iPhone 5S/5C thread

[poofyhairguy]

the 5c is going to sell so well with kids/teens! Brilliant!

And so many other people. It will be 60%+ of iPhone sales.

 

[QueBert]

Umm I don't know about if the plastic feels great or not on the 5C (I would have to feel it in hand) but I don't know how that looks great...

Plastic sucks, this phone will suck, it will be better than the Samsung plastic shit phones. But that's only due to the back not coming off due to a sealed battery. There's no price point where I'd ever consider getting a plastic phone.

 

[Crap Daddy]

The 5c is a bad decision. Since I'm convinced very few are willing to make the switch from Android to Apple's ecosystem (anyway they'll need glasses and tiny fingers to see and touch what's on iphone's screen coming from 5" phones) this basically is in competition with the 5s, a more powerful and clearly better device which is slightly more expensive. Plus, $99 for a two year contract with already old tech doesn't makes sense.

 

[Yongsta]

Plastic sucks, this phone will suck, it will be better than the Samsung plastic shit phones. But that's only due to the back not coming off due to a sealed battery. There's no price point where I'd ever consider getting a plastic phone.

Every single phone I've had (smartphone generation) I've gotten a case for, so the material of the phone was never a big factor for me (I never feel unless I take off the case to clean).

 

[akugami]

The iPhone Activation Lock already takes the place of what you're looking for. Once the Activation Lock is turned on, the device id is registered with Apple and the Apple ID username/password it's tied to is required in order for it to be usable.

Didn't even notice that feature of iOS7. Nice. So it's not using fingerprint data but you can't activate the phone without the original Apple ID it is linked to.

This is a long overdue function.

 

[lopri]

Does it mean the end of jailbreak?

 

[s44]

I look forward to AT's review of the 5C. They spent (wasted) a big portion of the HTC One review repeatedly stating their opinion that metal > plastic. I expect something along the lines of "Yeah it's plastic, but they made it look nice."

You gave them way too much credit: they can't even bring themselves to use the word. Sad and credibility-blowing.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I think the critical issue for Apple isn't going to be how the new models stack up to Android and Windows Phone, it's going to be how their current user base accepts iOS 7. So far every iOS user I have heard comment on the new design has been extremely negative about it, to the point many were not going to update to it at all or were considering jumping ship to Android.

 

[podspi]

I think the critical issue for Apple isn't going to be how the new models stack up to Android and Windows Phone, it's going to be how their current user base accepts iOS 7. So far every iOS user I have heard comment on the new design has been extremely negative about it, to the point many were not going to update to it at all or were considering jumping ship to Android.

Anecdotally, I have heard the same thing from iOS users I know. Honestly though, people hate change. People hated the start button at first, and now they're all up in arms about losing it .

To me it looks a lot better, and once everybody gets used to it I imagine people will take to it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Anecdotally, I have heard the same thing from iOS users I know. Honestly though, people hate change. People hated the start button at first, and now they're all up in arms about losing it .

To me it looks a lot better, and once everybody gets used to it I imagine people will take to it.

Yeah, people do tend to hate change but the reactions have been more negative than even the ones to Windows 8. Several of my older coworkers made the comment that the new design looked silly and not as professional as the look they were accustomed to.

 

[TheStu]

You gave them way too much credit: they can't even bring themselves to use the word. Sad and credibility-blowing.

From the Lumia 900 review:

"It’s still amazing how Nokia is able to craft a device entirely out of plastic, and yet avoid the same pitfalls that continue to make Samsung devices feel, well, plasticky. Clearly not all polymer is the same here."

 

[zerogear]

Plastic sucks, this phone will suck, it will be better than the Samsung plastic shit phones. But that's only due to the back not coming off due to a sealed battery. There's no price point where I'd ever consider getting a plastic phone.

Maybe if it's ~200 off contract.

 

[lopri]

From the Lumia 900 review:

"It’s still amazing how Nokia is able to craft a device entirely out of plastic, and yet avoid the same pitfalls that continue to make Samsung devices feel, well, plasticky. Clearly not all polymer is the same here."

Feelings, feelings, feelings.

In other words, bias, bias, bias. Anything but Samsung. The dude is a joke.

 

[Crono]

To settle the plastic issue: if it's done right, it looks good, doesn't look cheap (not too glossy), and doesn't feel slippery. Nokia does plastic (or polycarbonate, or polymer) right. Even the Lumia 520/521 - which is a dirt cheap phone at around $450 cheaper than the iPhone 5C off contract - is a win in both areas.

The opposite is the typical LG and Samsung phones which even professional reviewers have complained about looking cheap and glossy (being a magnet for oil and fingerprints, too) and being slippery. At best, you are putting a case on your phones and don't have to deal with the body of their phones, but that's no excuse for poorer plastic bodies than what Nokia provides, especially on $600+ flagship phones.

Looking at Brian Klug's hands on, the iPhone 5C might get the feel of the phone right, but visually it looks worse than the Lumias. They look candy coated and cheap, but I'd bet Brian is correct about in-hand feel. You would expect Apple to get the design down, though, for what is a $500+ phone. Combine that with my ambivalence toward iOS 7 - I like the physics/animations and minimization of skeumorphism, but it still looks like they overused transparencies reminiscent of early Longhorn/Vista, and overlaid everything with pastel puke.

Lumia 520 and 521:

iPhone 5C:

 

[lopri]

How about comparing:

Durability
Hardness
Flexibility
Longevity
Biodegradability
etc.

of plastic? Or even the cost of raw material? Instead of "feelings" of someone who has proven to be biased over and over again.

