Black & Slate
White & Silver
1
16GB
32GB
64GB
2
$199
$299
$399
3
Height: 4.87 inches (123.8 mm)
Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth: 0.30 inch (7.6 mm)
Weight: 3.95 ounces (112 grams)
- GSM model A1428*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)
- CDMA model A1429*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)
- GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5)
- 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
- Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
- Assisted GPS and GLONASS
- Digital compass
- Wi-Fi
- Cellular
- Retina display
- 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
- 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
- 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
- 500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical)
- Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
- 8-megapixel iSight camera
- Panorama
- Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
- FaceTime HD camera with 1.2MP photos and HD video (720p) up to 30 frames per second
- Autofocus
- Tap to focus video or still images
- Face detection in video or still images
- LED flash
- Improved video stabilization
- Photo and video geotagging
External Buttons and Controls
Connectors and Input/Output
4
- Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
- Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter
- Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G
- Standby time: Up to 225 hours
- Internet use: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 8 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi
- Video playback: Up to 10 hours
- Audio playback: Up to 40 hours
- Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
- User-configurable maximum volume limit
- AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p
- AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p
- Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
- Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic
- Storage and travel case
- iPhone 5 (Model A1428): M3, T4
- iPhone 5 (Model A1429): M4, T4
Viewable Document Types
.jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
- Three-axis gyro
- Accelerometer
- Proximity sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- Apple ID (required for some features)
- Internet access5
- Syncing with iTunes on a Mac or PC requires:
- Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later
- PC: Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later
- iTunes 10.7 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)
- Operating ambient temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
- Nonoperating temperature: −4° to 113° F (−20° to 45° C)
- Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
- Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Language Support
English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Keyboard Support
English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Dictionary Support (enables predictive text and autocorrect)
English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German, Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Siri Languages
English (U.S., UK, Canada, Australia), Spanish (U.S., Mexico, Spain), French (France, Canada, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Mainland China, Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong)
- iPhone 5
- Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic
- Lightning to USB Cable
- USB Power Adapter
- Documentation.
Introduction
The iPhone 5. As in five million units sold over the course of a … weekend. Can't say no to that. This is the latest installment in the smartphone series that changed the mobile phone industry and we can understand people couldn't wait. Now, what is it they couldn't wait for?
The Apple iPhone 5 brings the long anticipated larger screen and more capable internals that we already know are ready to trade blows with the most powerful chipsets out there.
Apple iPhone 5 official photos
There's also the new slender, slimmer body that no photos really do justice to. If all of Apple's claims are true then the iPhone 5 is a real engineering masterpiece - double the performance in a more compact package without sacrificing anything in terms of battery life.
They could've done worse. A lot worse. But this is Apple telling you to prepare to be wowed. So you have every right to play hard-to-please.
Key features
- Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
- LTE support where carriers support it and CDMA support when sold by CDMA carriers
- 4" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 1136px resolution
- Scratch-resistant screen glass, fingerprint-resistant coating
- 1.2GHz dual-core custom-designed CPU, PowerVR SGX543MP3 GPU, 1GB of RAM, Apple A6 SoC
- iOS 6 and iCloud integration
- 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and touch focus
- 1080p video recording at 30fps
- 1.2MP secondary front-facing camera
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
- GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
- 16/32/64GB storage options
- Accelerometer, proximity sensor and a three-axis gyro sensor
- Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary microphone
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack, stereo Bluetooth v4.0
- Excellent audio output quality (though worse than 4S)
- Apple Maps with free voice-guided navigation in 56 countries
- Voice recognition, Siri virtual assistant
- Supports HD Voice (needs carrier support too)
- FaceTime video calls over Wi-Fi and cellular
- Impressively slim and light
- Great battery life
Main disadvantages
- Aluminum body looks cool but is easy to scratch
- Proprietary connector, incompatible with previous-gen accessories (needs adapter)
- The new display is not proportionally bigger, but only taller
- Unadapted apps run letterboxed due to the unusual resolution
- nano-SIM support only
- Apple Maps app not up to scratch
- No USB Mass Storage mode
- No FM radio
- No stereo speakers
- No microSD card slot
- No NFC connectivity (though that may be nitpicking)
- Stuck with iTunes for loading content
- Mono audio recording in videos
Should the iPhone 5 be worried about not doing quite enough in terms of new design and features? That question sounds ridiculous considering the sales numbers. But there's a long-term perspective that goes beyond a record-breaking opening weekend.
The Apple iPhone 5 live photos
People who thought the iPhone 4S was a half-hearted effort, are rightfully expecting the iPhone 5 to be the real upgrade of the brilliant iPhone 4. In the end, though, there's more to a smartphone's real worth than dry specs. Apple has, on multiple occasions, been able to produce devices that are better than the sum of their parts and few will be surprised at the iPhone 5 pulling off a similar trick.
We also took the Black and Slate version for a spin
There's no time to waste, so follow us to the next page for the unboxing and hardware inspection of Apple's latest. We'll also take a close look at that sweet new display and see whether the claims about it being the most advanced in business hold water.
Standard retail package with a twist
The Apple iPhone 5's come in different boxes matching the color of the device and that's a first. The retail package otherwise is a pretty standard affair at first sight. You get the usual set of accessories in the box: a wall mount plug, a USB cable that you need to use for both charging and computer tethering and a pair of headphones. There's also the pin, you can use to eject the nano-SIM tray.
The box color reflect the color of the smartphone inside
However, upon closer inspection, you'd notice that there are some serious differences compared to what you got with an iPhone 4S. For one, the iPhone 5 comes with the new EarPod headphones, which while awkwardly looking, produce way better sound than the old set Apple used to supply with its smartphones.
We are not as convinced about the shape of the EarPods and how it was "designed to fit your ears best", but the fact remains that only extreme audiophiles will be tempted to move away from them and fork out the cash for pro-grade headphones.
The retail package contents • 8-pin Lightning next to 30-pin Dock
As for the other change in the retail box - the USB cable now ends on the new Lightning connector that the iPhone 5 employs. Depending on how you look at it, this can be either good news or bad news. The new port is faster, better looking and easier to use as it's symmetrical (which means you can insert the cable either way). On the other hand, none of your old accessories and cables will work with the new phone unless you get a load of those expensive adapters. And we guess even an adapter won't be able to save now obsolete docking accessories.
Apple iPhone 5 360-degree spin
The very shape and size of the Apple iPhone 5 are a key selling point. At 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, the latest generation has grown by less than a centimeter compared to its predecessor, but has shed nearly 2mm off its thickness.
Now, add the fact that the weight is just 112 g, which is a good 28g lighter than the iPhone 4S and you start to understand why Apple is so proud of its achievement. They've managed to fit more in a shell that's about 13% more compact (we are talking overall volume) and 20% lighter than before.
The Apple iPhone 5 sized up against the Samsung Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III
Design and build quality
We do think a major redesign was in order - not because there was anything wrong with the iPhone 4, and 4S, but because it would've been a statement. Apple needed to show that its commitment to courage and creativity is unshaken by the huge loss of leadership and inspiration.
The iPhone 5 failed to deliver that brand new design we were hoping for but, to be honest, photos really fail to do the handset any justice.
The iPhone 5 next to the iPhone 4S
But let's take it one step at a time. The front panel is virtually identical to the iPhone 4 and 4S. True, the screen has been stretched a bit vertically but, when looked head-on, the iPhone 5 is hard to tell apart from its predecessors.
An iPhone sandwich
What prevents us from giving full points to the iPhone 5 is the amount of unused space at the front. It's the use of space that sets high-end products apart from the rest, but the iPhone 5 has acres of unused glass at the top and bottom. Need proof that a better job could be done? The Motorola Razr M has virtually identical surface to the iPhone 5 and yet fits a 4.3" screen of the same aspect ratio.
Turn to the sides though and things start to look brighter. The iPhone 5 may not be the slimmest smartphone as we were told, but it's still doing better in that regard than any of its direct rivals and its predecessor. The handset's slim metallic profile is looking really great, and now that the ugly hole of a 30-pin connector at the bottom is gone, there's virtually nothing to spoil it.
Finally, we make it to the back, which is really the most delicious part of the iPhone 5. Both the White&Silver and the Black&Slate iPhone 5 versions use a two-tone design, and the back blending metal and glass looks splendid.
