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Apple iPhone 5
9.0
final rating

reviewed on
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Criteria Comments Rating
  • Reception and call quality Ironically don't use the phone for calls much, but seems fine. good
  • Display Coming from the Android ecosystem, I really would have loved a bigger screen, but Apple finally increasing it to 4" (+ the retina display) I'm giving it a 5/5. great!
  • Battery life There was doubts Apple would make it an LTE phone due to the battery challenges, so it is pretty impressive I can get a full day of use without a charge. good
  • Camera I don't take a lot of photos, but I appreciate ability to take one from lock screen, and how fast it can take photos. Auto-focus is great and 8MP doesn't hurt. great!
  • Ease of use It's Apple, this is their thing. great!
  • Design and form factor Not having a new design disappointed some, but dropping the glass back, a switch from chrome edge to dark aluminum and the new length gave it a fresh new look. great!
  • Portability (size / weight) Amazingly thin phone, and surprisingly light, even compared to the 4s. great!
  • Media support No comments —
  • Durability A tradeoff for the look. I see far more shattered iphones than android. No more glass back means hopefully a 50% less chance of shattering the glass. so-so
  • Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) While Android has basically caught up on apps available, Apple still often gets new apps first. great!
Detailed review
Never owned an iphone/ipod before, coming from android, previous phone: Motorola Droid X.
Pros:
  • The hardware; it's a crazy light and ridiculously thin phone that looks very stylish.
  • Speed - LTE + the processor makes everything super fast, there's all kinds of videos out there showing how it's twice as fast as the 4s.
  • The bigger screen, i just couldn't have seen myself switching if Apple had kept a 3.5" screen. The modern screen size is 4.5" - 4.8" now, but the combination of retina display and that Apple was willing admit 3.5" is not the perfect screen size and finally increase it to 4" is enough that I'm quite happy with the screen.
  • Screen brightness is great, easy to see outside, and very little glare.
Cons:
  • Mine came with 2 chips on the rim, almost all of friends have had chips somewhere, if it comes like that out of the box something tells me there's gonna be a lot more over time.
  • Keeping it the same width while increasing the length gave it a great look/feel compared to previous versions, however, after a couple weeks of use, I notice in many scenarios your using both hands to use the phone and when I do my hands feel very cramped.
  • Trying to hit both volume buttons to take a picture is annoying, I notice most people opt for using the virtual button.
review history
2012-10-30
Updated detailed review
Edited comment on Portability (size / weight)
Edited comment on Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.)

Comments (4) subscribe to this review's comments

patrickmckenna

patrickmckenna

is the battery life better than android? I sometimes struggle to get a full day out of mine now...
Mitchellmckenna

Mitchellmckenna

@patrickmckenna It's not fair for me to compare it to the 2 year old Droid X, but I'm a fairly heavy user, and I'm able to get an entire day out of it. Your Galaxy Nexus has a 1750 mAh battery and the iPhone 5 is rumored to only have a 1,400mAh, while new phones like the Galaxy S III have a impressive 2100 mAh (imagine if I could put one of those in my iphone!). It comes down to how much your OS/Apps are draining your battery, Apple has always been more restrictive to apps for this reason. PS. You should see if there might be a Jelly Bean battery fix available for your Nexus.
dotEvan

dotEvan

@MitchellMcKenna - You only need to use the + volume button to take a photo, not both.
Mitchellmckenna

Mitchellmckenna

@dotEvan: well, that is significantly easier, lol, however my finger still tends to push down on the mute button first.
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