Better LTE than never
Battery life on smartphones is often an issue. Though the iPhone is better than it was, the more it does the more you want to use it, so it discharges more quickly. However, this is not just an Apple problem. HTC has improved the battery life in its phones markedly, as has Samsung. Things get easier on big phones because you can fit a bigger cell. And in a week of testing, the iPhone 5 has a noticeably improved battery life over its predecessors, thank goodness.
The new software, iOS 6, is available now for the iPhone 5 and some earlier models - and it's reviewed separately, here. There are lots of neat extras here. And some users may feel there’s no need to upgrade since all the star attractions of iOS 6 work on the iPhone 4S, too. But the processor is what makes the difference here, ensuring that the phone handles the camera’s Panorama feature, for instance, with ease.
And downloading the data for the half-baked Maps app’s gimmicky 3D Flyover feature is the fast it can be – there are often delays but that’s mostly down to the speed of connection. Speaking of which, let’s remember that this is the first phone with 4G in the UK. Others will follow and anyway the only network with 4G access, Everything Everywhere, hasn’t turned it on for public use yet.
Vodafone and O2 users can take comfort in the fact that the fast 3G connectivity has a noticeable effect, with data speeds being faster than on previous iPhones.
Limitations? There's the much publicised lack of NFC, but even the iPhone 5 naysayers have to admit there's very little need for it now, certainly as a payment mechanism. Next year, when the iPhone 5S comes out, maybe; but not now. I can't see too many, if any, iPhone 5 users desperately wanting to initiate fileshares with other users by tapping their handsets together.
The new EarPods are better than their predecessors... but that's not saying much
Verdict
If you’re an iPhone user, you’ll want to move on up to what is surely the classiest handset from Apple yet. Though the 4S still has lots to offer, thanks to the arrival of iOS 6, the iPhone 5 hardware is nevertheless spectacular and deeply seductive. And when 4G arrives for EE customers, it will be an even more attractive package.
Sure, there are other handsets which do as much as or more than the iPhone 5. But Apple’s ease of use, highly populated App Store and irresistibly sleek hardware design are enough to give it the edge. ®
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Apple iPhone 5 review
COMMENTS
Get a Room
startlingly different from any other handset and its slimness, lightness and smooth matte aluminium back continue to take the breath away. - come on.
when you've 'finished' perhaps you could had the phone over to someone who can write a proper review. you'd think apple had invented 16:9. They probably think they did.
one of the worst articles i have read on the reg.
Obviously A Fanboi ...
"Sure, there are other handsets which do as much as or more than the iPhone 5. But Apple’s ease of use, highly populated App Store and irresistibly sleek hardware design are enough to give it the edge."
Tell us about the maps .....
:D
Re: Obviously A Fanboi ...
Is the reviewer perhaps the hidden love child of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Spawned in the Apple Labs. Home schooled using only SIRI and Apple products, no sense or knowledge of any other technology. The iClone LIVES!
The worst review I've ever read -
1. Grovelling indroduction
2. Foaming at the gash about the appearance.
3. Ignoring massive flaws.
4. End.
That had no place on this site, it was a essentially a review about what a phone case looked like. Do your readers a favour Reg, execute the simpering idiot who wrote the review, then delete any reference to him from your archives.
Re: Obviously A Fanboi ...
How can this phone get 90%???
The faster chip doesn't matter - hard transaction times do. Faster chips only gloss over bloatware or badly written code. Where is the comparison to other smartphones as ElReg does it with laptops?
There is still no OLED screen, a small screen in comparison to Samsung Galaxy and Nokia Luminas, no NFC and no expandable storage.
Still no Xenon flash, no camera oversampling, no lossless zoom.
The Retina display has become obsolete: Samsung Galaxy S III or the Nokia Lumia 920 have higher resolutions and larger screens than in the iPhone5
4G LTE is not a unique selling point, everyone else has it, too.
And the paying starts again: first for the phone itself, then for the overpriced 24or 36 month contract, £25 for the adaptor, apps, you name it.
Re: And the call quality/signal?
you don't understand. just look at it. not in photos. they are unable to replicate it's beauty. in the flesh.
asking about the call quality and signal from a phone review on a technical news site is just trolling.
if you could spend a week with cheryl cole you wouldn't ask about her cooking. neither should you enquire about the call and signal quality, mapping, price, multitasking of an iPhone.
