Product Features
- New iPhone
- Size 16 GB
Dimensions
- Size (LWH): 2.5 inches, 0.5 inches, 4.5 inches
- Weight: 8 ounces
Product Features
- Minimum Rated Talk Time: 8 hours
- Minimum Rated Standby Time: 225 hours
- Battery Type: Lithium Ion
- Reviews
- Say what you will about Apple, there is no denying their superiority when it comes to the quality & capabilities of their products. When I picked up my first iphone in 2008 (a 3GS), I fell in love with the simplicity of Apple iOS & just how easy it is to navigate. Since then, I've owned the 4, the 4s, & now the 5. At this point, Needless to say, I'm accustomed to iOS & trying to use phones with other operating systems like Android & Windows gives me the worst headache you could imagine.
- Everyone knows it's lighter and slimmer. Some love it, some think it makes it feel cheap. I carry my phone when I go biking, walking, or running, so I for one welcome the new design. I think the favorite thing for me about the new screen is that it can display an extra row of icons, which means your folders can fit more, and you can have more on one screen. I like to keep everything fitting on one page right there for me to access. The screen is brighter, and color saturation is noticeably better, blacks are blacker, colors are more rich. The phone has LTE which means it will connect to networks faster, and it has 3 microphones, and noise canceling for better audio. The new earbuds are improved (mostly in design, not sound quality) I do wish it came in more colors, but black and white are essential choices, and will do. Hopefully they will bring out more choices, at least Red and Silver.
OS/Interface:
This is the iOS you know and love. Fundamentally the same, but with new features (Siri, Panoramic Photos, Facetime over 3G) Some people complain that it hasn't changed enough since the first iPhone. It's essentially quite simple, which is the aesthetic that defines Apple. How much has OSX changed in the past 7 years? Not much either. If one wanted to change the style of the icons and fonts, they do have the option to jailbreak. What I like about iOS is that there's only as many menus as there needs to be. With Android you will see redundant menus, and see settings more than once in several menus. Also I was peeved by the back button and the way it serves a different purpose depending on the context. Will pressing it take you back to the apps main menu? Or will it close the app? I dont know! Press it and find out! The fact that they made the iPhone work fundamentally with just the one home button is a feat of itself. Widgets are cool to have, but I always ended up disabling them to conserve battery life and cut down cpu/ram usage. The notification menu, and icon badges suffice for quick indications.
Apps:
While both Android and iOS have far more apps than any human could sample in a lifetime, what matters most is quality, not quantity. iPhone has all of the best apps at its disposal, many of which do not exist on Android. Games like Infinity Blade II, SF Volt, Chinatown Wars, Fairway Solitaire, music apps like Animoog, DM1, iKaossilator, and Rebirth, and essential apps like iTunes U, Pages, and iMovie. When I switched to Android, I found that there were a lot of great apps I missed that were not on Google Play store. Since i've switched back to iPhone 5, I did not notice any key apps that are on Android but not on iOS.
Performance:
The first thing I noticed on this new model is how snappy everything is. Tasks are executed fast. Launching apps, pages loading, switching through menus, it does it in a breeze. iOS runs smoothly because it's coded in C, while Android is coded in Java, which has a lot of inefficiencies. I've heard people complain of laggy performance even on the new S4. I believe the overhead of Android's coding is creating a bottleneck, which is why even with a quad core snapdragon, you can still have performance issues. Software is just as important, if not more important, than the hardware. My Sams
Universal Content/Sharing:
I have an iPad, and iMac. If I play a game of Vice City on my iPad, I can continue on the same save on my iPhone when I leave my house. If I made a note with some important info on my iMac, i'll have it on my iPad to refer to, no 3rd party apps needed. If I purchase a universal game, I get it on my phone and tablet. If I am having a text conversation with a friend on my iPhone, I can continue on any other device and see all previous messages. Photos and videos are shared among all the devices as well. I also like that I can facetime with all my friends and family who have an iOS device. When I had an Android phone, I couldn't get everyone to create Skype accounts and get the app.
Reliability/Warranty:
The iPhone has been smooth sailing. With the two Android phones, I had a handful of issues. The phone would often freeze, and I would have to restart. Icons would disappear. Keyboard input lagged. Screen brightness would adjust itself, even though auto brightness was shut off. The only thing i've experienced is the occasional app crashing, which is often the coding of the app itself, not necessarily an iPhone issue.
I like knowing that if I have an issue with the phone, I can go to my local Apple store, and they will either fix it, or replace it with a new one there on the spot. With other manufacturers, they either contract their repairs to a 3rd party business, or they require you to go through the RMA process, ship the phone to them, which can take weeks. If you have an issue that can be resolved over the phone, you will be surprised when you call Apple support and have your call answered by a human being, who's a native english speaker from the United States.
Other:
Being a musician, I like that you have the ability to plug in an instrument (guitar, piano, bass) and use recording, modeling, and effects apps, this opens you up to a whole world of music production. One of the deal breakers with Android is that you can't connect a music instrument due to the latency inherent in the software (maybe this will be resolved in the future). This means apps like GarageBand, Ampkit, Amplitube, JamUP, Nano Studio, are not possible on Android.
I also like the aluminum body, and the distinction that it's currently the only phone that's not plastic. The HTC One claims to, but it's actually an overlay, fused with plastic. Another thing I appreciate is the lack of bloatware. iPhones come with a higher percentage of free space than Android phones, and considering that some of the new Android phones don't have SD card slots, it's significant. Some of them even have 7GB of used space out of the box. Also, Apple products have the highest resale value of any brand. If you do end up deciding to sell your phone in the future, you will get more for it.
Drawbacks:
Screen is smaller than the competing phones
No SD card slot for expanding storage
Camera not equal to some of the other top phones
Speakers pointing down is not a good design
Apple Maps still has issues
Battery life could be better (like all smartphones)
Design could benefit from a refresh
Also iOS does not have a lot of the software features that the new Android versions have. Some of these features are useful, some of them are more of a novelty that look good on paper, and some you will probably never use. But it's nice to have these options. Being able to choose a different default browser, using hand gestures for phone functions, being able to do multiple attachments for emails, these are the more useful ones.
Summary:
This phone is what is best for me, but not everyone of course. We all have different tastes, preferences, and uses. For me, it's the integration with my iPad, and iMac, the integration with my friends and family who have iOS devices, and it is the ability to plug in an instrument for practicing, sketching songwriting ideas, and recording riffs. Also, i'm a semi avid gamer, and having access to the best library of games is significant to me. I also value simplicity, reliability, and smooth performance, over options suited for "power users". In my humble opinion, iOS is a better experience for me. With the past 2 Android phones, I would get enticed by a new model, enjoy them for a 1-2 month honeymoon period, grow disillusioned by it's shortcomings, then go back to an iPhone. I need to stop doing that, as it's not very cheap!
Lastly, I think everyone should try both, before deciding on what platform is best for them. With that said, the iPhone 5 is a good place to start.
Apple iPhone 5 16GB (White) - Unlocked
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