The iPhone has always been one of the most coveted smartphones on the market. Millions of people around the world buy them, and even more people want to buy one. Since so many people want the iPhone, but can not afford it, Apple made the iPod Touch and has sold millions of them. Many Android competitors compare their devices to the iPhone, and try to say that their device is better than it. Needless to say, Apple has has a huge success story with the iPhone. This year's iPhone mixes things up by being, design wise, a mash up of previous iPhones with the glass and aluminum body. The iPhone also gives in to recent trends by increasing its screen size. Is Apple's new design an improvement over the 4's and 4s's? Is the new four inch screen any more useful than the previous 3.5 inch screens? Find out the answers to these questions and more in our review of the iPhone 5.
Hardware
The iPhone has almost always been the definition of a premium design. The original iPhone had a beautiful aluminum enclosure, and the 4 and 4S had a glass sandwich design. The iPhone 5 continues the premium streak with its aluminum and glass design. The front glass houses the new four inch Retina display, the earpiece, the home button, and the 1.2 megapixel front facing camera. Most of the back is made up of either raw aluminum on the white version, or slate black anodized aluminum. Strips of either white or black glass house the eight megapixel camera and flash. The volume buttons, mute/un-mute switch, the lock button, Lightning port, and speakers rest on an aluminum band surrounding the iPhone. Overall, everything is placed just were is should be.
If you have been paying attention to the cell phone landscape lately, you may notice a lot of large-screened flagships. Smartphone manufacturers today have considered smaller screens only fit for lower-end phones. The iPhone's 3.5 inch screen size was big when it was released in 2007, but it is now considered very small. People that have stuck with the iPhone all these years would say that it is the perfect screen size, but everyone else would agree that the iPhone has a small screen. Apple has somewhat given in to the new "bigger is better" trend in smartphone screens, by increasing the iPhone's screen size to four inches. To accommodate the larger screen, Apple decided to make the iPhone 5 taller instead of wider. This keeps the iPhone compact, while still making the screen bigger. We know the biggest question you all are probably asking and yes, you can still easily reach all four corners of the screen with one hand. Even though you are getting an extra half an inch of screen real estate with the iPhone 5, there is not much use for it. We will touch more upon this in our Display section.
Very few smartphones today come close to the iPhone 5 in terms of a premium design. Today, some companies *cough Samsung cough* make their phones out of cheap plastic to cut production costs. Other companies make their phones out of plastic to either make them more durable or to make the price of the cell phone cheaper. In other words, not too many companies make their cell phones out of premium materials anymore. This makes the iPhone 5 one of the best designed smartphones on the market. The glass front and glass tips on the back complement the cool aluminum back very well. The anodized black/slate color looks very dark, ominous, and different from the vast sea of smartphones. The white/silver version we reviewed looks just as good, but it looks more like a precious piece of jewelry than dark and ominous. Both versions have a beautiful chamfered edge that makes swiping from side to side very comfortable. The metal and glass design also makes for a better in-hand feel than plastic phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One X, Blackberry Z10, and many other smartphones on the market today. The only handset that comes close to the iPhone 5 is the HTC One. The One also uses aluminum, but it has a curved back and little strips of plastic instead of the iPhone's flat back and glass strips. The iPhone is definitely one of the best designed handsets on the market today, if not the best designed.
Mobile Tech Note iPhone 5 review gallery
Display
Apple shocked the world when they revealed their first Retina display with the iPhone 4. The iPhone's Retina display was leaps and bounds ahead of the WVGA screens of the Android smartphones of the time. The high 326 PPI pixel density ensured that you could not see any pixels, the Retina display offered great color production, and all these factors helped it to become one of the best displays on a smartphone. Apple somehow managed to improve the Retina display with the iPhone 5, and make it even larger. Color reproduction is still top notch, and viewing angles are fantastic. Apple increased the resolution on the new four inch Retina display to 1,136 x 640 to keep the 326 PPI. This high PPI once again makes it nearly impossible to spot pixels on the display. The iPhone 5 does have a fantastic display, but it is somewhat lagging behind the competition. In 2010 when the iPhone 4 came out, it was years ahead of the competition. Fast forward three years, and the Retina display is not so amazing anymore. Many smartphone manufacturers have released their own 720p displays, and most have smartphones with 1080p displays. These displays offer a much higher pixel density than the iPhone, and a much larger screen. Some panels, like the 1080p Super LCD 3 screens on the HTC Droid DNA and HTC One, are clearly better than the iPhone's display. These new displays have 440+ PPI's and larger screens. The One's display also seems to have more natural colors and whiter whites than the Retina display, but by a very small amount. In reality, most high-end smartphones have great screens. The only way to differentiate from them is by nitpicking at every single little detail. The One and other 1080p smartphones might have higher pixel densities than the iPhone 5, but you cannot usually see any pixels on a screen if it has more than 320 pixels per inch (PPI). Even though the iPhone 5's screen may not be the best on paper, but it is definitely one of the top three smartphone displays on the market.
