iPhone 5S/5C thread

[mavere]

BTW, Howard's 5S review is out. It has the same usual browser and 3D tests, but does have some comparisons to some newer Android devices:

HTML5

Wow, the 5s running on partially handicapped iOS Chrome scores higher in Peacekeeper than the 5, G2, and GS4.

I haven't heard much about Peacekeeper, but looking at its FAQ, it sounds much more wholesome and less theoretical than the big 3 javascript benchmarks. I wouldn't mind reviewers focusing more on Peacekeeper along with WebXPRT and Browsermark.

 

[MrX8503]

Lol wow, that author is blind. Look in the background windows of the Nokia, you lose all detail. On the 5S you can see cars and buildings in the background. Way to stick it to Nokia's "41 Megapixels".

 

[Eug]

Lol wow, that author is blind. Look in the background windows of the Nokia, you lose all detail. On the 5S you can see cars and buildings in the background. Way to stick it to Nokia's "41 Megapixels".

I think you came to the wrong conclusion there.

The Xenon flash on the Lumia 1020 is I believe much stronger. Thus it's likely the camera is using a completely different exposure setting as compared to the iPhone 5S. That's why you get the blurry-cam effect on the 5S. It's choosing to use a longer exposure probably both because of the background and because the flash intensity is lower.

If you choose a shorter exposure time then everything in the background (or outside the window in this case) will get blacked out.

Actually, I think I would prefer the iPhone's solution if I could put the phone on a table, but without some sort of support, the iPhone's solution will often come out blurry.

 

[MrX8503]

I think you came to the wrong conclusion there.

The Xenon flash on the Lumia 1020 is I believe much stronger. Thus it's likely the camera is using a completely different exposure setting as compared to the iPhone 5S. That's why you get the blurry-cam effect on the 5S. It's choosing to use a longer exposure probably both because of the background and because the flash intensity is lower.

If you choose a shorter exposure time then everything in the background (or outside the window in this case) will get blacked out.

Actually, I think I would prefer the iPhone's solution if I could put the phone on a table, but without some sort of support, the iPhone's solution will often come out blurry.

The Nokia is sharper, but overall it's worse.

 

[Eug]

Well, the one iPhone 5S photo is quite usable, but the other isn't. It's too blurry to be of any use.

But yeah, like I said, I think I'd prefer Apple's solution much of the time. Better overall exposure balance. I'm thinking they're just hoping you'll take multiple pictures so one will turn out relatively sharp.

OTOH, because Nokia fscked up the software algorithm there, both pictures have the totally wrong colour balance setting making the people all look sick. Sharp and in focus, but sick (and living in a void with nothing beyond the windows because of the differing exposure).

 

[Crono]

Well, the one iPhone 5S photo is quite usable, but the other isn't. It's too blurry to be of any use.

But yeah, like I said, I think I'd prefer Apple's solution much of the time. Better overall exposure balance. I'm thinking they're just hoping you'll take multiple pictures so one will turn out relatively sharp.

OTOH, because Nokia fscked up the software algorithm there, both pictures have the totally wrong colour balance setting making the people all look sick. Sharp and in focus, but sick (and living in a void with nothing beyond the windows because of the differing exposure).

Neither phone is perfect, but I'm thinking a lot has to do with the lighting in that room, possibly it being more yellow. One comparison shot doesn't do either camera justice, though, if you look at a lot of them the 1020 is clearly sharper and gives you the ability to digitally zoom by cropping, and the iPhone is definitely better for instances where color accuracy is key. The iPhone would be better for portraiture in low light, I'm sure. For party shots or dining in restaurants, I'd bet the iPhone would win a lot of the time. But for most other scenarios I think the Lumia 1020 would be better.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

game over. so much for the super secure subepidermal skin scan
from engadget. direct link to id
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM8b8d8kSNQ

Is he on crack?

 

[Eug]

Macworld must hate being low on the Apple totem pole now. Anyhow, here is their late review, including more of the same benchmarketing:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2049270/benchmarks-iphone-5s-lives-up-to-the-hype.html

The most interesting part of the review is the battery life benchmark. They use a looped video for the test, and the iPhone 5S lasted over 11 hours. The S4 clocked in at only 7 hours, but the old Razr Maxx hit 13.5 hours.

 

[Mopetar]

More evidence that Nokia really dropped the ball on the Lumia 1020's camera.

I think I read somewhere that they said they're aware of some issues that they're going to fix with a software update in the near future, but you can definitely tell that the iPhone is getting a better color.

But yeah, like I said, I think I'd prefer Apple's solution much of the time. Better overall exposure balance. I'm thinking they're just hoping you'll take multiple pictures so one will turn out relatively sharp.

