[Tech Products] Apple iPhone 5

[Ascarona]

iPhone 5

• Name
  iPhone 5, 16GB model.
• Company
  Apple Inc.
  Official website.
  
  
• Price
  This model costs €690,- including the 21% taxes according to the Dutch government. Got it from a private entrepeneur who bought a whole batch of them from the Apple store in Amsterdam, but he's friends with my mom so he sold it to us at the same price.
• Specs
  Origin: Built in China of course, designed (according to their official website) in Apple's San Diego Headquarters.
  Dimensions:
  123.8 mm (4.87 in) H
  58.6 mm (2.31 in) W
  7.6 mm (0.30 in) D
  Weight: 112 grams
• Intro
  After trying multiple phones since 2003 ranging from Nokia, Sony Ericson, Samsung and Blackberry I finally found my perfect phone back in 2009, the iPhone 3G. She lasted me about 2 years before it started to show severe signs of decay (getting very slow, crashing when opening some apps, low battery life), I really needed a new phone. And after some convincing and the financial trouble between my parents and their divorce I got an iPhone 4S back in March 2012. It was originally a birthday present but again, divorce problems put everything else on a low priority at the time. I was really happy with that as well, it was a white one and I felt up to date with the current market... until I got mugged when I went out with my friends on a summer vacation. I had to fall back on my 3G once again. But we got more money then the thing had costed us back from the insurance company and with that we decided to buy the latest of Apple's phone product. The iPhone 5, well last saturday I finally got a message from our contact and my dad got it for me last monday.
• Impressions:
  At first glance I immediately noticed how light the thing was, it's at least a third of the weight of my 3G. I'd compare it to the 4S but uh... well that's going to be a little hard to do now . The added length is a nice touch, but I'm not really into the whole watching movies on my phone and I thought the old length was good enough to view pictures on. I must admit that browsing web pages does feel alot nicer now. Overall I am happy with this little addition.
  
  Why I'm happy with this is that recently theres been a certain trend going on in the phone world were bigger automatically has to mean better. Samsungs Galaxy Note or Galaxy III give me the feeling that I'm walking around with a fridge in my pocket. But the iPhone 5 has stayed roughly the same width, I find that it rests very comfortably in your hands, the reduced weight certainly adds to this, but I think that they also nailed that feeling with the adjusted length. I haven't had enough time to get used to my 4S for better comparisons, but when comparing it to an older model (the 3G) you can certainly feel an improvement. It's the perfect size for a smartphone IMO and I think Apple really got it down this time.
  
  I also noticed that they added some standard apps and even replaced google maps for one of their own. I didn't use google maps alot on the previous models and after hearing so much bad news about Apple's app I don't think I'll be using this one either. Their new app "Passbook is apparently a way to get a good view of all your bought tickets, while I do feel like this a nice way to organise your stuff there just aren't alot of possibilities to use this app in the Netherlands and probably outside the US, though maybe this will change in a few months. There's also some more functions that aren't currently in use in my country (4G for example, they have actually started to auction 4G frequencies today, maybe I'll be able to use it in 2 months from now).
  
  Another thing I'd like to note is how amazing the resolution is on this thing, especially compared to my old 3G where you could count how many pixels it had. The screen is just gorgeous, and interaction with the screen is extremely smooth, exactly how I want my phone to be. Battery life is surprisingly long with a screen like this, my 4S had roughly 35% left when I got home from an 8 hour school day and I used that alot. My 3G had to be recharged immediately else it would run out of power under the same conditions. I had around 50% left when I got home today, I even tested out the music system extensively. Maybe they put in a new type of battery, it would explain the dick move of having to force us to buy new adapters for our battery chargers.
  
  Which brings me to something I'm rather angry about, this new Lightning charger. I got one USB 3.0 to Lightning cable with my phone, after all these Apple products I think I have about 4 regular Apple USB cables that are now pretty much useless. I have to pay an extra €30,- for a converter from Apple to make those work, that just seems like a dirty way to cheat us out of our money. Big con on that part. Another thing that came with the box are the new earphones, the sound quality is excellent but my earphones usually don't last very long, especially Apples', however this one could be different. It has multiple speakers for your ears and microphones on the outside for calls.
  
  
  Spoiler for Lightning and new earphones opening at the bottom of the phone: 

  
  
  
  
  Spoiler for New earphones known as EarPods: 

  
  
  
  After testing it out monday evening I noticed that my phone had a non working - Volume button, now it's not that big of a deal as you can change the volume with the slider that pops up after a quick double tap on the home button. But it's still a bit of an inconvenience. Apple support was really nice in handeling the matter, they appologized for the inconvenience and after giving my purchase details they started a replacement procedure. I can just use this one until the new completely working one arrives in the mail and we'll see after that. Thats pretty much all the impressions I've had from my phone after 2 days.
  
