Hey guys, this is Austin and today I’m here
with a review of the iPhone 5.
With a larger screen, LTE and some of the
best hardware period is the new
iPhone for you?
To start with we have to go over the design.
In pictures it
looks just like the iPhone 4 and 4S but in
person it’s a huge change.
The first
thing I noticed was just how light it is,
even though it’s larger it weighs 20%
less.
Build quality is also absolutely top notch
with incredibly fine tolerances
and more importantly an excellent feel.
Take the rear for example.
It’s now
mostly aluminum with glass on top and bottom
which works really nicely in
the hand.
I think Drew summed it up nicely as it really
is slimmer, lighter and
sleeker in a major way.
On bottom you’ll see the new Lightning port
which is
much smaller and reversible however if you’ve
got 30-pin docks and cables
you’re going to need adapters.
The headphone jack has also been moved to
the bottom of the iPhone 5, not a big deal
to me but it’s something not
everyone is a fan of.
Up front you’ll find a larger 4” display
with a resolution
of 1136x640 and immediately you’ll notice
it makes a big difference.
The
added height give you more screen real estate
to work with which is
something the iPhone has been needing for
quite a while.
It’s not all perfect
however.
Apps need to be updated to work with the iPhone
5’s larger screen,
if not they revert to a smaller size with
letterboxing.
Something I found
strange is that iOS really doesn’t take
advantage of the larger screen.
Notifications still cover up the top of whatever
you’re doing and the
experience feels like Apple just stretched
iOS to fit rather than tailor it to
really use the larger size.
iOS 6 comes preinstalled on the iPhone 5 and
is
honestly my biggest letdown.
Technically it’s faster than ever and there
are
numerous bits of polish added but the improvements
are minor.
Elkanna puts
it best I think, the hardware is great but
the software lets it down.
Google
Maps and YouTube were removed in exchange
for Apple Maps.
There are a
few improvements like turn-by-turn directions
and a new 3D view but for the
most part it doesn’t match up with Google
Maps.
Apps like Passbook are
meant to make it easy to use your iPhone for
boarding passes, tickets and
more but without NFC it’s more of a novelty.
iOS 6 isn’t broken but it’s
absolutely lacking innovation compared to
Windows Phone and Android.
Internally you’ll find a new Apple A6 dual
core processor clocked at 1.2GHz
paired with 1GB of RAM.
Here I have to say I’m impressed, this is
the fastest
System on a Chip you’ll find in any phone
or tablet out right now.
With a GPU
on par with the iPad 3 gaming is impressive
with enough horsepower to run
even the most demanding games without breaking
a sweat.
Once games like
Real Racing 3 come out you can expect near
console quality graphics on your
phone.
In day to day use there’s definitely a difference
although opinions
vary on how much.
Most people feel it’s not a massive improvement
over the
already fast iPhone 4S although upgraders
from the iPhone 4 tended to be
much more impressed.
From the 3GS it’s really no contest.
One of the big
additions is LTE which unlike on the iPhone
4S is true 4G.
Speeds here are
really impressive as they’re better than
most home connections and I can see
LTE being worth the upgrade alone for a lot
of people.
With the bigger screen,
more powerful specs and LTE battery life is
actually quite a bit better.
Even
with fairly heavy usage including calls, shooting
video and gaming I was easily
able to get through a day and I don’t think
it’s a stretch at all to get two days
out of a charge with more average use.
The rear camera is mostly unchanged
with the same 8 megapixel camera with 1080p
video recording.
There have
been some upgrades in the optics but for the
most part it’s the same quality
from the iPhone 4S.
It’s one of the best smartphone cameras
out there but
probably not for long with phones like the
Nokia Lumia 920 on the horizon.
Video is also still solid but nothing spectacular
as it still doesn’t autofocus on
it’s own unless you tap to focus.
One nice improvement is that you can take
pictures while recording video and the camera
will take pictures about as fast
as you can hit the shutter button.
Panorama mode is also included although
it’s hardly a groundbreaking feature.
The bigger change is with the front
facing camera which has been upgraded to 1.2
megapixels and shoots in 720p.
It’s nothing on the rear camera but for
video chatting or recording a quick clip
it’s really not bad.
Like Tim said I think it will make a nice
improvement for
vloggers.
The iPhone 5 is a solid upgrade and easily
the best one yet.
With
LTE, a bigger screen, improved battery life
and an outstanding design I don’t
have a problem recommending this at all.
What it doesn’t do is present a
great case to switch from Android or Windows
Phone.
While the hardware is
top notch iOS is in serious need of an overhaul
as it feels clunky and
unintuitive much of the time.
Put simply the iPhone 5 is one of the best
phones out there and an easy choice for a
lot of people but it’s not the best
phone for everyone.
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