Which iPhone?
 

I'm finally going to be moving into the 21st century and getting a smartphone. I've been getting by with a basic phone and iPod Touch, but communicating with people has become tough since I'm such a dinosaur :)

Anyway, we have the following options for a 32g phone (our touches are 32 gig)

4S - FREE
5S - $299
5C - $199

We are able to keep our Verizon Nationwide plan, which is about $25 a month cheaper than the new more everything plan, but will have to pay $20/month for 1000 texts each. I don't text all that much now, but I have a feeling that will change :) We have the family plan and it will be 2 smartphones and 1 basic phone.

Anyway, is there any phone you would recommend? My current iPod touch can't be upgraded beyond IOS 6x, so I don't want to get stuck with an old operating system with app upgrade issues in a year.

My rule of thumb with Apple products (especially if you plan to keep them for more than a year) is to get the newest version you can afford. That way, you'll continue receiving support updates for the longest time and you'll have the fastest hardware, which will continue to be able to run updated software versions.

The 5S has some significant hardware improvements over the others. If you're going to keep it for a while and have the money, I'd go with it. The 4S is now 2.5 (I think) years old, while the 5C is just a repackaged iPhone 5 (1.5 year old).

Apple plans obsolescence into all its devices, but they generally give them a 2-3 year lifespan.

$20/mo for 100 texts?
Oh well, if most of your friends have iPhones it will use iMessage instead which doesn't count towards your texts, but does use a trivial amount of data. Messages in blue are iMessage, messages in green are normal texts.

Having owned both the 4S and 5S I would recommend the 5S. You will be much less frustrated with it and can get more life out of it.

Didn't see $20 for 100 texts. That's highway robbery (and text message charges in general are highway robbery). We have unlimited texts in our Verizon family plan.

That's what I figured :) I was hoping the 5C wasn't that old. My current iPod Touch is 2.5 years old and still working fine. The issue I'm having is that planned obsolescence.

Oops, I left off a zero :) It should have been 1000 texts :)

I think both of you have convinced me to go with the 5S. I believe that was what I paid for my iPod Touch.

Thank you.

I really like my 5c, but at this point I would recommend the 5s or wait for the next one coming out soon.

That's still nuts.

I think you mean 5S? :)

Maybe her iPod Touch "fell off a truck"? ;) :D

Well, by keeping our existing plan, we add 2gig of data each, and for $10 each, get 1000 messages each. The plan is almost $30 a month less expensive than going with the more everything plan. But I agree, it's nuts :) Good thing most of my friends have iPhones.

Nah, I mis-typed, again. It's the 5s :) That's what I get for posting while multitasking :)

It's $20 for both of us to have 1000 texts each. Agree it's still nuts.

Our plan is the old Nationwide family plan. The only option is to pay $10 each for 1000 messages, $20 each for 2000 messages, of $30 (total) for unlimited.

The iphone 6 will be coming out in Aug/Sept. and there's a decent chance that will result in a small price cut for the 5S, if you want to wait and see.

We thought about that, but quite honestly, it's becoming really difficult to communicate with people so we're just going to do it now.

Thank you!

I also want to that/apologize to everyone responding to me for my mis-types and confusing the heck out of people :)

If you can't wait, then 5S. IMHO it never makes sense to buy an old or underpowered model to save a small amount of money.

Mary - not sure how you use the smartphone. I've owned both 4s for two years and now the 5s since last November. I have about 40-50 apps installed, I travel internationally with it, use it for pretty much everything but on-line banking. eBay, PayPal, Skype, Google Voice, Yelp, Kayak....i buy and sell with it, book flights, use Dropbox and other iCloud storage apps, listen to music, watch movies [have 32gb model], etc. Plus I still run 7.0.6 as it is jailbroken with about 15 tweaks installed. Some of my older tweaks either are out-dated or don't work for 7.x.x.

Folks might scream at this but if you're on a budget - the 4s works just fine. The 5s is the top of the line but most apps can't tell the difference, IMHO. The one difference is my Vz 5s is factory unlocked which means I can use any sim card worldwide. If you get the 4s now it's probably on 7.1.x and you'll have to ask the carrier to unlock for you???

