That famous company from Cupertino, CA has done it again. Apple phone evolution has performed steadily well over the years and their iPhone 5 is no exception. Why am I reviewing this model that's been out awhile instead of the pending release of the 5S? In the opinion of many, including myself, it's somewhat of a let-down. I'll have more on that to come down the road in future blogs.
The Apple iPhone 5 has some distinct features that many will find appealing and useful. Let's take a look at this deeper.
Improved Display
The most readily obvious change that jumps out at you is that the iPhone 5 has been resized; it's sleeker looking due to an increase in length (9 mm), although the width has remained the same. The pixel comparison says it all: the iPhone 4's 3.5-inch, 960 x 640-pixel display to the iPhone 5's 4-inch, 1,136 x 640-pixels, adds enough to make it a pleasant surprise. All previous models had a 3.5 inch display, with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The iPhone 5 16:9 aspect ratio—the same shape as an HDTV, although being quite noticeable when viewing an app with a lot of data to display, really shines when watching a video. You don't see cut-off edges of scenes.
Lighter Weight
It's the lightest iPhone to record, at 3.95 ounces, compared to the 4s model's 4.9 ounces. The "Gorilla Glass" type material in the previous model has now been replaced with metal. In fact the phone is now basically metal and glass. The feeling you get when holding it is different than holding an iPhone 4. It's more of an intuitive feeling, but it's a good one, and it feels very comfortable in your hand with its sleeker design.
4G LTE Capability
Lacking in the previous model, Apple delivers well with 4G LTE capability, and whether you're tethering it with a laptop, or have a high-data app need, the difference is very noticeable. One of the differences because of LTE can be observed loading Web pages. In a CNET test, the iPhone 5 took 5.3 seconds over LTE, versus 8.5 seconds on the iPhone 4S.
Improved Cameras
The rear camera has some substantial improvements, including a new sapphire crystal lens. When faced with a low-light level situation, this phone captures the scene clearly, which is one of the improvements over the previous models. A new panorama mode has been added which is great when capturing from a distance. The video is from the same 8 megapixel camera as before, but with improved stabilization on the 1080p mode, and you can also take still shots while shooting a video. The front-view camera has 720p now, so both still pictures and recorded video look better.
Considered to be in the market's top 3 phones, the Apple iPhone 5 should definitely be at the top of your buy list. New Apple customers should seriously consider this phone as a purchase consideration, and long-time Apple users might want to consider upgrading for this great phone. I will be discussing the other top cell phone competitors in future posts.
I'm Jim Sarbrough and a regular contributor to the Patch. You can view my personal technology blog at: http://pcjournal.typepad.com/blog.