henrykconrad

The release of iPhone 5 has got a mixed review from industry stalwarts and gizmo geeks. If you think it is time to pick up the new phone to replace your old iPhone 4S, which is not really old by any means. I mean, you just got your phone 6 months ago, but when Apple said they will be unveiling a new model, you are about ready to trade in your current one.
The question, though, is “why?” Is the iPhone 5 actually so much better than the 4S that it is worth changing after just a few months? Why don’t you wait it out and see if you really need to make a change? Maybe keeping your current one will not be a terrible choice.
In fact, here are the top reasons why you should not buy an iPhone 5, or at least not yet.

You don’t need the iPhone 5 to get the iOS6

What made you excited about the new iPhone are the new OS improvements. There are the new Maps that provide great 3D renders, the improved Siri, and the Passbook ticket and gift card system. Newsflash, though: you can get those improvements (not all, of course) with an OS upgrade that will be available come September 19. So try out the iOS 6 on your iPhone 4S first before leaping for the iPhone 5 just for a new OS.

You might want to check if there are glitches that you have to worry about

Remember when you had the iPhone 4 and you lose signal whenever you hold the phone a certain way? Yeah, that was a big deal back then and even resulted in a class action lawsuit. It ended with the issuance of the bumper case to solve the problem. Not saying that the iPhone 5 will have the same issues, but won’t it be more convenient to find these things out before your purchase. So wait it out and see if there will be reports of glitches that can be deal breakers.

You don’t really want to be stuck in another 2-year contract

According to CNET, the iPhone 5 will not be exclusive to Verizon, AT&T and Sprint and there will be a prepaid version available via Cricket by September 28. It probably won’t be long until it is also available through Virgin Mobile. It might cost you more for the phone but at least you are not tied down by a cumbersome contract.

The bigger screen can be trouble for some apps

For the first time, the screen of the iPhone will be bigger at 4 inches. But there is a reason why Apple was apprehensive in using bigger screens in the first place. Some apps were designed for the 3.5-inch screen specifically. So make sure that your important apps like Box, RingCentral, Evernote, or even your favorite games are functioning properly on the iPhone 5

You would need new accessories

With the changes in its dock connector, you would also need to upgrade your other external accessories. Apple is likely to release new adapter that will connect the old and new connector but that will still cost money. Not to mention that the new phone size will mean your old cases will not fit as well.

There are other choices out there

Frankly, a lot of what the iPhone 5 is bragging about already exists with other brands’ flagship phones. Bigger screen? The S3 and the One X has bigger. Fast wireless? Dual Band wireless is actually pretty average nowadays. Great Camera? The One X can make an argument that it is better. Point is, the iPhone 5 may be slightly better than the 4S but it is not necessarily better than other brands like, say, Samsung S3 and HTC OneX.

The image below will give you a detailed spec wise comparison of iPhone 5 with 3 of the most up-to-date smart phones viz Samsung Galaxy S3, Droid Razr HD and Nokia Lumia 920.

As you have ample of choice with you with better features and capability, now it’s upto you to decide what you would wish to buy.

Dropbox has become so popular lately, it has probably become one of the top choices, if not the top choice, when people look for free cloud storage. The file-hosting service gives you 2GB of free storage space upon signup, with the potential to boost storage to up to 5GB, if you perform some actions like enabling Camera Upload, connecting your Facebook account, and inviting other users to sign up, too. If you’re not exactly excited to do all these just to bump up your free storage space in the cloud, there are alternatives worth checking out.

Mediafire

Mediafire has been a solid player in the cloud storage business, even before Dropbox came along. The service is worthy of mention, since it gives users a whopping 50GB free storage with limits of 200MB per file upload. Paid plans include Pro, with 250 GB of storage and a 4-GB file-size limit, and Business, which comes with 1000 GB of storage and a 10-GB file-size limit.

If you’re looking for a straightforward online backup service and a collaboration service rolled into one, Mediafire is one of your best bets. Aside from giving you huge free storage, Mediafire lets you arrange files into an unlimited number of public or shared folders, set passwords, and share links. Not to be left out by other file-hosting services offering “collaboration in the cloud,” Mediafire now also lets users collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Mediafire is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac. Mobile apps are presently in development.

4shared

4shared is just like any other file hosting service, letting you create backups in the cloud, access files from smartphones and tablets, and share files with others. It gives you 10GB of free storage (plus 5GB more if you verify your email account) with maximum file sizes of 2048 MB. 4shared also allows other users to subscribe to your feed and lets you sync files across all your devices.
4shared is not the go-to collaboration platform, but it’s one of the most popular ones for music sharing. Once uploaded, music files can be listened to online before download. One of its best feature is the web-based 4shared music app, which is also available for Android. The app lets you share music publicly and stream any music on your smartphone or on the web. After downloading the desktop app, simply upload music to your online locker. You may now directly access your files even if you’re offline. But the best part is that 4shared populates with other tracks from other 4shared users. Tap the song you want to listen to and stream to your heart’s content or, if you’re using your mobile device, until your battery runs out. If you want to store huge files of audio and music, better upgrade to Premium, which gives you 100GB of storage with 5GB file size limit.

Box

One of Dropbox’ major competitors, Box is another file-hosting service that’s great for personal or business use. Box gives you 5GB of free storage and the ability to organize files into folders and access them on any device. Collaboration is obviously a major feature of this cloud service, since it also lets you securely share file and folder links and sends real-time notifications once your files have been accessed or edited. To give you increased productivity, Box integrates with Salesforce, Google Apps, RingCentral, and other productivity tools.

Google Drive

Available for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android, Google Drive is one of the best choice if you want to make your files accessible anywhere. Aside from 5GB of free storage, Drive lets you create and edit documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. If you’re a hardcore Google user, you’ll be pleased to know that Drive disposes of bulky email attachments by letting you send links directly to Gmail. It also makes photos you store instantly available in Google+. As expected from the search engine giant, Drive helps you find files faster by letting you search and filter by file type, owner, and more. Like Box, Drive also integrates with a host of third-party apps.

Windows SkyDrive

If you’re a Windows fan, then this may be the cloud storage for you. You don’t have to be eagle-eyed to spot that SkyDrive offers 7GB of free storage, more than the entry-level offerings of major players Dropbox, Google Drive, or Box. Batch uploads are easy on SkyDrive and it’s also pretty easy to create documents from within your SkyDrive browser and share them with select recipients or more publicly on your social networks. Unfortuantely, SkyDrive hasn’t released an Android app as of the moment, but you can use the Microsoft OneNote app for Android or Browser for Skydrive if you want to access your files. If you have a Windows phone or even an iPhone or iPad, then Skydrive is worthy of consideration.

Though these are alternatives to Dropbox with more storage space, some of these lacks some impeccable features that Dropbox offers with certain limitation. So while you select your cloud storage provider do proper research before you zero in on any one. Don’t look at just the tons of storage but other aspects must be evaluated. And when you are looking for business purpose, we recommend to go for a paid plan.