iPhone 5 worth it from 4S

The only practical difference? Aesthetics. Upgrading from the 4S to the 5 is just buying into the capitalist scheme for NO real-world difference. 1/2" of more screen size is no justification for upgrading.

Sure it's lighter but I quite like the weight of the 4s; it feels solid. Everyone has they're logic and opinion, but buying into iphone 5 on the basis of fear of depreciation or appearance (new style) is quite frankly absurd.

To bring balance to my argument; echoing what others have said I can imagine they're being a significant gain from iPhone 4 or less. (Retina display, CPU, Camera).
 
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Linx said:
The only practical difference? Aesthetics. Upgrading from the 4S to the 5 is just buying into the capitalist scheme for NO real-world difference. 1/2" of more screen size is no justification for upgrading.

Sure it's lighter but I quite like the weight of the 4s; it feels solid. Everyone has they're logic and opinion, but buying into iphone 5 on the basis of fear of depreciation or appearance (new style) is quite frankly absurd.

To bring balance to my argument; echoing what others have said I can imagine they're being a significant gain from iPhone 4 or less. (Retina display, CPU, Camera).
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I used to have the mentality that I had to have the latest and greatest, ignoring any logic or cost/benefit analysis of upgrading. In reality, people couldn't care less what phone you have. I just don't see why I should give Apple another £300 so I can effectively brag about having a phone which, whilst is the latest model, barely offers anything beneficial to me above my 4S that justifies the cost of upgrading. Note: This is the case for me, although I accept some people may have significantly more to gain from what the 5 has to offer.

It's actually ridiculous if you think about it. Most people don't behave in the same way with nearly all other electrical gadgets/cars etc. It's like me selling my Macbook Pro every year and upgrading to the latest one just to have the latest one.

Like you I also prefer the solid feel of the 4S and it's much more physically durable. I took my previous 4S to the gym with me all the time and around Asia for 4 months and when Apple swapped it for me the other day (dodgy battery and under warranty) the 'Genius Bar' person actually commented on how flawless it looked for a 10 month old phone. I'm skipping the 5, I'll wait for the 5S or 6.
 
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HAz said:
Gone from a 3GS and lovin it
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Going from a 3GS to an iphone5 is definitely worth it in this case.

Tute said:
I think the 4S to the 5 is the biggest jump the iPhone has made. Whether that's worth it or not is up to you.
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Not really, like someone said earlier going from a 3GS to a 4 was a monumental leap. I'll even go as far to say that going from a 4/4S to a 5 isnt really worth it imo and ive spent quite a bit of time playing with the iphone5 as one of my friends has one and to this day, it still doesnt impress me much.
 
philjohn said:
The 4 was a single-core Cortex-8 class chip. The 4S was a dual core Cortex-9 class chip. So for a start there's a 2nd core so that you can be running two independent threads at once, which will help improve responsiveness, but then it's a more modern micro-architecture, so even though it's clocked around the same, it's probably 20-30% quicker at processing instructions.

The 4S to the 5 is moving to what many people consider a Cortex-15 class chip, which at a similar clock speed roughly doubles performance.

Add to that the new screen - yes, it's not much bigger, but when watching video the 16:9 aspect ratio means that you don't have to a) chop off the sides or b) have letterboxing when watching content which has been the biggest thing for me.
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I hadn't realised there was that much performance difference between the 4 and 4S, it doesn't actually change my mind that upgrading from 4 to 4S is inconsequential and either should be roughly equal when upgrading to the 5 but it's still good to know.

I've got no problem with anyone upgrading from a 4 series to 5, they made a lot of small improvements so it's not especially hard to justify it but it's a pity they didn't come up with a clear big benefit as I can also see why someone might not want to bother with the cost of upgrading when there's issues like the purple flare, chipping vs a taller screen and a faster processor which won't change how you use it (although quality of life improvements can be hard to quantify).
 
Linx said:
The only practical difference? Aesthetics. Upgrading from the 4S to the 5 is just buying into the capitalist scheme for NO real-world difference. 1/2" of more screen size is no justification for upgrading.