Performance
Since Apple makes almost everything that goes into the iPhone, they have been able to make the iPhone incredibly fast without having powerhouse specs. Apple optimizes iOS to the iPhone's processor and screen, which leads to a great experience. Apps load quickly, are very responsive, and games have little to no lag. Swiping around the home screen is quick, scrolling through pictures is a breeze, and Safari pages load just as fast as your data connection allows. One of the major improvements brought with the iPhone 5 is its inclusion of an LTE radio. Finally, the iPhone has LTE! Having an LTE radio only adds to the buttery smoothness of iOS and the iPhone. On the AT&T LTE iPhone we reviewed, we managed to get around 10-15 megabits download and around 5MBPS upload in central Loma Linda. In America, the iPhone will be available on Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and it will work on each of their LTE networks. If you are looking for the best all around LTE network in America, Verizon would be your best bet. Verizon covers most of America, and their LTE speeds generally hover around 25-35MBPS download and 10-15MBPS upload. AT&T's LTE network is covers portions of America, but it does not come anywhere close to Verizon. Sprint's LTE network is available in very few places, and it is slow compared to other LTE networks where it is. T-Mobile's LTE network is very new and in available in a few cities, but it is fast where it is. You can also buy unlocked models of the iPhone 5, if you want to enjoy being SIM and contract free. No matter what version of the iPhone 5 you buy, the A6 processor and LTE radio will be able to handle anything you can throw at it.
Even when compared to the quad-core Android beasts of today, the iPhone 5 is still a fast device. The Android superphones of today need quad-core processors with more and more gigahertz to minimize the lag of Android. The iPhone 5 only needs a dual-core processor clocked at an estimated 1.3 gigahertz to keep iOS running smoothly. This is good for Apple, but not good for variety. There is a wide variety of Android phones, and they come in all shapes and sizes. There are Android phones at various price points, and they tout many different features. As for iOS devices, Apple only releases one phone a year, and it has a relatively high price. The only lower priced iOS alternatives are the old iPhones with aging specs. This does help app developers make more optimized apps; Android's large variety brings much fragmentation. You might not get every feature you want with an iPhone, but the restrictions help make the iPhone 5 super fast.
Another plus about Apple making only one kind of iPhone per year is that it helps with battery life. Apple making most of the iPhone themselves lets Apple optimize the iPhone to a very impressive degree. We have found that the iPhone 5's battery life is pretty impressive. It is not as amazing as the Motorola RAZR MAXX HD, but it will get you through the day. We were able to check all our favorite social networks, watch a few YouTube videos, take some pictures and videos, and listen to some music all day long. If you use your iPhone 5 lightly, you might be able to manage two days on one charge. Pushing the iPhone 5 to its limits might make you reach for your Lighting charger in the middle of the day. In other words, we have no complaints about the iPhone 5's battery life. The iPhone 5 will definitely get you through the day, but you might need to charge it before you go to bed.
Camera
Since the iPhone 4, the iPhones have had great cameras. The iPhone 4's camera was far ahead of the competition, and the 4s is still one of the better cameras on the market. Apple has just upped the ante with the iPhone 5's brand-new iSight camera. This new camera has better optics than the iPhone 4s's camera, which leads to some pretty stellar results. You can get great pictures in almost any situation with the iPhone 5's camera. Daylight pictures are very detailed and crisp, but colors are sometimes over saturated. We found that the iPhone 5 often over saturated grass when it was not the main subject of the picture. Indoor picture are also good, but low light pictures are a problem. An average amount of light produces decent pictures, but low light pictures are not anything to write home about. Low light pictures are usually very grainy, and absolutely terrifying. The flash does help a little, but we only recommend using it if it is absolutely necessary. The new A6 processor and iOS 6 allow for the camera to do many new and interesting things. Panorama is one useful feature that came with the iPhone 5. To use panorama all you have to do is click "Panorama" in the options box, click the camera button, and move your iPhone across your subject. The panorama feature is very useful, and can result in some very nice high resolution pictures. You can also now take pictures while recording video with the iPhone 5. All you have to do is press the little camera icon while recording video. We found that this is very handy when you are taking a video, but want a snapshot of "just the right moment". The iPhone 5's camera performs forty percent faster than the iPhone 4s's camera. You can take pictures basically as fast as your thumb can hit, or hold, the camera button. Overall, the iPhone 5 has a pretty impressive camera and is definitely one of the top three smartphone cameras. The HTC One is the low light champion, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 produces some of the sharpest smartphone pictures ever. Nonetheless, you will get great results from the iPhone 5's camera in almost any condition. We do not have our own camera samples, but here are some links to some iPhone 5 camera samples from The Verge and CNET.
The Verge iPhone 5 Camera Samples CNET iPhone 5 Camera Samples
In addition to improving the rear-facing camera, Apple also put a better front-facing camera on the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 has a new 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera, compared to the iPhone 4s's VGA front-facing camera. Even though there is not a significant bump up in resolution, there is a big difference between the two cameras. The iPhone 5 produced much more accurately colored and detailed pictures. When we FaceTimed people, we found that are face looked more natural on the iPhone 5 than the 4s. The iPhone 5 also records very nice videos. It still records 1080p video like the iPhone 4s, but the iPhone 5's videos feel smoother and sharper. The iPhone 5's camera will definitely satisfy you.