There isn't even a shadow of a doubt as to which iPhone 5 version we prefer in terms of pure aesthetics. The black one looks magnificent. The downside is it's incredibly easy to get all greased up and once you are there, cleaning it takes a herculean effort. The white one on the other hand, looks less impressive at first, but manages to maintain its unspoilt looks a bit longer.
Decisions, decisions: White&Silver or Black&Slate
That said, even a fingerprint-covered iPhone 5 still looks better than many all-plastic Android flagships, so Apple retains its lead here.
What we are not so sure is how happy will you be with your iPhone 5's design when it gets scratched. And that leads us to the main grudge we have with the new iPhone - unless you take the utmost care, it will get scratched. The anodized aluminum chipping issues are already well documented and we are just a week into the iPhone 5's availability.
Simply put, the material Apple selected is not durable enough. The company tried to defend itself, saying that scratching is a normal for anodized aluminum bodies, but that's not quite true. We have a Nokia N8 that's been tossed around the office for nearly two years now, and it only has few scratches and shows minimal wear. We've seen three-day old iPhone 5 units that look worse.
Controls and handling
The Apple iPhone 5 is operated much like its predecessor, with most of the controls and ports in the exact same spots.
Most of the iPhone 5 hardware controls are in the same places as on the iPhone 4S
Above the screen, the front-facing camera has been moved to just above the earpiece, rather than on its side, but that matters little to everyday use. What makes a bigger difference is the higher resolution (1.2MP over VGA on the iPhone 4S), which allows higher-quality video capture. The proximity sensor is in the same place, too. The only thing that actually matters is the microphone which is located inside the earpiece, and that's the more convenient location to talk to the phone when using Siri for example.
The front-facing camera has been moved, and there's also a microphone here now
Below the screen you get the same old button, which brings you back to the homescreen or, if you are already there, it gets you to the universal search screen instead. A double press launches the task manager, while a press and hold will start Siri. We have to say that this time the feel of the button is pretty different and we hope the new mechanism addresses the huge fail rate issue.
The iPhone 5's home button
On the left you get the usual three buttons: volume up, volume down and a Mute toggle. The latter is rather stiff, which makes is pretty hard to operate with one hand, even though it's located just where it should be. Then again, probably that was required to prevent accidental presses, which can potentially result in missed calls, messages and whatnot.
On the right you find the familiar controls
The top of the iPhone 5 hosts nothing but the power/lock button.
The power button is the only thing left on top
On the right you find the tray, which pops open to reveal the new nanoSIM slot. Another SIM standard is hardly great news for anyone, but we are hoping that this will be the last one for a while. The world didn't even manage to complete the switch to microSIM, so with the iPhone 5 now available we have three SIM standards in use at the same time.
The tray for the new nanoSIM
The good news is that if your carrier of choice doesn't offer nanoSIMs, it's not impossible to cut your regular SIM or microSIM to fit the iPhone 5. The bad news is that it's a tricky job, mostly because you don't only have to trim a regular SIM but also thin it out.
There are adapters too, which make nanoSIMs compatible with either of the larger standards, so there's some sort of backwards compatibility. As we said - here's hoping that the manufacturers and carriers would finally settle on a single SIM standard and get this whole thing over with. Ideally, it would also be one that doesn't require you to carry a pin ejector on you at all times.
Back to our iPhone 5, it's way more crowded at the bottom, where the new Lightning connector is placed. It renders your old accessories useless, but you can save some of them and get an adapter - both Lightning to 30-pin and Lightning to microUSB are available. Not all accessories are supported though, so make sure you read the fine print.
There's quite a lot going on at the bottom
The bad news is that the new Lightning cables have an authentication chip, which will probably prevent the creation of cheap 3rd party alternatives to the official Apple accessories. Still, the switch to the new standard was necessary - the old 30-pin connector was taking way too much space without providing any extra functionality.
If anything, the Lightning port is actually more functional as it allows you to plug cables either way.
Anyway, the reduced connectivity port allowed Apple to move the 3.5mm audio jack from the top to the bottom, while keeping the primary microphone and the loudspeaker in place. Some would find the new spot more convenient, but others won't agree so we guess this one is a matter of personal taste.
We conclude the tour at the back where we see the 8 megapixel camera lens, the LED flash and, in between, the third iPhone 5 microphone. The only other things to note here are the Apple logo and the usual inscriptions, containing the IMEI and other info mandated by the law.
The 8 megapixel camera lens is the star backstage
With the iPhone 5 those are less prominent, but we would rather Apple moved those to one of the sides, or simply put them on a removable sticker (we've seen that before), but we are probably just nit-picking.
Underneath the back panel lies a non-user-accessible 1440 mAh Li-Ion battery which, Apple says, should last for up to 8 hours of calls or 225 h of stand-by. We ran our traditional battery test and the iPhone 5 achieved the amazing score of 51h, which means you'll only need to charge it once every 51 hours if you use it for an hour of talking, web browsing and video playback per day. Of course, your mileage will vary depending on the use but that's the standardized measure of use that makes our results comparable across phones and manufacturers.
If you want to learn more on our testing procedures follow this link.
Display: Retina extended
The Apple iPhone 5 comes with a brand new 4" IPS LCD with a resolution of 640 x 1136 pixels, which adds up to a pixel density of 326ppi. This makes Apple's latest smartphone the first mobile device from the company to feature a 16:9 aspect screen.
The change in aspect ratio means that the iPhone 5 display is actually just 21% bigger than the iPhone 4S LCD screen, instead of the 25% increase the difference in the diagonal suggests. However the iPhone 5 display is still 44% smaller than that of the Galaxy S III and nearly 31% smaller than that of the Nokia Lumia 920.
The updated Retina display has 21% larger surface and better image quality
So while Apple has responded to demands for a larger screen on their iPhone, they made sure they didn't cross any lines to just stay in the race with Google and Microsoft powered flagships. The reason for the cautious upgrade is the company's aim to make the iPhone 5 as easy to operate with one hand as its predecessor.
The truth is that all the back buttons in iOS are located in the top corner so you need to slightly readjust your grip to have the same kind of usability, but it's really a minor thing so we'd say Apple has done a good job with that goal in mind. However, we prefer a screen that's proportionally bigger in both directions - this would have made much sense in the web browser, games and even with text input, where it would have allowed for a bigger keyboard.
The iPhone 5 is quite easy to operate with one hand
What's more, the display update consists of more than just some extra estate and the pixels needed to justify the Retina moniker. Apple has also worked hard to make the colors as accurate as possible and you can clearly tell the difference. Our tests also show a in sunlight legibility, due to the new glass that reduces reflectivity.
| Display test | 50% brightness | 100% brightness | ||||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | |||
| Apple iPhone 5 | 0.13 | 200 | 1490 | 0.48 | 640 | 1320 |
| Apple iPhone 4S | 0.14 | 205 | 1463 | 0.52 | 654 | 1261 |
| Apple iPhone 4 | 0.14 | 189 | 1341 | 0.39 | 483 | 1242 |
| Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III | 0 | 174 | ∞ | 0 | 330 | ∞ |
| Samsung Galaxy Note II | 0 | 253 | ∞ | 0 | 478 | ∞ |
| HTC One X | 0.15 | 200 | 1375 | 0.39 | 550 | 1410 |
Contrast ratio
- Nokia 808 PureView4.698
- Apple iPhone 53.997
- Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III3.419
- Samsung Omnia W3.301
- Samsung Galaxy S3.155
- Nokia N93.069
- Samsung Galaxy Note2.970
- HTC One S2.901
- Samsung Galaxy S II2.832
- Huawei Ascend P12.655
- Nokia Lumia 9002.562
- Apple iPhone 4S2.269
- HTC One X2.158
- Nokia N82.144
- Apple iPhone 42.016
- Sony Ericsson Xperia ray1.955
- Sony Xperia T1.894
- Sony Xperia U1.758
- LG Optimus 4X HD1.691
- HTC One V1.685
- LG Optimus Vu1.680
- LG Optimus 3D1.542
- Nokia Asha 3021.537
- Nokia Lumia 6101.432
- Gigabyte GSmart G13551.361
- HTC Desire C1.300
- LG Optimus L71.269
- Meizu MX1.221
- Samsung Galaxy Pocket1.180
- Sony Xperia tipo1.166
- Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114
Thanks to the reduced reflectivity, the iPhone 5 also has far deeper perceivable blacks in almost every environment. When you have black image on the screen of the 4S you easily see where the display ends and the bezel starts. The same thing is much harder to do on the iPhone 5.
