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iPhone 5s review

Michal Ždanský
38

Anyone who follows the development of Apple phones probably knows that the company introduces new models using the "tik-tok" method. This means that the first iPhone of the pair brings more significant external changes and some major news, while the second improves the established concept and the changes take place mainly inside the device. The iPhone 5s is a representative of the second group, just like the 3GS or 4S models were. However, this year brought probably the most interesting changes in the history of Apple's "stream" of releases.

Every other model in tandem brought a faster processor, and the iPhone 5s is no different. But the change is more than marginal - the A7 is the first 64-bit ARM processor used in a phone, and with it Apple has paved the way for the future of its iOS devices, where mobile chipsets are quickly catching up with full-fledged x86 desktop processors. However, it does not end with the processor, it also includes an M7 co-processor for processing data from sensors, which saves battery than if the main processor took care of this activity. Another major innovation is Touch ID, a fingerprint reader and probably the first real usable device of its kind on a mobile phone. And let's not forget the camera, which is still the best among mobile phones and offers a better LED flash, a faster shutter speed and the ability to shoot slow motion.

Known design

The body of the iPhone has practically not changed since the sixth generation. Last year, the phone "underwent" a display stretch, its diagonal increased to 4 inches and the aspect ratio changed to 9:16 from the original 2:3. Practically, one line of icons has been added to the main screen and more space for content, and the iPhone 5s is also unchanged in these footsteps.

The entire chassis is again made of aluminum, which replaced the combination of glass and steel from the iPhone 4/4S. This also makes it significantly lighter. The only non-metal parts are two plastic plates in the upper and lower back, through which the waves from Bluetooth and other peripherals pass. The frame also serves as part of the antenna, but this is nothing new, this design has been known for iPhones since 2010.

The headphone jack is again located on the bottom next to the Lightning connector and the grille for the speaker and microphone. The layout of the other buttons has not changed practically since the first iPhone. Although the 5s shares the same design as the previous model, at first glance it differs in two ways.

The first of them is the metal ring around the Home button, which is used to activate the Touch ID reader. Thanks to this, the phone recognizes when you only press the button and when you want to use the reader to unlock the phone or confirm the purchase of an application. The second visible difference is on the back, namely the LED flash. It is now two-diode and each diode has a different color for better rendering of shades when shooting in low-light conditions.

Actually, there is a third difference, and that is the new colors. On the one hand, Apple introduced a new shade of the dark version, space gray, which is lighter than the original black anodized color and looks better as a result. In addition, a third gold color has been added, or champagne if you prefer. So it's not a bright gold, but a golden-green color that looks elegant on the iPhone and is generally the most popular among buyers.

As with any touch phone, the alpha and omega is the display, which has no competition among current phones. Some phones, such as the HTC One, will offer a higher 1080p resolution, but it's not just the 326-pixel-per-inch Retina display that makes the iPhone display what it is. As with the sixth generation, Apple used an IPS LCD panel, which is more energy-demanding than OLED, but has more faithful color rendering and much better viewing angles. IPS panels are also used in professional monitors, which speaks for itself.

The colors have a slightly different tone compared to the iPhone 5, they appear lighter. Even at half brightness, the image is very clear. Apple otherwise kept the same resolution, i.e. 640 by 1136 pixels, after all, no one really expected it to change.

64-bit power to give away

Apple has been designing its own processors for the second year already (A4 and A5 were just modified versions of existing chipsets) and surprised its competition with its latest chipset. Although it is still a dual-core ARM chip, its architecture has changed and is now 64-bit. Apple thus presented the first phone (and therefore an ARM tablet) capable of 64-bit instructions.

After the presentation, there was a lot of speculation about the real use of the 64-bit processor in the phone, according to some it is only a marketing move, but benchmarks and practical tests have shown that for certain operations the jump from 32 bits can mean up to a two-fold increase in performance. However, you may not feel this increase right away.

