Apple has revolutionized and dominated the smartphone market
since the original iPhone debuted in 2007 drawing in millions of sales just
days after each release. The first model brought us mobile web and music like
we've never seen before. The iPhone 3G took apps to another level, while the
3GS boosted speed and gaming, the iPhone 4 boasted a gorgeous retina screen and
industrial design, and the 4S was an enhancement of everything that was great
about the 4 with a better camera, speed, and Siri.
Overview
Quite a bit has changed this past year in the smartphone
market and a lot of Apple's competitors have aggressively stepped up on their
game with impressive products such as theSamsung
Galaxy S III (which I really enjoy using) and the upcoming Nokia
Lumia 920 running Windows Phone 8 (which I am really looking forward
to). What is Apple bringing to the table in 2012 to compete with these?
We were already expecting a longer screen, a better camera,
a thinner design, LTE capabilities, a faster processor, etc... and guess what?
We got EXACTLY what we were expecting. Many will argue that Apple may have lost
its edge on innovation in this incarnation of the iPhone. But what more can you
possibly do to make one of the best phones even better? Let's take a look at
this year's iPhone 5...
Build and Design
Months before its release, we already saw leaked photos and renders of what the
next generation would look like, and quite frankly I was one of the many that
were underwhelmed and laughed at the concept of having a longer, but not wider,
iPhone. That said, pictures can only reveal so much, and people can laugh all
they want now, but don't judge the device until you've actually held it in your
hands. I am very impressed with how light, thin, and comfortable the device
feels.
At first glance, the iPhone 5 looks almost
identical to the iPhone 4S, so it's not so easy to tell them apart,
especially from a distance since their shapes are so similar. Like its
predecessor, the new model has rounded corners and a metal band along the
edges. From then on, that's where the similarities stop.
The iPhone 5 weighs only 3.9oz while the iPhone 4S weighs
4.9oz, and the dimensions come in at 4.9 x 2.3 x 0.3 inches, which is half an
inch taller than the 4S. This is nowhere near the size of its rival, the Galaxy
S III, but the shape of the phone feels much more comfortable for one handed
use. And finally, the 3.5 headphone port is now placed at the bottom of the
phone similar to the iPod Touch. Even with the subtle differences in physical
appearance, it is still a beautiful phone.
Screen
Apple has finally grown up from its usual 3.5-inch display and moved onto a
4-inch (1136 x 640 resolution) on the iPhone 5. Just like the design of the
body of the phone, the display also looks glaringly similar to the previous
version since it's only slightly longer. Why didn't the make the screen wider?
Apple's justification is to keep the phone comfortable to use with your hand. I
can say that I have no problems using the Galaxy S III? for the past few
months, but I will admit that the iPhone 5 is actually more comfortable.
With the larger screen, you can an additional row of icons,
and can view a bit more when reading emails or accessing the Web, but so far
it's really nothing to get excited about. Apps that aren't optimized yet for
the new screen have black bars to fill in the spacing, and will still look and function the same as the 3.5-inch screen. Apps
that do take advantage of the 4 inches? get a bit more real estate, but that's
about all I can say, coming from both a 4.8-inch screen from the Galaxy S III? and
the 3.5-inch one? of the iPhone 4S.
Is the larger screen a welcoming factor? Absolutely. Is it a
selling point that makes me want to jump ship from a larger screen or to
upgrade from a 3.5 inch? Not really. Even though half an inch doesn't seem to
make a difference, the Retina display still remains one of the best smart phone
screens on the market.
Touchscreen Keyboard
With a slightly longer screen, the keyboard is a bit more spread out give you a
little more room to type on when you're in landscape mode. In portrait mode,
the layout of the keyboard is pretty much the same since the screen isn't any
wider, but you do have a little more space to read on the screen. Other than
that, the virtual keyboard layout is identical to the previous iPhones.
Like all of Apple's other handsets, the keyboard is easy and
accurate, which can be attributed to the solid build of the phone itself. If
you have small- to medium-size hands, you should have no trouble typing. If you
have larger hands and depend on your phone to do a lot of writing, you may want
to look at bigger smartphones such as the Galaxy S III, the HTC One X, or
Samsung Galaxy Note -- all are excellent alternatives.
Other Buttons and Ports
One of the rumors on the iPhone 5 was that the device would sport a micro-USB
port. That rumor, unfortunately, was proven false when Apple instead introduced
the Lightning connector port. I'm going to be upfront when I
say this... I hate it. I don't care that the connector is reversible. Anyone
who was smart enough to use the iPhone could figure out which was the right
orientation. The new Lightning port replaces the 30-pin dock connector that we
have been using for many years, and which millions of accessories are designed
around.
