Woah, we actually manage to get the iPhone
5 in for review! Of course, this is all thanks to the writer’s kind friend who
is willing to part with his precious baby for a while. So here’s a big shout
out to Brian Hew! And on to the Apple’s latest smartphone: iPhone 5.
Surprisingly, here in our labs, no one showed any form of emotion at all but
one (not me). What’s this?! Apple didn’t manage to excite us? Let’s do a
detailed review to find out. Our contraptions finish warming up so let’s go,
iPhone!
All
of those picking up the iPhone 5 will have the same reaction: this thing is
amazingly light
Seems longer
The most prominent thing I see even before
the iPhone 5 arrived in Malaysia is the long body. It is something very hard to
miss. The new design makes it feel like one of the older Xperia phones from
Sony. Indeed, it is very similar to Xperia Arc only it has curved corners and
aluminum back-plate, which uses an anodized black color matrix that is
specially blended to create a beautiful two tone effect. Not enough to rival
HTC One S’ oxidized back panel but returning home with a silver medal is better
than no medal at all. Oddly enough, this longer form factor will prove to be
troublesome as I believe some may find it harder to reach the power button. It
takes more effort if your hands are a bit smaller.
The
most prominent thing I see even before the iPhone 5 arrived in Malaysia is the
long body
Premium-less
Finally breaking out from the glass coating
- well glorified plastic packaging - the feeling of holding the iPhone 5 is a
little different. Gone are the days when the Apple smartphone feels premium.
Don’t fret; I am not saying that it feels cheap. It’s just falls short of the
premium quality that the previous generations exuded. It is also lighter and
slimmer than its predecessors as everyone knows. When it is inside my pocket,
there are times when I thought I lose the iPhone because of how light it is. I
have established that weight is a good thing. It gives a smartphone a sense of
reined quality and solid build. So when this iPhone feels way lighter than
before those senses are gone. It does take a while to get used to it.
To the front!
When
seeing it first hand, I will give it to Apple: it is crisp, bright and sharp
While there is a change at the back, the
front looks pretty much the same - uninspiring as always. How many years has it
been since we see new design changes for the front panel? It doesn’t have that
jaw-dropping effect when one changes from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4. With that out
of the way, let’s take a look at the display. Retina Display? Checked! At 4in,
the resolution is now at 1136 x 640 pixels. When you read such an odd number on
paper, the resolution does feel a little awkward. When seeing it first hand, I
will give it to Apple: it is crisp, bright and sharp. Try as I may, I hardly
notice any pixels at all. It definitely belongs in my top three favorite
displays. However, the screen suffers from unnatural colors when looking from a
different angle. Well, just a bit.
Panoramic sight
The next thing to do with a new phone is to
take pictures! After a few shots with the default setting and HDR mode, I can
definitely say that pictures look great on the iPhone 5. Seriously; colors are
vivid, saturation is balanced and images are point sharp. Great? Not so because
after I transfer all those pictures to my computer and compare it to iPhone 4S’
images, it looks the same. The only exception is low light photography. The
iPhone 5 camera takes in more light, which results in brighter pictures.
However, despite the almost similar output, the iPhone 5’s camera is indeed one
of the best ones out there. There is also the new Panoramic mode for those who
want that extra whizz for their pictures. The result after a few attempts? Not
that good. It all depends on how stable your hand is. If it wobbles a little,
it will show in the picture.
There
is also the new Panoramic mode for those who want that extra whizz for their
pictures
Smooth operator
I am surprised that after having so many
apps run in the background, the iPhone 5 still experienced zero-lag. None
whatsoever! Running graphically demanding games on it provides a better
experience than on the iPhone 4S due the lack of stutter. That’s it. This
section is so short because I don’t have anything to complain about.
Using iOS 6
Overall,
it is fair for me to say the OS hasn’t really changed throughout the years
As we receive the iPhone 5 later than other
countries, some of the apps like Apple Maps will be arriving later too (thank
God!). That’s not a problem for me given the bad reputation it has. Overall, it
is fair for me to say the OS hasn’t really changed throughout the years. It is
still clean, simple and fast. But...there is no longer any reason to die for
it. There is zero innovation and I have seen everything it has to offer. iOS 6
is the same OS I already know from before with minor modifications. I need
something refreshing and new to get me excited. Settings are still a mess. I
feel like an animal performing a dozen of tricks to execute simple tasks, like
switching to a private browsing window in Safari. Imagine, more than six taps
and home key presses to make that happen. Sure, things may look simple at first
but after downloading more apps, the chaos begins. There are even long
forgotten irritating problems appearing on the iOS 6 such as unwanted
notifications popping up and an overuse of memory and data if I don’t monitor
the app settings.
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Specifications
§ Price:
$649(16GB), $749(32GB), $849(64GB)
§ Dimensions
(HxWxD): 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm
§ Weight:
112 g
§ Processor:
Apple A6
§ Memory:
1 GB RAM
§ Storage:
16, 32, 64 GB
§ Operating
system: iOS6
§ Display:
4in Retina Display, 640 x 1136 pixels
§ Graphics:
PowerVR SGX 543MP3 (triple-core graphics)
§ Connectivity:
Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, A-GPS
§ Ports:
3.5mm earphone jack, Lightning connector
§ Expansion:
n/a
§ Battery:
1440 mAh
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