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Stockimo - Which iPhone?


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I need a new mobile phone (put the old one through the washing machine!), so toying with the idea of acquiring an iPhone so I can have a go at Stockimo.

 

Always been an Android user until now (phone and tablet), so except for my wife's iPod, iWhatevers are a bit of a mystery.

 

Not a major mobile phone user, so damned if I'm going to pay mega-hundred £'s for a new iPhone just so I might occasionally make a few pennies from Stockimo.

 

Alamy says that anything above a iPhone 4 should be OK for Stockimo. Used iPhone 4s's are going on E Bay for circa £50-70, 5s's for circa £100-120

 

For a "toe in the water" exercise, those prices are much more realistic. If the phone breaks or Stockimo doesn't deliver, I won't care.

 

Does anyone have any experience / advice / guidance / tips / pitfalls to avoid about these phones? If so very grateful to hear,

 

One final thing: Alamy - 2 years ago you said you were working on an Android app for Stockimo. Is it ever going to appear?

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I was in the same position as you some time back and opted for an iphone 4s - they are cheap to pick up, I got one through Amazon and the quality is perfect, refurb'd and totally like new. I've had plenty of images accepted on Stockimo. I just am totally unexcited by the phone and really wish A would put out an Android app, I would love to bin the iphone and get back to Android. 

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When I swapped to an iPhone 4 the only minor issue I ran into was it took a smaller SIM than my old phone, so I had to visit the shop to transfer my account from the larger to the smaller SIM. I bought mine via eBay and have had no problems.

 

I'm not sure how transfer of contacts that aren't SIM based works between Android and Apple worlds. I used iTunes on a PC to Synch with my Windows Outlook Contact list, but iTunes is not the most intuitive of apps.

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I'm not sure how transfer of contacts that aren't SIM based works between Android and Apple worlds. I used iTunes on a PC to Synch with my Windows Outlook Contact list, but iTunes is not the most intuitive of apps.

The easiest way would be to export a vCard file of all of the contacts from the Android device (ie via email) and then import into iOS. Alternatively sync them to a service like Google and then sync the iPhone with that.

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I have an iPhone 5S which is fine; I upgraded from an old Nokia which gave up the ghost so I have never had an android phone -  camera in the 5S I think rather better than the 4/4S/5/5C; many images accepted for Stockimo. I would not be interested in upgrading to the 6/6S - too thin and large for me

 

Kumar

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I bought a broken screen 4s for $25. Works great as I just use it to upload the imges. Take them with my Blackberry Z30 which has image stabilization so don't want to use the iphone as a camera. I upload the images to icloud and sync with the iphone. Pretty easy. Have had 7 images accepted so far since Friday. Happy with that. Different mindset though than taking stock. A lot more fun.

 

Jill

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Both my own and my wife's Samsung phones had started to go a bit slow and was advised that tehy are only good for a couple of years (do they have a 'kill switch' in them?
We both decided to upgrade to Iphone 5S's.
So far so good but I'm not sure I want to use the phone for stock, it still feels like it would have been akin to dumping my Yashica SLR gear back in the day and getting a box Brownie instead.
Yes, I know the image quality is pretty fair... BUT, I think it unlikely that the images in most cases will not be saved and cared for as much as most people do with their regular camera pics, which, as I have said before, may leave a nice gap for DSLR users' images to fill in the future.

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  • 2 weeks later...

And be aware of this if you are an iPhone 6 user or are considering it.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair 

 

So for completeness, might be worth noting that Apple have apparently fixed this problem now:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35611756

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You may want to find a phone that has had the battery recently replaced.  The batteries lose capacity after many charge/discharge cycles.  If you are a do it your selfer you can buy the battery and a kit with all the tools online.  You Tube has many videos on how it is done.

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Both my own and my wife's Samsung phones had started to go a bit slow and was advised that tehy are only good for a couple of years (do they have a 'kill switch' in them?

We both decided to upgrade to Iphone 5S's.

