4S vs the 5.. what are the differences?

[CavemanChuck]

We're about to get new phones, and I am fine with the 16GB 4s for $99... my wife, however wants the 5. She is by no means a power user. She does do lots of email, though. And she likes her calendar program. She will take photos, but probably not take video.

So what are all the differences? She can have the 5 if it makes sense, but I don't see why she needs it.

[tymaster50]

Originally Posted by CavemanChuck

We're about to get new phones, and I am fine with the 16GB 4s for $99... my wife, however wants the 5. She is by no means a power user. She does do lots of email, though. And she likes her calendar program. She will take photos, but probably not take video.

So what are all the differences? She can have the 5 if it makes sense, but I don't see why she needs it.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare-iphones/
http://www.gizmag.com/iphone-5-vs-ip...phone-4/24351/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/...spec-showdown/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmTBV9H7dbA

[CavemanChuck]

Thank you.

[unagimiyagi]

Originally Posted by CavemanChuck

We're about to get new phones, and I am fine with the 16GB 4s for $99... my wife, however wants the 5. She is by no means a power user. She does do lots of email, though. And she likes her calendar program. She will take photos, but probably not take video.

So what are all the differences? She can have the 5 if it makes sense, but I don't see why she needs it.

iPhone 5 has a 4 inch screen, so 1/2 inch larger, so more info gets displayed per page
It's noticeably lighter
I think it has worse build quality than the 4S
iPhone 5 has an aluminum back, iphone 4s has a glass back
iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the 4s, which is really nice. It's at least 4 times as fast as the iphone 4. Hugely and instantly noticeable.
battery life seems to be a bit worse on the iphone 5 vs the iphone 4s
iphone 5 is thinner
iphone 5 camera is better in low light situations
iphone 5 speaker is definitely 1-2 notches louder, and it doesn't distort. Loudest and best phone speaker I've ever heard
iphone 5 call quality is very good, best I've ever heard and instantly better than the iphone 4/4s
iphone 5 headphone jack is at the bottom, which is odd to me
iphone 5 front-facing camera is much improved
iphone 5 physical home button seems to be bette engineered so it won't fail like they can on the iphone 4

The iphone 5 is unquestionably better than the iphone 4 and 4s. It's not up for debate. Then again, almost any phone today is better than the one it replaced 1 yr ago, and certainly 2 years ago. It's really a question of how much better is it for you, and for your wallet? There was a certain core set of features that I wanted the iphone to have which it id not yet have. In the iphone 5 I got it.

-- I wanted it to be alot faster, check
--I wanted it to have a 4 inch screen, which is the ideal portability/comfortable viewing size to me, check
--I wanted it to be thinner, check
--I wanted better battery life (jury is still out)

That's it and that's all that I'll want for the foreseeable future. I could see myself using this phone for four years.

[tymaster50]

Originally Posted by unagimiyagi

iPhone 5 has a 4 inch screen, so 1/2 inch larger, so more info gets displayed per page
It's noticeably lighter
I think it has worse build quality than the 4S
iPhone 5 has an aluminum back, iphone 4s has a glass back
iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the 4s, which is really nice. It's at least 4 times as fast as the iphone 4. Hugely and instantly noticeable.
battery life seems to be a bit worse on the iphone 5 vs the iphone 4s
iphone 5 is thinner
iphone 5 camera is better in low light situations
iphone 5 speaker is definitely 1-2 notches louder, and it doesn't distort. Loudest and best phone speaker I've ever heard
iphone 5 call quality is very good, best I've ever heard and instantly better than the iphone 4/4s
iphone 5 headphone jack is at the bottom, which is odd to me
iphone 5 front-facing camera is much improved
iphone 5 physical home button seems to be bette engineered so it won't fail like they can on the iphone 4

The iphone 5 is unquestionably better than the iphone 4 and 4s. It's not up for debate. Then again, almost any phone today is better than the one it replaced 1 yr ago, and certainly 2 years ago. It's really a question of how much better is it for you, and for your wallet? There was a certain core set of features that I wanted the iphone to have which it id not yet have. In the iphone 5 I got it.

-- I wanted it to be alot faster, check
--I wanted it to have a 4 inch screen, which is the ideal portability/comfortable viewing size to me, check
--I wanted it to be thinner, check
--I wanted better battery life (jury is still out)

That's it and that's all that I'll want for the foreseeable future. I could see myself using this phone for four years.

almost everything that was in those links lol.

