Apple iPhone 5S/5C

[Thai]

[MENTION=2]Thai[/MENTION], thanks for the great tech banter and the advice on how we might be able to revive my wife's 4s, we are going to give it a shot!

[MENTION=98468]BigNuge[/MENTION]
[MENTION=92884]snivilous[/MENTION]

Found it...see: Tempting fate: Installing iOS 6 on the iPhone 3GS | Ars Technica

iOS6 and iphone 3GS work fine together. iPhone 4/4S should be perfectly fine after restore.

Here is something more along your line: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/09/24/ios-6-on-iphone-4-first-impressions-and-performance/

iOS6 and iPhone 4 should be fine. Just restore your iPhone.

As for battery life, well, you guys are screwed. Sorry...no way to improve that thru software.

 

[JWaldz]

Apple may have a better camera, the first mobile phone with 64-bit cpu, and stunning graphics but they are constantly playing catch up with their operating system. Which is the reason why I switched to my galaxy S3. iPhone's OS is so religiously proprietary it drives me nuts. Apple's marketing skills are out the roof though and they will no doubt sell millions of these phones. I'm not saying the're bad phones. Everyone knows they are very dependable, user friendly, and boast the largest accessories market out there. But it's only a matter of time before "the next big thing" comes out causing more users to get away from apple. Thai, with the amount of time you put into these threads one would think you work for Apple lol.

 

[Thai]

Apple may have a better camera, the first mobile phone with 64-bit cpu, and stunning graphics but they are constantly playing catch up with their operating system. Which is the reason why I switched to my galaxy S3. iPhone's OS is so religiously proprietary it drives me nuts. Apple's marketing skills are out the roof though and they will no doubt sell millions of these phones. I'm not saying the're bad phones. Everyone knows they are very dependable, user friendly, and boast the largest accessories market out there. But it's only a matter of time before "the next big thing" comes out causing more users to get away from apple. Thai, with the amount of time you put into these threads one would think you work for Apple lol.

While you're correct, I like to equate Apple to Toyota. Toyota copies other car manufacturer's technology (like adaptive cruise, VSC, etc.)...but they make it more reliable. Apple is like that. Yes, iOS7 does take some stuff from Android and Windows, but has made them easier to use and simply better. Take Facetime. Yes, Android has had Skype etc. before Facetime...but with Facetime, the connection is better and more reliable. Take iMessage. I can tell you that iMessage is far far superior to anything Android offers...and i have searched with my Note 2! Steve Jobs was never shy about admitting that he copies others...but where Apple differs is that they make it better.

Android is more innovative...possibly and probably. But, a lot of Android innovations are crap. Take the Face Recognition/Unlock. Total useless. Yes, i have tried it and redo it many times for better recognition. Useless. Apple fingerprint (TouchID) is far superior and is actually a security tool that works!

Look at Android's widgets and live wallpapers. Cool. Very cool. Except they eat battery, esp. the live wallpapers! Yes, Android has the Parallax wallpaper effect app...been there for a while. I paid for one (most popular one). Glitchy. Stutters. Drains battery. iOS7 parallax wallpaper is so damn smooth and has minimal effect on battery life.

And then we come to software updates. Google has tried to get around this by piece-meal the software into small pieces to update thru Play Store, like Maps. But, in the end, you are still stuck behind. Take your GS3. Samsung promises Jellybean 4.3 in October. This is decent, if Samsung has a history of keeping its words! Samsung recently took my Note 2 off the list for 4.3 AFTER promising it!! Do you think that Samsung will ever update your GS3 to KitKat (4.4)?? I would not hold your hopes on it! 4.3 will probably be your last update on your phone. After that, you better root it and get aftermarket support to get anything beyond 4.3.

Android/Google has already stated publicly that they will likely not support any phone beyond 15-18 months of its life. And this is with NEXUS phones/tablets. With carrier phones (Samsung, LG, HTC), this lifespan will likely be less. The lone exception i think will be HTC, which seems to have shown a new commitment to updating their flagships.

