Hands on review
The Apple iPhone 5 release date is upon is, with the latest arrival boasting a 16:9, 4-inch screen, new smaller port, thinner, lighter design and 4G LTE.
Last year’s iPhone 4S always felt like an incremental upgrade rather than a true step change, and although it sold wonderfully for Apple and brought some interesting additions, few would argue against the suggestion that it opened the door for competitors.
As a result, this year’s iPhone 5 launch was perhaps most important for Apple since the very first iPhone arrived back in 2007.
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For anyone following the rumors over the past year, the iPhone 5 features won’t bring any major surprises, with many of the new features expected – including the new dimensions and the improved A6 chip.
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The iPhone 5’s camera is smaller, hardier and enhanced by the more powerful chip, and the front-facing camera is bumped up to a 720p version. Wi-Fi is improved and the inclusion of 4G is a must have in the current phone world.
But it is the size, design and shape that will win the most admiring glances. The all glass and aluminium chassis can claim to be the thinnest smartphone, at 7.6 millimeters "thin."
The 4-inch screen keeps the retina resolution despite the added length, which Apple has brought in to make the iPhone 5 more movie-friendly.
The added real-estate is welcome, especially given the growth of its rivals, and apps will apparently be easy to move onto the new screen size for developers.
In the hand the Apple iPhone 5 certainly feels comfortable. You can see why Apple decided to keep the width the same, since it fits the hand nicely – just as its predecessors have.
iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S
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The most relevant comparison for many is with its predecessor the iPhone 4S and, for those on the now common two-year contracts, the iPhone 4.
The new phone certainly feels different – and although there will be the odd naysayer, the overwhelming majority will feel that the iPhone 5’s design is a good step up from the now ageing chassis of both the 4S and 4.
The move away from glass is a welcome one, and the aluminium manages to bring a premium feel in a notably lighter device.
A new chip definitely brings a snappier feel. Many people with an iPhone 4 will be all too used to the lagginess when trying to do anything even slightly complex with the devices, and the Apple iPhone 5 manages to take things on as far as you would expect in more than two years.
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What is perhaps more suprising is just how much snappier this feels than the iPhone 4S. The A6 chip clearly has significantly more grunt power under its smaller hood – but what is surprising is that you can immediately tell when you use the device alongside its predecessor.
Practically speaking, this probably isn’t enough to make you want to leave a 4S unless you’re a hardcore fan, but it will convince many iPhone 4 users to stick with the Apple ecosystem for another generation – and you get the impression that this is goal number one for the company.
The added length could have made the phone unwieldy, but the loss of thickness ensures that it maintains its balance and premium feel.
Those people who were used to the iPhone 4 and 4S will certainly notice the difference that the new iPhone 5 design brings. It served to make the device feel more modern, and the materials used keep that premium feel that Apple has put so much stock in.
Thinner, lighter and more screen were always on the cards, and the fans’ desires are understandable.
The aluminium backplate feels lovely – just textured enough to feel very different from its predecessors and, to our taste, preferable to the glass.
The iPhone 5 screen is bright and colorful, although it’s difficult to truly appreciate the small upgrade that Apple has made in the bright lights of the show room.
The camera is also more difficult to test properly, but it certainly seemed to take a photo faster, something that can be a frustration on older iPhones.
From a software perspective, iOS 6 brings with it a wealth of new features that will certainly make a major difference to not only the way the iPhone 5 feels, but also its predecessors the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S when they get the updated software.
Maps, for instance, is significantly altered after Apple ended its longstanding agreement to use Google Maps and pushed forward with its own offering, in conjunction with sat nav giant TomTom.
The new maps certainly look the part, with some beautiful 3D renders and snazzy looking new vector graphics. We really want to take some time to tell you just how well the new offering performs in the wild, when we get a handset in for our full iPhone 5 review, coming soon.
The showcased flyover mode was great for the riverside of London, but as you would expect fell flat pretty quickly once you left the tourist districts and got to residential areas.