Probably why they added the burst mode. Can take 10 shots every second and will automatically analyze them for blur, closed eyes, etc. to pick out the best one(s). They should probably focus on that in their commercials.

The most interesting part of the review is the battery life benchmark. They use a looped video for the test, and the iPhone 5S lasted over 11 hours. The S4 clocked in at only 7 hours, but the old Razr Maxx hit 13.5 hours.

Seems like a somewhat useless test. It's nice to know, I suppose, but that was the only battery life test in their entire review.

 

[Red Storm]

Seems like a somewhat useless test. It's nice to know, I suppose, but that was the only battery life test in their entire review.

And for some reason the Droid Maxx is not shown on the graph. Mentioned, but not shown.

 

[Eug]

Probably why they added the burst mode. Can take 10 shots every second and will automatically analyze them for blur, closed eyes, etc. to pick out the best one(s). They should probably focus on that in their commercials.

Well, no burst mode with flash, and these are flash shots.

Seems like a somewhat useless test. It's nice to know, I suppose, but that was the only battery life test in their entire review.

I have used my phone that way on the plane. The other useful one would be looped internet access over WiFi. Talk time is of less importance to me these days.

And for some reason the Droid Maxx is not shown on the graph. Mentioned, but not shown.

I found that odd too. Maybe it's because it's a 2 year old phone, but then again, they have the 4S there too.

 

[bearxor]

I think Red's wanting the Droid MAXX, not the Droid RAZR MAXX.

They may simply not have one.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Is it me or does it seem like Google is sabotaging it's apps on iOS?

YouTube seems slow and crappy on iOS now. I remember the app used to be pretty nice. Now when I'm scrolling through my subscriptions it takes quite a while for thumbnails of videos to load, where is used to be almost instant. Also pull down to refresh no longer works, it acts like it's trying to refresh, but doesn't.

And you used to be able to go to play.google.com/music and use the webapp to listen to Google music on iOS in the absense of a real app. www.google.com/mobile/ios even tells you to do it that way. But it doesn't seem to work anymore either. Using Chrome on iOS I get a message saying I'm missing Flash (nice Google) and on Safari I get a database error (and the site partially loads and looks like the UI from Android 3.0).

Seems like Android's doing well enough that Google shouldn't feel the need to do things like this. Where is the Google Music iOS app they said was coming months ago?

 

[Zaap]

Is it me or does it seem like Google is sabotaging it's apps on iOS?

It's not personal against iOS, Google's sabotaging *everything* lately. (See Maps on Android.) I've pretty much dreaded every updated thing I've seen lately from Google- it's been a range of 'meh' to "WTF?!"

Personally, I think they fired a bunch of people that knew what they were doing and hired a bunch of nimcompoops that don't actually use the apps they work on, but that's just my not-so-humble opinion.


On topic: saw my first in-the-flesh iPhones 5SameOl' and 5Cheap today.
I kid, actually they were pretty cool. I was surprised that the C was actually more impressive than the SameOl', just because it didn't look and feel cheap and lack-luster at all, as I might have thought.

 

[Eug]

Well, with regard to Maps, it's interesting to note that the person running it for a while now runs Yahoo, and her personal device at Google was an iPhone (despite her being a Google VP). And interestingly, recently Yahoo's apps have been getting better.

---

The 5C feels very well built. I don't like the colours much though, even though I thought I would. I liked the blue in pictures, but in real life the colours generally look more like bright kids' pool toys than I'd hoped. For example, the red-pink is actually fluorescent pink orange. Strangely enough, my favourite was yellow, which is telling, because I generally am not a big fan of yellow. In this case it's just that yellow was one of the least objectionable.

 

[Eug]

iPhone 5S camera review by a photographer:

http://www.takebetterphotos.com.au/iphone5s-camera-review.html

I've found the iPhone 5s to be the most fun iPhone camera to date. Instead of extra pixels, I'm enjoying the speed, performance, and the new party tricks of burst shooting, slow-motion video, and easier, better low-light shooting. It's the most 'invisible' of the phones, as it just gets out of your way, so you can enjoy what you're doing. If you like shooting on smartphones, I'd recommend that you give it a try.

If getting the best technical quality and detail is important to you, none of the improvements in the iPhone 5s is likely to appeal. Picture quality in good light hasn't improved compared to the iPhone 5 - arguably it's deteriorated a little. Picture quality in poor light has improved considerably, but is still far short of both the quality and usability of a dedicated camera for night photography.


iPhone 5S camera review vs. Lumia 1020 vs. GS4:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...rison-iphone-5s-lumia-1020-galaxy-s4/2868951/

We didn't expect to put the new iPhone at the top of the list. It's just a basic, point-and-shoot camera. But beyond the extreme low-light example, the iPhone produced the most consistent, best overall results — amazing stuff for a feature tacked onto a device built for e-mail, Web surfing and phone calls. The images weren't as ultra-sharp as the Lumia's, but they were extremely sharp; they had better color in more situations and great results nine out of 10 times. The camera was a joy to use, and while the screen size of the phone isn't as impressive as either the Galaxy or Lumia for viewing, the final results are what matter the most.

