones as it's simple to share, connect, and more on the iOS platform.


Yeah that too is really nice with Apple I bought an iPad Air 2 last year and love the "synced" aspect between devices.


----------



## Aquinus (Nov 11, 2016)

Sure, if you can get the 5S really cheap it would be a nice upgrade. My poor 4S is pretty much at the end of its life and I'm considering either getting an iPhone 7 or possibly looking into something like Google's Pixel but, I'm also in a position to consider buying a new phone out-right.

Apple does a lot of stupid things but, I think their phones are one of the things that they've mostly gotten right compared to others but, that's me.


----------



## thebluebumblebee (Nov 11, 2016)

I should have said that we're not totally backwards.  Several of us have iPod Touch's that we basically use like WiFi smartphones and there are 2 FreedomPop Galaxy 2 phones as well.  My oldest daughter just bought herself a S7, so she will be outside of that iOS sphere.


----------



## hat (Nov 13, 2016)

How much phone do you really need? Coming up from that tracfone you have now especially, I doubt you'd need an iPhone 5S. I'm sure you can find a much cheaper Android phone, unless you're stuck on the iPhone for some reason? If so, the 5S is probably a good choice. Not too new/expensive and shouldn't let you down.


----------



## R00kie (Nov 13, 2016)

I would say 4 years out of that phone is a stretch, seeing that the 5 is pretty much EOL, iOS 10 is going to be its last update. The 5S might survive another year, at most. What's really keeping it alive is the fact that it's SOC is 64 bit compatible, so all of the modern apps can still work on it. If you can stretch your budget a bit, might as well consider the SE, at least it will have the chance to survive those 4 years.


----------



## thebluebumblebee (Nov 13, 2016)

The 5S is $150 and a SE or 6 is $400!.  We don't need much from a phone.  I like all the accessories that are available for a main line phone like the 5S. After my daughters' experience with their FreedomPop S2's, I'm nervous about cheap Android phones.


----------



## hat (Nov 13, 2016)

Here's the thing about FreedomPop: I use a similar service (TextNow) which works off the same basic idea, which is VOIP. Turns out VOIP isn't such a good idea with cell phones for some reason, at least, that's what it seems to me. I had a Nexus 4, and later, an LG Optimus Dynamic (broke the Nexus) on Straight Talk, which doesn't rely on VOIP and they worked great. I think you'll be fine as long as you're not shoving calls on your data rather than an actual cellular calling line.


----------



## BUCK NASTY (Nov 13, 2016)

I have used a 5s for work during the last year. Compared to my LG G3, the 5s is a more stable and proven platform. It will be a adequate phone for years to come if you are content with no future software updates(I know I am). I can upgrade phones at anytime, but this little 5s handles everything I throw at it.... and battery life/bluetooth streaming is rock solid. I say do it!


----------



## Komshija (Nov 17, 2016)

You can get Lenovo S60, Lenovo Vibe S1 Lite and Huawei P8 Lite for a little more money. They have 24 months warranty (at lest here in EU) and are unlocked (can be used with any mobile operator). Not to mention that they are all faster than iPhone.


----------



## Athlon2K15 (Nov 17, 2016)

Solid phone man I started my iPhone journey on a 5s and now have the 7 Plus.


----------



## LTUGamer (Nov 19, 2016)

There are so much similarly priced phones which are much better than iPhone 5s. For example: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_308843.html?lkid=10218984


----------



## WhiteNoise (Nov 30, 2016)

I've been all over the map with phones. iphone 4 and 4s, the Nokia Lumia windows phone, the Android LG G3, G4, V10 and now back to iPhone 6S Plus. Hands down the easiest to use, just always works phone is the iphone.

I just bought a iphone 5 for my daughter and so far so good! My Wife uses the iPhone 6S.


----------



## Melvis (Nov 30, 2016)

Aquinus said:


> Sure, if you can get the 5S really cheap it would be a nice upgrade. My poor 4S is pretty much at the end of its life and I'm considering either getting an iPhone 7 or possibly looking into something like Google's Pixel but, I'm also in a position to consider buying a new phone out-right.
> 
> Apple does a lot of stupid things but, I think their phones are one of the things that they've mostly gotten right compared to others but, that's me.



What version of iOS did you have on your 4s? My brother still has his 4S and it still blazing fast and still last 10days+ on battery, the trick is NOT to upgrade to a later iOS, he still running iOS 6, my gf had the same phone with it fully updated to iOS 9 and it ran slow! The only Phone he was looking at to upgrade to from the 4S is the SE, basically a 5S with modern internals, very nice phone. The new iPhone 7 (not the 7S) is just a joke really.


----------



## thebluebumblebee (Nov 30, 2016)

I purchased them about a week ago.  No surprises so far.


----------



## Aquinus (Nov 30, 2016)

Melvis said:


> What version of iOS did you have on your 4s? My brother still has his 4S and it still blazing fast and still last 10days+ on battery, the trick is NOT to upgrade to a later iOS, he still running iOS 6, my gf had the same phone with it fully updated to iOS 9 and it ran slow! The only Phone he was looking at to upgrade to from the 4S is the SE, basically a 5S with modern internals, very nice phone. The new iPhone 7 (not the 7S) is just a joke really.


iOS 9 and it's slow as hell. iOS 6 or 7 was the last update to actually behave normal. It's not only slow but, it acts glitchy when doing certain things. While it has been a great phone, the latest versions of iOS has crippled it. New job and first paycheck just got deposited in my bank account and it is making me want to go get a new phone for my birthday which is just under a week away to be honest.


----------



## qubit (Nov 30, 2016)

Go Android.


----------



## monim1 (Dec 1, 2016)

OMG!! Your current phone shuld be in a museum.
Change your phone to any iPhone. It matters very little that your new one is 5S or higher comparing to your current one.


----------



## Aquinus (Dec 3, 2016)

Not to hijack the OP's thread but, I bit the bullet and got a 128GB iPhone 7 to replace my decrepit 4S and it's great... but how the 4S was running wasn't exactly setting the bar very high. To put things into perspective though, Spotify might even load faster on my phone than on my tower where the 4S would literally take 20 seconds to open it and another 6 to become responsive.


----------