And here's how the Apple iPhone 5 display matrix compares to that of its predecessor. You can clearly see that while the density is the same, pixels look notably "punchier" now.
Apple iPhone 5 • Apple iPhone 4S
Apple iPhone 5 • Apple iPhone 4S
Another area of improvement is that the actual screen is even closer to the glass surface than before. We'd say it's also a little bit more sensitive to the touch. Both these improvements probably stem from the new in-cell touch layer, which has literally been integrated inside the LCD unit rather than sitting as a layer on top of it.
There's no denying the fact the iPhone 5 screen is truly impressive. It's the best on any iPhone so far and probably has the best per-pixel quality in the LCD business (whether or not you prefer the more saturated AMOLEDs is a different story altogether).
However, on the current market it's just not as mind-blowing as the iPhone 4 screen was, when the last Apple screen update came. When put side by side with an HTC One X or an Optimus 4X HD, the iPhone 5 Retina display looks a tad less impressive, simply because of its size. And it's no longer the highest res unit available on a smartphone either.
User interface looks the same
iOS is maturing nicely with version 6 and one cannot help but admire the great job Apple did back with the original version. That being said, you wouldn't know by just a casual look which generation it is you're dealing with. Things haven't changed dramatically over the years and the backbone of the OS - the Springboard - looks more or less the same. Although it's a standard-setting homescreen, it is not absolutely impossible to improve on - widgets, for one, could have made the right difference for some users.
Check out our UI video of iOS 6 on the new iPhone 5:
The homescreen is virtually the same. The iPhone 5's taller 4" Retina display, however, allows for a fifth row of icons to be shown. Folders also can now host an extra row of apps too.
The four docked icons at the bottom stay in focus as you scroll through homescreens. Adding folders to the dock is also possible, letting you accommodate more apps into the same limited space.
iOS 6 Springboard
Freshly downloaded apps feature a label "New", which is convenient. After you open such an app for the first time the label will disappear.
Reordering apps
Apps can be dragged and dropped to rearrange the grid and dropping one over another will prompt a folder to be created. The cool shaking animation while reordering apps is still present.
Reordering apps
Since iOS 5.1 the camera toggle is constantly visible on the homescreen and swiping it up starts the camera.
The lockscreen
The Settings menu has also seen some changes in iOS 6. The various power toggles like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have been moved to the top for more convenient access.
The new Do Not Disturb feature is right there near the top as well, alongside Notifications.
The brightness setting has been merged with the wallpaper selection and there's a new Privacy section in the main menu.
Finally, you get dedicated Twitter and Facebook settings, which we'll focus on further down.
The settings menus
There are three new wallpapers to choose from in iOS 6 and of course you can still set any of your photos as wallpaper.
Three new wallpapers
Do Not Disturb gives users further control of notifications. If turned on, it will mute incoming calls or alerts. You can allow calls from your favorite contacts and have the option to set a specific time interval during which you won't get any notifications.
There's a dedicated toggle to activate the DND feature and it can be customized in the Notifications submenu. When Do Not Disturb is on, a crescent icon appears next to the clock in the status bar.
Do Not Disturb
With iOS 6, users have more control over sound and vibration settings. You can set any of your available tracks as a ringtone, tweet or text alert, etc. You can also customize vibration for each type of notification with a choice of 7 presets and extra custom vibrations. Of course, as before, you can also choose to 'Buy More Tones' directly from the sound settings.
Choosing a tone and vibration
iOS 6 feels improved in terms of speed, too - the iPhone 5 feels much more responsive than any other iPhone.
While iOS 6 and the core apps have been optimized for the taller display right out of the box, there are many apps, including major ones, which haven't been updated yet. To compensate for the different aspect ratio, there are black bars on either side of the content.
The CNN app is among those that make full use of the longer diagonal, but many popular apps, like Angry Birds, for instance, have yet to be optimized. Many apps have been consequently updated since iOS 6 was released and at this rate we guess developers will catch up pretty quickly.
Apps need to catch up with the new screen aspect
Performance
As we said, the Apple iPhone 5 is one snappy smartphone and it mostly has its extremely powerful chipset to thank for that. The A6 features a custom-developed dual-core CPU, clocked at 1.2GHz, which was able to match the performance of the most powerful devices currently on the market. It didn't quite manage to conquer the Geekbench benchmark, but it came close to those with two more cores than it, which is quite the achievement.
Geekbench 2
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S III1845
- LG Optimus G1723
- LG Optimus 4X HD1661
- HTC One X (Tegra 3)1634
- Apple iPhone 51601
- HTC One S1589
The PowerVR SGX543MP3 triple-core GPU of the iPhone 5 turned out to be a real beast. It has more than twice the raw processing power of the Mali-400 inside the Galaxy S III and almost three times that of the ULP GeFore that powers the HTC One X. In fact of all other smartphone chipsets, only the Qulacomm S4 Pro and with its Adreno 320 GPU offers a similar graphical performance to the A6.
GLBenchmark (Egypt 1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- LG Optimus G29
- Apple iPhone 527
- Samsung Galaxy S III13
- Apple iPhone 4S11
- HTC One X (Tegra 3)9
And when it comes to real-life performance, the iPhone 5 is virtually unrivaled, taking advantage of its lower resolution and producing framerates that no other smartphone can match.
GLBenchmark (Egypt onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 539
- LG Optimus G37.5
- Samsung Galaxy S III20
- Apple iPhone 4S19
- HTC One X (Tegra 3)13
The browser performance is where the Apple iPhone 5 and its A6 CPU really managed to shine. With an excellent JavaScript engine and unrivaled per-core performance, that shouldn't surprise anyone though.
SunSpider
Lower is better
- Apple iPhone 5922
- Samsung Galaxy Note II972
- Motorola RAZR i1043
- Samsung Galaxy S III1447
- HTC One X1468
- Apple iPhone 4S (iOS 6)1726
BrowserMark
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 5189937
- Samsung Galaxy Note II185034
- Samsung Galaxy S III169811
- HTC One X140270
- Apple iPhone 4S (iOS 6)106246
Notifications remain unchanged
The Notification center is mainly unchanged in iOS 6. Users have great flexibility in configuring how a given app notifies them. You can opt to disable a notification or set it to be a banner, which will have it shortly pop up over the status bar. Also, you can set it as an alert showing up at the center of the screen.
There are options to disable badges on app icons or disable lockscreen notifications.
Notifications
As before, you can interact with notifications straight on the lockscreen. If a notification has just arrived, sliding to unlock will open up the relevant app - upon a missed call, unlocking will take you straight to the phone app. You can also swipe a notification to perform a task, such as call back or text.
Lockscreen notifications
The banner notification is very subtle. If you receive a text in the middle of something, it will briefly pop up over the status bar and disappear in a couple of seconds so as to not interrupt you. It would have been nice to see more optimized pop-up notifications, which take advantage of the iPhone 5's taller screen estate, rather than having them only stretched to fit the new aspect.
Homescreen notifications
You can choose which apps you want to show up in the pull-down Notifications and in which order. What's new here is the Share widget, which adds a Tap to Tweet and and a Tap to Post buttons, which you can reposition or even disable altogether.
Notification center
The Facebook notification gives you the option to include a location and select who you wish to share your status with from your list of contacts. The tweet popup gives you only the option to include your location.
Tap to Post and Tweet
Phonebook gets a whole lot of Facebook
The Phonebook has become a lot more social with iOS 6. Although there have been workarounds to adding Facebook information to your contacts (including Facebook's native iOS app) in the past, this is the first time users can have Facebook details to their contacts without much hassle.
The Phonebook
If you choose to send your contact information to Facebook, it will cross-reference all the names in your friends list with those from your contacts and add missing information like profile pictures, birthdays, addresses, etc.
In case you have two contacts with the same name in both services iOS will automatically join them, and it did a good job of finding people and improving their contact information. Facebook will add all the people from your friends list into the Phonebook so if you want to remove them but still keep the new data on your existing contacts you can disable Facebook's contact access.
