We've held back for a while but daughter wants an Iphone 5 for her birthday. She's had a half decent Samsung Galaxy Ace for 2yrs and for me the IPhone would have little advantage but I'm told that's just me and they're "amazing".
I've looked in some old threads but help me out... in a nutshell what will it do... what are you paying for?
And how much memory (she is fine with an 8GB IPod which this will part replace).
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IIRC Galaxy Ace is a starter phone, not dissimilar to an HTC Desire C?
I have the Desire for personal use (it came free with the lowest priced contract I could find, Talkmobile £7.50pm) and an iPhone 5 for work. I like the Desire, and if I could afford it I think I'd choose an Android phone over a similarly priced iPhone.
But in terms of performance, the iPhone is miles ahead; everything is slick. That's not something you could ever accuse the Desire of being. (And I like the iPhone as well.)
EDIT: to clarify, I don't pay for the iPhone
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 18 Jul 13 at 13:52
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>> But in terms of performance, the iPhone is miles ahead;
Compared to an older, slower Android phone then maybe. But the likes of an HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 are much faster than any iPhone. But Apple designs the interface to work smoothly with the performance of their devices.
I'd seriously get your daughter to check out a HTC One or when it's out the HTC One Mini. They might find they like the bigger screen for starters.
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>> but daughter wants an Iphone 5 for her birthday.
Then I'm afraid nothing else will do!
We were in the same position at Christmas.
To be fair, it's a cracking bit of kit and daughter is delighted with it and certainly uses it enough to get the moneys worth!
I have no doubt there are equal (or maybe better) alternatives available cheaper (i have HTC & the galaxy 3 or 4 are really good) but I have no complaints about the iPhone 5 (well, other than they changed the connector for charger/docks etc).
FWIW - we got it for £26/month unlimited everything and £100 up front (but then £100 cashback from quidco)
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>>>> but daughter wants an Iphone 5 for her birthday.
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>>Then I'm afraid nothing else will do!
And that'd be pretty much it, I'd guess.
One can argue about the advantages between an iPhone 5 and an Android, but its pretty much a personal taste argument. Taste not just in what you want, but in how you'll use it.
Neither of them are "bad" as such and what her friends use is very relevant. My experience with my children is that most of their time is spent using the latest fashionable app or game or messaging service or whatever.
In No 1's case most of her friends have Androids and so if she had an iPhone she could end up left out. Equally the other way around of course, if her friends all had iPhone then an Android probably wouldn't be great for her.
I think Androids are better. My friend, who is about my age, we have similar levels of technically savvy and I would have thought our usage would have been similar, swears by Apple.
8GB is not likely to be enough, I shouldn't think. (I don't know if iPods have SD cards as well?). Music + Apps + Photographs + etc. etc. are likely to mount up. Given the money you're about to spend then perhaps as expandable as possible is good.
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I'd agree 8GB won't be enough as the usage is about to change compared to an iPod for music. Taking photos, music, videos, apps, etc. Remember the iPhone cannot be expanded with a memory card - although some will claim using the cloud is an option. It might be okay for some things if you data tariff is generous.
So for a small extra outlay consider at least a 16GB or better a 32GB model. Remember not all of the memory is even available for storing music etc. The iPhone is unlikely to be as bad as the Samsung Galaxy S4 though.
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I think 16Gb is the smallest '5' anyway?
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>>The iPhone is unlikely to be as bad as the Samsung Galaxy S4 though.
Hasn't that caused a stink.
I guess some must use the phone differently to me. With about 9GB available in the phone plus a 16GB card then I don't really see the issue myself. Even less once you've got the update allowing apps on SD.
Until I read those comments abounding on the subject I'd spent a week pretty chuffed with the 7GB I'd still got available after installing everything I wanted!
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I think it's a lot of fuss over nothing - obviously you couldn't move apps to SD card (originally at least). But if you kept media on an SD card then there's plenty of space.
The bloatware known as Touchwiz though is still not my liking on a phone. It's a personal thing I guess. I'd certainly install an alternative launcher - like I did soon after getting the original Galaxy S in 2010.
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I've played about a bit with launchers, primarily the Go stuff.
I can't say I've noticed a huge difference in functionality or usability. I mean, obviously there are differences, but none that I could find seem to matter that much in the real world.
Mind you, I don't really find Touchwiz as bad, or even as noticeable, as you do.
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Heavens to Betsy, isn't something of that cost a bit OTT for a mere birthday present?
OK if it's a 21st. I suppose, or even an 18th as that seems to have supplanted 21 as the age of being adult.
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>>>Heavens to Betsy, isn't something of that cost a bit OTT for a mere birthday present?
It's a fair question. However in the scheme of things with kids/teens these days it's not too bad. We do not over indulge ours compared with others around us but you still end up spending hundreds on extra textbooks, a grand on the school ski trip, £250 on a prom dress, £400 on a laptop to do their college work etc etc
So for something she uses loads as her main music source, calls/texts plus Facebook & Twitter overall it's not that bad.