Sure it's lighter but I quite like the weight of the 4s; it feels solid. Everyone has they're logic and opinion, but buying into iphone 5 on the basis of fear of depreciation or appearance (new style) is quite frankly absurd.

To bring balance to my argument; echoing what others have said I can imagine they're being a significant gain from iPhone 4 or less. (Retina display, CPU, Camera).
Click to expand...

Have you got an iPhone 5?
 
scott212 said:
I used to have the mentality that I had to have the latest and greatest, ignoring any logic or cost/benefit analysis of upgrading. In reality, people couldn't care less what phone you have. I just don't see why I should give Apple another £300 so I can effectively brag about having a phone which, whilst is the latest model, barely offers anything beneficial to me above my 4S that justifies the cost of upgrading. Note: This is the case for me, although I accept some people may have significantly more to gain from what the 5 has to offer.

It's actually ridiculous if you think about it. Most people don't behave in the same way with nearly all other electrical gadgets/cars etc. It's like me selling my Macbook Pro every year and upgrading to the latest one just to have the latest one.

Like you I also prefer the solid feel of the 4S and it's much more physically durable. I took my previous 4S to the gym with me all the time and around Asia for 4 months and when Apple swapped it for me the other day (dodgy battery and under warranty) the 'Genius Bar' person actually commented on how flawless it looked for a 10 month old phone. I'm skipping the 5, I'll wait for the 5S or 6.
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Yeah it still amazes me how people feel the need to upgrade for the sake of it (addiction - serotonin released from having a 'shiny new toy'? conforming to society? The obligation to assert status through possessions?) , you can imagine this philosophy in practice; corporations like Apple are laughing at us but, credit is due as it's quite genius to build such a customer base whom will keep coming back every year due to loyalty or above said reasoning.

Guest2 said:
Have you got an iPhone 5?
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I've tested it out at the Apple store, I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I bought the iPhone 5 as I currently have the iPhone 4s.
 
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Yas786 said:
Not really, like someone said earlier going from a 3GS to a 4 was a monumental leap. I'll even go as far to say that going from a 4/4S to a 5 isnt really worth it imo and ive spent quite a bit of time playing with the iphone5 as one of my friends has one and to this day, it still doesnt impress me much.
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Sorry but I completely disagree. :)
 
Yas786 said:
Not really, like someone said earlier going from a 3GS to a 4 was a monumental leap. I'll even go as far to say that going from a 4/4S to a 5 isnt really worth it imo and ive spent quite a bit of time playing with the iphone5 as one of my friends has one and to this day, it still doesnt impress me much.
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Agreed.
 
I've not been into an Apple store yet but there was a chap on the train the other day with a 5 who let me have a play. I think I'll stick with the 4S on iOS 5.1.1 and keep an eye on what Apple do with the whole maps situation.
 
Linx said:
I've tested it out at the Apple store, I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I bought the iPhone 5 as I currently have the iPhone 4s.
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Just wondered if you had actually used one for any length of time...

You originally said

'The only practical difference? Aesthetics. Upgrading from the 4S to the 5 is just buying into the capitalist scheme for NO real-world difference. 1/2" of more screen size is no justification for upgrading.'

Which IMO it total rubbish. Its like saying there is no difference from a 3G to 3GS or 4 to 4S... just because they look they same or similar, doesnt mean they are the same inside.

The 4S to 5 is a bigger jump than the 4 to 4S. Apart from the fact its got a bigger screen and is lighter, its also got a totally different processor, improved battery, improved camera and better colours

People saying about maps, thats got nothing to do with the ip5. Its IOS6

I'm sure Google maps will work fine on my ip5 if I levelled it and went back to IOS5
 
TBH, can't say I've ever felt the need for more speed from my 4S, I'm sure the CPU in it copes just fine for email, Facebook, Safari and Tapatalk.
 