Otherwise the Phonebook has retained its excellent usability. Editing a contact is intuitive and gives you the option to include lots of additional fields, like multiple addresses, related people, web, email, birthdays, custom fields, and so on.
Editing a contact
You can set different ringtones, message tones and vibration settings to your favorite contacts.
If your contact supports FaceTIme calls, you would get a special icon in the contact details. iMessage and FaceTime have separate settings for Caller ID so there's plenty to configure.
Telephony improved
The Phone app has had a few tweaks and touches too. The dialpad itself looks different, though it brings no new usability features.
The iPhone 5 held onto a signal very steadily and we experienced no issues with it. The dual-antenna design has been carried over from the iPhone 4S and both phones held to equally strong signal levels.
The iPhone 5 also supports HD Voice, which is a carrier-dependent feature that drastically enhances the sound quality of calls. It requires that the devices on both ends support it - many Nokia phones carry the feature, as well as a few Android smartphones. We made our test call between an iPhone 5 and a Nokia N8 and we can safely conclude that it makes a serious difference over regular voice calls. The sound came in noticeably clearer than usual, and you could hear more detail in the voice at the other end.
There designed dialer
A new (well, new to iPhone) feature is Reject call with SMS. You can use any of the suggested templates or create a custom one, or just set a reminder to call the person back.
With this last feature you can set to remind you to call back a person at a particular location or when you're leaving the current one, which is a nifty trick. Keep in mind that doing so will invoke constant use of GPS, which could in turn lead to a significantly reduced battery life.
The new incoming call context menu
In iOS 6, FaceTime is finally operational over the cellular network.
FaceTime settings
We gave the service a spin over 3G and got clean video and a stable connection while the 720p front-facing camera on the iPhone 5 made a real difference. The third microphone inside the earpiece also improves the experience and the other side can hear you much better.
FaceTime over cellular
We performed our traditional loudspeaker test on the iPhone 5, and it shows that it failed to match its predecessor, the iPhone 4S. It's has a slightly less-powerful speaker but not by much.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overal score | |
| Apple iPhone 5 | 66.8 | 66.1 | 67.7 | |
| 63.7 | 58.9 | 62.1 | ||
| Sony Xperia acro S | 65.3 | 62.1 | 67.8 | |
| 65.8 | 64.5 | 74.6 | ||
| Motorola RAZR XT910 | 74.7 | 66.6 | 82.1 | Very Good |
| 76.6 | 75.7 | 84.6 | Excellent |
Messaging
Messaging on iOS hasn't seen any changes, which means you can count on the usual solid experience.
The iMessage service lets you exchange instant messages between iOS-running iGadgets over Wi-Fi or 3G. You can send plain text as well as multimedia (pictures, sounds, videos) messages. The iMessage conversations are color-coded to differ from the standard SMS/MMS - their bubbles are blue instead of green. A cool thing about them is that each conversation is synced with the iCloud so you'll have it right there and available on all your iDevices, including your Mac.
The Messages app
The rest is pretty simple - you type, you add content (optional) and hit send. Adding multimedia is done either by hitting the small picture icon next to the text field or through the sharing menu in the gallery or supported apps (Voice Memos, Notes, etc.).
iMessage
To activate the iMessage you just need to go to Settings->Messages and turn it on.
VIP contacts and Flagged emails
The Mail app got a few new tricks as well. You can set a VIP list, and emails from people on the list will be delivered to a dedicated VIP mailbox and will appear highlighted in your standard inbox. You can also set a different notification regime for VIP emails - so they appear on the lockscreen, for example.
VIP Mailbox
You can also flag important emails. After you flag your first message, a new Flagged mailbox will appear gathering all of your flagged emails in one place.
If you use multiple email accounts, with iOS 6 you can have different mail signatures for each of them.
Signature settings
The update button is now gone and you can just swipe down to refresh instead. Another new feature lets you insert pictures or videos while composing an email - just tap and hold on an empty space and use the popup menu.
If you open your Inbox and hit the Edit button, you now have a Mark key alongside Move and Delete. You can also mass mark emails as read/unread or flag them as important. Unfortunately, a 'Select All' option is still missing.
Email flagging
You can also add or delete Mail folders - just hit the Edit button while in an account.
Creating and deleting folders
Bold, Italic and Underline font styles are available in the text editing options, as well as quote font size levels. Text selection works the usual way (tap&hold and select) and the available options will appear as soon you've made the selection: Cut/Copy/Replace/Bold Italic Underline/Quote Level. Quote Level will increase / decrease the quote symbols of the text you're quoting.
Email text options
The built-in dictionary is very rich in content and conveniently works offline.
Built-in Dictionary
You can now attach images and video straight from an email, sparing you the need to go to the gallery and select the share option.
Attaching images and video into an email
The keyboard has remained unchanged, and it's the same size as before in portrait mode. Flipping the device over to landscape mode will make it slightly taller than on the 3.5" screen of the 4S, and with slightly bigger buttons.
Text input
Dictation is available courtesy of Siri: just hit the dictation button on the left of the space bar and fire away. Keep in mind that the performance degrades in noisy environments.
You can also shake the device the undo the last words typed.
Shake to undo
Photo Stream shares photos with the people you care for
A year ago Apple added Photo Stream to iOS, letting users sync pictures taken with the phone with all of their iCloud-compatible devices. Now in iOS 6 there's Shared Photo Stream, which acts like a social sub-network, built right into the Photos app.
You will be able to choose what pictures to share and which people to share with. Your buddies on the receiving end will be able to like them and post comments.
Photos • Shared Photo Stream
Photo Stream works really well and is very simple to set up. You can invite users you want to share your Photo Stream with via email or get invited.
You can also add comments and like pictures in Photo Stream.
Viewing Photo Streams
Otherwise the Photos app is all but the same. The main album is the Camera Roll, which houses all of the pictures you have taken. You can sort any of these pictures in albums, which are created with the + symbol at the top of the albums view.
The new aspect of the iPhone 5's display shows more of the photos in fullscreen, without the need to crop them. Colors look better, the image is sharper and zooming in and out is much faster.
The Photos app
There's Facebook integration in Photos now, meaning you can post pictures directly to the social network. The sharing menu has also been slightly overhauled - AirPrint is available straight through the sharing options so you can now easily send pictures to AirPrint-compatible printers. The Use as Wallpaper option has a new icon and there's a new Copy icon too.
Viewing a photo • Sharing options
Marking photos is pretty much the same affair as before. With iOS 6 you can share photos directly to Facebook from the Photo gallery. You can also arrange the photos in albums.
Marking photos • Sharing options
Sharing a photo to Facebook is done via the same pop up window we saw in the Notifications. You still get to choose who can view the picture and decide whether you want to add a location to the post.
Posting a photo to Facebook
The photo editor enables rotation, cropping, and red-eye removal. There's also an option called Enhance over which you have no control - it's all automatic and usually, the results are surprisingly good. In Edit mode four keys appear at the bottom for the available editing options.
Editing a photo
You can auto enhance photos, crop freely or select an aspect ratio you wish to crop the photo to.
Cropping a photo
You can also trim videos.
Trimming a video
Music player gets lighter
The Music player in iOS 6 has retained its functionality but now comes in a lighter finish. Menus are light grey and the tabs at the bottom are slightly redesigned.
The new Music player design
You can create playlists, delete songs right from within the player and reorder tabs whichever way you like.
Creating a playlist
Cover Flow is still there - you access it by flipping the device landscape. It lists all the covers to the albums you have in your library. Tapping on an album thumb lists all the tracks in it.
Cover Flow is still great
The Now Playing screen hasn't changed in functionality but the color theme is different. The repeat and shuffle toggles are no longer blue, instead Apple chose to make them orange.
The Now Playing screen
Settings haven't budged an inch, which we find disappointing. Even in its sixth major iteration iOS still fails to offer configurable equalizers.
The Music player settings • No visual equalizer
Video player ignores XviD and DivX
The video player on iOS 6 looks and acts the same way it did in iOS 5. It has a pretty simple interface, you get a scrollable timeline, a Fullscreen toggle, which removes the black bars around the video but crops some of the pixels along the way.
Watching 16:9 aspect movies is a more enjoyable experience now on the iPhone 5 since its 4" screen has shifted to the popular aspect.