 

[foghorn67]

Matte has always been the defacto standard for quality (or illusion of quality) compared to gloss when it comes to any product that required handling.
Ever seen a glossy SLR? Would you prefer 90's glossy car interiors? Nope, I bet you wouldn't.

 

[Crono]

How about comparing:

Durability
Hardness
Flexibility
Longevity
Biodegradability
etc.

of plastic? Or even the cost of raw material? Instead of "feelings" of someone who has proven to be biased over and over again.

None of those qualities are going to vary much (at least not enough to warrant in-depth testing) going from one body of a phone to another from a different manufacturer, regardless of material. Not when the life of a phone is 2 - 5 years. A subjective 1 page review is enough, especially considering reviewers often don't have months to test things like "longevity" and "biodegradability", unless you mean just testing just a specific type of plastic that a manufacturer uses across phones.

I think the physical design of a phone is one area that's allowable to be viewed subjectively, especially when reviewing a phone and also looking at specifications and benchmarks, which are a little less subjective.

If you think that someone's "feelings" are that far off from the objective truth, feel free to do such testing yourself. We'd love to hear your findings.

 

[lopri]

I don't know but Lumias and iPhone 5C look pretty glossy to me.

 

[lopri]

@Crono: I have no issue with people having preferences. The issue arises, however, when a person keeps moving goal posts and applying double standards. Especially when that someone is a "reviewer." And when they try to present their feeling as something more than that.

 

[jpeyton]

My thoughts, distilled:

iPhone 5S
*Amazing camera (720p120, larger pixels, better software)
*Nice SoC, but these days even year-old phones have quad-core CPUs, performance increases are barely noticeable in day-to-day tasks, and top-of-the-line is outdated in 6 months
*Fingerprint scanning is neat, my Atrix 4G had it years ago, but I don't see it as a game-changing feature

iPhone 5C
*Instead of selling the outgoing metal/glass flagship iPhone 5 for $99 (as they have in years past), Apple wants to replace that option with a plastic phone and have us thank them for it. I don't have any issue with plastic phones, I have an issue with Apple offering less value for the money when they clearly need to head in the other direction.

Will the 5S or 5C change the direction the market is currently headed in? Nope.

 

[Anubis]

Plastic sucks, this phone will suck, it will be better than the Samsung plastic shit phones. But that's only due to the back not coming off due to a sealed battery. There's no price point where I'd ever consider getting a plastic phone.

honestly your posts have become comic relief

polymer when done well is excellent (nokia) i agree samsung phones feel kinda cheap but TBH i don't really care what it feels like its a fing phone and provided it works as such is a non issue

the cases IMO are ugly as hell

the candy colors are also not attractive

 

[Crono]

@Crono: I have no issue with people having preferences. The issue arises, however, when a person keeps moving goal posts and applying double standards. Especially when that someone is a "reviewer." And when they try to present their feeling as something more than that.

I think Brian Klug is mostly stating his opinion as just that, and from what I've seen he tends to be more generous in previews/hands-on articles than the full reviews.

That said, I also disagree with his initial thoughts on the look of the body and cases of the 5C. Especially the cases, those are just extremely ugly and if they weren't Apple branded or endorsed, you would think some third-party manufacturer intended to sell them online for $5 a pop for the iPhone 5.

 

[lopri]

I think Brian Klug is mostly stating his opinion as just that,

From the 920 review TheStu quoted:

"It’s still amazing how Nokia is able to craft a device entirely out of plastic, and yet avoid the same pitfalls that continue to make Samsung devices feel, well, plasticky. Clearly not all polymer is the same here."

From Moto X review (pg. 1):

I’ll say that I’m spoiled and colored by my time spent using metal phones as of late, but the composite-backed Moto X still seems of higher quality than the plastic used by some of the Korean handset makers.

Bolded parts. Personal opinion or statement of facts? (w/ plausible deniability?)

I won't bother with his description of 5C. It's just silliness all around.

 

[jpeyton]

The gloss finish on the 5C cases will pick up scratches and scuffs in an instant. Anybody with a plastic MacBook knows Apple's history on the topic.

 

[Crono]

From the 920 review TheStu quoted:



From Moto X review (pg. 1):



Bolded parts. Personal opinion or statement of facts? (w/ plausible deniability?)

I won't bother with his description of 5C. It's just silliness all around.

It's obvious to me in context that he's just looking for things to comment on the design, I don't think he intends to imply that he is the be-all and end-all decider in the matter. Just looking at how he approaches the actual objective parts of the review, you can tell the design portion is just impressions. You have to give more weight to his technical analysis than the introductory portion (not that he's bad at it, it's just his technical knowledge is richer).

The description of the 5C... yeah, it's a bit silly to talk about the roundness of the corners being consistent or strange little things like that. I think maybe he feels pressure as a writer to highlight something (when it comes down to it, it's just a colored plastic housing), but I don't think he's a design guru or purports to be, so I'll give him a pass on that. Writing is hard, can't blame him for not being perfect, especially with that kind of turnaround time.

Without handling the device myself, I can sum up the 5C's design by saying it doesn't have the typical elegant look of craftsmanship you would expect of Apple. It has more the appearance of meeting the bare expectations. It is the minimum that would be required for an inexpensive cost-to-manufacture phone that could still be marked up with a healthy profit margin. It's what Apple has done in response as a stopgap to companies like Nokia who are having greater success in developing markets internationally. It's not an innovative step forward in design, it's Apple realized that a response was necessary, and so they did respond. And thus we have an entirely unexciting phone from Apple, the 5C.

It has met all the tamer predictions of analysts who were guessing at what such a device would look like months ago even before the meatier leaks of the past few weeks and days. I hope Apple doesn't sell too many of these because such a bland phone from what is supposed to be a premium handset manufacturer deserves a tepid response.