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well ill be starting a new service with verizon and have my pick of the iphone 4 or 5. by the way i have a 2006 macpro and a 2006 macbook pro, so i thought the 5 with the brushed aluminum case would go good with what i have. pros and cones of each.
 
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I recently upgraded my 3gs to the 5. I like it! Why go with the 4? You'll be 4 versions behind from the start.The 4, 4s, 5 and the 5s. I suggest going with the 5. Carriers will probably be throwing them out the window.

Been reading that while there are many improvements w/the 5s, there is not much to write home about other than iOS 7 (which I like) and the finger print access (which I have doubts). I don't know about Verizon, but ATT gave me a $100 for my old 3gs. There are better deals out there, but I'm OK with this. And I'll probably be upgrading the OS after waiting a few months after reading some of the praises and bellyaching about it.
 
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ill go with the 5s. now for provider, seems like verizon is top of the list. as for muy old phone, well its a Motorola flip open. might be a collectors item by now.
 
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so now verizon tells me that if i use my iphone 5s as a hot spot it will shorten the life of the battery. i assume if its plugged into a charger that wouldnt happen, right ?
 

Raz0rEdge

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so now verizon tells me that if i use my iphone 5s as a hot spot it will shorten the life of the battery. i assume if its plugged into a charger that wouldnt happen, right ?

Just using the hotspot wouldn't necessarily shorten the life of the battery itself, but depending on how long you use it the battery will drain faster and will need to be recharged..

This is the same if you use a lot of Bluetooth streaming, watching movies over Wifi or anything like that..

Keeping plugged into the charger would not allow the battery to drain much, so that should be fine..
 
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chas_m

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well ill be starting a new service with verizon and have my pick of the iphone 4 or 5. by the way i have a 2006 macpro and a 2006 macbook pro, so i thought the 5 with the brushed aluminum case would go good with what i have. pros and cones of each.

I own (and love) my iPhone 4, but there are no "pros" for it over the iPhone 5 at this point. With the iPhone 5 you get a WAY better camera (and I'm not talking the iPhone 5c or 5s here, just the plain old iPhone 5), faster processor and graphics, Siri, turn-by-turn GPS and a lot more. Unless there's a huge cost difference, this one's a no-brainer.
 
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chas_m

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so now verizon tells me that if i use my iphone 5s as a hot spot it will shorten the life of the battery. i assume if its plugged into a charger that wouldnt happen, right ?

ANYTHING you actually DO with a smartphone will shorten the run time of its battery -- seems rather spurious of Verizon to mention it. If they told you it would shorten the useful lifespan of the battery, that's just nonsense (well no more than any other activity I mean).

Tethering is not meant to be used all the time, it's a quick-fix solution for when you need a temporary hot spot. On that level, it works great. Long-term use is going to result in either dramatically shorter battery life and/or a VERY high cell data bill.
 
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now for the data plans. that i dont understand fully. if the phone is going to be used 95% of the time just as a phone, understanding more now about using it as a hotspot and feeling finding free wifi is better, how much data would i need.
 
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now for the data plans. that i dont understand fully. if the phone is going to be used 95% of the time just as a phone, understanding more now about using it as a hotspot and feeling finding free wifi is better, how much data would i need.
I will tell you most say they don't use a lot of data but they forget some apps they like and use might I would play it safe and get a 2g data plan most use more than1 but not quite 2.
The problem with this is LTE is faster than most peoples home connection so the temptation to use it becomes even greater.
 

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I generally buy the 1 GB data plan from Verizon for my iPad 3 and it will easily last throughout the month. However, I do not view movies or anything that consumes large amounts of data. Also, whenever you're on 4G LTE (cellular) your iPhone or iPad battery will deplete at approximately twice the rate as it would when on WiFi. That has been confirmed to me by Apple and others and also my own experience. Verizon was just reaffirming that info to you. However, it does no harm to the battery, it just means you'll be recharging more often.
 

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pros and cones of each.
Well, one pro would be that it's not a cone. :p

Buy the best phone you can and, comparatively speaking, the 5 is better than the 4 is just about every way possible. The only thing that the 4 might have that you'll want is a smaller screen but if you've used any non-iOS (or iPhone 5) phone, the 4's screen will just seem diminutive.
 
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chas_m

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Data use (3G or LTE) is a funny thing, since no people use it the same way.

I'm almost always in a Wi-Fi environment, so I resisted getting a data plan for a long time. My home has Wi-Fi, my office, the theatres I hang out in, the restaurants, friends' homes and the library -- if it doesn't have Wi-Fi, I don't spend a lot of time there! :)

But ironically this meant that I got SUPER used to having Internet access everywhere, so for those occasions where I didn't (ie car, walks in park, travel, the occasional non-Wi-Fied up business) I really missed not having ubiquitous access and got a data plan. I got 1GB and it's more than I need by 2x, but its the same cost as 500MB on my plan so there ya go. I can tether to my MacBook or Wi-Fi iPad, making it possible to work in places I couldn't before.

I can even now choose to eat in restaurants that DON'T have free Wi-Fi. Saints be praised!! :)
 
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from what im reading 1GB should be enough. now for provider, verizon wants $99.00 for iphone 5 c and i know there is another provider, forgot which one, that the iphone 5 is free. checked and its t-mobile with the free iphone 5.
 

chscag

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You better check T-Mobile again. ;) Their iPhone 5 is not free. What they're offering is the iPhone 5 and soon the 5S or C for 24 equal payments - no contract required. But read the fine print!
 

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