For those who still want to use the dock connector, you need
to buy a $29 adapter. Unfortunately, this may not be 100% compatible with all
devices, such as some cars. Car manufacturers have already stated that you may
lose some functionality, such as not being able to control the music on the
head unit or steering wheel. I haven't tried connecting this to my Kenwood
Excelon 6690HD head unit since I don't have the adapter yet, but when connected
to Bluetooth, I can stream the music but none of the Kenwood's controls are
functional.
Aside from now having to replace all my 30 pin-connecting
devices, another gripe that I have is that Lightning is STILL a USB 2.0 connection
so it isn't any faster. No USB 3.0, and not even Thunderbolt. This is how it
is, and this is what it's going to be moving forward. I'm hoping we don't have
to wait 5 more years to get past USB 2.0 with an Apple smartphone.
The home button is still present on the iPhone 5, regardless
of some early rumors that Apple may eliminate it. The hardware volume controls
remain the same and thankfully we still have the hardware mute switch. The
power button is still on top of the iPhone so pretty much everything remains
the same, which is a good thing.
Performance
Every new iPhone we expect faster performance, and Apple
delivers every time. This year is no different. Powered by the all-new A6
processor, Apple claims that the iPhone 5 is twice the speed of the 4S --
including graphics performance -- while having better battery life.
When
testing the handset under Geek Bench 2, it scored 1630, which is more than
double of the iPhone 4S, which scored 629. Surprisingly, the speed increase
isn't that noticeable when compared to the iPhone 4S in real-world usage,
especially apps that don't require that much processor speed, like Facebook or
Twitter. Day to day, apps on an iPhone 4S running iOS 6 doesn't feel any
different than the iPhone 5 on text, web, and emails.
Apps in general do load noticeably faster, and graphic
intensive games such as Infinity Blade II perform marvelously without any lag.
If you really want to test the performance, and compare the differences between
the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5, you can see for yourself when running the Maps
in 3D. The iPhone 5 is obviously much faster. Since the A6 is still new, it's
going to take some time for more apps to take advantage of this processor.
Communications and 4G LTE
The iPhone 5 supports a broad spectrum of networks going from GSM/EDGE,
UMTS/HSPA , DC-HSDPA on the GSM version. On the CDMA side, you have all the
above, plus CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B. There is also the usual Wi-Fi and
Bluetooth A2DP capability as well. Best of all, both the GSM and CDMA versions
finally support LTE.
LTE has been around for over a year on Android phones, which
left many of us disappointed that the iPhone 4S didn't support it. This 4G
standard is a welcome addition to the iPhone 5, as many of us now depend on
fast network speeds to post pictures on social networks and stream music and
movies on the go.
In the Los Angeles Metro area, I managed to get 16MB down
and 3.5MB up on AT&T. With Verizon, I can get up to 30MB down and 18MB up!
It's just a matter of how good your network coverage is, but based on my tests,
Verizon seems to be the best choice for most people.
Those who depend on fast mobile network speeds, 4G LTE alone
is a great selling point for those thinking about upgrading to the newest
iPhone.
Software
iOS 6 is this year's new mobile operating system, and it drives the iPhone 5.
Last year I said that iOS 5 wasn't that great of a leap from version 4.3 and
unfortunately for this year, the jump from iOS 5.1 to 6 is an even smaller leap.
That's not to say that iOS 6 is bad in any way. It's simple, smooth, stable,
dependable, and intuitive which is why many of us, including myself find it
"boring" when comparing it to Android's Jelly Bean OS.
There are some nice additions to iOS 6, such as having the
ability to reply to a text message when you don't want to take a call, or have
a Do Not Disturb mode where you can set a time when only certain people can
contact you.
With Facebook integration of this year on top of Twitter
from last year, we are now finally able to share pictures and post updates to
these social apps from within the operating system. However, open still hasn't
opened it up to Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.. All which are possible on
Android. There is certainly a lot of room for improvement but nevertheless; it
is still a great mobile operating system with the largest selection of
applications and third-party support.
Talking about iOS 6 is a huge topic on it's own so I'm going
to focus on what's relevant to the iPhone 5.
Maps
Turn-by-turn navigation! FINALLY! After depending on options like Navigon (Paid
app) or Waze (free) for the past few years, turn-by-turn navigation is built
into iOS 6's version of Maps. With Google Maps no longer built into the
operating system, the Maps application is provided by Tom Tom. Performance is
very fast and smooth on the iPhone 5 and the 3D Flyover Mode is amazing. I had
no issues getting around Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Luis Obispo
in California.
