I was on the fence since launch of the 5S. My 4S still worked like a charm, handled iOS7 fine, looked great, etc. Everyday I would check availability of the 5S, where it was in stock, then I would close my laptop and say to myself, "the 4S is fine"...I was convinced that I'd wait for the 6.
Today it was an easy day at work, my boss is out of town until Wednesday evening, so I went onto Best Buy's website and checked availability, completely unavailable in my area of Los Angeles, but alas, one store in Northridge had them. I call the store up and the guy tells me that if I got there within an hour I'd be able to get one...
I get there in 25 minutes, they were all gone, and one guy was setting up a 5S at the desk, so I assume he got the last. Darn, oh well... I drive back to work in Burbank thinking to myself that it was a sign not to upgrade. And then I get online again.
Earlier in the day I had checked Apples site to see if I could order online and pick up in store, all stores unavailable. Now, a few hours later, I check and 4 stores in my area have the 5S. I try to order one from the Grove Apple Store, it said available to pick up, and in the few minutes that it took me to enter my order information/CC info, etc it was already unavailable. I check again, only 2 stores had it available now, in a matter of 5 minutes, 2 stores dropped out.
I snagged one from Glendale Galleria, a space gray 16gb 5S. Kept it boxed until I got home, opened it, closely inspected, luckily no dings on the edges and from what I can see no scratches or nicks on the body. Checked the power button (because I hear people complaining about it) there's a little play but I'll live with it.
Phone isn't even activated yet. I gave it a full charge and added all my apps, synced my contacts, fixed my settings, entered my fingerprints, etc. I'll activate Monday, by then I will have all my accessories from eBay. A clear TPU case (gotta show it off), front & back screen protectors, dust plugs for the ports and a silver antenna wrap (will look nice in the clear case
). $12 for all of it combined.
And damn this thing is light, feels like a feather compared to the 4S, and almost fragile. I know it'll be okay, but I'm gonna baby it even more than I did with the 4S. It feels so nice in the hand though, and so different from the glass I'm used to.
BTW, haven't had a full run of it yet, I've just kind of tinkered, but it's definitely (obviously) faster. I did side by side tests, my 4S was milliseconds behind when it came to opening things like settings, calendar, clock (native apps), but one thing I noticed the 5S excels in is Safari, holy hell. Blazing fast on my wifi compared to my 4S. And even though I didn't care for the FP scanner, its actually kind of neat to tap the home button and immediately enter. Haven't played any games on it yet (not a heavy gamer), but I'm sure it will excel there as well. Also haven't tested camera yet, but I've heard great things.
I apologize for the novel, just wanted to share. I thought I would have to wait maybe another 2 weeks to try and find in stores, but there is hope to you all waiting for one. It's kind of teasing to have it sitting there and it's not my officially activated phone yet. But I will enjoy the last days with my 4S, before it will be tucked away and saved as a backup.
Today it was an easy day at work, my boss is out of town until Wednesday evening, so I went onto Best Buy's website and checked availability, completely unavailable in my area of Los Angeles, but alas, one store in Northridge had them. I call the store up and the guy tells me that if I got there within an hour I'd be able to get one...
I get there in 25 minutes, they were all gone, and one guy was setting up a 5S at the desk, so I assume he got the last. Darn, oh well... I drive back to work in Burbank thinking to myself that it was a sign not to upgrade. And then I get online again.
Earlier in the day I had checked Apples site to see if I could order online and pick up in store, all stores unavailable. Now, a few hours later, I check and 4 stores in my area have the 5S. I try to order one from the Grove Apple Store, it said available to pick up, and in the few minutes that it took me to enter my order information/CC info, etc it was already unavailable. I check again, only 2 stores had it available now, in a matter of 5 minutes, 2 stores dropped out.
I snagged one from Glendale Galleria, a space gray 16gb 5S. Kept it boxed until I got home, opened it, closely inspected, luckily no dings on the edges and from what I can see no scratches or nicks on the body. Checked the power button (because I hear people complaining about it) there's a little play but I'll live with it.
Phone isn't even activated yet. I gave it a full charge and added all my apps, synced my contacts, fixed my settings, entered my fingerprints, etc. I'll activate Monday, by then I will have all my accessories from eBay. A clear TPU case (gotta show it off), front & back screen protectors, dust plugs for the ports and a silver antenna wrap (will look nice in the clear case
BTW, haven't had a full run of it yet, I've just kind of tinkered, but it's definitely (obviously) faster. I did side by side tests, my 4S was milliseconds behind when it came to opening things like settings, calendar, clock (native apps), but one thing I noticed the 5S excels in is Safari, holy hell. Blazing fast on my wifi compared to my 4S. And even though I didn't care for the FP scanner, its actually kind of neat to tap the home button and immediately enter. Haven't played any games on it yet (not a heavy gamer), but I'm sure it will excel there as well. Also haven't tested camera yet, but I've heard great things.
I apologize for the novel, just wanted to share. I thought I would have to wait maybe another 2 weeks to try and find in stores, but there is hope to you all waiting for one. It's kind of teasing to have it sitting there and it's not my officially activated phone yet. But I will enjoy the last days with my 4S, before it will be tucked away and saved as a backup.
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