Score: 7/10 (Good)
Pros Premium design, bright and beautiful screen resolution, incredible processing power, great call quality. | Cons Doesn't feel especially durable, screen is too small for heavy media consumption, auto-focus issues with camera, iOS feels limited in features and functionality. |
The Apple iPhone 5. One of the absolute hottest smartphones on the market is just about a year old. Despite it's age though, the iPhone 5 is still one of the biggest phones currently available. With a 4-inch HD display, dual-core A6 processor, 8MP iSight camera, and more, the phone still retains some fairly impressive specifications. Is it enough though to still be a viable purchasing decision? Find out in our full review!
Design/Build Quality
From a design standpoint, the iPhone 5 still looks really good. Measuring in at 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30 in and with a weight of 3.95 oz, the iPhone 5 is very thin and lightweight. With a clean front, two-tone color scheme on the back, and its aluminum and glass body, the phone looks phenomenal. However, while it certainly has the looks, it doesn't quite stack up when it comes to durability. The iPhone 5 feels very fragile, and collects dings and scratches within a matter of days. Although the unit that I reviewed has been handled by other journalists in the past year, I noticed a few new imperfections on the device during my short time with it. There's no doubt that the iPhone 5 is pretty, but it just doesn't have the strength to back it up.
When the iPhone 5 was first released, one of the most talked about features was the Lightning connector. The iPhone 5 was the first Apple product to move away from the standard 30-pin connector, in place of the smaller and more durable connection. The best part about the Lightning connector is that it's reversible. This means that, unlike standard microUSB charging cables, there is no wrong way to plug in the Lightning connector to the iPhone 5. Even though this doesn't sound like a huge deal, you won't want to go back to microUSB after using it.
Hardware
Another big feature of the iPhone 5 is the screen. Unlike all previous iterations of the iPhone, the iPhone 5 has a 4-inch screen with a pixel resolution of 1136 x 640. Although that doesn't sound like a lot of pixels, the iPhone 5 manages to cram in 326 ppi. Colors look bright and beautiful, video is sharp, text is crisp, and games look fantastic. However, at just 4-inches, the screen feels a bit small for my taste. Although bigger than all iPhones before it, the iPhone 5 just feels tiny. While great for one-handed use, the smaller screen makes playing games and watching video on the iPhone 5 less enjoyable than on phones with larger screens, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4, LG Optimus G Pro, Nokia Lumia 928, etc.
Now, in terms of processing speeds, the iPhone 5 is packing in a 1.3GHz dual-core A6 processor and 1GB of RAM. Despite having seemingly low specs, the iPhone 5 is an incredible performer. Whether I was browsing the Web, streaming music or video, playing the latest game, and more, the iPhone 5 had no trouble at all keeping up with everything I threw at it. Even with multiple applications open at once, the iPhone 5 never slowed down.
For all of your picture taking wants and needs, the iPhone 5 has an 8MP rear-facing iSight camera, along with a 1.2MP front-facing shooter. In my time with the phone, I had a mixed bag of results with the camera. While able to capture a few really good looking images with the 8MP iSight camera, I had a bit of an issue getting the auto-focus to work properly. Many of my pictures that I took turned out soft and muted, due to the fact that I couldn't get the camera to focus on my subject correctly. The camera isn't horrible, but there are much better smartphone camera offerings currently available.
As the name suggests, the iPhone 5 is still a phone. Call quality was fantastic on both ends. People I talked to were loud and clear, and I was told that I sounded great on their end as well. Data speeds through Verizon Wireless were also blazingly fast.
The battery on the iPhone 5 is non-removable, and is smaller than current flagship smartphones at just 1440 mAh. Despite its small size, I had no real issues with getting through a full day of use with the phone. When turning it on at 8:00 AM, and with moderate application usage, downloading multiple apps, low picture taking, and heavy texting, I still had about 10% remaining at 9:00 PM.
Software
The iPhone 5 is currently running iOS 6, with a planned upgrade to iOS 7 when it launches later this fall. This is the first time that I have ever used iOS for an extensive period of time, and I found that there were some features I really liked about the mobile operating system, and others I hated. The big thing about iOS is how simple it is to use. On the iPhone 5, your home screens consists of a 4 x 6 grid where all of your installed applications live. From the home screen, you can rearrange how the applications are placed on your home screens, as well as make folders for them. Unfortunately, that's about it. You won't find any widgets here. Just app icons.
One of the newest additions to iOS is Notifications. Although present on Android since the very beginning, Notifications are a relatively new feature to iOS. Despite being late to the party, I will say that I really like what Apple's done with the notifications on iOS. Swiping down from the top of the screen will bring you your notifications tray. From there, you can see the current weather conditions, what situation the stock market is at, and can even post updates to your Twitter and Facebook profile. A big staple of iOS is Siri. Although Siri might be the most popular mobile voice assistant, that doesn't mean she's the best. She's actually far from it. When comparing Siri to Google Now through the Google app on the iPhone 5, I found that Google Now was much faster in delivering me the weather, stock market numbers, and especially Web search results. However, I did find that Siri performed better with functions such as settings alarms, opening apps, and functions that had to do with the phone itself.
Another big aspect with iOS is the App Store. The App Store is without a doubt the best application market on any mobile platform. With exclusive apps like Tweetbot, Circa News, Tiny Wings, Infinity Blade, and more, the App Store truly has better content offerings than Android, Windows Phone, or anything else. Even with access to the App Store, I still found myself quickly getting bored with iOS. The operating system just doesn't compare to Android, and even Windows Phone 8, in terms of customization and features. Sure it's simple to use, but it's almost too simple for me. I understand that thousands and thousands of people adore Apple's mobile operating system, but at its current state, it's just not for me. With iOS 7 just around the corner though, my opinion could very well change once it's publicly available.
Final Verdict
So, is the iPhone 5 a good phone. Of course it is. With an elegant design, beautiful display, incredible processing power, and more, there's a lot to like about it. However, with the nearing announcement of the iPhone 5S and 5C, you're better off waiting to see what Apple has up their sleeve later this year. If you absolutely need a new iPhone right this very minute though, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the iPhone 5. Sure, I had my issues with the questionable durability, smaller screen size, underwhelming camera, and limitations of iOS, but if you're a hardcore Apple fan, I don't think you'll have a hard time at all falling in love with the iPhone 5.
Author:Joseph Maring
Author:Joseph Maring
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