Next big thing? I think that you have already seen it. 64-bit processors. Samsung stated this morning that they will make one in 2014-2015. So, yeah, in some ways, Android is way behind Apple on what matters most...processors. And with Yahoo CEO blessing this morning, it seems like fingerprint technology is also the next big thing! Oh yeah, but Samsung has those eye motion thingies that never work and requires perfect conditions! Crap! I got tired of those contrived useless features on my Note 2!

No, i do not work for Apple. I have a Sony and ASUS laptops at home. I currently have Note 2. (My wife has iPhone 5.) I have no Apple products other than the iPhone and Airport Extreme Wifi router.

The difference here is that i buy what is best for me and what makes sense. I also do a lot of research on it, rather than spit out fanboyisms.

 

[huntsonora]

Who is your carrier? Do you use your phone outside a lot? Have you ever had an iphone?

I am with Verizon, I am outside ALL THE TIME. I guide hunts for a living and am always outside. I have had an iPhone since 2007 or so. My iPhone 4 has been getting worse and worse over the past year and it hardly works now

 

[JWaldz]

It all more or less comes down to what you want and how you'll use it.. The "have to have the best/most updated" feeling is quite often the case.

 

[Thai]

I am with Verizon, I am outside ALL THE TIME. I guide hunts for a living and am always outside. I have had an iPhone since 2007 or so. My iPhone 4 has been getting worse and worse over the past year and it hardly works now

A few things to consider:
1. Samsung Galaxy S4 uses a display technology called, SAMOLED. It is known to provide bright saturated colors...oversaturation is the norm. The screen colors POP out of the screen! Lots of people like this. Samsung has given some controls over it for you to select how saturated the colors are. Blacks are truly black on the screen. All good so far.

2. SAMOLED is also quite useless outside. For reason beyond my knowledge, SAMOLED washes out under the sun. You can't see what is on the screen in sunlight!!

3. SAMOLED screen brightness is also quite low. As you crank up on brightness of SAMOLED, it drinks battery fast! (Setting at low brightness, it potentially uses less battery than LCD screens.) So, Samsung has limit how bright the screen will go. This is a problem outside under the sun where you want to crank up brightness to read the screen. In addition to washing out, SAMOLED screens are dim everywhere. SAMOLED is great indoors, but useless outside.

4. Since you already own an iPhone, you probably are invested in Apple's ecosystem. You may want to consider that because switching to another OS requires more $$$$ to get the same apps that you have now. (Trust me, i know! I have both OS at home.)

5. With iTunes, you just need to back-up your iPhone 4 on your computer before erasing it. Now, when you get iPhone 5S/C and plug it in for the first time into your computer, then just RESTORE it to your backup. This way, your iPhone 5S/C will have all the stuff that you have on your old 4, including ringtones, contact settings, etc.. That is the REAL beauty of iTunes that no one mentions! You can't do that on Android.

Now, if you REALLY want to try Android, then there are some nice choices out there. Since you're getting it thru contract, then i suggest that you get a top-end unit. My recommendations are:

1. LG G2, which you can order today! Fabulous phone with top internals. The problem is that the Verizon's version is weird. It has wireless charging, which is good, but this makes the phone a tiny bit fatter. In addition, the volume and power buttons on the back are tiny due to this.

2. Motorola Droid...which has good battery life, but average internals (same as Motorola X discussed above).

3. Samsung Galaxy Note 3...same great internals as G2, but a bigger phone! It is big. Coming out soon i think.

4. Quit Verizon. Go pre-paid! If your contract is up or if you're not in a family plan, then go to STRAIGHT TALK...but go with ATT (not verizon). Fabulous value. You won't get LTE, but ATT's HSPA+ (semi-4G) is fast enough. You do have to buy a phone outright at MSRP, but with the monthly savings, you are ahead by 10 months period. No contract. And yeah, you can get any GSM phone you want with Straight Talk.

Hope this helps.

 

[Thai]

My iPhone 4 has been getting worse and worse over the past year and it hardly works now

You need to backup your iPhone and do a RESTORE on it. If you don't have much on it, then RESTORE to new (erase everything and start as a new phone). This should solve your issue. Battery life, as noted above, is not fixable.

 

[LandCruiser]

My wife wants it for the same reason I hate it, the smaller size.