The video player
At the bottom there's the all too familiar volume toggle with play/pause and skip controls.
The player doesn't have DivX and XviD support. You get H.264, mov, MPEG-4 and M-JPEG support, but no avi files are playable. To play those, you can either have iTunes convert them beforehand or just download a third-party video player off the AppStore, which can play them.
Audio output takes a step back, still remains great
Surpringly enough, the iPhone 5 audio output was a tad worse than that of the iPhone 4S. Obviously the ultra compact body demanded some compromises be made. The good news is that even though the iPhone 5 fails to match the performance of its predecessor, it still remains one of the best performers on the market.
In the first trial (connected to an active external amplifier), the iPhone 5 did quite well, though not quite perfectly. The frequency response has some deviations at the high end of the spectrum and the stereo crosstalk levels are only average for this part of the test. Neither of these is anything to worry about, but it's not quite what we've come to expect from Apple. Volume levels on the iPhone 5, even though lower than those of the 4S, are still well above average.
The second part of our test told a similar story - the iPhone 5 is a great performer, but not quite as good as the iPhone 4S. It had higher intermodulation distortion levels, more stereo crosstalk and lower volume levels. So while last year Apple's flagship smartphone did easy work of the competition, the iPhone 5 got the victory by the skin of its teeth.
Check out the numbers and see for yourselves.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.06, -0.51 | -91.3 | 91.3 | 0.0015 | 0.0093 | -76.5 | |
| +0.00, -0.26 | -90.6 | 90.6 | 0.0035 | 0.111 | -56.2 | |
| +0.02, -0.11 | -91.2 | 91.2 | 0.0020 | 0.012 | -93.0 | |
| +0.05, -0.10 | -91.3 | 91.3 | 0.0068 | 0.071 | -66.7 | |
| +0.01, -0.07 | -90.1 | 90.0 | 0.0068 | 0.012 | -89.6 | |
| +0.01, -0.07 | -90.4 | 90.4 | 0.0036 | 0.092 | -68.4 | |
| +0.11, -0.10 | -86.1 | 87.8 | 0.023 | 0.023 | -84.1 | |
| +0.43, -0.11 | -86.1 | 87.5 | 0.140 | 0.260 | -62.7 | |
| LG Optimus 4X HD | +0.02, -0.52 | -74.8 | 74.8 | 0.345 | 0.318 | -81.6 |
| LG Optimus 4X HD (headphones attached) | +0.03, -0.51 | -70.1 | 69.9 | 0.815 | 0.811 | -64.5 |
| Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III | +0.03, -0.05 | -90.3 | 90.3 | 0.012 | 0.018 | -92.6 |
| Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (headphones attached) | +0.11, -0.04 | -90.2 | 90.2 | 0.0092 | 0.090 | -53.1 |
| HTC One X | +0.02, -0.08 | -82.1 | 82.1 | 0.137 | 0.393 | -80.7 |
| HTC One X (headphones attached) | +0.10, -0.10 | -80.6 | 80.6 | 0.174 | 0.459 | -60.8 |
Apple iPhone 5 frequency response
You can learn more about the whole testing process here.
Superb camera experience with Panorama
The camera on the iPhone 5 uses the same 8 megapixel sensor as the one on the iPhone 4S, producing stills of 3264x2448 pixels resolution. However, this time the camera module is 18% smaller and there's a cool new Panorama feature which is a part of iOS6.
The camera interface has seen only cosmetic changes, over the previous iOS build. The shutter button is silver and circular on the iPhone 5, instead of the compared to the ellipse on the 4S.
The new feature that got the most attention is the Panorama mode, which is available for the iPhone 5, iPod Touch (5th generation) and the iPhone 4S. It won't available on the New iPad's 5MP iSight camera just like the HDR mode before it.
Panorama mode is accessed through the Options tab in the camera app. It works only in portrait mode and from left to right, but is easy and intuitive enough. You just move your iPhone 5 in the direction the arrow points and the software will automatically tell you to slow down or speed up.
The new Camera design • Panorama
Other than that, nothing has really changed. You can enable a grid in the viewfinder to help you with framing or you can turn on the high dynamic range mode. It shoots a couple of shots simultaneously with different exposures and outputs a single photo with increased dynamic range. You can opt to preserve the original photos too.
The camera on the iPhone 5 continues Apple's dedication in bringing quality imaging to its customers. It produces very good images with lots of fine detail and great color reproduction.
iPhone 5 camera samples
Noise levels are decent on the iPhone 5, though we've seen smartphones do way better.
iPhone 5 camera samples
The iPhone 5 Panorama mode is really good and offers a simple process with a seamless stitching and seamless processing, which is done in just seconds.
The stitching process is very fast and when done properly you won't notice where the individual photos have been patched up. Images come out with a maximum resolution of 28 megapixels and are saved in regular JPEG format.
iPhone 5 Panoramas (click for larger image)
In terms of macro photography the iPhone 5 can get up as close 5-6 cm from the desired target and get a very detailed image.
iPhone 5 macro samples
iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S mini shootout
To give you a better idea of the iPhone 5 camera capabilities, we decided to do a quick shootout against its predecessor, which is still one of the most capable 8MP cameraphones around.
One of the first things we noticed when we compared photos from the two phones is that the new iPhone 5 camera has a slightly wider angle of view than the one in the 4S - 4.13mm vs. 4.28mm (or about 34mm vs. 35mm in 35mm terms). It's a minor difference, though, and one that shouldn't affect your shooting habits.
The first pair of photos is of a building with a fine texture on its walls, which usually makes spotting the difference in resolved detail pretty easy. When it comes to the two iPhones, however, it is not.
The roughness of the wall is slightly more apparent in the iPhone 5 photo and the yellow and orange colors are slightly more accurate, but you really need to be looking at 100% to spot the difference
iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5
Then we picked a photo of a building in the sun and focused on the part of it that's in the shade. Here the iPhone 5 demonstrates better contrast and a slightly lower amount of noise, plus slightly better sharpness.
iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5
The next image is of a petrol station's banner in the sun. Here the images are almost too close to call, but the iPhone 5 shows slightly better color rendering and a bit less noise in the shadow area.
iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5
Finally, a photo that is mostly blue sky and blue windows (blue parts of images typically have more noise in the photos than the other two primary colors). Once again, we see better contrast and lower noise in the iPhone 5 photo over the 4S one, though the differences are pretty minor.
iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5
Apple bragged about the improved low-light performance of the iPhone 5 camera compared to the 4S. Here are our samples, taken with a tripod, at the same time, from the same spot. We can safely say that the difference is close to none. Both phones produced stellar images with good overall detail but were a bit on the noisy side.
iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5 low-light stills
As we mentioned, the iPhone 5 camera module is smaller than the one in the 4S in order to fit into the thinner phone, so just not losing image quality would have been quite an acceptable result this year. Apple even managed to squeeze out slightly better photos out of the iPhone 5, which is commendable.
Still, if you have an iPhone 4S, you have nothing to be jealous of - you will barely see any improvement in image quality if you upgrade
Image quality comparison
We've added the latest and greatest iPhone to our photo quality comparison tool and have put it against the likes of the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S III. The tool's page will give you additional information on what to look out for.
Apple iPhone 5 in our Photo Compare Tool
Great 1080p video recording, useless simultaneous image capture
The camcorder user interface is almost identical to the still camera one. The shutter button here however overlays the viewfinder's feed, which stretches from edge to edge as the video is the same aspect as the screen.
The Camcorder app
One of the main new video recording features of the iPhone 5 is simultaneous video and image capture. What this means is that while recording video you can also take photos with the camera. The feature didn't make its way to the iPhone 4S, which is very odd to us.
The thing, in this case the Apple's iPhone 5 doesn't capture 8 MP photos, but 2 MP ones instead. This makes the whole feature utterly useless because what you get is basically one of the frames of your video. Given that Android flagships have had full-res stills while recording videos for half a year now, we are rather surprised that Apple didn't get this right.
In terms of actual video capture the iPhone 5 does a great job, as expected. The videos run smoothly, there's a great amount of detail and focusing is fast and accurate.
Videos have a bitrate of around 17Mbps, the framerate hovers around the 29 fps mark, while audio bitrate is 63Kbps. What we find really frustrating is that Apple still doesn't utilize the full potential of the iPhone's microphones and the videos recorded with the iPhone 5 come with mono sound, which is particularly bad considering it has three mics on board.
