The New iPhones are Awesome but is it Time to Upgrade?

If you haven't already heard, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C were released yesterday (September 20th) and they are pretty cool.

First, lets talk about the iPhone 5S. Apple took the liberty of appealing to both techies and the average consumer. The new fingerprint sensor on the home button allows you to get into the phone without entering a passcode. In reality, unless you are carrying very sensitive data on your iPhone, this feature is more of something that is just awesome than absolutely necessary. Still, you can add support for multiple fingers and other people's fingers just in case you want to let your friends or family get into your phone whenever you are not there. Also, the color gold has been added to the traditional black and white colors. For techies, a 64-bit processor, a better camera, and a longer-lasting battery have all been added.

The new iPhone 5S backside

The iPhone 5C is the first new iPhone to be released for under $199. The true reason for this is is that it is cheaper to manufacture because of its plastic casing. With this new casing comes five different colors (maybe the C in iPhone 5C stands for 5 colors?): White, Pink, Yellow, Blue, and Green. The iPhone 5C has all the same specs as the iPhone 5 except it has a longer battery life and it weighs 0.7 ounces more (due to the plastic casing).

All of the colors of the iPhone 5C are shown above

So now comes the question, is it time to upgrade? If you have an iPhone 5 and it is working fine, waiting till the iPhone 6 comes out (rumors say it will be released in early-mid 2014) to upgrade is the smartest thing to do. If you have an iPhone 4S or iPhone 4, you should absolutely upgrade to either an iPhone 5C or iPhone 5S. The real decision when choosing which iPhone, 5C or 5S, to buy is whether you want one of the bright new colors or you want a much faster iPhone with a fingerprint sensor. You can check out the hands-on videos of both below, and if you choose to upgrade, comment with which one you decided to go with!

Roku 3 vs Vizio Co-Star vs Apple TV

You have a Netflix account and you are tired of sitting in your bed to watch movies on your iPad, right? Well your top three options for being able to watch Netflix, use Pandora, and more in your living room are the Roku 3, Vizio Co-Star, and the Apple TV. Though Roku does offer cheaper models, these three devices all cost $99, so the price will not be playing a major factor in which is more worth buying. Below you can see the details about each device, and a video of each one in action. Before anything though, you should know that all the devices allow you to use Pandora, Netflix, and Hulu Plus. Also, all the devices have a smartphone/tablet app that lets you control them if you don't have the remote handy.

Roku 3:

-Plug headphones into the Roku remote so you can watch TV without disturbing others in the room
-Access and play music through your Amazon Cloud Player and Spotify accounts
-Play games such as Angry Birds using the remote with motion-control
-Can stream a movie using less power than a nightlight



Vizio Co-Star:

-Turns your TV into a "Google TV"
-Access to thousands of Apps (including Youtube and Wikipedia)
-The Co-Star's remote has a keyboard so it is easy to type in names of movies/shows you would like to watch
-Play video games on demand through OnLive
-Search the web right on your TV


Apple TV:

-Play music and movies from your iTunes library
-Play Youtube videos
-Very simple remote
-View the game/movie that you are playing on your iPad on your TV using AirPlay
-Access to iCloud


Right now, for $99, the Vizio Co-Star seems like the best option for the ultimate TV experience. If you are looking for a cheaper device that does not much more than play Netflix movies and songs from Pandora, than Roku offers cheaper versions of their device called the Roku LT ($49.99, 720p video) and Roku HD ($59.99, 1080p video).

If you are interested in buying one of these TV enhancing devices, follow one of the links below:

Roku 3 (and other models): http://shop.roku.com
Vizio Co-Star: http://store.vizio.com/costar.html
Apple TV: http://www.apple.com/appletv/what-is/