Iphone 5 still worth it?

[Woochifer]

iOS7.1.2 = no screen freezing, springboard crashes, major app crashes, Safari issues, portrait/landscape issues, copy/paste issues, lag, WiFi issues...just off the top of my head.

iOS8.1.2 = all of the above issues.

YMMV.

All on the same device? If so, which one?

 

[sunking101]

Well, aside from the "YMMV" part which already is a huge enough qualifier to it all, you also have to keep in mind that something like iOS 7.1.2 (which was the last iOS 7 update basically), is a ways off from iOS 8.1.3 which is on the earlier side of iOS 8 updates--something like iOS 7.0.6 would be a closer "equivalent" as far as something comparable.

I agree regarding the state of play. I'm comparing the last iteration of iOS7 with the latest version of iOS8. iOS7 took almost a year to get reasonably good, but then iOS8 is approx six months old and it's still a bag of spanners. As the current version of iOS8 is all we have to go on, I can still say that I much preferred iOS7. Did I at this same stage halfway through its lifecycle? Probably.

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All on the same device? If so, which one?

Not at all, but why should a 6+ running iOS8 be any worse than an iPhone 5 running iOS7?

 

[C DM]

I agree regarding the state of play. I'm comparing the last iteration of iOS7 with the latest version of iOS8. iOS7 took almost a year to get reasonably good, but then iOS8 is approx six months old and it's still a bag of spanners. As the current version of iOS8 is all we have to go on, I can still say that I much preferred iOS7. Did I at this same stage halfway through its lifecycle? Probably.

In about the same timeframe iOS 7 was still on its 7.0.x iteration, which was also a ways off from what 7.1 ended up being like.

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I agree regarding the state of play. I'm comparing the last iteration of iOS7 with the latest version of iOS8. iOS7 took almost a year to get reasonably good, but then iOS8 is approx six months old and it's still a bag of spanners. As the current version of iOS8 is all we have to go on, I can still say that I much preferred iOS7. Did I at this same stage halfway through its lifecycle? Probably.

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Not at all, but why should a 6+ running iOS8 be any worse than an iPhone 5 running iOS7?

It probably isn't really worse when comparing the latest release version of iOS 8 on iPhone 6/6+ to it's iOS 7 comparable version of 7.0.6 on iPhone 5 (and in the case of 6+ in particular, there are some that would say given what it is that it's somewhat underpowered which would add on to making it less of a 1-1 comparable).

 

[Woochifer]

Well, aside from the "YMMV" part which already is a huge enough qualifier to it all, you also have to keep in mind that something like iOS 7.1.2 (which was the last iOS 7 update basically), is a ways off from iOS 8.1.3 which is on the earlier side of iOS 8 updates--something like iOS 7.0.6 would be a closer "equivalent" as far as something comparable.

iOS 7.1, which fixed most of the remaining stability issues, didn't come out until the end of March 2014. The first reasonably stable version of iOS 7 in my experience was 7.0.4. Still crashed and resprung, but not as frequently as when I first got the phone.

 

[Retired Cat]

My biggest issue with iOS 7 was battery life. It got worse and worse over time for some reason, even though the mAh capacity of the battery did not decrease much. iOS 8 has proven to be much more energy efficient than iOS 7 on my iPhone 5.

 

[sunking101]

My biggest issue with iOS 7 was battery life. It got worse and worse over time for some reason, even though the mAh capacity of the battery did not decrease much. iOS 8 has proven to be much more energy efficient than iOS 7 on my iPhone 5.

It was by far the worst issue for me. When my i5 shipped with iOS6 I used to get 8.5 - 9 hours of usage time.
As soon as I installed iOS7 the usage time plummeted to around 5-6 hours and never improved with any subsequent updates.

 

[Woochifer]

Not at all, but why should a 6+ running iOS8 be any worse than an iPhone 5 running iOS7?

As I thought -- you're mixing apples and oranges together.

Different hardware + different OS. Same reason why my parents' iPad 2 with iOS 7 runs smoother than my iPad 3 with iOS 6.

If you really want to say something conclusive about the OS, then you need to discuss how different iOS versions affect the same hardware. Otherwise, you're introducing hardware variables that can also contribute to any performance and/or stability differences.

 

[sunking101]

As I thought -- you're mixing apples and oranges together.

Different hardware + different OS. Same reason why my parents' iPad 2 with iOS 7 runs smoother than my iPad 3 with iOS 6.

If you really want to say something conclusive about the OS, then you need to discuss how different iOS versions affect the same hardware. Otherwise, you're introducing hardware variables that can also contribute to any performance and/or stability differences.