I can't get over the thin, tall rectangular screen or the fact that I don't see it as better in a significant way over the S4 or having better OS.

The 5C isn't priced competitively at launch, but if they'd give away a 16GB for free, it'd be a decent buy.

 

[Thai]

I can't get over the thin, tall rectangular screen or the fact that I don't see it as better in a significant way over the S4 or having better OS.

The 5C isn't priced competitively at launch, but if they'd give away a 16GB for free, it'd be a decent buy.

The only way to get a 4" screen to have 16:9 widescreen is to do it that way. S4 is a great phone for sure. But, right now, it is a step behind in Android and Apple world in terms of horsepower (both CPU and GPU). The screen is of limited use outside your house. On the other hand, yeah, i love SD card access and removable battery. The removable battery solves what iPhone users complain of on their old iphones...batteries that don't hold charge. I have tons of (ripped) movies on my SD card (64GB) on my Note 2.

Remember, iPhone 5C is not a "cheap" iPhone. It is a DIFFERENT iPhone with more character and flavor. It is not a bargain iPhone. IF you want a bargain iPhone, then you have to buy an iPhone 4S, which is free on most carriers i think. On eBay, 4S prices will also be lower.

 

[Thai]

Best article so far regarding 5S and A7: Hands-on with the new 64-bit A7-powered iPhone 5s with new M7, camera features & Touch ID

"The modern instruction set of ARMv8 not only supports running both 32- and 64-bit apps, but also expands the number of both floating point and general purpose registers, uses 64-bit addressing and allows 32-bit instructions to take either 32- or 64-bit arguments. These upgrades are a package deal, and each part of the jump is significant and noteworthy.

It's simply ridiculous to maintain that Apple pulled off the first production use of the 64-bit ARM architecture just as a marketing ploy designed to fool its customers into thinking they were getting a faster device that wasn't really improved.

Advancing to a 64-bit instruction set essentially means that big math problems can be worked out faster in larger chunks, not just boosting performance but also allowing the processor to finish its work faster and drop back down into a lower power mode, contributing to energy savings even while delivering up to twice the computational performance.

In addition, Apple's experience in porting OS X to the 64-bit Power PC G5 and then again with the Intel transition to 64-bit has not only equipped the company to make a third 64-bit transition on ARM, but also affords a "seamless developer transition" for third party apps.

iOS 7 on iPhone 5s gets a native 64-bit kernel, libraries and drivers and Apple has ported all of its own bundled apps to 64-bit, but the device can run both 32- and 64-bit apps without users needing to worry about which they have.

As developers make the transition via Apple's Xcode support for 64-bit, App Store titles can be delivered in "fat binaries" with both sets of code, allowing users to run apps that automatically work correctly, depending on the hardware being used. And note that ARM code isn't what takes up space in typical iOS apps: its typically the graphics and other assets, making "fat binaries" really fat in name only.

Enhanced graphics cores now also support OpenGL ES 3.0 in iOS 7, and Apple says this can boost graphics performance by a factor of two as well. This is particularly important in console-style mobile games, a field that has been dominated by iOS, where developers can concentrate on a limited set of standard hardware rather than dealing with multiple fractions of Android versions each running on different GPU architectures."

More info regarding ARM Cortex-50 series Processors, which is what A7 is based on: ARM Launches Cortex-A50 Series, the World?s Most… - ARM

 

[zopperman]

wow [MENTION=2]Thai[/MENTION] you really know your stuff with cell phones :twitch:

 

[zopperman]

You need to backup your iPhone and do a RESTORE on it. If you don't have much on it, then RESTORE to new (erase everything and start as a new phone). This should solve your issue. Battery life, as noted above, is not fixable.

sorry for the double post but im lazy.

I tried this with mine and it didnt fix my issues.

My sound doesn't play through the speakers and my battery life sucks and the phone is relatively new (feb it was replaced and battery has sucked since march)

apple "genius" told me it was software related and restore would help.

 

[Thai]

sorry for the double post but im lazy.

I tried this with mine and it didnt fix my issues.

My sound doesn't play through the speakers and my battery life sucks and the phone is relatively new (feb it was replaced and battery has sucked since march)

apple "genius" told me it was software related and restore would help.