Software
The iPhone 5 launched with iOS 6 when it was unveiled late last year, and it has been updated to iOS 6.1. Sadly, iOS 6 still looks and acts just the same as iOS 1.0. iOS has barely changed over the past six years, and only new features have been added. iOS has not been keeping up with Android or Windows Phone in terms of designs and features. iOS still has skeuomorphism all over, and it looks very ugly. Windows Phone and Android use a more flat and clean design, and they have not even been around for as long as iOS. The whole mobile operating system also looks like a Fisher Price toy. The round, glossy icons make everything seem so immature compared to other modern smartphone operating systems. iOS also still does not have proper multitasking or the ability to make apps update in the background, which makes switching between apps a pain. Changing simple things like the brightness also take way too many steps. If you don't like the way iOS is now, there is some hope.
At Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this week, Apple unveiled a new and improved version of their mobile operating system. This version, iOS 7, is drastically different from the previous iterations of iOS. This version is more modern, better looking, more useful, and is the iOS that we have been waiting for. All the skeuomorphism is gone, everything has been cleaned up, and many actually useful features. A swipe up from the bottom brings you the Control Center which can let you quickly change the brightness, turn on Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, the flashlight, calculator, camera, rotation lock, Do Not Disturb, AirPlay, control your music, or AirDrop something to nearby iOS 7 devices. AirDrop is Apple's answer to the iPhone's lack of NFC and a quick file sharing system, and it is a pretty good one. AirDrop is extremely simple and lets you share a picture, web page, contacts, and almost anything else with an iOS 7 device. All you have to do is tap on the person's icon to AirDrop something to them. To receive something from AirDrop, all you have to do is turn AirDrop on and click accept when you receive the item. There are also new translucent elements in iOS 7, which subtly enhance the look of the entire operating system. For example, you can see blue rectangles under the opaque keyboard when you scroll over messages in iMessage. Pulling up Siri brings an opaque grey window that blurs out whatever you previously opened. iOS 7 is also changes to your background. If you have a mostly green home screen wallpaper, your lock screen will be green with the floating dots. This is also the same with every other color. We will go over more of the new changes in iOS 7 in our upcoming WWDC post. We will be very interested to hear more about iOS 7 this fall. iOS is currently a little inefficient and unsightly, but it's simplicity is great for the first time smartphone buyer.
One of the more useful features of iOS that the iPhone 5 has is Siri. If you are asking Siri simple questions, then it is very useful for bringing up answers or results that can tell you the answer. Siri can also show you movie showtimes, scores to sporting games, or restaurants with your choice of food (i.e. "Show me good Italian food in Pasadena"). Siri is useful, but it pales in comparison to Google Now. We found that Google Now's voice search could understand us better in all kinds of situations, and Now could show us more useful information. Some might find it slightly creepy that Now remembers what you do and when you do it, but it is very handy. Google Now can remember your work commute and tell you to leave earlier if there is traffic, and it can suggest useful cards based on your recent Google searches. It can figure out where your home is, and tell you the weather and time of your home when you are traveling. Google Now may give you more information, but Siri is still perfectly fine for the average consumer. The one very good thing about iOS is its vast media library and app store.
When Steve Jobs announced the iTunes store in 2003, no one could expect that it would be as successful as it is today. Today the iTunes store has one of the largest music libraries in the world, and a very large collection of movies and television shows. iTunes has almost every song and artist you can think of, and it is among the first to offer the digital downloads of movies and television shows. The App Store is just as impressive as iTunes, if not more. The App Store is the largest mobile app store in the world, and it over fifty billion apps have been downloaded from it. Since so many people use Apple devices and the App Store, most developers make their applications for iOS first. Many popular apps, such as Vine and Instagram, were first developed for the Apple App Store and took a long time to reach Android. This does not happen all the time, but it is definitely one of the perks of buying an iOS device. If you want a more in-depth overview of iOS 6, then check out our review of the fourth generation iPod Touch.
Wrap Up
Is the iPhone 5 still the best smartphone for the average consumer? We would definitely say yes. The easy to use, and soon to be improved, operating system, great camera, fast performance, and larger screen make this a great phone for everyone. Those of you looking for the latest and greatest might be a little disappointed, though. With 1080p quad-core beasts out there like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, the iPhone 5 might leave the power user wanting more. Sure the performance is quick and LTE makes it even better, but some of the new 1080p screens and quad-core processors blow the iPhone 5 out of the water. The fact that the iPhone 5 still does not have proper multitasking is bothersome for power users, but it will soon be fixed with iOS 7. The iPhone 5 does have a great camera, but the Galaxy S4 and HTC One beat it in daylight and low light situations. These few negative aspects of the iPhone 5 are notable, but they do not stop the iPhone 5 from being one of the top three smartphones on the market. We are very satisfied with the current iPhone 5, and will be even more satisfied when iOS 7 comes.
Jacob Wilson contributed to this review.
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