Apple has launched two new iPhones, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, but the biggest question for many is – which one to get between the two? Both offer very attractive packages, but is there is strong reason to choose one over the other? Here is a breakdown between the two.
Future Proof
The iPhone 5c uses the same chip as the outgoing iPhone 5 – the Apple A6, while the 5S has a secret payload – an Apple A7 + M7. The A7 is a 64 bit processor and M7 is designed to handle all the motion tracking features. The application developers will be able to design their apps to leverage A7’s power and power saving features that have been made possible with the Apple M7. So, if you want to make sure you have the hardware to take full advantage of such app titles, you should go for the iPhone 5s.
Apple claims that this is their biggest year-over-year improvement in computing performance and we have no reason to doubt them as the benchmarking tests have revealed that the 5s is fast. However, adding a 64 bit processing adds nothing to the user experience, as it would require more than 4GB RAM. Most of the phones in the market have only one to two gigabytes of memory and it will take them atleast a couple of years to reach four. That said, the 5s is still might fast. Here are some of the benchmarks I ran on the launch day on 5s. I have compared them to my iPhone 5.
WebKit Sunspider 1.0.1: 1.8x faster (408 vs. 716, smaller is faster)
Google Octane 1.0: 1.9x faster (5,576 vs. 2,984, bigger is faster)
Mozilla Kraken 1.1: 2.4x faster (5,948 vs. 13,937, smaller is faster)
If I have to put it into context, the 5S beats my 2009 13 inch Macbook Pro in the Sunspider benchmark test. This makes a smartphone computationally superior to some top-end laptops just 4 years from now.
Colors!
This is not the first time Apple has made colorful devices. But, the Cupertino giant has never made a colorful iPhone before. There is now one, people are noticing that fact. We have repeated many times on Mytechpartner, that in marketing, what looks new is new. All colors look bright and friendly. The phone feels slick in hands but not slippery. It is not too dissimilar from the Apple’s old 3G and 3GS, but it does have a far more premium effect. Because of the metal bezel in 3G and 3GS, they had more seams and those were very noticeable. The iPhone 5C has just one seam that is present between the glass and plastic. The iPhone 5S comes in three colors – silver, gold and black/grey.
Touch ID
One of my friends went to Disney World last summer, and the parks there use the new RFID entry passes. You pair them with the a fingerprint scan the first time you use them, and then you press your pass against the sensor at the park gates to confirm the fingerprint. The scanning works very reliably, but it took it a few seconds to register. Touch ID on the 5s is nothing like that. The iOS 7 allows you to save up to 5 fingerprints, so that you add both of your thumbs, both pointed fingers and one from your family member. It is a somewhat tedious process to set it up, but it is easy enough and the on-screen instructions are very precise and clear. Once, you have added the fingerprint, scanning is nearly instantaneous and it is fast enough, so that you actually use it on a daily basis. Apple has uncompromising standards for how responsive the UI and touch latency should be. This is what using Touch ID is like – Perfect in every sense. It is absent on the 5c.
Camera
Specs-wise, the 5s camera is a big improvement over the iPhone 5c. Sensor’s pixels are bigger and lens’s aperture has gone from f/2.4 to f/2.2. The pictures are much clearer in low light situations too. The new true tone flash works great, and it takes considerably better pictures. The new Slo Mo video mode is very fun and you will welcome the addition of burst mode that is capable of shooting 10 photos per second. It is terrific not just it takes so many pictures in one second, but because of how it manages those pics. In the camera app, each burst shot appears as a single item, and you can select the best one from the stack. When you are done, you can get rid of the pictures you don’t want. Camera, on the 5c, is same as iPhone 5. It is still a great way to take amazing pictures. It is just not as good as the 5s’ camera.
More about the iPhone 5c.
On the inside, the iPhone 5c is very easy to understand as it is basically an iPhone 5, with a minor upgrades. For instance, the cellular antenna supports higher number of LTE bands. The front facing camera, called Facetime is better and sharper. The processor, as mentioned above is same and so is the iSight camera. So, in the benchmarks, the 5c scored same as the iPhone 5. Also, while the iPhone 5C is not as thin as the 5s, it is still much thinner than the 3G and 3GS. Comparing them is not even funny. Buttons of 5C – power, ringer toggle, volume and home buttons, all feel very good and sport crisp clickiness. This does not mean that the 5c is uninteresting. This mid range iPhone model is no longer an after thought. Instead, it is a full fledge member of Apple’s family. We are pretty sure it will have its own TV commercials too.
