"Set up as a new iphone" vs "Restore from backup of"

[shinbone]

Upgrading from iphone4 to the iphone5. Is there a preferred way to set up the iphone5 using itunes? "As a new iphone" vs "Restore from backup"? Is one way better/safer than the other?

If i am to "restore from backup", does my current iphone4 have to first be upgraded to iOS6 before restoring it to the iphone5?

 

[Fausty82]

It's your choice. Do you want to start over or just continue on? Do you have a lot of stuff that you can't afford (or don't want) to lose - including game stats, text/mms messages, emails, etc? Do you have a lot of stuff that no longer need/want (apps, etc)? Are you up for recreating your environment (ringtones, pictures, settings, etc)?

The upgrade process has several phases:

1. backup
2. sync to current
3. upgrade the OS
4. (optionally) restore from backup

There's no "right" way or "wrong" way... it comes down to what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Fausty82 is on-point in his response. Personally, however, I would set it up as new. I don't play a lot of games where keeping its data is a important and if I had been experiencing little glitches here and there and have yet to discover the culprit, I don't want to transfer the problem to my new device. Still, that's just me. Some people find it inconvenient to set up a device as new, but I don't. Heck. About every 3 months or so, I reset my 4S as new and sometimes I do so just because. Anyway, as Fausty82 stated, there is no right or wrong method. It's a mere preference.

 

[cardfan]

It shouldn't matter. For the iphone 4S, you'll be upgrading to iOS 6. At some point during the process it'll be just an iphone 4S with iOS 6 and nothing else. This is the state the iphone 5 arrives to you in. Then you have the option to restore from backup or as new.