New Phone Setup : Wired vs iCloud

[morecowbell]

I noticed in another thread that most people who don't start new will download their setup from iCloud.

Wouldn't backing up the old phone via itunes and then setting up the new phone via Itunes restore be a LOT faster...especially considering phones with tons of movies/photos and the massive load on apples servers the first few days?

Curious...

 

[outphase]

That is correct. Restoring via iTunes will be faster.

 

[applesith]

You are better off backing up your current iPhone to iTunes and then restoring your 5 from that. iCloud restores take forever to begin with and doing it this weekend is going to be pure torture.

 

[SVT Amateur]

I use only iCloud because I always have issues with restoring from iTunes. My apps don't stay organized like I had them and sometimes apps from my iPad or other iPhone get installed on my iPhone so I just do iCloud for all my settings and Apps and then use iTunes to sync my music, photos, and videos.

 

[mattopotamus]

Depends how big your backup is. Mine usually takes around 5 minutes.

 

[zorinlynx]

I use only iCloud because I always have issues with restoring from iTunes. My apps don't stay organized like I had them and sometimes apps from my iPad or other iPhone get installed on my iPhone so I just do iCloud for all my settings and Apps and then use iTunes to sync my music, photos, and videos.

If your apps are disorganized after you restore, try right-clicking the device in iTunes, and "Restore from Backup". This is a different kind of restore, and doesn't wipe the phone completely. All this does is restore app data and configuration, without actually removing the apps, so your folder configuration will return since it's part of the configuration data for Springboard.

Good luck!

EDIT: I should add that it's a good idea, before you try to set up your new device, that you back up your old device, then find that backup on your hard drive and rename it, adding -2012-09-18 (the current date) to the end to preserve it, so it does not get overwritten by mistake. iTunes tends to overwrite the current backup with the new one. This way if iTunes backs up your new phone right after restoring it, with the bad folder configuration, you still have the previous "good" backup to restore from to get it back. It will still show up in iTunes when you go to do the restore.