Originally Posted By: julf
OK, I know absolutely nothing about iPhones, but Elaine is a mac user and needs a new phone. She is really not a power user, so a basic smartphone would be more than enough...
Is she just looking for a 'mobile phone' or a high quality mobile computer with Internet connectivity?

iPhones do indeed make telephone calls. That is not what makes them wonderful. It is the apps, the responsive user interface and reliability of the integrated capabilities that make it an iPhone.

The 5 series are all slimmer and less heavy than the 4 series. The screen is a tad larger/taller and for many females they seem to find the newer/thinner shape to be easier to handle.

Personally I would not choose a model below the iPhone 5 level. Apple is sure to continue refining and upgrading the OS and it is to be expected that it will work more smoothly on the newer hardware.

Must it be new? The iPhone 5 was only sold by Apple for one model year, then replaced with the current iPhone 5C which is essentially an iPhone 5 innards with slight refinements, and a plastic colorful back. That makes the iPhone 5 about the same as the 5C in terms of future proofness.

If you want lots of storage capacity then you must either buy used or buy the 5S new from Apple.

The 4S is the last iPhone model with the old style 30-pin connector. The 5 series all use the much more modern Lightning connector, as do all the full size iPads and the new iPad Mini models.

Now that I have only Lightning connector iDevices the 30-pin connector just seems so old, clunky and somewhat fussy/fragile. I have an adapter for the one car that integrates using the old connector.