iPhone 5s… Size Really Does Matter

Is the iPhone 5s still a viable daily driver? Can you still get by using last year’s top model? Well, if you have smaller hands and prefer the smaller screen size when compared to the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, then yes it is. It runs Apple’s latest software beautifully, and has all the functionality of the newer offerings except for the Near Field Communication (NFC) Apple pay feature, according to Wikipedia. But if you are not too keen on joining the mobile pay revolution, then that is not very important. And with its four-inch screen, the iPhone 5s may fit into smaller pockets much more comfortably than its larger and potentially bendable siblings.

Another great benefit of the iPhone 5s is that it is much easier to use one handed with its four-inch screen, almost all of the icons and menus are within easy reach of the average sized hand and thumb. This makes the phone ideal for pulling it out of your pocket or bag and swiping away notifications with a quick glance. By contrast, the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have 4.7 and 5.5 inch screens, respectively. This makes reaching for all of your apps and notifications more difficult to comfortably perform with one hand. And if you have small hands, you will need to shimmy the iPhone 6 up and down your hand to reach everything on its noticeably larger 4.7 inch screen, or give up, and just use both hands.

To combat this issue on the even larger 5.5 inch screened 6 Plus, Apple have included a workaround, as reported by Slashgear. You can double tap the home button, don’t press it completely, and “Reachability” kicks in, shifting the upper half of the screen down to occupy the lower half. It works system-wide and with any third-party app; you can either flick the screen back up when you’re done with it or double-tap the home button again.

Even with this nifty feature, you’ll find that the incredibly large size of the iPhone 6 Plus is still better suited to two-handed use.

So, if you are trying to decide whether you should get last year’s iPhone 5s or the new 2014 6 and 6 Plus models, consider how you want to use and carry the phone. In front pocket of blue jeans, the iPhone 5s will fit better and be more comfortable to carry. One handed use? iPhone 5s has a smaller more reachable screen. And finally, with the introduction of the new iPhones, last year’s models usually can be had for much less money.

You can also read more about this in a related article from the Inquisitr on the differences of the iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6.