  Edit: Update on the whole broken volume button, it took less than a week before my replacement arrived, with an extra rubber bodyguard as an apology for the mess. It's not that big of a deal but I did think it was rather nice of them. I shipped the other one out to them the same day and that was that. Everything works now .

• Pros
• In my oppinion a perfect size for a smartphone.
• Amazing resolution and smooth, fast interaction.
• Relatively long battery life.
• Good technical support.
• Nice additions that are very promising when they are able to be used in my area.
• Good camera.
• Edit: Siri is actually pretty damn handy.
• Cons
• The whole "Lightning" charger scam.
• Apple maps.
• Not a big fan of iTunes, but I suppose it's still better then most of the other music-to-phone programmes I've been forced to work with out there. Small con.
• Removed youtube app, sort of hate the new one.
• It does have a rather large price tag.
• Not all apps are optimized for the new screen size, which can be a little annoying when typing. Updates in the next couple of weeks will probably work on these issues. Edit: It's taking a long time for apps to adjust to the new screen size, still a big issue with typing .
• Conclusion
  I'm sort of loving this phone already, but I'm sure I'll find new cons and pros soon. Haven't really checked out the facecam calls options and most of the camera options. Would recommend holding off on purchasing this phone until your country has gotten most of the new changes through, 3G is fast enough for me to be honest but I have been told that the phone is optimized for 4G connections.

I hope this is what you guys are looking for, it's kind of late at the moment and I really need to go to bed but I'll work out the grammar mistakes tomorrow.

[Jaketh]

A good review, but I think i'm going to do a counter review of my Samsung Galaxy S3 at some point this week. This would give people a glimpse of both sides of the pond.

[Ascarona]

Hahaha, yeah I sort of figured you would do that . Let's not turn this into an Apple-Samsung hate fest though alright?

[Bolkonsky]

So I take it that not much has changed since the 4S then?

[Ascarona]

So I take it that not much has changed since the 4S then?

Actually there are many improvements but not that you can see immediately. Apart from the longer size and weight that is. I think it has a better camera, longer battery life, more beautifull screen and alot faster interaction because of its new processor.

It's not very revolutionary, but it improves quite a bunch on the 4S. Would I recommend buying it if you have a 4S? Nope, not worth the hassle and the high price.

[Aikanár]

Great review Ascarona!

A good review, but I think i'm going to do a counter review of my Samsung Galaxy S3 at some point this week. This would give people a glimpse of both sides of the pond.

That would be great. At the moment I'm looking for a new mobile. I was pretty content with my Xperia Arc for a year, but something new is in order for X-mas I think.

[Boustrophedon]

I still have one of these bad boys



I'm not really into the whole Apple trend anyway... I might consider getting a smartphone though so that Samsung Galaxy review would be very helpful!

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Thanks for doing this man. +rep

Great work, and added to the Index.

[abbews]

Nice review.

Now I gotta do a review of the Lumia 920 once I get it

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Have you got it?

[Robin de Bodemloze]

I'm in love with the S3. Android makes everything so much easier for someone who's used to windows. The fact I can buy microUSB cables for about 3 cents is also advantageous to forking out $20 for a Lightning charger.

I'd be happy to contribute to Jaketh's review when he writes it.

[abbews]

I'm in love with the S3. Android makes everything so much easier for someone who's used to windows. .

What. What about Windows Phone lol?

[Robin de Bodemloze]

What. What about Windows Phone lol?

I tried a Lumia once and hated it. It just felt less smooth overall.

[abbews]

I tried a Lumia once and hated it. It just felt less smooth overall.

Really? WP8 is easily the smoothest operative system I've ever used, and I've used the most. What Lumia model?

[Robin de Bodemloze]

Really? WP8 is easily the smoothest operative system I've ever used, and I've used the most. What Lumia model?

920. That the S3 looks less like a brick helps too, I suppose.

On topic: it really seems as if the iPhone hasn't evolved since 4, much less 4S...

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

I dropped mine and it cracked today. (I have the 4)

I will most likely go for the S3 this time round though, heard a lot of good things about it. The problem with Android however is that updates don't all come out together and with the same things etc. where as with iOS you just plug it in and click download and update.

[Robin de Bodemloze]

I dropped mine and it cracked today. (I have the 4)

I will most likely go for the S3 this time round though, heard a lot of good things about it. The problem with Android however is that updates don't all come out together and with the same things etc. where as with iOS you just plug it in and click download and update.

With android there's a button called "allow automatic updates". Very useful

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Ah brilliant, thanks for letting me know.

[Diglytron]

Good review Ascarona, you really bought an Iphone5? I feel sorry for the money

[Ascarona]

Good review Ascarona, you really bought an Iphone5? I feel sorry for the money

Insurance money after my other phone got stolen, managed to keep about 1/8th of the money as well .