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iPhone 5 vs iPhone 5s now. Real world.

W

warriorz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 25, 2010
126
0
Hi guys,

I'm due to get a 5s as part of a upgrade process. However I can stick with my 5 which I'm kind of happy with, (apart from the slight boredom). Just wondering, those who upgraded at the time of release have you noticed any real world difference in speed many months on? Are apps faster, the phone quicker, have devs taken advantage of that very powerful processor in the 5s? I'm not so concerned about the improved camera as I don't take many pics, Touch ID I guess useful but only for Apple passwords until iOS 8 which is months away, and M7 again not many devs taking advantage. Which only really leaves speed of the phone in every day use...

Would greatly appreciate your thoughts. Do you agree? Are you happy you upgraded? Am
I wrong, have apps actually utilised the processor? Is the phone faster in everyday, real world use, a noticeably better experience than the 5? Thanks guys.
 
I would wait especially at this time of year. If you need a phone like yesterday then defo get the 5s. I went from a 3gs to a 4 then a 5s and I am very happy. I will get the 6s as even though I can upgrade to a 6, I dont want to as I am enjoying what I have and generally wait out for the s version,exception the 4 which was a hand me down from the 3gs when a family member upgraded to the 5.
 
I am pretty much in the same place you are. Have a 5 that I am quite pleased with. My plan ends in Aug., but my provider says I can upgrade now if I want. My thoughts are, why upgrade to the 5s and be stuck with outdated tech within a few months at most.

I am going to ride it out as my 5 works perfect, is unlocked, long paid for and I can get the newest iPhone in a couple of months with the possibility of 2 size options if the rumors are true.

I say wait for the 6, it is not that far away.
 
Well I guess I should have added, I'm not really that keen on a larger iPhone. I have a Nexus 5 mainly for work and that screen and size is plenty big. I kind if prefer the one handed use...

That said I'm sure the 6 will come with updated technology and a few surprises in terms if capability/ features so that might sway things. I just think it's such a shame developers haven't made full use of the A7 and power of the 5s. Then there wouldn't really be a decision, consumers would have just upgraded from the 5.
 
warriorz said:
I'm due to get a 5s as part of a upgrade process. However I can stick with my 5 which I'm kind of happy with, (apart from the slight boredom). Just wondering, those who upgraded at the time of release have you noticed any real world difference in speed many months on? Are apps faster, the phone quicker, have devs taken advantage of that very powerful processor in the 5s?

<snip>

Am I wrong, have apps actually utilised the processor? Is the phone faster in everyday, real world use, a noticeably better experience than the 5? Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

Occasionally, I'd find myself trying to unlock my mom's iPhone 5 with my fingerprint but I haven't noticed a performance difference between the 5 and 5s with the following tasks/apps:

  • user interface
  • app installation/updates
  • phone stuff (Phone, Messages, Viber, WhatsApp)
  • email (Mail, Gmail)
  • web browsing (Safari, Chrome)
  • ebooks (Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Marvin)
  • music (Amazon MP3, Pandora, Spotify, Plex)
  • videos (Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, Plex)
 
rui no onna said:
Occasionally, I'd find myself trying to unlock my mom's iPhone 5 with my fingerprint but I haven't noticed a performance difference between the 5 and 5s with the following tasks/apps:

  • user interface
  • app installation/updates
  • phone stuff (Phone, Messages, Viber, WhatsApp)
  • email (Mail, Gmail)
  • web browsing (Safari, Chrome)
  • ebooks (Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Marvin)
  • music (Amazon MP3, Pandora, Spotify, Plex)
  • videos (Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, Plex)
Click to expand...

Hmm yeah well I guess it really is only useful when there's really demanding Apps like graphic intensive games. Though wouldn't it have been great if Apple had optimised the processor and iOS to show a significant improvement in everyday speed and usage. And those graphic intensive games or or even high high demand apps just aren't there, which is a waste really
 
iPhone 5s has unused potential that likely will be used in future versions of iOS, don't expect this to happen on iOS 7. That's why it's slogan is "forward thinking." At the moment the 5, 5s, and even 4s are very similar in what they can do.
 
warriorz said:
Hmm yeah well I guess it really is only useful when there's really demanding Apps like graphic intensive games. Though wouldn't it have been great if Apple had optimised the processor and iOS to show a significant improvement in everyday speed and usage. And those graphic intensive games or or even high high demand apps just aren't there, which is a waste really
Click to expand...

I would keep the 5 if I was you. Touch ID is great, but really not worth the upgrade. Like a lot if people say around here, wait until the 6 comes out. If you like the 6, great. If you don't like the 6, buy the 5s at an even more reduced cost to you. The 5s seems to get hot more often than the 5 I had but the battery life, at least for me is greatly improved. I also prefer the real black over Space Gray.
 
rui no onna said:
Occasionally, I'd find myself trying to unlock my mom's iPhone 5 with my fingerprint but I haven't noticed a performance difference between the 5 and 5s with the following tasks/apps:

  • user interface
  • app installation/updates
  • phone stuff (Phone, Messages, Viber, WhatsApp)
  • email (Mail, Gmail)
  • web browsing (Safari, Chrome)
  • ebooks (Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Marvin)
  • music (Amazon MP3, Pandora, Spotify, Plex)
  • videos (Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, Plex)
Click to expand...

BeeJee said:
The 5s seems to get hot more often than the 5 I had but the battery life, at least for me is greatly improved.
Click to expand...