[Prime85]

Originally Posted by unagimiyagi

iPhone 5 has a 4 inch screen, so 1/2 inch larger, so more info gets displayed per page
It's noticeably lighters
I think it has worse build quality than the 4S
iPhone 5 has an aluminum back, iphone 4s has a glass back
iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the 4s, which is really nice. It's at least 4 times as fast as the iphone 4. Hugely and instantly noticeable.
battery life seems to be a bit worse on the iphone 5 vs the iphone 4s
iphone 5 is thinner
iphone 5 camera is better in low light situations
iphone 5 speaker is definitely 1-2 notches louder, and it doesn't distort. Loudest and best phone speaker I've ever heard
iphone 5 call quality is very good, best I've ever heard and instantly better than the iphone 4/4s
iphone 5 headphone jack is at the bottom, which is odd to me
iphone 5 front-facing camera is much improved
iphone 5 physical home button seems to be bette engineered so it won't fail like they can on the iphone 4

The iphone 5 is unquestionably better than the iphone 4 and 4s. It's not up for debate. Then again, almost any phone today is better than the one it replaced 1 yr ago, and certainly 2 years ago. It's really a question of how much better is it for you, and for your wallet? There was a certain core set of features that I wanted the iphone to have which it id not yet have. In the iphone 5 I got it.

-- I wanted it to be alot faster, check
--I wanted it to have a 4 inch screen, which is the ideal portability/comfortable viewing size to me, check
--I wanted it to be thinner, check
--I wanted better battery life (jury is still out)

That's it and that's all that I'll want for the foreseeable future. I could see myself using this phone for four years.

My battery life is amazing I get through the entire day and still have charge left.

[wordoflife]

Happy wife happy life.

[tgi]

Originally Posted by unagimiyagi

iPhone 5 has a 4 inch screen, so 1/2 inch larger, so more info gets displayed per page
It's noticeably lighter
I think it has worse build quality than the 4S
iPhone 5 has an aluminum back, iphone 4s has a glass back
iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the 4s, which is really nice. It's at least 4 times as fast as the iphone 4. Hugely and instantly noticeable.
battery life seems to be a bit worse on the iphone 5 vs the iphone 4s
iphone 5 is thinner
iphone 5 camera is better in low light situations
iphone 5 speaker is definitely 1-2 notches louder, and it doesn't distort. Loudest and best phone speaker I've ever heard
iphone 5 call quality is very good, best I've ever heard and instantly better than the iphone 4/4s
iphone 5 headphone jack is at the bottom, which is odd to me
iphone 5 front-facing camera is much improved
iphone 5 physical home button seems to be bette engineered so it won't fail like they can on the iphone 4

The iphone 5 is unquestionably better than the iphone 4 and 4s. It's not up for debate. Then again, almost any phone today is better than the one it replaced 1 yr ago, and certainly 2 years ago. It's really a question of how much better is it for you, and for your wallet? There was a certain core set of features that I wanted the iphone to have which it id not yet have. In the iphone 5 I got it.

-- I wanted it to be alot faster, check
--I wanted it to have a 4 inch screen, which is the ideal portability/comfortable viewing size to me, check
--I wanted it to be thinner, check
--I wanted better battery life (jury is still out)

That's it and that's all that I'll want for the foreseeable future. I could see myself using this phone for four years.

You're crazy if you actually typed all of that up!

[Jordan921]

Get the 5!

[apprunner]

Originally Posted by Prime85

My battery life is amazing I get through the entire day and still have charge left.

I have 4, 4S, and 5. Battery life on 5 is better than 4 and waaaay better than 4S.

Also, screen quality is much better on 5. Very noticeable to my eyes. Also, LTE is about 4x faster than HSPA+ on AT&T. Closest thing to a desktop browsing experience you can find in Apple

[maccompatible]

Originally Posted by tgi

You're crazy if you actually typed all of that up!

It's not that much. You should get on reddit.

[nuckinfutz]

Happy Wife...happy life



All you need to know bro.

[jvette]

I have both and side by side you see the difference but if you are not a power user I don't think you would ever see a difference in speed. I also have to say the screens look about the same when they are side by side. I guess it all depends on what you want to spend. The 4s is a very good phone and I don't think the 5 brings that much to the table other than being a little larger and thinner and a little lighter.

[CavemanChuck]

Thanks all.... I think the 4s would be fine, but that glass abck kinda has me worried, even for myself.... that said, I am so not a power user, that I can't see me paying more than $99 for a phone. I have a droid razr that is coming off contract, and I have always wanted an iPhone..... though both my wife and are staring at the Galaxy S3 and drooling.

[Random 995K]

What about nearly world wide LTE which is the best feature imo. Anyway i say definitely get the iphone 5. Its looks and feel so much better. I remember the first time i lifted one up i just couldn't believe how light it was. The S3 is old now days and the S4 is rumoured to come out in a few months so that wouldn't be the best decision. Also Iphone 5 is much so much faster than the 4S and also faster than the S3. Up to you though, OS is a big thing as well.