[terhechte]

I was in NY for vacation during the opening Friday and decided to head into a queue and line up for the 5s, suspecting that it may sell out quickly while also leveraging the pricing difference between Europe and USA. This was the first time that I lined up for any Apple launch (execept for the yearly WWDC waiting line of course), and it was overall a fun experience, not only because my girlfriend joined me there and we had breakfast while waiting, also, it was sunny.

The 5s has been my first new iPhone since I got an iPhone 4 in 2010 and for me, coming from an older device that didn't even have Siri, I am extremely happy with it. It may be a moot update if you already haven an iPhone 5 (or maybe even a 4s) but to me it feels like an entirely different device (not only because I also updated to iOS7 at the same time, of course).

I really like the finger sensor, as it makes login a lot faster. Of course, there're security issues here, but for me it is just a convenience method, if people are able to break through this sensor, they will also be able to use other methods to gain access to my data. I also look forward to apps that leverage the M7 as I tend to do a fair bit of walking and running and like to see at the end of the day how well I performed. I really like Siri, again, this is my first time having access to it, and I already use it for writing text messages, checking the weather, or creating schedules / appointments. In general, the speed difference between my old iPhone 4 and this one is staggering. This, of course, was to be expected, as the 4 was crazy slow at times, but it still makes me happy.

All in all, for me, the 5s is a great update and I hope that the 'most forward thinking phone yet' comment from Apple is close to the truth, as I again, plan to use it for at least 3-4 years before updating again.

[hackula1]

I upgraded from a 4 as well. I could not be happier so far. There were many apps that I had thought were just complete sh that now zoom on the 5s (spotify, g+, and a few others). Finger print reader is surprisingly useful, although a minor feature. Possibly the most noticeable thing for me from the 4 to the 5s is the speaker. I always have podcasts running as I walk around the house and noticed a huge difference in quality and volume. With the 4 I often had to plug in headphones to be able to hear over an AC unit or a my car's engine. The 5s speaker cuts through a lot better.

[joshmlewis]

I'm not so sure why you wait that long, maybe things are different in the UK, but I think this info could be useful to a lot of people. I'll just throw out a scenario I tell everyone when it comes to buying Apple devices that's strictly just financial and not exactly being an Apple 'fanboy.'

Two options here, if you buy a phone on contract for say $200, then you can always sell it in a year, or even two, for around double of what you paid for it. Example, iPhone 5's are going for around $450 in my local market. I just paid $200 a year ago for it on contract. Some people hate contracts and say it's cheaper to not have data or what have you, but like I said this is just this particular scenario if you are on a plan.

Option B, you can buy a device for full price, ie $650 and wait the year or two and sell it for ~$450 but now you have a gap of $200, but you still own the device outright. Sometimes depending on what carrier, you can get an iPhone discount of $100 when not in your contract and that could bring it down to ~$550.

These examples exclude taxes and exclude some abnormalities with the pricing and buying markets such as unlocked > locked phones such as Verizon. Verizon phones don't have the same desire as AT&T phones because of the CDMA vs GSM difference with being able to use it on other prepaid carriers easily and worldwide use.

Anyway, that's my two sense from what I've learned over the years. If you buy a phone on contract and take care of it, you'll still get a great phone and double your money in a year when you go to sell it. That's how the markets have been treating them so far over the years.

Edit: I will say that if you wait too long such as the large jump from 4 to 5S, the resale value on the 4 is now dipped to ~150-200. So to me it makes more sense buying every release or two on contract, and then letting the phone pay for itself.

[joosters]

But you're missing an important point: If you own your phone you can get much cheaper 'SIM only' deals with the mobile carriers, meaning that over your 1-2 year contract, you'll pay far less.

Getting a new phone as part of a 'subsidised' contract is effectively borrowing money to buy a phone. Your loan repayments are the monthly fee. If you have the cash, buying the phone up-front is almost always cheaper.

[twoodfin]

Not the biggest U.S. mobile carriers. AT&T and Verizon have awful BYOD plans, as I understand it. I'd be thrilled to find out I could do better than my grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan (two phones, 5GB/each before throttled, $120/mo.), but keep their network.

[potatolicious]

My phone's getting a bit old (4S), and I'm taking this opportunity to move to T-Mobile, where the BYOD offerings are much better.

BYOD means $20 off your monthly bill (or subsidizing is +$20, whichever way you look at it), and the BYOD rate is legitimately substantially cheaper than similar plans from AT&T or Verizon.

Plus even if you subsidize the device the terms are far better. The $20/month goes towards paying off a debt, which is simply unsubsidized price - subsidized price. If you leave early you pay the remaining balance and the phone's yours. This is in stark contrast to AT&T's rather punitive early-termination fees that exceed the actual subsidization provided initially.

[Toucan]

That seems bizarre in the UK. I pay $24/mo and get truly unlimited data, with tethering included, as well as 2000 minutes and 5000 texts (and receiving doesn't come out of your allowance in the UK, the caller pays that fee).

It's absolutely cheaper to buy devices outright here.

Example of Three's One Plan for a 32GB 5s (£):

  24 mo contract
  Device        99
  Plan          46
  24 mo total = 1203
  
  12 month contract + BYOD
  Device        629
  Plan          15
  24 mo total = 989

[joosters]

That sucks! I've only got experience of the UK carriers, you can get something like 600 minutes, 'unlimited' data for around £10/month here SIM-only. And on a one month contract!

[jsonau]

Assuming you dont voice much. T-Mobile offers prepaid(bring your own phone) $30/mo unlimited 4G and SMS with 100 minutes. Assuming you always want the latest iPhone, you save about $200 per 2 year. This deal was way back before LTE availability, So it WAS a hot deal.

[anonymoushn]

If you actually use most of the 5GB each month, $60/mo is competitive with what you would get from any MVNO. The MVNO plan would include tethering, but I'm told that people just use tethering on AT&T plans without paying for it.

[jiggy2011]

Isn't this what ting does? Not in the US so never used it, website says it is on the "Sprint" network so I guess that means coverage is patchy?

[stesch]

First time Siri user? Tell her "OK, Glass!" ;-)

[thechut]

The 5S is my first cell phone. I love being able to make calls from outside of my house and quickly and easily write "text" messages to my friends. I use to have to wait until I was at work or at home to make a phone call, but now I can do it from anywhere! I also love these app things, there is one for everything.

I also can't believe I can just connect to the internet from anywhere, and there are not even any tubes connected to my phone. How is that possible?

[coldtea]

You intend this to be ironic, but a proper perspective would be that:

1) 10 years ago this was way bulkier, far less convenient and more often than not without an intertube connection,

2) 20 years ago this was absolute bare-bones and only for upper middle class and rich people,

3) 30 years ago it was science fiction.

Now, a 20-something would of course take all this for granted. But technology will have some surprises for him down the road too, and he'll learn to put things in perspective when 2030 tech is 100 times more awesome than today's.

[jiggy2011]

Not sure about bulkier 10 years ago, the nokia 8310 was all the rage back then and they were so tiny that people used to lose them down cracks in sofas. Not to mention better battery.

[coldtea]

Sure, but that was a barebones model. I had the equivalent of today's iPhone style things (a Sony-Ericsson P910 IIRC), and it was like 3 iPhones in bulk.

[mikeash]

A minor nitpick on (3), commercial mobile phone service dates to 1946, and the first service that we'd identify as being something like a modern "cell phone", with actual cells, automated handoff, integration into the POTS network, etc., came in 1978.

Technology always seems to progress both faster and slower than you think.