Although iOS 7 on the iPhone 5s seems a bit faster compared to the iPhone 5, for example when launching demanding applications or activating Spotlight (it does not stutter), the difference in speed is not that significant. 64 bit is actually an investment for the future. Most third-party apps will notice a speed difference when developers update them to take advantage of the raw power the A7 has to offer. The biggest increase in performance will be seen in the game Infinity Blade III, where the developers from Chair prepared the game for 64 bits from the beginning and it shows. Compared to the iPhone 5, the textures are more detailed, as well as the transitions between individual scenes are smoother.

However, we will have to wait a while for the real benefit from 64 bits. Even so, the iPhone 5s feels faster overall and obviously has large performance reserves for demanding applications. After all, the A7 chipset is the only one that can play 32 tracks at once in Garageband, while older phones and tablets can handle half that, at least according to Apple.

The chipset also includes an M7 coprocessor, which works independently of the main two cores. Its purpose is only to process data from the sensors included in the iPhone - gyroscope, accelerometer, compass and others. Until now, this data has been processed by the main processor, but the result is a faster battery discharge, which is reflected in applications that replace the functions of fitness bracelets. Thanks to the M7 with very low energy consumption, the consumption during these activities will be many times smaller.

However, the M7 isn't just for passing fitness data to other tracking apps, it's part of a much bigger plan. the co-processor not only tracks your movement, or rather the movement of the phone, but the interaction with it. It can recognize when it's just lying on the table and, for example, adapt automatic updates in the background accordingly. It recognizes when you are driving or walking and adapts the navigation in Maps accordingly. There aren't many apps that use the M7 yet, but for example, Runkeeper has updated its app to support it, and Nike has released an app exclusive to the 5s, Nike+ Move, which replaces the FuelBand's functionality.

Touch ID – security at the first touch

Apple did quite a hussar trick, because it was able to get a fingerprint reader into the phone in a way that is user-friendly. The reader is built into the Home button, which has lost the square icon that has been there for the past six years. The reader in the button is protected by sapphire glass, which is very resistant to scratches, which could otherwise impair the reading properties.

Setting up Touch ID is very intuitive. During the first installation, iPhone will prompt you to place your finger on the reader several times. Then you adjust the phone's hold and repeat the procedure with the same finger so that the edges of the finger are also scanned. It is important to scan the largest possible area of ​​the finger during both steps, so that there is something to compare with when unlocking with a slightly non-standard grip. Otherwise, when unlocking you will get three unsuccessful attempts and have to enter the code.

In practice, Touch ID is very handy, especially when you have multiple fingers scanned. Invaluable is the authorization of purchases in iTunes (including In-App Purchases), where the usual password entry was unnecessarily delayed.

Switching to apps from the lock screen is sometimes less convenient. Ergonomically, it is not the happiest when, after the dragging gesture that you used to select a specific item from the notifications, you have to return your thumb to the Home button and hold it there for a while. It is also sometimes impractical to see what someone is writing to you with your thumb on the reader. Before you know it, the phone unlocks to the main screen and you lose touch with the notification you're reading. But both of these disadvantages are absolutely nothing compared to the fact that Touch ID really works, it's incredibly fast, accurate, and even if you don't hit it right, you enter the code right away and you're where you need to be.

Maybe one mistake after all. When a call fails on a locked phone (for example, in a hands-free car), the iPhone immediately starts dialing when unlocked. But this is not primarily related to TouchID, but rather to the settings of the phone's locked and unlocked behavior.

The best mobile camera on the market

Every year since the iPhone 4, the iPhone has been one of the top camera phones and this year is no different, according to comparative tests it even surpasses the Lumia 1020, considered the best camera phone in general. The camera has the same resolution as the two models before the 5s, i.e. 8 megapixels. The camera has a faster shutter speed and an aperture of f2.2, so the resulting photos are significantly better, especially in poor lighting. Where only silhouettes were visible on the iPhone 5, the 5s captures photos in which you can clearly recognize figures and objects, and such photos are generally usable.

In poor lighting, the LED flash can also help, which now consists of two colored LEDs. Depending on the lighting conditions, the iPhone will determine which one to use, and the photo will then have more accurate color reproduction, especially if you are photographing people. Still, photos with flash will always look worse than without, but this is true for normal cameras as well.

