Apple iPhone 5s (2013)

Failed potential – Starting as an avid Android fan and recently getting this phone from a hand-me-down, I didn't have exactly the biggest expectations. On the flip side though, upon receiving the phone it had a decent, compact, sleek and uniform build which I can appreciate amidst the bundle of overly large-screened phones. It fit well in my pocket, and snugly for… Read more

that matter. That compared with its ability to stand up vertically on its own due to its flat, well-rounded shape allowed for me to carry this just about anywhere and use its versatility to guide me in my day-to-day life.

There were some problems though. For one, the battery life was completely horrid after using the phone for about a year. It would bounce from 100% to %30 in nearly 45 minutes of use and would take drastically longer to charge than its Android counterparts. Even replacing the battery wouldn't do much either, as once I paid to get the battery changed, it only extended the life by about 30 minutes. Expanding off the note of paying, for its limited capabilities, it was ludicrously overpriced when I had bought it, being 2-3x more expensive than its Android counterpart.

Overall, Android phones hit all the spots that Apple failed to hit in this phone, plus extra such as cost and durability. This phone is well rounded but will wear out and that is what makes this a 3 star rather than a 4 or 5.

Its the last surviving phone of its size and is very versatile but there is so much that could have been done to prevent these problems, let alone reduce costs.

Overall, a great phone – I've had my iPhone 5S for several years now. It's been reliable, with good battery life (as long as you don't have GPS-aware apps running). Very extensive set of applications in the App Store. Easy to use. Easy to find accessories. On the negative side, the screen is reasonably easy to crack. My girlfriend has a Samsung Galaxy S6 with the… Read more

same telco as me. My phone shows less reception bars than hers, and I frequently have issues where the person I call can't hear me. My girlfriend never has this issue. So for really important calls I use her phone. We are on the edge of the metropolitan area. I suspect we wouldn't have this issue if we were more central.

Going forward, I will probably switch to a Samsung, but I certainly don't regret owning this iPhone.

One thing that was on my mind swapping to a Samsung was how to get to my iTunes music library. It turns out there is now an application that allows Android users to get to iTunes. Yay!

Really reliable and good phone - I'd recommend it – I've used an iphone 5 for a long time, and thought I'd buy a 5S for my daughter, upgrading from an Elephone. Although it is a discontinued model (by Apple), the 5S is still widely available in the market. The experience (for my daughter and me so far) has been great. 1. The 5S is built identical to the 5. The screen is crystal sharp. The touch… Read more

experience is great, what you would usually expect from an Apple product.

2. The processor speed is great, specially before upgrading to the latest iOS. iOS upgrades are free and apple takes care of virus and security issues, which is great for someone who needs the phone for functionality rather than experimentation with the latest tech.

3. The camera is superb. Specially for someone migrating from a non-AS (apple/samsung) phone. It captures images as you would see them without the need for light adjustments. The dual flash (difference from iPhone 5) is good as well.

4. The phone supports 4G and we were able to get speeds about 30Mbps ! on Telstra.

5. Battery life was good. It lasted for the whole day with fair usage.

6. Music is clear and awesome. Other apps work flawlessly and with no app freezes or crashes.

Cons:

Not really much to complain about. One hitch was with storage, Apple provides no way to plug in a micro memory card and increase storage. The cloud does give you 5Gb of free storage, but where do we get the bandwidth?

Another was that it's a right royal pain to put stuff on the phone or get out of the phone. The software for the phone, iTunes is seriously flawed and counter intuitive. Apple is overly conscious about "protecting" their technology that it's very difficult for someone from an "open" environment to adjust. So the phone does require behaviour modification on the part of the user, specially if you are migrating from an android device.

Overall, I would rate this phone 5* as it's got all the basics covered and then some. The storage and iTunes hitches are more than outshone by the phones general and reliable performance.

