Would it be wise to use iPhone 5s in 2020?
By: Umar Usman
Tags: iPhone, iOS, Apple, 2020, Smartphones

The iPhone 5s has been around since 2013 while it looks like iPhone 5 but it brought some key upgrades. When iPhone 5s first came out everybody loved that device because of it’s small form factor and the most secure touch ID in any smartphone at that time. Also, iPhone 5s is Apple’s first iPhone with a 64-bit mobile processor. Now we are in 2020 and if you can check the smartphones market especially the prices of Apple iPhone's, you will feel the prices of new iPhone’s is too high and not many people can afford or like to spend too much money on smartphones.

Photo by Daniel Roe on Unsplash

So the question arises Is it really worth it to use a 7 year old device in 2020?

For giving you a good review i tried to use iPhone 5s for a week to test if it really worth it to use or not. Let’s start:

Price:

You can easily buy iPhone 5s from ebay for $50 to $80.

Which is the most cheapest and up to date iPhone you can buy in 2020

Design:

If you see the design of iPhone 5s it is an old style design with big top and bottom bezels. It is not like 2020 style smartphones with small notches and punch hole camera cut out on screen. But it has a premium looking design. The body is made up of aluminum and glass. Which makes this phone a very solid device. It weighs only 112 grams and the size of the phone is 4.7 inches which helps to hold the device very easily and to use with one hand very easily. The best thing about this device is it comes with a capacitive finger print sensor which works pretty well, it is little bit slow if you compare with latest devices but still it completes the job very well.

Software Support:

Best thing i like about this device is it runs iOS 12 which is two years old iPhone software but the amazing thing is Apple still give software updates to this 7 years old device. As i am writing this article i got a new software update for iOS 12.4.8 which includes some important security patches. I am really amazed with this that Apple still give software support to a 7 year old device.

It support all the latest versions of apps available on App Store.

Also support all the latest Social Media Applications.

iMessage:

There are many method you can find online to get iMessage without buying any Apple product because Apple products are so expensive and not everyone can afford or like to spend too much money on electronics products. And there are many people who love to use Android but they also want to take an iPhone with them because many of their friends and family members use iMessage for communication purposes.

So if you want iMessage but don’t want to spend a lot of money on Apple latest devices you can use iPhone 5s easily for messaging purpose.

Social Media Experience:

I tried to use few of top famous Social media Applications those people usually use these days like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, YouTube Whatspp, Discord etc. And i have experienced you can easily use messaging applications like Whatspp, Discord or Facebook messenger every smoothly but when it comes to content looking applications like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat i have experienced a little bit lag in Facebook, Snapchat and Instagtam usage and also in using their story feature.

Youtube on the other side works perfectly fine but if you are a person who likes to watch videos on bigger screen then this phone is not for you.

Gaming Experience:

In Gaming experience you already know how a 7 years old device with only 1GB of Ram can run latest games smoothly. But i have tried Player Unknown Battle Ground (PUBG) on it and it works perfectly fine on low settings. Yes it heats up the device but the overall game is playable. I tried so many light games on to it and they run pretty smoothly like Brawl Stars.

I can easily say that if the main purpose of you is to play games then this phone is not for you

Battery Experience:

It is an old device so don’t expect too much from this device in the battery department. If you are looking for an older device like this, i am sure you are not going to use this for more power use rather this device is for those people who have a very light phone usage like making phone calls, sending messages or using social media apps.

I used this phone for more than a week and i can easily get 4 to 4.5 hours of screen on time. Which is i think very good.

Camera Experience:

Camera performance is not good but also not bad. It comes with a 8 mega pixel rare camera which records 1080p HD video at 30 fps and a 1.2 mega pixel front selfie camera. It takes very good photos in bright light environment but when it comes to low light environment the performance of the camera is not really good.

Overall Usage Experience:

Overall the usage performance is pretty good for people who only use their smartphones for normal usage like phone calling, messaging and light social media and camera usage. It is a 7 years old device but i am amazed how quick and responsive this device is. Apps easily load in 3–4 seconds which is i am not a big deal for many users. Also it is very easy for one hand use because of a small form factor.

Conclusion:

Good for people who only use their phone for calling or messaging. Good for people who sometime use their phone to consume social media. Good for people who have smaller hands like me. Good for people who love to use Android but also carry an iPhone as side phone to use some Apple service like iMessages. Good for people who play light game on their phones.

If you like my article please feel free to give a clap. If you have any question or any suggestions for me please feel free to tell me in the comments section.