For some, the fact that the iPhone 5s looks like the iPhone 5 with a few cosmetic changes was proof that Apple had lost it. Where was the big Full HD screen? After all, the Samsung Galaxy 55 and HTC One (m8) show that large Full HD phones are in vogue.
First impressions can be wrong, though. The iPhone 5s defies naysayers by managing to be a better phone in practically every single way than its predecessor, and more than capable of standing up to its high-end Android rivals.
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| Apple iPhone 5S (White) |
The iPhone 55 isn't an improvement over the iPhone 5 when it comes to build quality, but this isn't a problem as its predecessor was so well made. Its precision-cut aluminium rear sits flush with glass panels at the top and bottom. Its neat bevelled edges are perfectly formed, and it's more compact than top-end smartphones from other manufacturers, so it's generally more comfortable to hold and use one-handed. The phone weighs just 112g, which is incredible considering its build quality.
The metal-rimmed home button contains Apple's new fingerprint reader, called Touch ID. Rather than having to tap in a PIN to unlock your phone, you can simply hold your finger over the sensor. If that sounds like a gimmick, it's actually not: it's really a brilliant time saver and helps enforce security.
Touch ID can be programmed to recognise up to five fingers (they can be just yours or yours and those of trusted others). All you have to do is hold your finger to the sensor repeatedly, while the iPhone 5s builds upon image of what your print looks like. You're prompted to move your finger around, to get full coverage, and even to use the side of your finger so that you can use Touch ID from pretty much any angle. It works pretty much flawlessly at any angle and, impressively, any rotation, so you can even tap Touch ID with your phone upside down to get it to work.
The same 1,136x640-pixel, 4in screen remains from the iPhone 5. Put it next to big-screen Full HD Android phones and the iPhone 5s starts to look a little small, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's plenty of resolution for web browsing and apps, and everything looks incredibly sharp and detailed, as you'd expect from a Retina display with a high pixel density of 326ppi. There's also the excellent image quality. The high-quality IPS panel makes this one of the best smartphone screens. It's evenly lit, bright, produces excellent whites and vibrant colours, and excellent viewing angles mean you can see what's onscreen from anywhere.
For the real changes, you have to go under the surface. Inside, the iPhone 5s is a brand-new phone with a new System on a Chip (SoC), the Apple A7, the first 64-bit consumer-based smartphone SoC. 64-bit chips can address more memory than 32-bit chips. Given the amount of RAM in smartphones now, this doesn't make much difference today, but it will do in the future when smartphone RAM climbs above 4GB.
Apple's figures say the new chip is up to double the speed of the iPhone 5's processor for graphics and system apps. Our tests bore out these claims. In the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, the iPhone 5 completed the test in 709ms, while the iPhone 5s did it in 416ms. This was the fastest result we'd seen until the Samsung Galaxy S5 came along, with its 391ms, but it still means the iPhone won't have any problem with complex web pages meant for PCs.
The phone's 3D performance is up there with the best phones available. When running the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited test, we saw a score of 14,506. The iPhone 5s has now been overtaken in 3DMark by top-end Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One (m8), but we still haven't found a 3D game that is anything less than smooth on the iPhone 5s. The same goes for iOS 7; it runs smoothly on the iPhone 5s with none of the slowdown, lag or jerkiness you tend to see even on high-end Android devices.
Rather than increase the pixel count for the new iSight camera, which is still an 8-megapixel model, Apple has fitted a sensor 15 per cent bigger than the iPhone 5's. This means that the sensor's pixels are bigger, which means more light per pixel and better low-light performance. Add in the new f/2.2 aperture lens, which lets in more light than the iPhone 5's f/2.4 lens, and the new model should be able to shoot more detail in low light. In bright light the new sensor makes less of a difference, with both phones producing similarly detailed shots. We'd say the colours and exposure on the iPhone 55 are better, and you get more dynamic range, but there's little to tell between the two in terms of detail. In bright lighting the higher pixel count of cameras in Android smartphones such as the Galaxy 55 means there will be more detail overall, particularly when you zoom in.
In low light we found that the iPhone 5 generally struggled and noise became a big issue. With the iPhone 5s things are a tot better. In very dark rooms, noise was reduced considerably, and the sensor still managed to capture plenty of detail.
If you already have an iPhone 5 there's probably not quite enough here to make you upgrade, but if you're after a new phone and like the look of i05, it's a superb handset.
KEY SPECS
Apple iOS 7.1.3GHz
Number of cores: 2
RAM: 1GB
4G, Display 41n 1,136x640 LCD
Camera 8-megapixel
Storage 16GB 123.8x25.6x7.3mm, 112e (Full specs)
