The iPhone 5 release date is upon us. Here are our thoughts on the phone
The Apple iPhone 5
release date is upon is, with the latest arrival boasting a 16:9,
4-inch screen, new smaller port, thinner, lighter design and 4G LTE.
Last year's iPhone 4S
always felt like an incremental upgrade rather than a true step
change, and although it sold wonderfully for Apple and brought some
interesting additions, few would argue against the suggestion that it
opened the door for competitors.
As a result, this year's iPhone 5 launch was perhaps most important for Apple since the very first iPhone arrived back in 2007.
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anyone following the rumors over the past year, the iPhone 5 features
won't bring any major surprises, with many of the new features expected –
including the new dimensions and the improved A6 chip.
The
iPhone 5's camera is smaller, hardier and enhanced by the more powerful
chip, and the front-facing camera is bumped up to a 720p version. Wi-Fi
is improved and the inclusion of 4G is a must have in the current phone
world. But
it is the size, design and shape that will win the most admiring
glances. The all glass and aluminium chassis can claim to be the
thinnest smartphone, at 7.6 millimeters "thin."
The 4-inch screen
keeps the retina resolution despite the added length, which Apple has
brought in to make the iPhone 5 more movie-friendly. The
added real-estate is welcome, especially given the growth of its
rivals, and apps will apparently be easy to move onto the new screen
size for developers.
In the hand the Apple iPhone 5 certainly
feels comfortable. You can see why Apple decided to keep the width the
same, since it fits the hand nicely – just as its predecessors have.
The
most relevant comparison for many is with its predecessor the iPhone 4S
and, for those on the now common two-year contracts, the iPhone 4.
The
new phone certainly feels different – and although there will be the
odd naysayer, the overwhelming majority will feel that the iPhone 5's
design is a good step up from the now ageing chassis of both the 4S and
4. The move away from glass is a welcome one, and the aluminium manages to bring a premium feel in a notably lighter device.
A
new chip definitely brings a snappier feel. Many people with an iPhone 4
will be all too used to the lagginess when trying to do anything even
slightly complex with the devices, and the Apple iPhone 5 manages to
take things on as far as you would expect in more than two years.
What
is perhaps more suprising is just how much snappier this feels than the
iPhone 4S. The A6 chip clearly has significantly more grunt power under
its smaller hood – but what is surprising is that you can immediately
tell when you use the device alongside its predecessor.
Practically
speaking, this probably isn't enough to make you want to leave a 4S
unless you're a hardcore fan, but it will convince many iPhone 4 users
to stick with the Apple ecosystem for another generation – and you get
the impression that this is goal number one for the company. The
added length could have made the phone unwieldy, but the loss of
thickness ensures that it maintains its balance and premium feel.
Those
people who were used to the iPhone 4 and 4S will certainly notice the
difference that the new iPhone 5 design brings. It served to make the
device feel more modern, and the materials used keep that premium feel
that Apple has put so much stock in. Thinner, lighter and more screen were always on the cards, and the fans' desires are understandable.
The
aluminium backplate feels lovely – just textured enough to feel very
different from its predecessors and, to our taste, preferable to the
glass. The
iPhone 5 screen is bright and colorful, although it's difficult to
truly appreciate the small upgrade that Apple has made in the bright
lights of the show room. The
camera is also more difficult to test properly, but it certainly seemed
to take a photo faster, something that can be a frustration on older
iPhones. From a software perspective, iOS 6
brings with it a wealth of new features that will certainly make a
major difference to not only the way the iPhone 5 feels, but also its
predecessors the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S when they get the updated
software.
Maps, for instance, is significantly altered after
Apple ended its longstanding agreement to use Google Maps and pushed
forward with its own offering, in conjunction with sat nav giant TomTom.
The
new maps certainly look the part, with some beautiful 3D renders and
snazzy looking new vector graphics. We really want to take some time to
tell you just how well the new offering performs in the wild, when we
get a handset in for our full iPhone 5 review, coming soon.
The
showcased flyover mode was great for the riverside of London, but as you
would expect fell flat pretty quickly once you left the tourist
districts and got to residential areas.
Early indications
elsewhere are good, however, as the "Apple designed" tag is pushed to
the forefront. The tilt and rotate view functionality looks gorgeous,
and the turn-by-turn navigation is likely to attract praise with a
simple and intuitive interface. However
Maps is by no means perfect, and those of you who are used to the
wealth of information offered up by Google Maps may be disappointed with
Apple's solution, especially as there isn't a Google Maps app in the
App Store yet.
Apple Maps seems to be missing key details, as for
example, we found certain train stations didn't exist in the Cupertino
firm's world.
Still, the whole Maps experience flows very well,
with the smooth zoom and slick image rendering making it a joy to use –
with hardly any waiting around for new areas of the world to load,
something which can take its time on Google's version.
Safari has
also received an overhaul and the boost in speed is apparent from the
word go, as the iPhone 5 zips through pages like a hot knife through
butter – the famous TechRadar.com took just four seconds to load in a
usable form, and an additional two to fully display all the banners.
We
still prefer the Android way of doing bookmarks, with small thumbnails
of your favorite sites offering a more visually pleasing experience, but
Safari's list does the job.
The offline reading function keeps
the URL links live on the save paged, allowing you to click through to
other areas of the website when you regain signal – something most
Android offerings don't do, instead saving the page as a PDF like
document.
Siri has been given a major, and frankly much-needed,
overhaul with the voice "companion" functionality extended into new
languages and new territories in an attempt to turn the iPhone 4S's
overhyped and under-featured personal assistant up to a useful level.
It
coped better with the noise of the press room than its predecessor –
presumably due to the new microphone set up in the new iPhone 5, and
could answer the two or three stock questions we asked it.
However,
drilling down for information on lower-league sports teams was not easy
for Siri - having to resort to a Google (haven't quite ditched your
rival completely, have we?) search for the answer. Given
the obsession with Facebook, the need for better integration was a key
addition for Apple in its latest operating system, and the iPhone 5 and
its older brothers will benefit from a major overhaul of the way in
which the social network links up with your handset.
The Facebook
(and Twitter) functionality feels much more central to the experience
this time around, and having the ability to post from the notifications
screen feels like an obvious inclusion that works well.
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