There’s An App For That: iPhone5s & Verizon ISIS

Tech

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Verizon Wireless.

I was way late to the smartphone wagon, which is especially odd considered my work is on the internet. Once I got my hands on one I never looked back of course. While we’ve always been an Android family, we’ve always been curious whether we should have gone iPhone or not. Now I’ve had the chance to find out: I’ve been using the new iPhone5s with iOS 7 from Verizon Wireless for the past few weeks for a Fitfluential campaign.

iphone 5

So here’s the skinny on the iPhone5:

Likes

  • Swipe to open camera from lock screen.
  • Fingerprint unlock and app purchase.
  • App availability.
  • Fast shutter speed on built-in 8mp camera.
  • Physical switch to turn sound off/on quickly.
  • Control center: swipe from bottom on any screen to access control settings.
  • Size: lightweight, skinny, easy to use with one hand.
  • Drag and drop to make app folders.
  • Crystal clear {retina display}
  • Lots of sound options for ringtones and alerts, etc.
  • iMessage for texting other iPhone users
  • Custom shortcuts {Ex. I can type “sos” and sideofsneakers will auto-populate.}
  • Loads quickly on VZW 4G LTE network.
  • *Facetime: I would love this if the husband had an iPhone so we could each see the little guy when we’re away from each other.

Dislikes

  • Need to enter password for app purchases.
  • Not many setting options on built in camera.
  • Few options for sharing webpages.
  • Size: hard to read text without enlarging and lots of scrolling.
  • Limited appearance options.
  • Can’t see notifications without touching phone.
  • Don’t like double-clicking home button to “go back” a screen or clicking website at top to make back browsor button appear on bottom of screen.

 

I think my biggest “likes” would be the size, shortcuts, and easy open camera since that’s what I use my phone the most for these days. My biggest “dislike” is the limited sharing ability without opening different apps or copy+pasting.

iphone5s

In complete irony, now that I have an iPhone something cool came out for Android first. I guess I need to continue exercising my patience for apps. This one is the ISIS mobile wallet app from Verizon. You can enter in your credit card and loyalty card information and use your phone to pay for anything that accepts ISIS payments.You can also use an American Express prepaid Serve account {which is free and you can use your credit card to load it} and earn up to $200 back on purchases {20%}. It’s completely secure so no worries about losing your info – it uses a different CCV for each purchase, you need to enter a pin to use, and you can deactivate remotely for extra backup if you lose your phone.

Isis mobile wallet

I will be downloading it the second it comes to iPhone since I have a tendency to run out of the house with nothing but my phone and car keys. At least I know I can always get Starbucks if I forget my wallet. Winking smile

If you want to try out a new Verizon device or learn more about ISIS, there’s a Twitter chat November 18, 2013 at 9:00 PM EST on the hashtag #VZWFF. They’ll be giving away a Samsung Note 3 and a Samsung Galaxy S4. {sweet!}

So, are you Android or iPhone?