After faithfully sticking with my iPhone 4 for 2 years, I definitely knew that I was an apple convert. I loved my iPods and really thought long and hard about whether I should get an iPhone, I just thought that an iPod touch was just basically an iPhone that didn't text or call, but I was pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was. My iPhone 4 was like my baby for those blissful 2 years with no problems at all (apart from a dodgy lock button which was quickly replaced at the apple store free of charge) and even though it was a sad departure, I decided to go for something different. Well, not that different, an iPhone 5. There was a ridiculous hype for the iPhone 5 and I pondered on whether it would be worth my while but my love for the simplicity of an apple product won me over and I signed myself up for an iPhone 5. Now, stay with me folks. I'm not a big technical fan, I buy a product in the hope that it will do it's job effectively and easily without too many bells and whistles. I'm not very knowledgeable on the technicalities of gadgets, I'm just going to discuss my experience with the iPhone 5 :)

So initially when I started the process of getting myself an iPhone 5, it was relatively easy considering it was such a sought after product. Around the time it was coming out my upgrade was due so rather than having to wait in lines I just phoned up vodafone (my network) and discussed the iPhone 5. What I was looking for was a good deal on calls and internet, and also looking to get the handset as cheap as possible. I was offered an unlimited package of texts, calls and internet and the handset for free for £47 a month. This is quite expensive, especially as my boyfriend pays much less for a Galaxy Xperia but I can afford the expense every month so I decided to go for it and only had to wait a few days before my shiny new phone was at my doorstep.

The iPhone 5 was packaged very typically of apple, very simple with no fiddly parts or difficult to read instruction manual. Like many other products the phone came with a detachable charger that is a different shape than any other apple product. Typically, the applicator is wide but this time they've made it quite small and short, supposedly so that it can fit into the phone for charging in anyway rather than just the one way saving a few seconds of fiddling around. I really like the new ear pods, it's like they are moulded for the shape of your ear and they pop in very comfortably and don't budge. Backing up my new iPhone was simple, I plugged in my iPhone 4 for one last time then synced everything on iTunes onto my new phone which was literally a step by step process made up of a few clicks here and there then just waiting for about an hour for everything to put itself into place (it took so long because 75% of my data is music!)

After everything was all set up and I'd activated my sim, I was free to start using my iPhone as I wished. The obvious differences is that the iPhone 5 is very, very slim and narrow. I was very surprised at how slim the new model is and this made me feel slightly uneasy as my clumsiness makes this item much more fragile! The narrow shape of the iPhone 5 makes it very very easy for holding when taking photos, videos, texting and just generally playing around with it, it's almost like the new model was fully constructed in the palm of somebody's hand. It has the classic buttons such as the round home button, the lock button on the top right hand side and the silent switch and volume control on the left hand side of the device. The speakers are clearly located at the bottom of the phone which are quite loud which was a delightful surprise, I don't need to put my phone in a glass when I'm playing songs!

In comparison to the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5 still has the 2 way camera that can be switched over like lightning! With the iPhone 4 it took a second or 2 to switch from the front camera to the back and also switching to video mode but it's very quick with the iPhone 5. The camera is fantastic, I'm not very knowledgeable on pixels or anything but the camera is much clearer and goes into focus instantaneously and works well on the flash, with the iPhone 4 I always found that pictures were very fuzzy in the flash but not a problem with the iPhone 5. There is a clever little addition when listening to music on my new phone, it has an indicator that lets you know when you're listening to music at a level that's too high, going red when it's too loud for your ears and flashes amber when you're getting close. I think this is very useful as there are related problems in your ears in regards to regularly listening to loud music. There is also a very clever little addition that allows you to turn your phone into 'do not disturb' mode meaning that when your phone is on lock you're not notified of texts and phonecalls, but if someone calls you 3 times or more during a certain amount of time (within minutes) you're notified meaning that you don't miss very important calls but still get peace! Calls and texts are much easier on the iPhone 5, it takes less time to send and receive texts and also there is another clever little device that makes calls louder even if there is a lot of background noise, which is very beneficial if you're out and about.

I love my new iPhone 5, but I have been one of the unlucky ones who finds wifi very problematic. With my iPhone 4 I didn't have any problems connecting to any wifi and could surf the internet when I pleased, but with the iPhone 5 I have a little more trouble connecting and maintaining a good wifi connection. In my house we have Sky WIFI, and on the laptop or any other device connecting takes seconds and the connection is strong but with my phone it takes a few minutes to try and connect (meaning I'm waving my phone around trying to catch the signal) and sometimes it just disappears mid-surf so I have to go through the annoying process of trying to locate the wifi again. I've contacted vodafone about my problem and have been told to turn my phone on and off which hasn't worked and I've been upgraded my phone with the latest software that apparently has 'fixed' the bugs that have been causing dodgy wifi, but unfortunately I think I'll have to take a trip to the apple store to delve deeper into the situation because it's very annoying, time consuming and just a real pain in the bum.

Overall it's a great phone. Apple are known for creating simple and easy to use products which works incredibly well for me, I prefer a product that has simplistic features. They are very expensive products and I have made sure that my phone is insured because I don't think I could possibly afford to pay the £500-600 replacement! It has many great improved features from the iPhone 4 although the wifi is something that I really dislike about the phone. I would recommend this phone to others who like something that's simple to use, both my parents love apple products because it's easy to use and not too complicated!