Apple iPhone 5 review

Apple iPhone 5 review: Laws of attraction

Introduction

The iPhone 5. As in five million units sold over the course of a … weekend. Can't say no to that. This is the latest installment in the smartphone series that changed the mobile phone industry and we can understand people couldn't wait. Now, what is it they couldn't wait for?

The Apple iPhone 5 brings the long anticipated larger screen and more capable internals that we already know are ready to trade blows with the most powerful chipsets out there.

   
Apple iPhone 5 official photos

There's also the new slender, slimmer body that no photos really do justice to. If all of Apple's claims are true then the iPhone 5 is a real engineering masterpiece - double the performance in a more compact package without sacrificing anything in terms of battery life.

They could've done worse. A lot worse. But this is Apple telling you to prepare to be wowed. So you have every right to play hard-to-please.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• LTE support where carriers support it and CDMA support when sold by CDMA carriers
• 4" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 1136px resolution
• Scratch-resistant screen glass, fingerprint-resistant coating
• 1.2GHz dual-core custom-designed CPU, PowerVR SGX543MP3 GPU, 1GB of RAM, Apple A6 SoC
• iOS 6 and iCloud integration
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and touch focus
• 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 1.2MP secondary front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
• 16/32/64GB storage options
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and a three-axis gyro sensor
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary microphone
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack, stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• Excellent audio output quality (though worse than 4S)
• Apple Maps with free voice-guided navigation in 56 countries
• Voice recognition, Siri virtual assistant
• Supports HD Voice (needs carrier support too)
• FaceTime video calls over Wi-Fi and cellular
• Impressively slim and light
• Great battery life

Main disadvantages

• Aluminum body looks cool but is easy to scratch
• Proprietary connector, incompatible with previous-gen accessories (needs adapter)
• The new display is not proportionally bigger, but only taller
• Unadapted apps run letterboxed due to the unusual resolution
• nano-SIM support only
• Apple Maps app not up to scratch
• No USB Mass Storage mode
• No FM radio
• No stereo speakers
• No microSD card slot
• No NFC connectivity (though that may be nitpicking)
• Stuck with iTunes for loading content
• Mono audio recording in videos

Should the iPhone 5 be worried about not doing quite enough in terms of new design and features? That question sounds ridiculous considering the sales numbers. But there's a long-term perspective that goes beyond a record-breaking opening weekend.

   
The Apple iPhone 5 live photos

People who thought the iPhone 4S was a half-hearted effort, are rightfully expecting the iPhone 5 to be the real upgrade of the brilliant iPhone 4. In the end, though, there's more to a smartphone's real worth than dry specs. Apple has, on multiple occasions, been able to produce devices that are better than the sum of their parts and few will be surprised at the iPhone 5 pulling off a similar trick.

  
We also took the Black and Slate version for a spin

There's no time to waste, so follow us to the next page for the unboxing and hardware inspection of Apple's latest. We'll also take a close look at that sweet new display and see whether the claims about it being the most advanced in business hold water.

Standard retail package with a twist

The Apple iPhone 5's come in different boxes matching the color of the device. The retail package otherwise is a pretty standard affair at first sight. You get the usual set of accessories in the box: a wall mount plug, a USB cable that you need to use for both charging and computer tethering and a pair of headphones. There's also the pin, you can use to eject the nano-SIM tray.

The box color reflect the color of the smartphone inside

However, upon closer inspection, you'd notice that there are some serious differences compared to what you got with an iPhone 4S. For one, the iPhone 5 comes with the new EarPod headphones, which while awkwardly looking, produce way better sound than the old set Apple used to supply with its smartphones.

We are not as convinced about the shape of the EarPods and how it was "designed to fit your ears best", but the fact remains that only extreme audiophiles will be tempted to move away from them and fork out the cash for pro-grade headphones.

   
The retail package contents • 8-pin Lightning next to 30-pin Dock

As for the other change in the retail box - the USB cable now ends on the new Lightning connector that the iPhone 5 employs. Depending on how you look at it, this can be either good news or bad news. The new port is faster, better looking and easier to use as it's symmetrical (which means you can insert the cable either way). On the other hand, none of your old accessories and cables will work with the new phone unless you get a load of those expensive adapters. And we guess even an adapter won't be able to save now obsolete docking accessories.

Apple iPhone 5 360-degree spin

The very shape and size of the Apple iPhone 5 are a key selling point. At 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, the latest generation has grown by less than a centimeter compared to its predecessor, but has shed nearly 2mm off its thickness.

Now, add the fact that the weight is just 112 g, which is a good 28g lighter than the iPhone 4S and you start to understand why Apple is so proud of its achievement. They've managed to fit more in a shell that's about 13% more compact (we are talking overall volume) and 20% lighter than before.

   
The Apple iPhone 5 sized up against the Samsung Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III

Design and build quality

We do think a major redesign was in order - not because there was anything wrong with the iPhone 4, and 4S, but because it would've been a statement. Apple needed to show that its commitment to courage and creativity is unshaken by the huge loss of leadership and inspiration.

The iPhone 5 failed to deliver that brand new design we were hoping for but, to be honest, photos really fail to do the handset any justice.

   
The iPhone 5 next to the iPhone 4S

But let's take it one step at a time. The front panel is virtually identical to the iPhone 4 and 4S. True, the screen has been stretched a bit vertically but, when looked head-on, the iPhone 5 is hard to tell apart from its predecessors.

   
An iPhone sandwich

What prevents us from giving full points to the iPhone 5 is the amount of unused space at the front. It's the use of space that sets high-end products apart from the rest, but the iPhone 5 has acres of unused glass at the top and bottom. Need proof that a better job could be done? The Motorola Razr M has virtually identical surface to the iPhone 5 and yet fits a 4.3" screen of the same aspect ratio.

Turn to the sides though and things start to look brighter. The iPhone 5 may not be the slimmest smartphone as we were told, but it's still doing better in that regard than any of its direct rivals and its predecessor. The handset's slim metallic profile is looking really great, and now that the ugly hole of a 30-pin connector at the bottom is gone, there's virtually nothing to spoil it.

Finally, we make it to the back, which is really the most delicious part of the iPhone 5. Both the White&Silver and the Black&Slate iPhone 5 versions use a two-tone design, and the back blending metal and glass looks splendid.

There isn't even a shadow of a doubt as to which iPhone 5 version we prefer in terms of pure aesthetics. The black one looks magnificent. The downside is it's incredibly easy to get all greased up and once you are there, cleaning it takes a herculean effort. The white one on the other hand, looks less impressive at first, but manages to maintain its unspoilt looks a bit longer.

   
Decisions, decisions: White&Silver or Black&Slate

That said, even a fingerprint-covered iPhone 5 still looks better than many all-plastic Android flagships, so Apple retains its lead here.

What we are not so sure is how happy will you be with your iPhone 5's design when it gets scratched. And that leads us to the main grudge we have with the new iPhone - unless you take the utmost care, it will get scratched. The anodized aluminum chipping issues are already well documented and we are just a week into the iPhone 5's availability.

Simply put, the material Apple selected is not durable enough. The company tried to defend itself, saying that scratching is a normal for anodized aluminum bodies, but that's not quite true. We have a Nokia N8 that's been tossed around the office for nearly two years now, and it only has few scratches and shows minimal wear. We've seen three-day old iPhone 5 units that look worse.