Using This Phone For Years And Still Do The Job – Great phone, had this phone for few years for personal use. it's solid. Recommended! the 16G is a bit limited in space if you like to take a lot of photos but you can always back it up and start over with a empty phone :) Show details

Good phone – Love this phone.... it is really easy to use, unfortunately the battery life isn't very good and doesn't last very long... the screen is good and strong, haven't broken it yet... Show details

Still a good phone – Although discontinued, I think that the iPhone 5s is still a good quality and value phone. So many are now on the verge of being the size of a small tablet, so if you just want a phone for making calls and doing basic internet stuff and games, then it is pretty good. There are plenty of refurbished phones, and heaps of accessories available on eBay and similar sites.  Show details

Ok but not perfect! – I bought a refurbished phone that came from Hong Kong and it has been ok. Time will tell how it lasts. The battery needs charging every day with only average use. Sometimes is is difficult to slide to answer. However, I am finding it easy to use and a good introduction to iPhone. The phone has a 13 month warranty and that is the main reason I purchased the phone.  Show details

Old schoo in the New Time – I still love small phone in the years which are dominant by large monitor cell phones. the one I bought is second hand, cheap nothing wrong, just cost me around $250, then you can get a cell phone with apple system which is the best system of all mobile phones. worthy to get one if your budget is under $300 BUT DON'T UPDATE TO ISO11!!!  Show details

Burning iPhone – iPhone turns itself off at least once a day and heats up to burning levels. When I contacted Apple over the phone, they said there was nothing wrong with the phone but they spent about 30 minutes looking into it. Waste of time. My phone continued to switch itself off and burn up so I took it into an Apple store (they actually complained to me and… Read more

stated that I wasn't allowed to just walk in to their store requesting help - seriously), they opened up the phone and said it was a know issue and replaced my phone with a secondhand iPhone 5s despite my original one being only a few months old. The replacement phone also switches itself off.

my favorite iphone – I love this phone. I bought it knowing there were newer models out there but they are expensive and this phone came highly recommended by a family friend. It has a bright screen, its durable, runs most apps without any hassle. The only downsize is the small storage it offers at 16gb.  Show details

Works very well for older technology – I knew it was discontinued,but bought it for emergencies only First time user of camera.Very easy to use.Very bright screen,dropped it twice and no damage.Use it for watch and torch as well as talk and texting.apps run as smoothly on phone as on my i pad.Key pad buttons a little small so I bought a stylus.  Show details

This is awesome! – I'm extremely satisfied with this! By now, it's not very recent or advanced compared to other models but I've had it for a year now and it's still working wonderfully! Although the storage isn't much, this could've been avoided if I had bought a model with more space. Overall, this is an amazing device.  Show details

Good and great – It's small and great with the new fingerprint technology. It's also able to run some good and new games pretty well without lag which is surprising. However the only problem is that it brakes when placed near magnets and also it has a hard time connecting to my UE Boom Speaker which everything else can connect to but it (the built in bluetooth cannot find it)  Show details

Such a durable and reliable phone!! – I've had the iPhone 5s for quite a few years now & I love the durability, reliablilty & easy use of the phone. Only down side is the memory is very limited & you can't upgrade it at all unless you want to pay for extra cloud storage. I think that it's a great backup phone as it seems almost bulletproof!!  Show details

Still going strong! – I'm still using this old phone, and it still works well. I know the new models offer more but this one still has all the features I need - plus I don't what to pay for a new phone. It's easy to use and a handy size. The camera is OK, would be nice to have a better camera, but it does the job! It freezes every now and then and force it to shut down and restart to get it going again. This phone has been good value for me.  Show details

perfect! – although it is discontinued, the iphone 5s it's the perfect phone for people like me who want a more personal way o using their mobile cellular, everything's perfect, the placement of the bottoms the finger scanner. even the screen, although small, quietly sits on your palm making it great to write with one hand.  Show details

Handful – Best phone i ever used. There are many other phone arrived but i feel this phone's screen size is enough for me. The functons are better as well. battery charge is not the best i would say but happy with all the other functions. Love the black colur as well  Show details

Love my phone – I love my iPhone, although is has been discontinued... I still use mine today with no problems.The OS is still responsive (even on the current os) The only thing I wish I did, was upgrade to a larger storage size on purchase... 16gb is very limiting, especially if your storing images etc  Show details

Very Good! – Has lasted a long time and is easy to fit in pockets or wallets. The phone is a bit low on storage but that is because of the model I chose. Overall I would definitely recommend this phone for a good way to communicate to people with a smaller sized phone.  Show details

Perfect product! – I bought iPhone 5s few month ago. It’s still working well. It’s perfect size to grab and use all the time. Battery is okay but, it’s going lose to be a little bit slow now. This model is old. I’m still using it and updating to recent version. But, It doesn’t look very fast and good.  Show details

