Upgrading from a 3G to an iPhone 5

I was among the 5 million that got the iPhone 5 over the weekend. I skipped number 4 and my 3G was running on fumes. For $350 and a commitment to paying $100 a month for two years, I have the privilege of an upgrade.

Two things immediately grab you about the new phone – the weight and length. It’s so light it feels like a toy in your hand. A great feeling. And it’s mighty thin. The longer device takes a bit of getting used to and although I didn’t care for the extra length at first, it took only a weekend of use to love the extra screen room for reading emails, blog posts and tweets.

The local Apple genius took less than a minute to activate my new phone but since I didn’t have iCloud activated on my 3G, I had to settle for the dreaded iTunes tethering when I got home. The first decision I had to make was whether to transfer everything. It was time to purge.

I had my own dumpster day and deleted about 50 apps I wasn’t using, another 800 pictures, and a bunch of voice memos and notes. I sync my iPhone contacts wirelessly with Gmail so that wasn’t an issue. I then followed the excellent directions provided by OSX Daily:

• Back up the older iPhone with iTunes by connecting it to the Mac/PC via USB, launching iTunes, then right-click on the iPhone in the iTunes sidebar and choose “Back Up”
• Wait for the backup to finish, then disconnect the old iPhone from the computer
• Now turn on the new iPhone, and at the “Set Up iPhone” screen, select “Restore from iTunes Backup”, tap Next, then connect the new iPhone to the computer
• Select the most recent backup you just made from the restore menu in iTunes, then click “Continue”
• Wait, and when the transfer is finished the iPhone will reboot itself and everything from the old iPhone will be on the new one and ready to go

Finally, and most importantly, the speed takes your breath away, especially if you’re upgrading from a 3G. The speed of websites and attachments downloads, the speed at which apps open, the speed of navigation between apps, settings and other utilities. It’s speedy!

I use my iPhone as a communication and information center all day, every day, and this amazing upgrade will result in massively increased productivity. If you’re eligible for an upgrade, go for it!

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