Living with the iPhone 5S
By smartphone standards the iPhone 5S is outright ancient. First released in 2013, with the rumoured approach of Apple’s fabled iPhone 6S on the horizon, the iPhone 5S is close to becoming two phone generations old.
This means compared to more modern handsets the iPhone 5S is no longer a powerhouse handset. Making up for this, the upfront cost of the iPhone 5S has plummeted.
Now many carriers, including Vodafone UK, are offering the iPhone 5S with no upfront cost on a variety of affordable contracts.
Apple has also dropped the iPhone 5S’ sim-free price on the Apple Store and is selling the 16GB model for £459 - making it £80 cheaper than the £540, 16GB iPhone 6.
The price, combined with its smaller 4.7in screen and form factor mean the iPhone 5S remains, on paper, a fairly compelling choice for Apple fans on a budget and has stood the test of time surprisingly well.
What has surprised me most about the iPhone 5S is that I have not missed 5-inch phones as much as I thought I would. I sometimes struggle juggling bigger phones while on a train or bus so it's been a bit of a relief stepping down in screen size. That changed since I lived with the 5.5-inch LG G3. That phone looks like a tablet compared to the iPhone 5S but manages to remain easy to use because of clever ergonomic design. Other competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 aren't quite as slick to use.
There’s is not much to say about the iPhone 5S’s performance here other than that it’s blisteringly fast and very reliable. I’ve not experienced any issues with apps misbehaving other than the Google Maps hanging occasionally. It's annoying but may be as much down to the app as to the phone.
Apple’s iOS has its limitations, you can't customise to anywhere near the levels of an Android phone, but the fact that it just keeps working well is a godsend to those too busy to learn every little foible of their phone. I’ve not experienced the slow-down effects that tend to occur on Androids after lots of apps and updates have been installed - the iPhone 5S is rock solid.
iOS 7 is a wonderfully simple operating system and while some don't like the new design, I've been delighted by it. The ‘Today’ notification isn’t something I’ve taken to much, but the multitasking menu and the Control Centre are great. In fact the lack of these features is one of the reasons I picked Android over iOS in the past. The Control Centre is still missing a quick access button to the full settings menu, which is particularly annoying when wanting to switch or connect to Wi-Fi networks. The newer iOS 8 is even better and the iPhone 5S runs perfectly with it on too.
It’s the Apple app store that makes iOS a great platform. As a mobile gamer the depth and breadth of titles is fantastic – Limbo, for example is a great little game that you can’t get anywhere else. Generally the apps are still of higher quality and depth than you can get anywhere else.