Here's a direct download link to a 1080p video sample taken straight off the iPhone 5.
Video quality comparison
Check out the iPhone 5 in our video comparison tool against the iPhone 4S and Samsung's Galaxy S III.
Apple iPhone 5 in our Video Compare Tool
Connectivity improves, still not perfect
The Apple iPhone 5 brings some key updates to the connectivity package over the iPhone 4S. It comes in three different network options - a quad-band GSM with LTE (bands 4 and 17), quad-band GSM with LTE (bands 1, 3 and 5) and a CDMA version with LTE (bands 1, 3, 5, 13 and 25). If you want to know which version supports the LTE network of your carrier you should check this table.
Wi-Fi a support has been added (meaning you can now work on a/b/g/n networks) and the iPhone 5 is the first member of the iOS family to feature dual-band Wi-Fi (e.g. 2.4 GHz as well as 5 GHz). Tethering is supported, too, although it's up to your carrier if you'll be able to use it.
There's Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP support, but that's hardly any good for data transfers. We've since long given up hope that Apple will enable sending and receiving files on iOS devices through Bluetooth, but as cloud storage solutions improve we no longer even missing it too much.
A big part of the iPhone 5's improved connectivity is the new Lightning connector, which we already discussed.
Finally the iPhone 5 offers A-GPS and GLONASS support, just like its predecessor. The smartphone is impressively quick in getting satellite lock, taking just a few seconds on most occasions.
As for what's missing - well, the first thing that comes to mind is NFC. We really expected the iPhone 5 to feature it, after Passbook was announced, but it doesn't. Also Wi-Fi Plus Cellular has been sacked from the final version of iOS 6. It made simultaneous use of Wi-Fi and cellular in cases when your WLAN speeds were poor, combining both services for optimal browsing speed.
We never really expect to see either Mass Storage mode or expandable external storage on the iPhone 5, but that doesn't mean we are ready to forgive Apple for not including them.
Safari goes full-screen
Another place where the bigger screen on the iPhone 5 really steps into the highlight is the Safari web browser. You get more content per page and the benefits are especially felt in landscape mode using the new fullscreen feature.
For starters there's iCloud tab syncing, a new full-screen mode in landscape and page loading seems overall faster than before.
The user interface of Safari hasn't really changed and what we still miss is a unified address/search bar like on the desktop Safari.
Safari
iCloud tab syncing is enabled, along with offline reading. You can also share pages on Twitter and Facebook.
Sharing pages
The new full-screen mode is available only in landscape, which makes sense. It would have been better if Apple had found a simpler way of activating it, like a double tap or pinch gesture but the dedicated virtual button still does a fine job.
Once in full-screen mode, you get a shortcut, which reveals three onscreen buttons: Back, Forward and Exit Full-screen.
The new full-screen mode
You can also bookmark pages to the Reading List to view offline.
Reading List
If a page is compatible with the Reader (most of the article pages out there are) you get a Reader button right into the address bar as soon as the page loads. The Reader strips the webpage of ads and makes the layout and fontsize more suited to the smaller phone screen. And best of all, if you are reading a multi-page article (such as one of our reviews) getting from one page to the next is automatic as soon as you scroll to the bottom of the page rendered by the Reader.
You can set the font size via two controls at the top, and also there's a built-in dictionary to look up unknown words.
Reader in action
All iGadgets have a Private Browsing option in the Safari settings (Settings->Safari). If you turn it on, nothing you do in the bowser will leave a trail on your phone - no browsing history, no search history, no usernames or passwords, etc. The only thing nicer than Private Browsing itself would have been a dedicated key within the Safari UI, instead of a lonely toggle in the Settings menu.
Safari settings
In the advanced settings you can find very detailed web browsing data and delete all of it or some specific site-related data only (such as Google Search).
In iOS 6, Apple decided to change the way your browser displays network and page loading errors. Instead of the previous countless pop ups that annoyed the living hell out of users Safari now just displays a "cannot open the page..." screen - clean and simple.
New "Cannot Open..." view
Multilingual Siri knows more
Siri is available on the iPad 3 and iPhone 4S but the iPhone 5 has a slight advantage. The third microphone, which Apple have added is especially useful when using Siri, because you no longer have to tilt the device to reach the bottom mic and instead, you can just talk naturally into the earpiece above the display.
Siri speaks new languages now: Canadian English and French, Spanish, Italian, the varieties of German, Italian and French spoken in Switzerland, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese. These are also supported in the satnav app.
Siri with new supported languages
Support for POI search is supposed to get wider. Assistance with restaurant booking is part of Siri's new set of skills. It will find you exactly the restaurant you are looking for and filter the results based on user reviews. You can run impressively detailed searches based on food type, location, outdoor, pool, price range, ratings, etc. This feature is not available in every country, though.
Finding POIs
One of the much-touted features is Siri's new-found flair for sports. It can answer lots of questions and isn't limited to game scores. History, stats, player bios, player comparison, teams, records, etc. Siri should be able to return most of the info right onto its own screen, without switching over to the browser.
Sports statistics and scores by Siri
The same applies to movies. You will get all of your movie-related answers right inside the Siri window - anything about actors, directors, awards, movie stats, premieres and tickets, reviews, trailers, etc.
Theaters • Movies • Reviews • Schedules
The other new thing Siri can do is launch apps. Yes, it does look like one of those features that should have been there from the beginning, but better late than never, right? You can also have Siri update your Facebook and Twitter.
Launching apps • Updating status • Sending tweet
Apple announced they're working with various car manufacturers - BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and others - to integrate Siri tightly with the car's audio systems.
The Facebook integration comes a year too late
Facebook is tightly integrated with the iOS. It even goes deeper than Twitter did in iOS 5.
Facebook inside iOS 6
We already pointed out that Siri can do your status updates for you. There are dedicated shortcuts for Facebook and Twitter updates in the Notification center as well.
Siri updating Facebook
This is just the beginning though. Just like in Android you can sync your Facebook contacts with the phonebook. If you do, the system will search email and phone numbers, so it can link your contacts with their Facebook profiles.
Contacts with Facebook data
Upon a successful Facebook link, the contact's picture, addresses, important dates, emails, phone numbers and websites will be updated. You will also get a new Facebook field with a shortcut to the contact's Facebook profile. It will load in the Safari browser however, not the dedicated Facebook app.
Unfortunately, the Facebook albums and feeds do not appear in the phonebook. All Facebook events will appear in the Calendar though.
You can share photos on Facebook right inside the Photo app. Addresses can be shared as well upon a drop of a pin in Maps.
Uploading picture • Sharing address
Facebook integration extends to the App Store and the iTunes Store. Whenever you tap on an app, song, movie, TV show, etc. you'll get into the new store UI where there are three tabs - info, reviews and related. In review you can Like the app/song/…/movie on Facebook and write or read Facebook reviews.
Facebook reviews and Like inside App and iTunes stores
Maps got a lot of bad rep these days
The iPhone 5 comes with Apple's new mapping service along with voice-guided navigation, courtesy of Siri, faster vector graphics, a cool 3D Flyover mode but and a long list of missing or otherwise not very functional shortcomings..
The new Maps
An assortment of sat-nav apps has long been available in the app store (for a fee), with no other than TomTom having a prominent place on the list. They now supply the maps for Apple's own service, which comes with turn-by-turn voice guidance, real-time traffic updates, local search, Yelp reviews and the impressive Flyover 3D views.
The navigation will work even on the lockscreen or in the background. Real-time traffic reports are available and Apple is also sourcing the live traffic info anonymously from iOS users on the road. Sadly, there isn't an option to pre-cache maps for offline use, which can be a problem if you need guidance abroad.
Voice-guided navigation
The 3D Flyover mode is a great bonus for your viewing pleasure. When you enable the 3D view (outside navigation) you will be able to explore cityscapes from birds-eye view. The currently available selection is extremely limited, but hopefully more areas will be added later on. You can zoom, tilt and rotate using two-finger gestures to explore 3D landmarks rendered in real time.