 

[blairharrington]

Is it me or does it seem like Google is sabotaging it's apps on iOS?

YouTube seems slow and crappy on iOS now. I remember the app used to be pretty nice. Now when I'm scrolling through my subscriptions it takes quite a while for thumbnails of videos to load, where is used to be almost instant. Also pull down to refresh no longer works, it acts like it's trying to refresh, but doesn't.

And you used to be able to go to play.google.com/music and use the webapp to listen to Google music on iOS in the absense of a real app. www.google.com/mobile/ios even tells you to do it that way. But it doesn't seem to work anymore either. Using Chrome on iOS I get a message saying I'm missing Flash (nice Google) and on Safari I get a database error (and the site partially loads and looks like the UI from Android 3.0).

Seems like Android's doing well enough that Google shouldn't feel the need to do things like this. Where is the Google Music iOS app they said was coming months ago?

Is the only option to exit out of a video on YouTube via iOS is via a drag of the video down and to the left? This strikes me as bizarre. They should have included an option to simply X out of a video.

The lack of a Google Music app on iOS is puzzling. One could argue that Apple doesn't want to approve of an app that would potentially eat away at iTunes sales. If Apple makes a larger iPhone next year I want to be able to use my Google Music account on it without accessing the website. I'm not paying for iTunes Match.

 

[bearxor]

I've disliked the YouTube app since it launched. It just doesn't feel right, IMO.

But yes, that's the way to exit out of a video now.

I don't think Apple is the hold up for a Google Music app. It's possible they scrapped what they had and started a new one when iOS 7 was announced. But there's already several alternatives to iTunes on the App Store like Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music and Sony Music Unlimited.

 

[bearxor]

I'm thinking of returning my space grey for a gold. My wife is going to have the silver so I can't go that route but what I really like from the Silver and Gold models is the trim around the home button. On the black version it just kind of blends in with everything else. I wish they had put a silver ring around it on the black version but I can understand some people probably wouldn't like that.

Edit: Or at least the "less black" space grey finish. The home button trim reflects the body color choices on the white and gold models, but the space grey version is just the same black as the screen color.

 

[Oyeve]

So, any reports of the color scraping off easy like the black 5 from last year?

 

[blairharrington]

I've disliked the YouTube app since it launched. It just doesn't feel right, IMO.

But yes, that's the way to exit out of a video now.

I don't think Apple is the hold up for a Google Music app. It's possible they scrapped what they had and started a new one when iOS 7 was announced. But there's already several alternatives to iTunes on the App Store like Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music and Sony Music Unlimited.

That's pretty lame. They should have a back button in YouTube for iOS. Dragging down brings you back but you have that video in the lower right and it just doesn't feel right.

Streaming apps are not an alternative to a cloud based music collection. I want an official Google Music app on iOS as previously promised. None of the 3rd party iOS alternatives are reliable for downloading offline.

It's a shame that Apple couldn't make the ring around the home button an LED notification light. Something sorely missing from the iPhone IMO.

 

[bearxor]

Oh, if you're looking for cloud storage of your existing music collection, you could use Amazon.

Not that in trying to make excuses for Google Music not being there. I subscribed to the 7.99 service because they promised an iOS app. I'm pretty close to letting it go.

 

[Eug]

So, any reports of the color scraping off easy like the black 5 from last year?

I have not seen them yet but it is not even 1 week yet.

All I've seen is that deep scratches are less obvious for the gold, based on the leaked gold back plate, from a test back in August. OTOH, it also suggested light scratches that do not penetrate the anodization may actually catch the light more on the gold.

 

[blairharrington]

Oh, if you're looking for cloud storage of your existing music collection, you could use Amazon.

Not that in trying to make excuses for Google Music not being there. I subscribed to the 7.99 service because they promised an iOS app. I'm pretty close to letting it go.

I'm not looking for cloud storage. My collection is uploaded to Google Music. I just hope an official iOS Google Music app is available when the iPhone 6 is released.

 

[bearxor]

I'm not looking for cloud storage. My collection is uploaded to Google Music. I just hope an official iOS Google Music app is available when the iPhone 6 is released.

Wait... uploading your collection to Google Music is the same as cloud storage, right? Same as if you uploaded it to Amazon's cloud system or if you used iTunes Match.

But you should try GMusic. I know it's not official but I use it for my Google Music uploaded files and it works pretty well. It should at least get you by until an official app is released.