No, it is not software related if your speakers are busted!! :dizzy: Yeah, either your iPhone suffered trauma or it is defective. My guess is the latter.

Like i posted earlier, big websites tested iPhone 4 (and 3GS) with iOS6 and found no major flaw.

Good luck.

 

[zopperman]

No, it is not software related if your speakers are busted!! :dizzy: Yeah, either your iPhone suffered trauma or it is defective. My guess is the latter.

Like i posted earlier, big websites tested iPhone 4 (and 3GS) with iOS6 and found no major flaw.

Good luck.

Thanks, yeah. No idea what could have happened... never dropped, never wet. Reason I think its software is that the speaker will play a ringer and alarms but not music.... but who knows

 

[Thai]

More about A7 and what it means to apps developers: A Developer's Guide to Apple's 64-Bit A7 Chip

 

[BigNuge]

You need to backup your iPhone and do a RESTORE on it. If you don't have much on it, then RESTORE to new (erase everything and start as a new phone). This should solve your issue. Battery life, as noted above, is not fixable.

Mind you, this is a complete "start over" process. I had to do the same thing on mine. To do a true restore you have to do a restore WITHOUT doing it from a backup. Sucks big time.....had to do it myself......TWICE!!

I understand the Apple fans are hanging on every report and article regarding the iOS7 and the 5s........we'll see where the rubber meets the road.

 

[Thai]

Mind you, this is a complete "start over" process. I had to do the same thing on mine. To do a true restore you have to do a restore WITHOUT doing it from a backup. Sucks big time.....had to do it myself......TWICE!!

I understand the Apple fans are hanging on every report and article regarding the iOS7 and the 5s........we'll see where the rubber meets the road.

Ok...did it work? You're saying that your iPhone 4/4S is a brick with iOS6? I too had to do a complete restore on my Galaxy Note 2. It always sucks.

Frankly, you should try Android! Because, right now, any little hiccups, you will be going crazy! Try Android.

 

[BigNuge]

Ok...did it work? You're saying that your iPhone 4/4S is a brick with iOS6? I too had to do a complete restore on my Galaxy Note 2. It always sucks.

Frankly, you should try Android! Because, right now, any little hiccups, you will be going crazy! Try Android.

Thai, I am simply helping folks with full disclosure about the complete restore process.

My phone is working now with iOS6. Glitchy & problematic, but usable.

I fully intend to give the 5s a shot. If it is anything but a breath of fresh air it is gone. I to have a multi-phone account that always has an upgrade available. I will simply replace it with a droid. Don't really want to but I refuse to be handcuffed by the ultra proprietary iPhone. At least if I buy the insurance with a droid based phone I can go and get a completely different model/manufacturer. Apple......not so much.

Again, I do like Apple. Just need this to be a fresh new start!

 

[Thai]

At least if I buy the insurance with a droid based phone I can go and get a completely different model/manufacturer. Apple......not so much.

Have you had any Android experience? Good luck with doing what you wrote! Grass is always greener in the other side. That was funny. If you think that it is that easy and Android is so good with customer service, then go Android now! Why take the risk?

Apple gave me FOUR new iphone 5 when I had network issue... probably Sprint issue. I gave up and went to Android...Apple was offering me a fifth iphone 5!

Can Apple be stingy with older models? Sure... but can you blame them since you're out of warranty period to begin with! you think that Samsung is any different?

 

[BigNuge]

Have you had any Android experience? Good luck with doing what you wrote! Grass is always greener in the other side. That was funny. If you think that it is that easy and Android is so good with customer service, then go Android now! Why take the risk?

Apple gave me FOUR new iphone 5 when I had network issue... probably Sprint issue. I gave up and went to Android...Apple was offering me a fifth iphone 5!

Dude, don't get all wound up. You're taking something personally, and this has nothing to do with you. I am merely trying to give an unbiased opinion.

Simply put, I am not a fanboy of any of the manufacturers or models. Apple still has my vote! But to maintain that they will have to hit this one out of the park. If they don't, it will simply give me enough cause to shop the options.....whatever they may be.

Have a pleasant evening.