iPhone 5

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.

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.

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.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.

Apple iOS 6 review

Introduction

The next iOS version has never been as big a deal as upgrades to Android or Windows. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, must've been the line of thinking and it's up to you to replace broke with fragmented or catching up, as needed. On the other hand, with the rather rapidly improving hardware, fragmentation is becoming a bit of an issue for Apple to address too.

Anyway, we're now at number 6, along with 5 million (and counting) iPhone 5 users. Now, what follows may seem as a mere prelude to our iPhone 5 review but people only now considering the iPhone 4S may find it quite helpful. By the looks of it, there may be some people considering keeping the iPhone 4S but we're yet to see about that.

Let's focus now on the key additions and improvements to the Apple iOS instead.

Key features

• Faster and more stable all around
• Siri available on iPad 3, wider language support with Canadian English, Spanish (Spain/Mexico), Italian, Italian (Switzerland), Korean, Mandarin (Chinese/Taiwan),Cantonese (Hong Kong)
• Siri now serves sports info, movie and restaurants reviews. It can launch apps and do status updates
• System-wide Facebook integration: Facebook contacts and events appear in the phonebook and calendar
• Notification center gets quick Facebook/Twitter update keys
• New Maps app with TomTom data, turn-by-turn voice navigation and 3D/Flyover view mode
• Better Safari browser with iCloud tabs, full-screen mode, offline reading and faster performance
• Passbook e-ticket app handles loyalty coupons, boarding passes, tickets
• Photo Stream can share photos with other iOS users. Likes and comments are supported
• Updated Mail app with VIP and Flagged mailboxes
• Unified FaceTime/iMessages ID. FaceTime works over the cellular network
• New UI for the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, Music, Weather apps
• You can set songs from your music library as alarm tones
• Improved privacy settings
• New accessibility options and guided access (single-app mode for kids)
• Re-organized settings, various new icons
• Panorama mode in Camera
• Game Center now supports challenges (achievements)
• Reject call with SMS
• Do Not Disturb mode
• Lost mode
• Improved keyboards and auto-correction
• Power toggles moved to top of settings menu (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Tethering)
• Various improvements under the hood

Main disadvantages

• No offline maps support and maps are not up to scratch currently
• Variable compatibility across the device range
• Passbook not on par with Google Wallet, not truly useful
• An altogether conservative approach to design and layout
• Notification Center could've offered more functionality
• No widgets
• Underused lockscreen
• Limited themes and personalization options

Apple claims that iOS 6 brings about 200 new features but the noteworthy ones are right there in the bullets above. Depending on where your comfort level is, the major feature can either be the new Maps, the improved Siri or the Facebook integration.

Many people expected to see more from Apple this year but few really had a clear idea what that is. Being "wowed" by Apple has been a legitimate expectation for millions of users out there but those who think their creativity peaked in iOS 4 and the iPhone 4, and has been somewhat flat since, may have a point.

The iOS 6 isn't a dramatic rethink of the design philosophy but brings a reasonable level of change, and improvement, to many important parts of the experience, which will be felt in day to day use.

Follow us as we delve deeper into iOS 6 and find out if Cupertino still has its software chops intact.