iPhone 5c review: 6-months later

Posted March 22, 201410 yr

Editor's note: The iPhone 5c was released 6 months ago today. Since I've been using the iPhone 5s almost exclusively since then I wanted someone else, someone who's been using the iPhone 5c day in and day out, to write the follow up for Apple's other new phone. Someone perhaps not as steeped in the world of Apple and technology. So... I asked my mom. Here's her review.— Rene

Hello iMore! I've been using an iPhone 5c for almost 6 months now and so my son, Rene, asked me to share some thoughts on what that experience has been like. I'll start by saying that while the iPhone 5c isn't my first mobile phone it's the first one I've really used. Many years ago, after getting stuck on a highway for 5 hours in the middle of a blizzard, my children convinced me to get a mobile. It was a flip phone, free on contract. I took the minimal service plan possible and only kept it in case of emergency. Every time my 3-year contract was up I would renew for whatever the next free flip phone was. I never texted. I never took pictures. I never did much of anything because doing much of anything was an incredible chore.

Then, a few years ago, my children gave me an iPad 2 for my birthday. We'd had computers in the house going back to the Apple II plus. I currently have an iMac. I do much more on my iPad than I've ever done any computer before it. I search the internet. I watch videos. I read and listen to my books. I read my newspaper. I use iMessage and FaceTime to stay connected to my children and my friends.

When I was growing up phone calls, even local ones, were expensive. As a consequence I never spent much time on the phone. To this day, I don't like the idea disturbing people unnecessarily with phone calls. iMessage seems like a much more elegant medium. I send a quick note — often replete with emoji! — when I need to and the recipient can reply whenever it's convenient for them. With FaceTime, when I do talk, I can actually see the people I care about whether it's across the country or around the world.

These are all things I certainly could do on my iMac but, like my flip phone, they were more of a chore. The iPad makes them easy. That's what first got me thinking about the iPhone.

I was familiar with the iPhone, of course. My son has had one since they first came out. My daughter has had one for years. The idea of getting rid of my flip phone and not having to carry my iPad around when I left the house was interesting but I wasn't sure if I really needed one. Then, late last year, I saw Apple's Designed Together commercial for the iPhone 5c. And I wanted one

My background is in history of art and architecture and the commercial was, to me, pop art. It was, as my son is so fond of telling people, Warhol.

I expected the iPhone would be intimidating at first. I thought the smaller size might make it harder to use or that the phone functionality might, for some reason, make it more complicated (like my flip phones had been). I needn't have worried.

The iPhone's similarity to the iPad made it easy to pick up and use despite it's smaller size. In fact, I like its smaller size quite a bit. It's easy to cary. It fits in my pocket or my purse. I did have to adjust to the smaller buttons and icons but it didn't take long.

Making phone calls was, of course, as easy as making FaceTime calls. I still don't make many calls, mind you, but when I do it's quite simple and easy. I also use Maps to help find my way. I use iMessage when I'm out and away from my iPad. I use Music when I'm not at my radio. I use iBooks and Audible when I'm waiting for an appointment or for my son who is so often delayed by the demands of his job. (I can carry dozens of books with me without straining my bags or my back.) I use Camera to take photographs. A lot of photographs. (The iPhone is the closet thing to having a Polaroid again!)

Best of all my messages show up on both my iPhone and iPad. My audio books and iBooks sync so I'm always right where I left off no matter which device I pick up at the time. The photos I take on my iPhone pop up on my iPad so I can show them off to my family and friends. And all of it happens without me having to worry about it or struggle with it at all. (My son can vouch for this — his tech support requests have plummeted considerably!)

I've gotten used to the small text size. (Yes, I know — from reading iMore! — that I can make it bigger if I choose to.) However, autocorrect does annoy me on occasion, trying to force the wrong word in where it doesn't belong.

I haven't moved everything over to the iPhone or iPad yet. I still keep a real, paper agenda. I still have a real, paper address book. I realize I'm not using the iPhone 5c to its full capabilities. It's still a work in progress! However, I've gotten more comfortable using it over the last few months. In fact, I'm using it far more than I ever thought I would. I still have many more apps on my iPad because I use it far more often but I don't feel like I'm missing anything on my iPhone 5c either. I simply have more to discover.

And yes, I like the color of the iPhone 5c and the color of Apple's iPhone 5c cases. I currently have a blue case on my green iPhone 5c but I'll be switching to yellow as soon as the spring comes.

Over the last 6 months everything about my iPhone 5c has kept working just as well as it did the first day. Nothing has broken. Nothing has worn out. I haven't dropped any calls. I haven't had any problems with data. I charge the phone every night and I've yet to run out of battery during the day.

I'm delighted I got the iPhone 5c six months ago and I'm still delighted to be using it today.