3D Flyover
However, the map coverage seems to be a weak points of the new maps app. Users and early access developers have repeatedly expressed their discontent with the new Maps - addresses turn out either wrong or unavailable, there's a lack of transit information, POIs are all messed up, and there is no Street View, etc. Apple's move to replace Google as their maps provider is a surly bold and it's clear Apple has a lot more work to do in this department.
Currently there are apps, which Apple has allowed to integrate with maps, which provide transit information. They are city-dependent and not available everywhere. Furthermore those apps aren't really integrated into Maps - when you choose an app to help you with public transit you're taken away from Maps and into the new app, which isn't ideal.
And users need to understand that Apple and Google's relationship has been going downhill for some time now. Google Maps on iOS was severely lacking behind the competing Android application, where features such as vector graphics, turn-by-turn navigation and offline caching have long been available.
App Store and iTunes store act and look better
With iOS 6 Apple has updated the App Store and iTunes Store and content handling. Both stores have different Featured pages with scrollable rows rather than lists. The paintjob was changed too.
The new App Store design
In addition to the added eye-candy, the App Store now has a slightly different manner of operation. Firstly, you won't be prompted to enter your password when you just update apps. Secondly, you can see the change log in the Updates screen without actually opening the info screen.
We're not really sure about the side-scrollable thumbnails of apps. They take up the entire screen, meaning you can only see one app at a time, which isn't the most space-efficient solution.
Genius and Search
There's now an All Categories toggle in the top left corner. The Categories tab at the bottom has been replaced with Genius, which lists apps you might like on the basis of the apps you've already purchased or downloaded.
All Categories view
When you're looking at an app you get more information, too. Facebook reviews are integrated, you can see more apps from the same developer too.
App context menu is improved
The top in app purchases screen is here as well.
Additional options
You can also share App Store apps via mail, message, Twitter, Facebook or copy the link to the app.
Sharing an App Store app
As usual you can view all the apps you've bought on your current iDevice or previous ones through the Purchased menu in the Update tab. iCloud plays a key part here - all of your purchased apps from each device show up and are ready for download.
Finally, after you buy or update apps you will no longer be kicked back to the homescreen - you can continue browsing the store. You can launch apps you've already installed from within the store too.
The iTunes store has also been slightly changed. Instead of a vertical grid of suggestions you now get side-scrollable categories, like New & Noteworthy, etc.
The new interface is way cleaner with a more images. Facebook reviews are available here too so you can check out what people are saying about an album, movie, etc. You can also preview just about everything. Ringtones, alert tones, movies, etc. can all be checked out or listened to before you buy.
The iTunes Store
Music syncing is probably the trickiest part of the iCloud sync. Along with the tracks purchased from the iTunes store you surely have a collection of your own that you sync with your iOS device via iTunes. Well, Apple is now offering a service to sync both collections in one place.
The music you've purchased at the iTunes Store will be easy to sync automatically across all your iGadgets. But you will need to use the iTunes Match service for the rest of your music collection if you want it synced too.
iTunes Match will scan your collection on the computer and check for matches with songs in the Apple's iTunes Store (currently 18+ million songs and growing). If there is a match, the iTunes song will be synced, if not - well, Apple will upload this song on their servers and then sync. Pretty cool, isn't it?
So iTunes scans yours songs and pushes them to all your other devices if they match. If some of your tracks are of lower bitrate than 256Kbps, the iTunes Store will replace them with higher quality (320Kbps). The iTunes Match service costs $25 a year and will be first available in the US.
The new App and iTunes store redesigns really come into their own on the iPad's 9.7" screen and look slightly stacked on the iPhone. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is found when you search for apps. Apple could've simply used a smaller grid of apps instead of just one app per screen on the iPhone (and about six on the iPad).
iCloud syncs with all your devices
iCloud was an integral part of iOS 5 and is present here in iOS 6 on the iPhone 5. It syncs all of your important data between all of your devices running iOS 5 or above.
You get 5 GB of free storage but you can buy more if you want. Selecting which apps to sync is pretty easy. iCloud even remembers each device you've backed up so you can restore them separately if you wish. You can naturally delete older backups to free up space.
The iCloud menu
Apple knows exactly what apps you've purchased, what you have installed on an iDevice and what you've deleted for some reason. Apple knows this for each one of your iDevices.
So if you chose to sync with iCloud, Apple will sync only the app's personal data, not the entire IPA file (as iTunes did). Here is an example:
You have Angry Birds installed on your iPhone. It has a save data of 50.5MB. Apple will sync only this file. If you delete the game and later install it again (free, from the Purchased list), your iPhone will download the original IPA from the App Store and will get back this 1.5MB file too - a lot more natural process to sync an app rather than keeping the whole image. If you use an app as USB storage (Filer or even CineXPlayer), then, by default,the whole content will be backed up too, eating your backup quote quite fast.
There is one more thing with the iCloud app sync - when you buy a new app, it will be pushed to all of your iDevices automatically (if available and if you have enabled this feature from the AppStore settings).
PassBook not really hitting any buttons yet
The PassBook is a new e-ticket app that handles all kinds of electronic tickets (including boarding passes), loyalty cards, coupons, etc. It's Apple's answer to apps like Google Wallet but without the additional NFC support.
Passbook
The location-aware app makes the right coupon available in the right place and at the right time. The PassBook will report the balance on coupons and cards, let you check your ticket seats and can even show you relevant notifications (e.g. gate or terminal change for a flight).
Currently developers are still scrambling to offer Passbook-supported coupons, tickets, vouchers, etc. There's a rather limited selection of Passbook-supported apps in the App Store, but at least those are easily accessible, though the dedicated button in the app.
Wireless activation and OTA updates
Perhaps this is the part Apple put most effort in. Many are probably put off by the dependence on iTunes. Well, Apple has finally made this a lot easier.
You no longer need a computer to activate your iGadget. The moment you turn on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch for the first time, you can do the activation and setup process right from your device (a network connection is required of course). After a few simple steps, quite similar to Android's initiation process, you are good to go.
Wireless activation
Updating your iPhone is mostly done over the air now. The option is located under Settings->General->Software Update. Of course, you can still use iTunes on your Mac/PC to do that if your Wi-Fi connection is too slow.
And thanks to the use of Delta encoding, the updates will now come with a much smaller footprint than before when they carried a whole system image. The new update files carry only the bits that need changing.
The OTA updates
Organizer and apps
The iOS Calendar app hasn't seen much visual changes but does benefit greatly from the Facebook integration. Birthdays and events from Facebook are immediately synced with your calendar but you still get the option to omit them from the Calendars tab.
Facebook events in Calendar
Otherwise the interface is the same. You can view by list (iOS's agenda variant), day and month. There's also a toggle to get back to today if you've strayed too far back or forth.
The Calendar app
Switching over to landscape automatically opens up weekly view, which lists all of your events in a side-scrollable fashion. Events are color-coded so you can recognize what's what.
Creating an event is done the same way as before. You can choose which calendar you want the event to be synced with, add a location, additional notes and set up an alert.
Creating an event
Here is the Calendars tab. You can customize the iCloud personal and job-related event colors to your liking. You can also create additional calendar entries, for example if you have two jobs, etc.
Choosing Calendars to view
The Reminders app has a pretty simple interface doing some basic but important stuff. There are two viewing options - by date or a list. Both of them start with a Completed list as a first pane.
In the List view you have the option to add different lists - the default one is the events on your phone. But you can add list for iCloud or Gmail reminders for example. All lists appear as different panes.
Viewing by date gives you lots of panes - you start with Completed and then you have one pane for each day you have events for. You also get a Calendar shortcut, where you can choose easily the day you want.
When you choose to create a new reminder, first you must type its name directly on the pane and click Done. After that, you are able to edit (just tap on it) - you can choose the Type of reminder - by date or location, Due option, Priority and to which list it will belong (iPhone, iCloud, Gmail etc.).
If you want to be reminded on the day of the event, you just choose date and time.
A novel feature is the location-aware reminder triggering option. You can choose a location from your phonebook or your current location and then you choose whether you like the reminder to activate on arrival or departure.
As we said earlier, you can also set a reminder to call someone on a location or leaving the current one. Both location aware features are nifty but they would undoubtedly take their toll on battery life.
Reminders
Voice Memo is on-board as well. You can capture practically unlimited voice memos and send them to others via a message or mail.
Voice Memos
The Calculator app hasn't been changed for some time now. It still works really well. You can enter scientific mode when going landscape.
