iPhone Trade-In

iPhone collection

My preordered iPhone 6S arrived on Friday.
Longer, wider and thinner, the biggest difference between my previous 5S versus my new 6S is the memory capacity.

My 5S is 16GB. The 6S, 64GB.

If you're looking for a review of the phone, you won't find it here. There are hundreds of reputable tech resources that will provide a more thorough review than I ever could.

What I can tell you: How to wipe the data off the phone.

I'm pretty anal about certain purchases, especially cell phones. Since my first cell phone purchase in 1997, I always keep the original packaging and accessories. (See previous March 14, 2014 blog entry: A History of Cell Phones I've Owned).

I got my 6S up and running yesterday morning. Because it was an iPhone to another iPhone, the painless transfer took about 20 minutes. My settings and all but 1 app were all transferred successfully to the new phone.

As I'm planning to sell the 5S through eBay, I wiped the settings clean, took the phone out of its green silicone cover, wrapped the earphones and charger back into the original box. If you're a do-it-yourself kind of person, the process to wipe the data clean is pretty easy.

Here's how I did it:
1. Back up data to iCloud on the 5S.

2. Turn on the 6S and signed into iCloud to make the transfer. Not required, but advise having phone plugged into the charger during the transfer process.

3. Follow the carrier's instructions on transferring the phone service to the 6S.

4. With an internet connection still on, I wiped the data off the old 5S phone.
Settings->General->Reset (at the bottom)->Erase All Content and Settings.

NOTE: Erase All Content and Settings ensures the data is off the old phone only. If you disregard this feature and delete data by using the Edit function, the data is deleted in iCloud, and therefore won't transfer to the new phone.

You will be asked twice to be sure if you want to do this, and you'll be asked for your iCloud password again.

5. Power off the old phone completely. Return phone, earphones, and charger with USB adapter back into the original box.

To be done tomorrow:
6. Print eBay seller packing slip and ship to seller.

7. Wait for money to appear on PayPal account.

8. Gloat that my new toy didn't cost as much as I thought it would.