Self and Mrs have very basic smartphones on cheap contracts so that offsets a bit.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 18 Jul 13 at 17:03
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If you have a half decent plan, store music in the cloud and stream it - saves you having to decide what to include and what not to include. And/or update what's stored on your phone wherever you have a wireless connection if your plan doesn't stretch that far.
music.google.com and others
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Yes - providing you have a decent tariff. Otherwise streaming your MP3's can use data at an alarming rate.
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Best unlimited data deal we can find is with T Mobile. We've only used O2 and Virgin so no experience of them... any good?
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Virgin is an MVNO whereas T-Mobile is [kind of] an MNO. They both use the same network - EE.
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Get her an iphone 4s. It looks exactly like a 5, its cheaper than a 5, and more importantly, unlike the 5, all your iPod docks will work with the 4s. And you'll need more memory than the iPod, because you need to make room for "apps" as well as music and movies. 16gb is the min you'll need
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According to my 11yr old, an iPhone4 when an iPhone5 was desired would be a complete fail. Apparently "everyone would know".
She also says, and I don't know how true it is, that some of the apps won't work on a 4.
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"According to my 11yr old, an iPhone4 when an iPhone5 was desired would be a complete fail. Apparently "everyone would know"."
And it's true they would. You can make all the arguments you like but at the end of the day in the teenage world an iphone 5 is perceived to be the bees knees. Anything else will be an embarrassment. Like wearing the wrong trainers. It may be wrong but its how it is.
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>> "According to my 11yr old, an iPhone4 when an iPhone5 was desired would be a
>> complete fail. Apparently "everyone would know"."
>>
>>
>> And it's true they would. You can make all the arguments you like but at
>> the end of the day in the teenage world an iphone 5 is perceived to
>> be the bees knees. Anything else will be an embarrassment. Like wearing the wrong trainers.
>> It may be wrong but its how it is.
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>>
>>
>>
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I used to get a t-shirt or something for my birthday, not a £600 gadget. [/grumpy git]
Can't she work for it and buy it herself?
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>> I used to get a t-shirt or something for my birthday, not a £600 gadget.
>> [/grumpy git]
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>> Can't she work for it and buy it herself?
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All I used to get was an orange & a clout !
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A bit like getting Woolworths battery operated racing cars instead of a proper Scalextric.
Chip - shoulder - moi?
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>> According to my 11yr old, an iPhone4 when an iPhone5 was desired would be a
>> complete fail. Apparently "everyone would know".
>>
>> She also says, and I don't know how true it is, that some of the
>> apps won't work on a 4.
Its not true, tell her her uncle zero says she is talking lama turds.
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She said that Uncle Zero is the one talking Alpaca caca, and she's not interested in the sweets you have in your raincoat pocket either.
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Dependign where you are, there are quite a few free wireless hotspots these days where you can download from Google app what you want to listen to. Fairly quick too. I can usually download a track while waiting for the next Tube (Virgin is in tube stations now). Even with unlimited I don't stream unless I have to, but when I do it performs OK. I can see it's not for everyone though.
btw Virgin are pretty good, in answer to a question somewhere in this thread. And I *think* that if you go over your data allowance it is a max of 50p per day. but that's probably capped at something...
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Oh well deal done... picked up a 16gb IPhone 5 last night. We needed it done and dusted in a single trip so stock/colour availability and who we could walk into locally was a factor. IPhone 4s were not available off the shelf so the threat of disapointing her was removed.
Carphone Warehouse were the first we looked at but in truth they were never going to get the business with the idiot sales guy behaving like an actor from a hidden filming prank show playing the worst kind of bullish salesperson you could find.
Anyway it's wrapped up for a few days but I'll be interested to see what it does soon.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 19 Jul 13 at 09:13
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If measured in time devoted to its use it will be the best present she has ever had. iphones are more addictive to teenage girls than crack cocaine is to a druggie.
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I have had my Iphone 4 for over three years. The battery is still good, it still looks good, everything still works as it should, as fast as it did when it was new, its been used in various continents, and it fulfils my needs in a smartphone in every conceivable way. The phone is paid for and its now on a data and calls plan that suits me and costs me 15 quid a month.
O2 keep phoning me up for an upgrade, I can honestly say "sod off I am delighted with what i have"
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>>>If measured in time devoted to its use it will be the best present she has ever had
That was a strong factor in allowing this purchase CGN.... she will get huge use from it. She uses buses and trains a fair bit and IPhones seem to make good travelling companions.I guess about 60% of her media traffic at home is on the phone through our wi-fi not on the laptop.
Eldest daughter had a Blackberry last year at around 60% of IPhone costs and that's been a complete operational and reliability disaster which has totally negated the savings made by refusing her an IPhone 4 at the time.
>>>I used to get a t-shirt or something for my birthday, not a £600 gadget. Can't she work for it and buy it herself?
No need to expose the full family finances and "rules" here but in a way she already is doing her bit by working very hard at her GCSE studies and living a caring and well mannered life. Now she's 16 in a few days she's put in for a job in the village where some of the earnings will pay her Mum back for air tickets for a jaunt she's been allowed to go on.
So in the round it's all fine.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 19 Jul 13 at 10:44
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And in 20-30 years time when YOU need help she will be there for you.
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IPhone 5 - Worth it for a teen? - Focusless