Good luck, you can't go wrong with either 4s or 5s. As others advised, forget the 5c...

Thanks. You raise some good points which we'll consider when we go to the verizon store.

FWIW - I hardly use the phone I have and use my iPod touch for email and apps. I don't know how much that will change once it becomes easier to use it for imessage/texts.

You'll be surprised at how much you use the phone once you get it. My aunt resisted until late last year (still used a flip phone, no smart products at all, etc - you are more advanced with your ipod touch). Now, she uses it all the time and for things she never dreamed.

Mary- I just upgraded from a dumb-phone to a smart phone with Verizon and got an iPhone 5S. They had a promotion running over Mother's Day and the iPhone 5S was $100 (with a 2-year contract blah blah blah). If you go to the store, ask them if they can extend the promotion for you...

Wow... Thank you. I will ask.

Would you consider 16GB?
 

I just looked at the Verizon web site and the 16GB phone is $199 with contract. I have a 5 that has 8GB and currently it is only 50% full. How much memory the phone has never entered my mind until I decided to look today. I have a IPod so that is where my music stays

I have a 32gb iPod Touch, and it's only got 8gb left, which is why I wanted another 32gb. I really don't want to carry 2 devices.

Go for as large of one as you can. I settled for a 16gb when I bought my 5 thinking it would be enough, I don't put that much on my 3G (what I had previously), etc - and now I am constantly having to delete stuff as I'm running into storage isses because of how much more I am using the phone every day.

Don't get an iPhone. Apple's robbing you of money. Assuming you have Verizon, this is my recommendation for you.

Small phone: Motorola Droid Mini. 4.3 inch screen size, $29.99 with a 2 year contract, 16GB. No bloatware and all of the cool features on the Moto X. Qi Wireless Charging. Android 4.4 KitKat.

Medium phone: Motorola Moto X. 4.7 inch screen size, 1 cent with a 2 year contract, 16GB or $50.01 with a 2 year contract, 32GB. Curved back. Android 4.4.2 KitKat. (My phone!!!)

Large phone: Motorola Droid MAXX. 5.0 inch screen size, $99.99 with a 2 year contract, 32GB. Same features as the Moto X. Wireless Charging. Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Phablet: Samsung Galaxy Note III. 5.7 inch screen size, $199.99 with a 2 year contract, 32GB. It's Samsung, so there's tons of bloatware, but Samsung provides a tool to remove it if you want. Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

+1... Honestly, I think you'll start leaving the iPod behind. The iPhone does everything your iPod can do - music, apps, email - plus it makes phone calls and gets you internet connectivity wherever you go. There will be no reason for a duplicate device. My iPod Touch lives in my car now, permanently plugged in to my stereo. I bring it in the house and update it once or twice a year.

If you're already using 24 gigabytes, the 32GB is a no-brainer... if 64GB is a cheap upgrade, you might want to consider that, especially if you carry a lot of music with you or take a lot of pictures/videos.

Could you survive with a 4s or 5c to same some $$$? Yeah. But one is older and one is more cheaply made. The closer we get to the iPhone 6, the less of a good idea the 4s becomes. If I had to choose between one of the two, I'd take the 5c. The 4s doesn't even support LTE.

I would double-check the specifications on the 4s... most of the new 4s models being sold today are only 8GB with no options for larger capacities... part of their differentiation strategy I'm sure. You may need to go refurb if you want a 32GB 4s, and your carrier might not even offer it.

I'm going to disagree. If this is OP's first foray into smartphones, no need to shake things up too drastically. If the iPhone will have a familiar interface because of OP's experience with the iPod touch, there's something to be said for that... and many people still find reasons to pay for iPhones (myself included, having converted from Android) because they do what they need to do with minimal fuss.

I understand, that works best for you. For me it does not work since I have a 160GB IPod which is full, they did not make a phone big enough.