Calculator app
The Clock app has world clock, alarms, stopwatch and timer. You can now set any of the songs in your music library as an alarm sound. You can also choose from your custom ringtones.
Clock app
The stopwatch and timer apps have remained unchanged. You can set a timer notification from your music library too.
Stopwatch • Timer
Weather has been slightly revamped. The weather cards are now cleaner in design and slightly darker too. Also now on the taller iPhone 5 screen the detailed information on today's weather is a side-scrollable tab in the weather card, instead of the drop-down version we've become accustomed to. As usual, weather info is sourced from Yahoo and years of use so far have proven it's not always the most accurate source of forecast information - of course, that may depend on your country.
Weather
iBooks offers various font and color settings, but on a screen this size, it's just not the best e-reading experience. Pages are side-scrollable only and on a mobile phone that doesn't quite make sense.
The iBooks app is also a PDF viewer.
iBooks
You can choose different fonts, reduce and increase the text size, change the background and play around with brightness.
Additional settings
There are many quality apps in the App Store. Many of them paid and some that are free. Whether you're looking for organizing ones or just plain entertainment ones you can fill in the gaps very easily.
Accessibility
Accessibility is focused on helping users with handicaps to interact with their iPhone in a more comfortable way. VoiceOver will narrate you through the phone's menu, Zoom and Large Text will improve the usability for people that have trouble seeing small text, etc.
The iPhone can use the LED flash for alerts and you can assign and even create custom vibration alerts to specific events or contacts - much like you would assign a personalized ringtone.
Accessibility options
The Assistive Touch is another useful feature. By activating it you get a new on-screen key that stays available throughout the UI, even on the lockscreen and in games. It's shaped as a homescreen icon and offers a few useful menus.
You can easily move the key in one of the four corners of the screen at any time. Tapping on it reveals four shortcuts - Gestures, Device, Home, Favorites. Every shortcut, except the Home key, opens another submenu.
The Gestures shortcut allows you to simulate two, three, four or five-finger tap. The Device shortcut will allows you to rotate the screen (if available), lock the screen, use the volume controls and even simulate a device shake.
Gestures • Creating a gesture
In the Favorites section you have a Pinch gesture shortcut and you can additionally assign six more custom gestures. You just need to perform them once so the iOS can save them.
The Home virtual key has the same functionality as the hardware Home - you can single/double/triple click it for the relevant commands.
The Assistive Touch is a pure accessibility option that helps you control everything in the iOS with let's say just one finger.
Lost Mode and Guided Access
The last two features we are going to mention are the Guided Access and the Lost Mode.
The Guided Access locks the iDevice to work with a single app only. It cannot be closed unless Guided Access is disabled. While active - all hardware controls are disabled - lock, home, volume and switch. When configured, you launch an app, then triple-tap the Home key, enter the password and done - the iGadget is now locked on to this specific app until you triple-tap the home key again and enter the right password.
This means that the Guided access could work quite well as as kid or test mode. It will allow you to give your iDevice to your kid without being worried that it will access inappropriate content or mess up your settings and apps.
The Lost Mode is part of the former Find My iPhone service. If you lose your gadget, you can lock (but not wipe) it remotely and send a message with your contact (and possibly, reward) information.
Final words
There are many sides to the Apple iPhone 5's story. You can, for example, look at the progress it makes and compare it to the last major Apple release, the iPhone 4. That one was truly revolutionary - or, as the saying went back then, resolutionary. It had the most impressive screen on the market, a camera that few could beat, an incredibly attractive design, and processing power that equaled the most impressive droids at the time.
In comparison, the iPhone 5 brings a modest screen update, which is nowhere near as impressive as a four-fold increase in resolution brought by the iPhone 4. The performance of the camera is basically identical to the one on the 4S, and while the phone looks nothing short of stunning, the finish threatens to deteriorate quite quickly if not looked after. Not to mention that it just lacks the wow factor of the iPhone 4.
All we're left with is a surprisingly solid chipset - and we mean a surprise that most quad-cores will hardly call pleasant. But at the end of the day, Apple has failed to live up to its own upgrade standard set with the iPhone 4. What we mean is the iPhone 4S could get away with many things but not the iPhone 5 - not a second year in a row.
Yes, another side to the story is the upgrader's dilemma. So you have an iPhone already and you love it, but you are looking for ways to take that iOS experience a step further. Is the iPhone 5 the device you were hoping to get?
If you own the iPhone 4, then probably yes. At this point your home-button is probably starting to give up on you (those are known not to age well), you are looking to get some extra speed and a little extra screen estate, without writing off the investments you made in apps and the iPhone 5 delivers that easily. True, the screen could have grown a little more and the anodized aluminum case could have been more durable, but the latest iPhone is still a worthy upgrade. And a real no-brainer if you own one of the older generations of the Apple smartphones.
Apple iPhone 4
Things are far less straightforward if you have the iPhone 4S, though. Sure, the iPhone 5 is faster and slimmer, but is that enough to warrant the pricey upgrade? Given that the 3.5" screen is so easy to manage with one hand, you probably won't really feel much difference from the slimmer waistline. The camera is the same and the pixel density has no room for improvement, so all you'll be getting is more speed (to what's by no means a slow device) and some extra height to the screen.
Apple iPhone 4S
Turn another page and you see the iPhone 5 right in the middle of a heated smartphone battle. The Android open-source army is as strong as ever, while Windows Phone 8 has finally emerged as a real alternative for those, who don't mind a closed ecosystem such as Apple's.
The new Apple has a couple of strong arguments in its favor. Firstly, the A6 chipset is one of the snappiest around and is ready to face anything you throw at it. It may not win every fight, but it will never suffer humiliating defeats either. Secondly, the iPhone 5 is arguably the best looking of all the smartphones around. That weapon would have been even more potent, had it not been for the aluminum finish quality issues.
However, the iPhone 5 was let down by what has been the lineup's greatest strength thus far. We are talking the iOS 6 operating system, which seems to be falling behind the curve. After the fiasco with the new Apple Maps some are even saying that iOS 6 is a step backwards from iOS 5. Now, we wouldn't go that far as the new OS release teaches the iPhone family plenty of new tricks, but we can't overlook the fact either that while Android finally caught up in terms of fluidity and smoothness, iOS is yet to match the functionality of its competitors.
That's why the Galaxy S III and the HTC One X will sleep well, knowing very few (if any) of their owners will be tempted to jump ship. The LG Optimus G will also be glad to know that it's entering a game with a very open end, rather than being brought to the slaughter.
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III • HTC One X • LG Optimus G E973
The Nokia Lumias and the HTC Windows Phones will also probably find reasons to cheer in the fact that they are finally ready to trade blows with the iPhone, instead of taking the punching bag role of their predecessors. Even though the Microsoft platform still has a long way to go to match the two industry heavyweights, it now has more trumps in its hand than just the bargain price.
Nokia Lumia 920 • HTC Windows Phone 8X
The great news for Apple is that the closed ecosystem is yet again working in their favor. We wouldn't want to underplay the loyalty of Apple fans but a commitment like that is hard to back out of for purely financial reasons too. iPhone users can be anything from pleased, faithful and devoted, to addicted, but a tiny bit of that involves protecting their investment in apps, services and interconnected Apple devices.
Furthermore, if you are only now looking to join the Apple family, you don't need to look any further than the latest. The price difference is negligible between an iPhone 5 and a brand new 4S.
In conclusion, the Apple iPhone 5 is a very solid effort, a purchase which few are likely to regret. However, it fails to be one of the revolutionary products its maker is known for.
We are not sure if it's due to complacency or the innovation well has simply dried up, but Apple has let competition catch up and even take the lead second year in a row. Had the iPhone 5 come out last year, when everyone was expecting it, it would have been a trend-setter, but now it seems to be relegated to a follower and the worst part is the pricing department didn't even get the memo. Off contract, it's probably the most expensive smartphone in Europe.
Then again, the momentum gained will certainly help mask some of the iPhone 5 weaknesses and the unprecedentedly loyal user base will make the smartphone a success, in the profit game. And that's the only game big companies play, anyway. So, those maps will eventually get fixed and Apple will pat themselves on the back for a job well done. A nine-to-five job though, not the inspired and visionary piece of work we all know this company can deliver.
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