I updated my phone from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5s. I managed to move all apps, contacts, data, everything, except audio. Why no audio Apple? It was a huge disappointment that I couldn’t transfer the audio from my old phone to the new one without syncing with a PC that is in storage while I’m on vacation. You could have charged me $30 and I would have gladly paid it to get a perfect one-way transfer to my new phone.
Instead, I’m stuck in a limbo where my precious music is on an old phone until I can do something about this. Knowing in advance that this was going to be a problem, this actually stopped me from updating my phone for a long time, and almost prevented the upgrade entirely because I almost got an Android for my troubles. Please offer a music backup solution. The closest thing to this seems to be iTunes Match, but I couldn’t find a conclusive answer online if it will upload from my phone. My best guess is that it will NOT upload from the phone and will only do so from iTunes, which is on my PC in storage.
Anywhere here is my journey:
How the AT&T Plans Work
If you are with AT&T the 2-year contract discount deal seems to be dead. Well, it is still there it just isn’t feasible anymore, by design. It took me a while to understand this so I’m going to spell it out for anyone else trying to solve the upgrade math.
2 year contract discount costs this much:
A $850 iPhone 5s 64GB will receive a discount making it $399. But you will be forced to have a $40/month plan with AT&T (40 * 24 = $960). This plus $399 makes your phone and plan cost $1359. Don’t forget taxes an an upgrade fee that will total another ~$120 dollars roughly. Good lord how could anyone ever consider that a deal.
AT&T Next Shared plan:
Surprise! Although you think you are paying off your phone in 12 or 18 months, you are LEASING your phone and you have to turn it in at the end of either 12 or 18 months–unless you choose to keep it and keep paying for 20 or 26 months respectively. The idea is to create an upgrade treadmill that never ends, while you endlessly pay ~$30/month to finance your phone for eternity.
The good news? This is actually the better deal. At the end of 12 or 18 months you can upgrade your phone. If you choose to keep the phone, you pay 20 or 26 months of payments until the retail price of the phone is paid off. Going with the 26, and the previously mentioned iPhone model, this is ((32.70 * 26 = $850–exact price of the phone) + ($15/month plan * 26 months = $390) = $1240 total cost for phone and plan after 26 months. Don’t forget taxes on this amount, but you can exclude the upgrade fee.) $1240 is less than the total amount paid for the old 2-year contract deal, which is already a win. You are also eligible to upgrade sooner (resetting the treadmill) and you don’t have to pay a whopping $399 up front either. This plan is as gentle as shoving a grand into a furnace gets (ahahaha.)
I tried to poke holes in the AT&T Next plan but it seems to be the best deal available.
How did the backup and restore go
Sitting in a Starbucks, sipping coffee the entire time, I backed up my iPhone 4 to my laptop and then restored it to the iPhone 5. Upon doing so, photos, app placements, and nearly everything was backed up perfectly. Here is a very comprehensive list of the only things that didn’t make it through the backup, and that I lost:
- Some older voicemails, but not the most recent ones within the last month or so
- My music collection
- My audiobooks collection
- Podcast audio data. Subscriptions are remembered and so are bookmarks, even though the audio is missing. This was rather interesting. Podcast subscriptions that were still available online were covered by re-downloading the audio files and resumed right in the middle. Cool.
- Podcast “old episodes” were lost. Any “old episodes” added with the intention of being downloaded get reset. If your phone was keeping a list of episodes you haven’t listened to yet, and they are several weeks old, those vanish until you add them back manually with the “add old episodes” feature. You would only notice this problem if you are listening to the archives of a podcast that has been going for years.
- Apps that were in development. Hahaha. All of my custom apps that were made by me did not make it through the copy process.
I lucked out with Spotify
I happened to have installed Spotify on my computer at some point and it scraped my iTunes playlists and made them available online for me using the Spotify app. It unfortunately did not know to get the “My Top Rated” playlist which is my perfect ideal playlist for playing when company is present or when I am working or exercising. It also does not know my star ratings either, which for me was rather useful information about my collection.
What I think of my new iPhone 5s
Wow. A phone that works at a speed that is worth using. It works like my iPhone 4 except it is faster. I don’t much care for the bells and whistles–I don’t need them. I do favor Siri but I am disappointed that it came with a tradeoff: If you put your phone in airplane mode, you lose ALL voice control. Even the iPhone 4 offered a lot of voice control in airplane mode! For example, you could play an Artist or an Album with your voice without being connected to the internet. This feature has sadly been LOST on the iPhone 5s. If you attempt to use your voice feature, you get told that “Siri is not available. Connect to the internet.” This is a step backwards and has really been my only complaint.
As I continue to make a habit of using Siri to set reminders, I am finding my life to be easier. Being able to lay down and close my eyes and write things down with my eyes closed is simple but amazing, especially when you are trying to fall asleep.