I agree with you to a point, but one could also argue that the latest phone on the latest o/s (6+ on iOS8) should run better than what at the time was the previous generation phone running the latest o/s (i5 on iOS7).

 

[nhlfreak98]

iPhone 5 is still a good phone. I have a friend who recently got it and they love it.

 

[C DM]

I agree with you to a point, but one could also argue that the latest phone on the latest o/s (6+ on iOS8) should run better than what at the time was the previous generation phone running the latest o/s (i5 on iOS7).

How did 5 or even 5s run iOS 7.0?

 

[imlovinit]

Iphone 5 in black & slate was one sleek looking phone. It's a great phone and if didn't crave the larger screen and bump in speed I would of kept mine longer. I never had any issues with it and I had kept mine on iOS 7 JB.

 

[Max(IT)]

I'd say in terms of pure performance iOS 8 has been more clunky. I do remember iOS 7 initially being delivered with slower animations, but they were still at 60 fps, which I don't find to be the case in iOS 8 in several instances.

The point is though that these would be considered details which the average iPhone user wouldn't really notice. Then again, I'd argue that this is the place to be if you're not the typical average user.

It should be noted that bugs are a different matter, where both have been riddles with issues.



Well Arstechica and Anandtech would be a few. But I find it very surprising, given the amount of articles even on Macrumors, that it would somehow surpass people that iOS 8 has been shambolic. I'm not really talking about bugs, since both releases have been riddled with various different bugs. I'm referring to performance really, where I feel iOS 7 generally had a very smooth and consistent experience, which cannot really be said to the same degree regarding iOS 8. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus struggle in some cases which to me is really just a sign of how unpolished it's been.

What I do find strange is how it seemed to have hit a nerve on you. You take this awfully personally as if I somehow said something derogatory towards you personally. Cool your jets. Is it really necessary to become that upset about it?

I honestly think one would have to be fairly oblivious to somehow not see that iOS 8 has been awfully shoddy. Here's a pretty good summary of what some people within the community or industry feel. There are a few noteworthy people there. Marco Arment had a pretty interesting post about the state of iOS 8, which gained a lot of traction.

Remember, both have had their fair share of bugs, but I'm mostly talking about performance and the so called 60 fps experience.

http://mjtsai.com/blog/2015/01/06/apples-software-quality-continued/

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/1...and-ipad-2-a-little-faster-kind-of-sometimes/

Did you measure frame rate on iOS? How?
And who decided the 60 fps should be the minimum required in every situation, by the way? You?

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Why would it be surprising? My experience with iOS 7 was a far more arduous climb than iOS 8 has been. Given the number of crashes and restarts I experienced with the early iterations of iOS 7, I would not call that smooth or consistent. Doesn't matter that the screen scrolls smoothly, if apps crash and the phone resprings constantly. iOS 8, even version 8.0, has produced comparatively few crashes and been free from random restarts. I would take that kind of stability tradeoff for a slight performance dip anytime, except that since iOS 8.0.2 my phone has performed every bit as well as it did under iOS 7.1.2.



Not upset at all. Just pointing out the fallacy of presuming to speak for everyone and "all devices" when nothing of what you claim applies to my experience and that of many others.



And Marco Arment posted this a day later.

http://www.marco.org/2015/01/05/popular-for-a-day

I don't think I'm being oblivious when I observe that iOS 7 crashed and restarted far more frequently than iOS 8 has, or that I don't notice any difference in performance or smoothness or what not when using iOS 8.1.3 compared to 7.1.2. The difference is that I'm not presuming to know what other people observe or should observe.



If you had written your original post about performance and the "so called 60 fps experience," I would not take issue with it. But, you were generalizing about iOS 7 running "significantly better" across all devices. And to that end, there are too many cases to the contrary to just let it go by without commenting.

Correct, and I was here last year when whiners stormed the forums about how awful iOS 7 was about performance and stability. Now suddenly it became an almost perfect os because, you know, the new target is iOS 8.
I had a much worse experience with iOS 7 on both performance and stability, and I always run latest hardware.

 

[Max(IT)]

iOS7.1.2 = no screen freezing, springboard crashes, major app crashes, Safari issues, portrait/landscape issues, copy/paste issues, lag, WiFi issues...just off the top of my head.

iOS8.1.2 = all of the above issues.

YMMV.

