buying new iPhone - 16gb or 32gb ?

If money's not too tight I'd get the 32GB one. You can never have too much storage space.

If you can manage it, I'd go for 32gb because you'll likely find the phone useful longer.

And the camera is sweet, so I suspect you'll find yourself using it fairly often.

Honestly, I have a 16gb Nexus 4 and I store everything in the cloud, so storage space doesn't matter to me. I've had 14gb free since I've got it 6 months ago.

I say go for the 16gb version. If you're not already having storage shortages, there's no need to go for something bigger. It's like someone buying an SUV with big dreams of going camping and offroading, and they never leave the city for 5 years (me mum). There's no use in getting more than what you need.

Use the saved money on a nice case, and/or a couple nights out at a restaurant.

juniper said:

Does it make sense to keep the 4s around as backup? Or how about the monthly $9 fee I could pay as "insurance" against damage/loss?

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No, take the $200. (it will never be worth that much again) The monthly insurance is not worth it if you aren't in the habit of losing you phone. A good case that would protect you phone from most damage runs $40-$60 vs. 12 months of insurance at $108. I would just go with the case but that is your call.

go with the extra storage. You'll be surprised how quickly everything fills that space. I had 32gb and still couldn't fit all my music on there.

and if you take video, those are hogs too.

better safe than sorry.

juniper said:

The $200 trade-in incentive is nice - would make the new phone either free or just $99.

I have a fear of losing/damaging the new phone and needing a replacement -

Does it make sense to keep the 4s around as backup?

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Get a good case. Set up Find My Phone.

If you lose/damage your new phone, step down to the 5c.

I have a little gadget called a Maxell Airstash. It's a USB stick that you can plug an SD card into - the sort of thing you'd get in a digital camera. These are pretty cheap in terms of how much storage you're paying for - 16GB is not that expensive. The stick also has a wifi hotspot built in which you can turn on and off as needed.

So if I want to watch video files on my phone, for instance, I can just connect to the Airstash and stream them off the SD card. I also keep stuff like a backup of my ebook library on there, and some portable PC apps, as it works just like a normal thumb drive too. I'm pretty happy with that as a solution for running out of iPhone space.

That said, I'd prefer to just have loads of storage on the phone, because the Airstash was about eighty quid and requires a mild amount of faffing. But then I've got the 32GB 4S, so that wasn't an option, and at least I still have the drive when I upgrade. So, you know, swings and roundabouts.

I've regretted not getting the 32 GB on the last two iPhones I've had, since I listen to music a lot. Definitely get as much storage as you can afford.

juniper said:

Earlier this week I ran out of space on my current 16gb - so yesterday I stopped dawdling and ordered the 32gb. Signed up for the trade-in of old one, so new phone will be $99.

And soon after, I got called in to work to cover a sick call, so the extra hours will pay for the phone. Seems like it was meant to be ...

Verizon site says the 5s should ship by Oct 28. So then I just have to figure out how to transfer all my stuff from old 4s > new 5s. Verizon guy says I can't just go into the store and have them beam the info to new phone, as I did in the past.

I've been googling - looks like I use iTunes for the transfer somehow ... hmm.

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1. Connect the 4S to iTunes and back it up to your computer.
2. Connect the 5S to iTunes and it'll ask whether you want to set up as a new iPhone or restore from backup.
3. Restore from the 4S backup and it should preserve all your data.

Pretty straightforward!

Torgo said:

1. Connect the 4S to iTunes and back it up to your computer.
2. Connect the 5S to iTunes and it'll ask whether you want to set up as a new iPhone or restore from backup.
3. Restore from the 4S backup and it should preserve all your data.

Pretty straightforward!

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Yep.

But do do the direct-cable-to-iTunes backup, not just the WiFi one.

juniper said:

Thanks you two. Seems easy enough even for me. /// I would have probably chosen "set up new iPhone."

But - one more thing - I have to delete everything on the 4s before sending it for trade-in. Pretty please, how do I do that?

Apple.com says use iPhone: Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings - I'm guessing I do that after I make sure the 5s is working properly and has all the files.

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Yep; exactly right. I'd check in particular that your photos and contacts and music transferred. Don't just tap and look; scroll through a bit.