Looking to buy a used iPhone 5S

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 07/14/2016 at 12:37 • Filed to: None

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I need to update my son’s 4S (it simply won’t play Pokemon Go without crashing, but for other reasons too). There is a local repair shop that buys, sells and repairs old phones, and I can find one there. Is there anything in particular that I should be aware of?

Rico > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:39

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Just make sure that it has a new battery in it. At this point a 5S would have a very diminished total capacity for the battery.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:40

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I know my friend’s 5 had issues where it wouldn’t hold a charge, but I had no such issues with my 5S and actually thought it was a good phone.

deprecated account > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:41

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I would consider a factory refurb one from amazon if you can find one.

lone_liberal > Rico 07/14/2016 at 12:41

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This. The battery is the thing that is most affected by age.

d15b > deprecated account 07/14/2016 at 12:41

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Seconded!

ttyymmnn > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 07/14/2016 at 12:43

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I’ve had a 5S for a long time now, and it has had no problems at all.

ttyymmnn > Rico 07/14/2016 at 12:44

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I’ve had a 5S for quite some time now and the battery is fine. But that’s good to know.

Rico > lone_liberal 07/14/2016 at 12:45

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Yep and any repair shop worth their salt can swap a new battery into an iPhone pretty easily.

McMike > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:47

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It simply won’t play Pokemon Go without crashing

Neither will this one!

http://jalopnik.com/pokemon-go-use…

Rico > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:49

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I’m sure it is but batteries do lose total capacity over time especially if this phone experienced tons of heavy usage and multiple recharges a day. For example, someone who uses their phone daily for GPS and Sales calls all day will likely have to recharge the phone 2-3 times a day versus just charging overnight like other people. Without knowing the history of the phone and its usage my recommendation is to make sure it’s got a good battery.

Sort of like cars, a manual transmission car in your possession might have a really great clutch but a used MT car with unknown history might have had a 16 year old doing 4K clutch drops daily.

MUSASHI66 > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:49

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Even if it has a bad battery, put it in a Mofy case and call it a day

ttyymmnn > Rico 07/14/2016 at 12:51

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If I went to a repair shop, I could ask. But there’s really no way of knowing if they’re telling the truth or not. I won’t buy used from a shop if there isn’t at least some sort of return policy.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 12:58

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Crazy how far reaching this game is. It goes to the point of driving people to buy newer phones! I am sure other people will be buying brand new phones just because of the app. Wonder how long the fad will last?

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:00

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I used mine until my contract was over. Then I jumped to an S6 but.....

Ilike_cougars > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:04

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From a price point if you dont mind used phones, you could look at https://swappa.com/ I bought my HTC one M8 a few years ago used.. and its still running pretty strong. Also depending on your budget you could get something better than a 5S.. maybe?

ttyymmnn > Ilike_cougars 07/14/2016 at 13:05

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I looked briefly at Swappa, and know somebody who shopped there successfully. I can’t get my kid a phone that is better than mine! Though our contracts are up in September, and we were going to get new phones then.

Rico > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:06

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Here’s what you could do, buy it and then go to the Apple store and they can perform a battery test. They did that for me when my 4S was losing 10% of it’s battery every hour for no reason, turns out my max capacity had already dropped under the 60% threshold. If they determine the battery is still at 80% or whatever then you’re golden, if not return it.

jimz > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:06

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I could sell you mine, but my employer would be pissed.

ttyymmnn > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 07/14/2016 at 13:07

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As I said, I’m not buying a newer phone just to play PG. The phone is getting too old for a lot of things.

ttyymmnn > Rico 07/14/2016 at 13:08

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I didn’t know that was possible. Thanks for the tip!

Boxer_4 > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 07/14/2016 at 13:10

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Earlier 5s (plural, not 5S) were part of a battery recall (my 5 was part of it). One battery replacement later, and it was a lot better.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:13

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Make sure the phone hasn’t seen water damage. Check the sensors (see pic below). If a phone has gotten wet inside, even if it “recovered”, it could put stress on the phone and shorten its usable life. Of course, some repair guys know how to replace those sensors, but check anyway, and ask.

Re: battery life, my 5S has perfectly good battery life, but my wife, who got hers at the same time, reports that it runs down more quickly than it should. So, this seems like a variable problem.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Boxer_4 07/14/2016 at 13:14

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Well I’m guessing that’s the answer. He probably isn’t going to fix it. He has a B5 S4 to keep running.

Stapleface > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:17

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Are you tied to iOS? Reason I ask is because you can get some pretty affordable Android phones right now that should be up to the task. I had battery drain issues with my Huawei Honor 5x that I bought a few months ago, so I threw it in the drawer and was just using an older phone I had until I had to chance to figure it out. Once I rooted the 5x and installed CG13, it's a completely different phone. No useless apps eating the battery. I can play Pokémon Go for an hour or more and lose less than 10% of the battery.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:17

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well yeah, just in general though. I bet people are going to get their first smart phone (people who have been against smart phones) just to play pokemon. It seems like it is far reach enough to get people to care that much.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 07/14/2016 at 13:19

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I just got off the phone with a local resale shop. He said they buy their phones from a wholesaler who “checks them out thoroughly” etc. So there is no way to have any info on the history of the phone, if it has the original glass, original battery, etc. He also quoted $260 for a 16GB ATT 5S, which seems a little high.

That illustration: does it actually have a visible indicator if the phone got wet at one time?

ttyymmnn > Stapleface 07/14/2016 at 13:21

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Yeah, we’re all pretty solidly in the Appleshpere. He’s got tons of game progress that he wouldn’t want to lose. It’s also just easier to maintain all the same product in the house.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:25

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The Apple Store can tell you if the glass, etc. is original. Maybe if you ask nice, they’ll check it for you.

Yes, it has visible indicators. Here is one youtube video telling you how to look for them:

Probenja > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:28

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I know for a fact that some games like Real Racing 3 and probably Pokemon GO you can get the data from an iOS into an Android when you log in with Facebook or something.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 13:29

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Another thing about upgrading the phone that I am dealing with. My wife would like me to put parental control software on our daughter’s phone, but the hand-me-down iPhone 4 she uses for an iPod is too old to support most of the useful software. Upgrading to a 5S gives me an iOS version I can install those programs on. So, now there’s that incentive to hand down my 5S.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 07/14/2016 at 13:40

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Well, the more you know. Thanks for the tip!

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 07/14/2016 at 13:42

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We have an old 4 that we keep as the house phone (we ditched the landline). The 4S will accept the latest OS, but it’s just getting kludgier with age. It’s time to move up.

Boxer_4 > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 07/14/2016 at 14:01

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It’s probably out of the recall period, anyway. The only reason I got mine fixed was because my sleep/wake button also failed (also a recall)

Yay iPhone...

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 14:04

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I’m still using a 5S that I bought on launch day. The battery doesn’t last very long any more. Keep in mind that any 5S you find could be nearly 3 years old and therefore could be in need of a new battery in short order. Also, 16GB doesn’t go far on these.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > ttyymmnn 07/14/2016 at 14:36

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I just finally replaced my iPhone 4 (not 4s, just the 4) because I took it hiking, it rained, the trail was overgrown, and literally everything on me got saturated. Did you know granola bar wrappers aren’t water-tight?

At any rate, I was flipping back and forth between getting a 5s, which is now a $0 phone on contract with my carrier because they’re clearing them out or the new SE. With the release of the SE, I there’s probably going to be quite a few 5S’s hitting the used market soon, putting their value down.