Unfortunately when compared to the previous Google Maps,
this new one seems half baked. For those who depend a lot on Mass Transit like
trains and busses, iOS 6 Maps is useless -- directing you to the App Store to
download third-party alternatives.
Quite a few users have complained that the new maps list
fewer points of interests, missing local places such as schools, and the visual
data and street views are way off when compared to the data that Google Maps
provides.?
Apple's response to this is "We launched this new map
service knowing that it is a major initiative and we are just getting started
with it." Since when does Apple release something half-baked?
Email
Apple still has one of the best email clients on a mobile device, especially
for Exchange users. It is simple, clean, organized and this year the company
introduced the VIP box (think Gmail's Priority Inbox). You can now be alerted
when someone you mark as VIP sends you an email as a pop-up notification and it
will be listed in the VIP Inbox.
The ability to add pictures or videos to already-existing
messages is a long-overdue improvement.
Siri
Siri has learned a bit more this year, as this voice-recognition system with
spoken responses can now get sports statistics and let you know when the next
time the Lakers are playing. She can even compare stats between Kobe Bryant and
Michael Jordon.
For other practical uses, you can now post on Facebook
through Siri, and also responds noticeably faster with more accuracy in speech
recognition and data searching.
Entertainment
There are over 725,000 apps in the app store to keep you amused for over a
lifetime. Entertainment on the iPhone remains king, as it has already become a
direct competitor to portable gaming devices such as the Nintendo 3DS/DS and
the Sony PSP and Vita. Whether you like RPGs, Puzzles, Arcade, Action, etc...
there's a huge selection available for everyone.
The iTunes Store had become one of the best places to get
music and movies, and if you have an Apple TV, you can stream your content onto
your TV or AirPlay-capable device. There's also a selection of third-party apps
with Airplay support such as Crunchyroll and Stream to Me, which I use to
stream my movies and anime onto my TV. With the new lightning port, we have to
wait till Apple releases a lightning to HDMI display adapter if you don't have
an Apple TV accessible.
Passbook
With the lack of NFC support on the iPhone 5, Passbook is
sort of Apple's answer to having a virtual wallet. For example, if you use
Target, Starbucks, American Airlines, Fandango, etc... your tickets and coupons
will be collected and organized Passbook. Right now it's not really that useful
so we are going to have to wait and see how this evolves, but as of right now
it is nowhere near what you can do with NFC to make payments or check into
places.
The Passbook app is similarly incomplete. This is Apple
dipping its toes into the virtual wallet space, providing the ability for
companies to write custom apps that will slot in here and provide access to
things like movie tickets and value cards. But, as few major players have
pledged to deploy their services here, this serves as a framework for something
that will be cool rather than something that actually is right now. We're
expecting good things.
Cameras
Apple continues its trend of providing amazing cameras in its handsets with the
iPhone 5. The iPhone 4S has one of the best cameras, and can go head to head
with the Samsung Galaxy S III on picture quality. The iPhone 5, even though it
has a thinner body than its predecessor, has a thinner body than its
predecessor, takes outstanding photos. The camera isn't significantly better
than the iPhone 4S under normal circumstances (although they do seem a bit
sharper), but you will see the difference when it comes to taking
low-light photos.
Videos are recorded at 1080p resolution, and the camera
still performs as well as the one on the 4S for this task, so there really
isn't that much improvement in that end either. The front-facing camera on the
iPhone 5 has been renamed the FaceTime camera, and it's an upgrade from the
previous VGA cameras -- people can see your face in higher detail when video
chatting or when taking self-portraits.
With iOS 6, you can now finally take Panoramic pictures (on
the 4S as well) from the camera. It guides you when panning across a large
scenic view, stitching the photos to as high as 30 megapixels. Sure there are
third-party apps that let you do this but it's now built into the stock Camera
app.
Again there are small improvements, but that's in no way a
bad thing. You can't go wrong with taking photos, videos, and self-portraits
with the new iPhone.
Battery Life
Thinner, lighter, faster processor, larger screen, and LTE all at once means
poorer battery life right? Wrong. Although not as good as the iPhone 4, the
iPhone 5 battery life outlasts the iPhone 4S by about two hours.
As part of my testing, I took the battery off the charger at
8 AM using the phone as normal with texts, email, Facebook, Twitter. I had
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on as well. The battery didn't quit till after 10 PM. With
the iPhone 4S with the same amount of usage, the battery wouldn't make it past
8 PM.
So with all the bells and whistles and not having to disable
features, the iPhone 5 can make it through a regular day.
by LouieTran