Good luck getting what you need. I am waiting for the 6 to arrive I would like the 5s with the finger print reader, but I would have to paid for that version. In October if the 6 has been out for 30 days or so I can get it for free (from company). We just need to wait for our techs to install all of the encryption software.

Despite what people keep saying, the 5c is a real good phone. The 5s is better, but there's nothing wrong with a 5c.

As an Apple fanboy, I would consider the Moto X if one wanted to try an Android. There are obvious plus and minus, don't want to get into argument here and confuse OP. I have the Moto G as my backup personal phone and it's a nice option. The learning curve isn't as steep as I thought it would be.... IMHO

Good job of not answering the OP's question of which iPhone to get. She asked a straightforward question which should not devolve into another needless "my smartphone is better than yours" p!ssing contest.

To the OP: if you can't wait get the 5s. Otherwise, wait for the 6 to be released.

Update..

We went to the Verizon store and asked about the Mother's Day sale mentioned above, and they said we should wait until Father's Day since there most likely will be another sale that week. The Mother's Day sale was so popular they extended it until last Monday, and we had missed it by days :( It was for $100 of any smartphone.

We settled in on the 5s, keeping our plan and just adding data & texts, and getting 2-32gb. But now that I'm thinking about it, since most of my friends have iphones, I wonder if I'm really going to use $20 worth of texts each month. I'm assuming that it doesn't matter if they're on Verizon or some other system - imessages are data. at .20 per text, we would have to use 100 texts to spend that $20. So I'm thinking of just not getting it, and see how much we use. If we're close, we can add them on later.

Thanks for all the advice! I'll keep everyone posted.

Keep your eye on this Internet web site daily for a good deal on your new Apple iPhone.

Great! Thank you.

Add the texts later if you need them. If you are mainly communicating with friends and family with iPhones you will mainly be using iMessage, and not a text allowance.

Do they not have a 200 texts for $5 package anymore? Or something smaller than 1000 texts? I wasn't a heavy texter back before I got an unlimited plan, and 200 was plenty.

I'm an anti-Apple person, and that's probably obvious from the get-go.


Sheesh. Just stating my opinion and was giving my recommendation. Although you are right and I don't want to start a flamewar here - not the right place to do it.

To the OP: One more thing - if you are hung up about getting an iPhone, don't get the 4S. The thing is almost 3 years old - a real dinosaur - doesn't even have lightning, although that might be a good thing as apple is nickel and dime-ing you with these cables.

its no longer available. I used to have it

Thank you. I'm not hung up on it. I've been using an iPod Touch for at least 5 years - the first one was a gift. My husband is apple everything. It's just easier, given the money I've spent on apps, etc. plus, it allows us to share things more easily.

Even the Verizon store told us not to get the 4s, they're giving it away. :)

I agree, but they aren't exactly giving it away. 2 year commitment to an expensive VZW smart phone plan is not exactly chicken feed.

The old models are cheap enough that the subsidy covers the up-front cost. They recoup the subsidy over the life of the contract.

-David

If one is not married to Vz, TMO offers the best of two worlds. No commitment and a full unsubsidized price that costs less over the two yr period. Plus great international plan. Only downside is coverage can be spotty in certain areas but they are catching up.

Republic Wireless is great if you're not going to be using your phone overseas - they use WiFi and Sprint 3G and 4G. I have an RW Moto X - $399 no contract for the 32GB model (5S equivalent). Or you can get the Moto G - $179 no contract for 16GB model (5C/4S equivalent). Plans range from $5-$40 a month. However, they don't offer iPhones - Apple's locked-down nature makes it impossible to get their WiFi software.

I've been holding out forever for an iPhone, but might bite on the new 6 when it comes out. I was tempted by free 4s's too, but I agree with those who say spring for the latest and greatest because in the end that will be the biggest value.

Don't they exclusively offer just Motorola products - I think they are actually funded by Motorola.

On the general topic I'm anti iPhone as well, although I use a Mac now and love it. Guess its just that the iPhone is literally 1.5x as expensive and I need to upgrade every 2 years vs a Macbook thats sure 1.5x more expensive but I can hold it for 4-5 years.

Just my 2c