Early indications elsewhere are good, however, as the "Apple designed" tag is pushed to the forefront. The tilt and rotate view functionality looks gorgeous, and the turn-by-turn navigation is likely to attract praise with a simple and intuitive interface.
However Maps is by no means perfect, and those of you who are used to the wealth of information offered up by Google Maps may be disappointed with Apple’s solution, especially as there isn’t a Google Maps app in the App Store yet.
Apple Maps seems to be missing key details, as for example, we found certain train stations didn’t exist in the Cupertino firm’s world.
Still, the whole Maps experience flows very well, with the smooth zoom and slick image rendering making it a joy to use – with hardly any waiting around for new areas of the world to load, something which can take its time on Google’s version.
Safari has also received an overhaul and the boost in speed is apparent from the word go, as the iPhone 5 zips through pages like a hot knife through butter – the famous TechRadar.com took just four seconds to load in a usable form, and an additional two to fully display all the banners.
We still prefer the Android way of doing bookmarks, with small thumbnails of your favorite sites offering a more visually pleasing experience, but Safari’s list does the job.
The offline reading function keeps the URL links live on the save paged, allowing you to click through to other areas of the website when you regain signal – something most Android offerings don’t do, instead saving the page as a PDF like document.
Siri has been given a major, and frankly much-needed, overhaul with the voice "companion" functionality extended into new languages and new territories in an attempt to turn the iPhone 4S’s overhyped and under-featured personal assistant up to a useful level.
It coped better with the noise of the press room than its predecessor – presumably due to the new microphone set up in the new iPhone 5, and could answer the two or three stock questions we asked it.
However, drilling down for information on lower-league sports teams was not easy for Siri – having to resort to a Google (haven’t quite ditched your rival completely, have we?) search for the answer.
Given the obsession with Facebook, the need for better integration was a key addition for Apple in its latest operating system, and the iPhone 5 and its older brothers will benefit from a major overhaul of the way in which the social network links up with your handset.
The Facebook (and Twitter) functionality feels much more central to the experience this time around, and having the ability to post from the notifications screen feels like an obvious inclusion that works well.
Hands on gallery
Official gallery
Early verdict
Given the level of hype around the Apple iPhone 5, it’s almost inevitable that phone itself ends up feeling a little underwhelming when it’s launched, but Apple is a past master at ticking the boxes, and giving its growing legion of fans enough to justify an upgrade.
We liked
The lightness of the phone is, for us if not everybody, a good thing and allows the extra height to be balanced in the hand. The form factor and design of the phone remain of the highest standard, and it’s certainly nice to note that the new materials should make the signal quality significantly better.
But it’s the screen that remains the star of this phone. Retina was indisputably the finest arrival in the iPhone 4, and the additional height of the screen has not brought a decline in quality.
Although it’s no longer so far out on its own that it makes other premium phones feel like low-res toys, the iPhone 5’s display is simply gorgeous and the extra real estate feels like a real boon for the device.
iOS 6 brings a wealth of goodies, some of which are certainly going to be a big part of its story in the coming year although some certainly feel like sideways strategic steps rather than sea changes.
We disliked
It almost feels like sacriledge to point it out, given the impact it has had on the whole phone industry, but the whole iOS user interface is beginning to feel a little dated, with live tiles and widgets increasingly bringing functionality to the fore and not hidden in apps or folders.
Not having NFC is a real misstep, as it would have made the Passbook application in iOS 6 much better (and in keeping with its Android and Windows Phone rivals) and it certainly would have been nice to see.
But the real downer on the iPhone 5 is perhaps an unrealistic expectation that it was going to provide something groundbreaking, and this simply does not feel like the case.
This is refining already well-ploughed earth, much of it by Apple in its crazily innovative 3G and 4 iterations but increasingly by the likes of Samsung, Google and Microsoft.
Early verdict
Is it going to sell like hot-cakes? Of course. Will it send shockwaves shuddering through the tech world and turn competitors back to their drawing boards? No.
But, in truth, Apple will be well aware that it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to succeed and, in this case, it has yet again provided a fine phone that will keep it battling at the top of the charts for another year.
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