These are interesting points. Battery life is really important to me, I'm forever charging my 5, it's getting ridiculous. And my 5 I've noticed getting hot, I hate that. Better battery life would have swayed it for me, but I don't think it's consistent amongst user opinions that the 5s has better battery.
 
warriorz said:
Hmm yeah well I guess it really is only useful when there's really demanding Apps like graphic intensive games. Though wouldn't it have been great if Apple had optimised the processor and iOS to show a significant improvement in everyday speed and usage. And those graphic intensive games or or even high high demand apps just aren't there, which is a waste really
Click to expand...
The thing is the A6 is already good enough for most typical tasks. Comparing with x86 processors, I'd say the A6 is akin to a Celeron/Pentium/Core i3 dual-core while the A7 is Core i5/i7 quad-core. For the most part, tasks are bottlenecked by internet speed or the user so even a lower-end processor is more than fast enough (specially when paired with an SSD). Those who need the power of a quad-core already know what they need it for. I'm sure there are iOS apps that can take advantage of the A7's improved performance. Obviously, I don't use those apps. :rolleyes:

I think the most noticeable difference between the 5 and 5s is during boot. As I don't reboot my phone all that often, for me it's a non-issue.

As for battery life, I haven't really noticed the 5s to have longer battery life. I seem to charge the 5s just as often as I did my old 5.
 
Not enough difference between the 5 and 5S to warrant an upgrade.

Touch ID is only, IMO useful for not having to type your password into the App Store. For now, anyway. Battery life is similar enough. No palpable difference in speed within apps, the UI, or the web.

Wait for a 6 - even if you don't necessarily want a bigger screen apps will start getting designed for it and the bar will move that way.
 
I have both phones. They are set up identically except on two different carriers. In everyday use, side by side, there is ZERO NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE except for the fingerprint sensor. Absolutely no difference at all.
 
Well these are pretty definitive answers. Seems no difference in real life speed. I watched some YouTube vids; in some cases (e.g. pocketnow comparison) the 5 actually came out faster. Must be the usual case of over overpowered processor taxing software and vice versa.
 
rui no onna said:
The thing is the A6 is already good enough for most typical tasks. Comparing with x86 processors, I'd say the A6 is akin to a Celeron/Pentium/Core i3 dual-core while the A7 is Core i5/i7 quad-core. For the most part, tasks are bottlenecked by internet speed or the user so even a lower-end processor is more than fast enough (specially when paired with an SSD). Those who need the power of a quad-core already know what they need it for. I'm sure there are iOS apps that can take advantage of the A7's improved performance. Obviously, I don't use those apps. :rolleyes:

I think the most noticeable difference between the 5 and 5s is during boot. As I don't reboot my phone all that often, for me it's a non-issue.

As for battery life, I haven't really noticed the 5s to have longer battery life. I seem to charge the 5s just as often as I did my old 5.
Click to expand...

I have tried making that point in multiple Mac/ ARM threads and have gotten shot down. Do you have any links to back it up. Will be very interesting to review and maybe sheds some light on what is in the pipeline for MBA's at least.
 
Like others said. There are two things to consider here

A iPhone 5 to iPhone 5S isn't an essential upgrade

iPhone 2014 (whatever it's called) is about 3 months away.

Those are two reasons to not upgrade to the 5s now.
 
aneftp said:
Like others said. There are two things to consider here

A iPhone 5 to iPhone 5S isn't an essential upgrade

iPhone 2014 (whatever it's called) is about 3 months away.

Those are two reasons to not upgrade to the 5s now.
Click to expand...

Well I guess it's down to the individual. For some the camera improvement may be enough of a reason to upgrade immediately. Years ago I would need to have the best possible camera on my phone as I used to love photography and travelling - I went round taking pics everywhere, a pro cam wasn't always practical. For others, the spec hungry crowd, the latest and greatest is essential, when the 6 comes out they'll buy it anyway, even if they've just bought a 5. And obviously Apple super fans, essential or not objectively, subjectively to them an iPhone release is a must buy. Anyway slightly off topic, I think the consensus is right now, specifically with day to day real world speed, there's no noticeable speed difference.
 
mtneer said:
I have tried making that point in multiple Mac/ ARM threads and have gotten shot down. Do you have any links to back it up. Will be very interesting to review and maybe sheds some light on what is in the pipeline for MBA's at least.
Click to expand...
Please note that my earlier comment only uses desktop processors as an example to compare relative performance of the A6 and A7. I am in no way suggesting that the A7 is a quad-core nor that it performs similar to Core-series quads. Heck, I recall a review from AT showing the A7 just about matches Atom Bay Trail performance and last I checked, Bay Trail still lags behind Core 2 - a micro-architecture that was released, what, 6-7 years ago?
 
rui no onna said:
Please note that my earlier comment only uses desktop processors as an example to compare relative performance of the A6 and A7. I am in no way suggesting that the A7 is a quad-core nor that it performs similar to Core-series quads. Heck, I recall a review from AT showing the A7 just about matches Atom Bay Trail performance and last I checked, Bay Trail still lags behind Core 2 - a micro-architecture that was released, what, 6-7 years ago?
Click to expand...

This made me laugh! Having to explain yourself/ clarify your earlier point!
 
not much imo...but most probably there will be a design change in iphone 6..
then you will feel pretty outdated :p:apple:
 
I would wait for the 6, you said you don't want a bigger screen but I would still wait to see it first maybe you might like it. And if you don't want it you can just get the 5S at a cheaper price.
 
I have a personal 5 and a business 5S.

Other than getting used to the fingerprint unlock and thus looking like a bit of an idiot on my personal phone from time to time, the two devices are nigh on identical on a day to day basis for me.

Hold out for the 6.
 
Unless you want/need the fingerprint scanner I would hoenstly pass. My wife went back to using her 5 up untila few months ago (she didn't want to scratch her precious gold 5s lol) and it was basically the same. The reason she swapped back i sbecause she cracked the 5 screen.

You do get used to that fingerprint scanner fast though!
 
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