[do action=”citation”]Thanks to the power of the A7, the iPhone can shoot up to 10 frames per second.[/do]

Thanks to the power of the A7, the iPhone can shoot up to 10 frames per second. Following on from this, the camera app has a special burst mode where you hold down the shutter button and the phone takes as many pictures as possible during that time, from which you can then choose the best ones. In fact, it selects the best ones from the entire series based on an algorithm, but you can also select individual images manually. Once selected, it discards the rest of the photos instead of saving them all to the library. A very useful feature.

Another novelty is the ability to shoot slow-motion video. In this mode, the iPhone shoots video at a frame rate of 120 frames per second, where the video first gradually slows down and speeds up again towards the end. 120 fps isn't quite the framerate for capturing a pistol shot, but it's actually a pretty fun feature that you might find yourself coming back to often. The resulting video has a resolution of 720p, but if you want to get it from the iPhone to the computer, you must first export it through iMovie, otherwise it will be in normal playback speed.

iOS 7 added several useful functions to the Camera application, so you can take, for example, square photos like on Instagram or add filters to images that can also be applied in real time.

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A week with the iPhone 5S

Switching to the iPhone 5S from an older phone is magical. Everything will speed up, you will get the impression that iOS 7 finally looks the way the authors intended, and thanks to TouchID, some routine operations will be shortened.

For users who live or move within LTE range, this addition to data networks is a source of joy. It's really cool to see a download speed of 30 Mbps and upload somewhere around 8 Mbps on your phone. But 3G data is also faster, which is especially evident in numerous application updates.

[do action=”citation”]Thanks to the M7 coprocessor of the Moves app, for example, we won’t run out of battery in 16 hours.[/do]

Since the iPhone 5S is identical in design to the previous generation, there is no point in going into detail about how it works, how it "fits in the hand" and similar details. The important thing is that thanks to the M7 coprocessor of the Moves application, for example, we won't drain the battery in 16 hours. A phone loaded with dozens of calls, some data and constant pairing with a Bluetooth hands-free kit in the car can last just over 24 hours on one charge. It's not much, it's about the same as the iPhone 5. However, if we add the dramatic increase in performance and savings provided by the M7 coprocessor, the 5S will come out better in comparison. Let's see what more operating system optimization and application updates can do in this regard. The iPhone in general has not been among the best in terms of battery life for a long time. In daily operation and with the offered hardware and software options, it is a small tax that must be respected.

záver

Although it doesn't seem like it at first glance, the iPhone 5s is a much bigger evolution compared to the previous "tok" versions. It didn't come with a long list of new features, rather Apple took what was good from the previous generation and made most of it even better. The phone feels slightly faster, in fact we have the first 64-bit ARM chip used in a phone, which opens up completely new possibilities and moves the processor even closer to desktop ones. The resolution of the camera has not changed, but the resulting photos are better and the iPhone is the uncrowned king of photomobiles. It wasn't the first to come up with a fingerprint reader, but Apple was able to intelligently implement it so that users would actually have a reason to use it and increase the security of their phones.

As said at the launch, the iPhone 5s is a phone that looks to the future. Therefore, some improvements may seem minimal, but in a year they will have a much greater meaning. It's a phone that will be going strong for years to come thanks to its hidden reserves, and it's very likely that it'll be updated to the latest iOS versions that come out during that time. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while for some things, like significantly better battery life. However, the iPhone 5s is here today and it's the best phone Apple has ever made and one of the best smartphones on the market.

[one_half last="no"]

advantages:

[Checklist]

  • Power to give away
  • The best camera in mobile
  • Design
  • Weight

[/checklist][/one_half]
[one_half last="yes"]

Disadvantages:

[bad list]

  • Aluminum is prone to scratches
  • iOS 7 has flies
  • Price

[/badlist][/one_half]

Photography: Ladislav Soukup a Ornoir.cz

Peter Sládeček contributed to the review

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