Last year's iPhone 5 was called the best iPhone ever, the question is the iPhone 5S the best smartphone around after reviewing major tech reviewers?
iPhone 5S Review of Reviews by Wireless and Mobile News
- Most Liked Features: fast 64-bit processor, bigger battery, excellent camera, Touch ID, future proof, and plenty of apps.
- Least-Liked Features: small screen, storage is not expandable and expensive.
- Overall Average Ranking : 4.05 by Reviewers Reviewed
- Networks: AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Boost Mobile and T-Mobile.
The iPhone has been one of the most popular smartphones in the United States since 1997 and now although it is still popular the competition has more to offer for some buyers. The iPhone 5S is a premium smartphone at premium price. It is seldom discounted, and when it is discounted, it is usually in the form of a gift card such as the Walmart and Best Buy deals over Black Friday. It's even hard to get a cheap used iPhone therefore it retains is value at trade-in time, especially is it is unlocked from your carrier.
Update 12/9/2012: Best Buy does have a $50 savings on the iPhone 5S with a two year agreement (read iPhone 5S review) and you can get you another $50 off with a trade-in (Save $50 instantly and get a minimum $50 Best Buy gift card after you trade in any working smartphone and use it toward the purchase of an iPhone 5s 16GB)
iPhone 5s features a new A7 64-bit processor, new 8MP iSight camera with True Tone flash and Touch ID fingerprint scanning, an additional M7 processor and new iOS 7 operating system. New colors are gray, silver and gold.
iOS now has Control Center to change settings such as brightness, quick access shortcuts and ability to kill running apps.
AirDrop lets you share files easily to nearby iOS devices, wirelessly.
Sound quality is good but not great. The 4", 1136x640, 326ppi Retina display has become for reviewers a disappointing aspect of the iPhone experience, compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4, Nexus 5 or LG G2 it's puny. The processor speed, however, eat out the LG G2 and most Android smartphones.
The Touch ID fingerprint scanner works easily and is one of the best features and easiest ways to unlock a phone around. Your scanned fingerprint information is kept on the iPhone 5S only and is fairly secure. Apple beefed up security, making harder for thieves to break into and sell stolen iPhone models.
Since the iPhone 5 is updated to iOS, some reviewers believe there is no immediate need to buy the iPhone 5s. The operating system is not as customizable as Android. Android has more notifications options.
Battery life isn't as good as some top Android smartphones, but an improvement over previous models.
The iPhone 5S uses a nano SIM for worldwide coverage, uses new lightning connector.
The camera takes good photos, the new flashy system can make photos too bright. In comparison tests the only higher rated camera is the Nokia Lumia 1020.
Apple designs its iPhones so that you have compelling reasons to upgrade after two years, if you have an iPhone 4/4S it's worth an upgrade if you have an iPhone 5, you don't really need to upgrade unless you need the added security of fingerprint scanner or you can wait until more apps are developed that require the A7 processor.
If your business or family uses exclusive Apple products such as FaceTime an iPhone 5S or 5c may be your best choice.
As far as price goes as of this writing prices for the iPhone 5S 16GB model are $199 with a contract for Verizon, Sprint and AT&T or $549.99 from Boost Mobile.
You can buy an unlocked iPhone 5S 16GB from Apple for $649 with a T-Mobile SIM or provide your own SIM for another carrier worldwide. The SIM free model is so popular it will be available to ship in 1-2 weeks while it takes only 1-3 business days to get a T-Mobile unlocked iPhone 5s.
We highly recommend that if you have previous model iPhone, that you unlock it from your carrier so that someone can use it more easily. In order to unlock an iPhone from the carrier legally, yourself, you must contact the carrier.
AT&T, today introduced it share value plans, that cut the cost of smartphone with unlimited text, voice minutes and 300MB data down to $45 a month when you bring your own device or pay full price for it.
For example with AT&T, after you pay in full for the iPhone 5 or 5s AT&T will give you the code to unlock it, legally. Unlock companies are charging close to $100 to unlock iPhones since AT&T changed its policy of bulk unlocking fees.
If you have a Verizon iPhone 5 or later, it is already unlocked. For the iPhone 4S, you can unlock the SIM but you have to be a Verizon customer for at least 60 days and contact Verizon Support.
"It is always best to contact your carrier before ending your contract to unlock any device."
Each model iPhone will support different GSM bands and data bands. Check the exact specifications for the model you own and what bands the model supports.