Chillimonster said:
These were upgraded from the 4 to the 4S also.
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Exactly. Meaning this statement is incorrect

'The only practical difference? Aesthetics. Upgrading from the 4S to the 5 is just buying into the capitalist scheme for NO real-world difference'

IMO the 4 to 4S was a big speed increase. Loading facebook on the ip4 was/is painful. 4S made it smooth and 5 makes them like butter
 
Guest2 said:
Just wondered if you had actually used one for any length of time...

You originally said

'The only practical difference? Aesthetics. Upgrading from the 4S to the 5 is just buying into the capitalist scheme for NO real-world difference. 1/2" of more screen size is no justification for upgrading.'

Which IMO it total rubbish. Its like saying there is no difference from a 3G to 3GS or 4 to 4S... just because they look they same or similar, doesnt mean they are the same inside.

The 4S to 5 is a bigger jump than the 4 to 4S. Apart from the fact its got a bigger screen and is lighter, its also got a totally different processor, improved battery, improved camera and better colours

People saying about maps, thats got nothing to do with the ip5. Its IOS6

I'm sure Google maps will work fine on my ip5 if I levelled it and went back to IOS5
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The 4s CPU and camera is very adequate, never have I thought 'If only it was faster I could do this...' The iPhone 5 camera is suppose to better in low-light, and be faster at snapping pictures like a SLR; I could tell no difference personally in terms of quality, as the IPS screen has such high saturation it make's the picture look more vivid, but when extracted to external monitor it looked the same.

Battery life has been improved by about 10-12%~ which is insignificant in real-world.

Facetime camera is now 720p instead of VGA, so I guess if you do allot of skype or facetime it could prove beneficial.

CPU is A6 which is apparently x2 as fast as A5 (4s chip), which i've never felt the 4s to be deemed slow, the iPhone 5 is a little bit snappier but it's very subtle to say the least. The 5 will perform the same when it comes to movies anyways , it may load a little quicker but again not a worthy upgrade from my point of view.

Question of the matter is do these refinements warrant an upgrade over the 4s? The answer is simple, probably not. It's very subjective but it's safe to say for the majority of the population it would be an excessive upgrade (4s to 5).
 
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^ all the above are improvements which makes this incorrect 'The only practical difference? Aesthetics'

It cost me £129 to upgrade to the ip5 from my 4S


Everyone has missed one of the main points anyway - The value of the ip5 and re-sale value

I was going to just get one but got 2 instead. I sold one to a guy at work for £50 more than retail value. I left it on gumtree and someone offered me £630 cash for it last week.

Reason to buy one at retail cost and sell for £100+ profit... Yes

I will be selling my ip5 for £400 - £450 when the 5s is released in ~a year or so
 
Guest2 said:
^ all the above are improvements which makes this incorrect 'The only practical difference? Aesthetics'

It cost me £129 to upgrade to the ip5 from my 4S


Everyone has missed one of the main points anyway - The value of the ip5 and re-sale value

I was going to just get one but got 2 instead. I sold one to a guy at work for £50 more than retail value. I left it on gumtree and someone offered me £630 cash for it last week.

Reason to buy one at retail cost and sell for £100+ profit... Yes

I will be selling my ip5 for £400 - £450 when the 5s is released in ~a year or so
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No it doesn't lol, read my sentence carefully.. there was a hint... 'practical difference'. The differences above are minor as already stated, if you read it properly. And you're main point wasn't missed as I quite clearly stated:

'but buying into iphone 5 on the basis of fear of depreciation or appearance (new style) is quite frankly absurd.'

The logic of upgrading every year because of depreciation is incoherent to say the least. What's worse is ordering 2 even though you only want 1 and plan to re-sell for profit which is clear example of exploitation due to scarcity of supply. But if financial gain is your main motive then I guess it's a valid reasoning, and i'm not judging anyone implicitly if you take advantage of it, as £100 up is a good result.

And looking at ebay second hand iphone 4s are going for £250-280. And the iPhone 5 is £529 which means the average person upgrading from 4s will cost them ~ £250-£260. Which works out 90-110% more than the price of a very adequate phone for little gain.

I don't mean to be 'arguing' with you, but it just amazes the mentality of some people of the general public which is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
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