That's your experience on what it seems to me to be a defective iPhone, as I told you several times.
I still have to see a freeze on iOS 8, any version, while I had a few on iOS 7 initial releases.
I'm laughing at your "safari issues ".... It's well known that safari is bugged since iOS 5 or 6 at least, and now suddenly it was ok in iOS 7 and bugged in iOS 8 ? Lol

 

[Max(IT)]

Wait a hot minute and the price will drop on the iPhone6.

Not worth getting the iPhone 5 now.

Tbh prices of the iPhone 6 will take a whole year to drop that way

 

[AppleRobert]

I just got one recently on the cheap. Changed the home button to a silver outline to match the sides. It was in great condition and it looks smashing.

I like the design of the iPhone 5 better, the 6 is too thin.

 

[oldmacs]

IMHO from what/seen I've read the iPhone 5 runs iOS 8 better than the 5S, as there are 64 Bit issues.

I'm quite happy with the speed of my iPhone 5 on iOS 8 - could be faster but hopefully thats iOS 9.

The problem with iOS 8 is that it is glitchy and its not an iPhone 5 specific thing. I used my iPhone 4 with 7.1.2 the other day for quite a period of time, and I found it far less glitchy than my iPhone 5 which should not be the case. Most of the initial bugs I had in iOS 7 were killed quickly, and it was pretty polished when 7.1.0 came out. I was far happier even with 7.0 on my iPad 2 and iPhone 4 than I have been with iOS 8.0-8.1.3 on my iPhone 5 and iPad 2 in terms of stability.

So back to the OP's question - the iPhone 5 runs pretty damn well, but obviously won't be supported for as long as the 5S and 6. It will pretty much definitely get iOS 9 and may get iOS 10.

I prefer the 5 to the 6 due to the screen size. I can't use the 6 one handed so that pretty much makes it fairly useless to me.

 

[mangywarez]

Go for it.......it's worth the buy and would serve your purpose.

 

[Tthomas612]

Jeepers, when I left this thread last night I thought it was resolved. Now I'm not so sure.

I was going to go for the 5, now wondering whether to stretch the budget for the 5S.

Well if you cod stretch your budget for the 5s it's something I would advise. The iPhone 5 was a great phone in it's own regard, but it is about to be 3 years old. Meaning if you could get a 1 and a half year old 5s instead.... I would advise it to be a better buy.

I like the iPhone 5. It's the last iPhone that came in Black. However I would try for the 5s first. However if you can't get the 5s ... Do NOT buy the 5c over the 5

 

[HouseACA]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm thinking of stretching it to the 5s. I need to wait a few weeks until after my birthday anyway as I don't want her to feel pressure to buy me something more just because I got her a phone.

 

[Max(IT)]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm thinking of stretching it to the 5s. I need to wait a few weeks until after my birthday anyway as I don't want her to feel pressure to buy me something more just because I got her a phone.

5S ? Good choice !

 

[KdParker]

Tbh prices of the iPhone 6 will take a whole year to drop that way

They are already down to 150 or less on contract. The closer we get to the iPhone6s launch you would be looking at 100 for the iPhone 6.

 

[C DM]

They are already down to 150 or less on contract. The closer we get to the iPhone6s launch you would be looking at 100 for the iPhone 6.

Some discount places might have them that low and occasionally some promotions might play a role. As for closer to 100 that would be around a year after 6 was released, which isn't all that soon just yet.

 

[Max(IT)]

They are already down to 150 or less on contract. The closer we get to the iPhone6s launch you would be looking at 100 for the iPhone 6.

I never comment on contract prices... I'm not in favor of being tied with a carrier for two years.

 

[xDKP]

Apple, instead of choosing to fix the iPhone 5 anodization process simply chose to discontinue black.

There are no Black/Slate iPhones past the iPhone 5. The 5s introduced Black (for the front panels only)/Space Gray (or Grey). So then, there is no black iPhone 5s. It's like saying your car is black because the tires are black.

Gray hides scratches better than black. Which is why you had an improvement in your case quality.

Sorry mate, but that's just not true. Yes there is no such thing as a black 5S but it is FAR from the colour tone that makes the gray less scratch prone. It's just way better coated. I had my iPhone 5 in a case from day one and it looked like **** the day I sold it. My 5S has been in the same case and haven't got a single scratch on it - at all!

 

[eyoungren]

Sorry mate, but that's just not true. Yes there is no such thing as a black 5S but it is FAR from the colour tone that makes the gray less scratch prone. It's just way better coated. I had my iPhone 5 in a case from day one and it looked like **** the day I sold it. My 5S has been in the same case and haven't got a single scratch on it - at all!

And I have had my iPhone 5 not in a case since November 2012 and it's done absolutely fine.

Aside from normal wear and tear.