Reliable – Very reliable phone does everything it's intended for, I have had for years and only very little cracks on screen barely affects vision of the screen even though it has been dropped and badly on concrete, I really hate the size 16gb is something no one should bare always have to delete things but the speed is good with little tweaks  Show details

Handy and Sturdy – I've used my phone for around 4 years now, and it is still going strong. I am surprised at how many times the screen hasn't cracked after so many bumps. It's served me well and I am planning to use it until it breaks before I am buying a new phone. The camera quality is really good, though not as good as the samsung. As expected, the battery on… Read more

my phone has died down and is not what it used to be. Maybe it has something to do with the software update that drains batteries, but it was better brand new. My friend has also been using her iphone5s since it came out, so more than 5 years. She dropped it in the toilet once, and was happy that it still worked after she dried it. She is still using her phone today.

good – I purchased this phone second hand. It is a great phone and has good quality. But, it heats up very fast and becomes a bit too hot for me. Nearly all the chargers i have bought for it have broken within days. The phone system works fast and the camera quality is great. The battery life isn't that great as it turns off when it is on 20 %.  Show details

Have this phone for a few months – I use the phone everyday. I use the mobile data when I am out. The phone needs to be charged everyday. I have been using the phone for a few month's it's better than my old phone. It's good for messaging and texting and ring. Has a voicemail which is good.  Show details

Good phone – I purchased this phone 2nd hand about 2 years ago and it was all good for the first year. Unfortunately, the battery life has decreased in quality and it can barely hold up for 30 minutes without needing to be charged. It's unfortunate because it's such a great phone, and has cool features such as the touch ID log in.  Show details

An excellent phone but the battery puffed up after only three years & no joy from Apple – Loved this phone. Last of the "perfect sized" phones I think. It did everything in a small package. Battery life was always a problem. Maybe it was faulty from the start. The battery puffed up & pushed the screen out just recently after nearly three years. Took it to Apple Store & they said it's normal when battery gets to end of it's life! How… Read more

come my iphone 4 & ipad 2 are still fine? So I had to pay $120 for a replacement. Asked about upgrading but told since the 5S was faulty (!!!) no go. Disappointing. Anyway was a great phone let down by a fault.

Switched from Samsung – I was always a Samsung person, but I switched to the 'dark side' when I was given this phone by my father. I have found it has a lot more features than the Samsung and doesn't seem to freeze as much as my Samsung did (I had Samsung galaxy 4). It's also easier to hold anc use as it's smaller than the Samsung. I always thought iPhones were hard to… Read more

use until i got one, and have found it very straight forward and easy to use. Have converted to apple forever now!

Great for a first phone and great for its time! – In my opinion, apple did a really great job with the iPhone 5s! It implemented the lightning charging port which is great. The phone is great for people with small hands that can't hold larger phones such as the iPhone 6 plus etc. The camera is also decent for the price. Although it is a great phone, the battery life is a bit of a let down...  Show details

The phone you can keep for years – I've owned my Iphone 5s for about 4 years now and it hasn't skipped a beat. Whether you can find one brand new or 2nd hand, you will not be disappointed. The 5s has some of the best and still relevant tech that Apple has come out with, namely the fingerprint scanner and A7 chip, which still preforms very quickly and respectable, 4 years later. … Read more

I don't think you can find a better phone for 2013 and I expect to keep on enjoying it until something better comes along (it might be a while!)

Solid Phone, Good Price – The iPhone 5s is an older but still very competent iPhone. With age, its price has gone down significantly enough that the price is so good it's really hard to not give this phone a recommendation. Great camera, great build quality, zippy performance and a stunning retina display all in a metal constructed, thin and light frame. Whats not to like?  Show details

Good All Round – I find this phone good all round. The only disappointment is the battery life. When using the internet a lot the battery life is terrible. I have however given mine a fair hammering and I have never had any issues with damage such as cracked screens or the like. Good overall  Show details

Love my phone – I am very happy with all features on the phone. It does everything I need it to and more. Battery life is excellent. The camera takes good photos and videos, but there is room for improvement. I use my phone as a GPS, Camera, Phone, mini computer etc. I play basic games also. I have had no problems at all with the phone.  Show details