So far so good but I'm not sure I want to use the phone for stock, it still feels like it would have been akin to dumping my Yashica SLR gear back in the day and getting a box Brownie instead.

Yes, I know the image quality is pretty fair... BUT, I think it unlikely that the images in most cases will not be saved and cared for as much as most people do with their regular camera pics, which, as I have said before, may leave a nice gap for DSLR users' images to fill in the future.

 

Yes... :)

 

I have an iPhone 5 and don't do photos for upload. Perhaps one day for news images if I am without a decent camera.

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I noticed a jump in picture quality from 5 to 6. Just my 2 cents.

 

 

If I'm not mistaken, the 4s and 5 have the same camera.

But the 6 has a much better camera, so much so that Apple use it as one of it's big selling points.

Yes. The reason I got it. If I'm going to shoot with my phone, I'm going to consider quality the same as with my main camera. It's never been about "how cheap can I get by" but waiting until I can save up the funds I need to get what I feel will give me the quality I desire.

I'm saving up now for the future X-T2.

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Personally I wouldn't recommend anything older than an iPhone 4s. It has a retina display, is considerably faster than the 4, and the system can be upgraded to the current iOS9.

I have an old 3Gs that will run the app, since Apple released a iOS security update, but it can't be upgraded beyond that.

 

In terms of sales I don't think it makes much difference. Both of my Stockimo sales were shot with my old 3Gs. That said, I do love my new 6s which has a 12 megapixel camera.

 

fD

 

EDIT: My old iPhone 3Gs has iOS 6.1.6 installed and runs the app, but the iTunes store indicates the current version of Stockimo requires iOS 7.

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This was shot on my old IPhone 3G, and the blue sky is grainy.

yosemite-s00bc2.jpg

 

I've had the original before there were any Apps in 2007, 3G (bought used from ATT.com for $29), 4S (bought used from ATT.com for $49), 5S and now the 6S Plus (for $850). I would recommend an old used 5S.

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You may want to find a phone that has had the battery recently replaced.  The batteries lose capacity after many charge/discharge cycles.  If you are a do it your selfer you can buy the battery and a kit with all the tools online.  You Tube has many videos on how it is done.

 

I tried replacing the battery on my 3Gs following some of the Youtube tutorials. It's not as simple as it sounds. I practically had to disassemble the entire phone because the battery is glued to the bottom plate. By the time I put it back together the camera no longer worked and the cell phone signal was very weak. Better to have the battery replaced by Apple or an authorized repair shop who will charge about $100.

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I bought a 4s to try Stockimo and it fits my needs very well. Small, cheap, good IQ. The battery got weak recently and I found getting a replacement tricky. Apple does not sell parts, so I had to choose among hundreds of sellers online. The second battery I tried is working well; we'll see for how long. If you do this, get a battery with a legitimate-looking warranty (hard to tell, I know. I read lots of comments on Amazon). Depending on your style of photography, sharpness isn't all that important for Stockimo. I would suggest getting a phone no older than the 4s, for IQ and for the operating system.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Newer iphones might have better cameras, I just upgraded from my 4S (batteries were dying and they are quite expensive to change) to a 6, not because of the images, but because I need a good smartphone for working.

Picture are nice and the display is wonderful.

Be aware that with any smartphone pictures will be nice in good light conditions, nothing like the latitude of a DSLR, there is no comparison.

I wouldnt bother much with Stockimo, I sent one or two images there, just for fun.

I dont think you will make a living of it.

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I've had my 4S for over 4 years keep it on nearly all the time and the battery is still going strong. I haven't uploaded a ton of images to Stockimo but like it and plan to upload more - have sold a lot of iPhone pix on Fotolia Instant, shutterstock and dreamstime. Have been planning to upgrade to a 6S for ages (I get a pretty good deal since I'm overdue for a new phone with my plan) but the 4S is still working fine. I hear the 6S camera is a big improvement. Wondering if I should opt for a 5S instead since it will be so much cheaper? 

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