HTC One mini review

Hot on the heels of the power-packed HTC One comes the relatively lower powered, but also more pocket-friendly, HTC One mini. It's a mini-variant, models that of late have become popular with handset makers. 

HTC seems to following a consistent design strategy across the revamped One series - and the HTC One mini certainly seems to bear this theory out.

Could the combination of decent hardware, software and elegant design make the HTC One mini the turnaround vehicle for HTC in the country? Or will its high price kill off its chances? We find out our in our review:

Design/ Build
We have seen our share of elegantly designed phones, but we were still taken aback by the understated looks of the HTC One mini. You get a feeling of awe when you hold the One mini in your hands. The sheer slimness and compact form factor of the phone did impress, when the HTC One mini came to our doorsteps.

The HTC One mini looks like a replica of the One (except for its size), and this is a good thing, as it gives the One mini the same premium look as its bigger, elder sibling.

The front of the HTC One mini houses the display, positioned between the front-facing dual BoomSound speakers. The speaker grill on the One mini is not as wide as it is on the flagship device. Coming to the back, we see a a 4-megapixel UltraPixel rear camera lens located towards the top. Like the One, the lens unit on the device doesn't protrude out and is flush with the body of the phone. The rear panel also houses an LED flash on the above the primary camera as opposed to being on its side. 

The HTC One mini does not feature a removable cover, while the HTC logo is engraved in the middle of rear panel accompanied by Beats audio branding, towards the bottom of the phone. The top plastic strip at the rear above the primary camera houses a noise-cancellation microphone.

Just like the HTC One, the One mini's rear panel is a curved piece of zero-gap aluminium. A major difference between both the One and One mini is the latter does have a bit more plastic along the edges. The company has opted for plastic frames and have given a miss to chamfered edges.

While the HTC One mini doesn't look quite as stylish as the One, the white plastic surrounding the phone manages to match its other highlights, and doesn't look cheap. 

The key advantage here is the ergonomics (as with most mini-variants) - the HTC One mini is easy to hold and use with a single hand. The volume and power buttons are all in same configuration as on the One. The One mini is available in the same Black and Silver colours, as well. We got a silver unit for review, which looks nice and we think has an edge over the black variant thanks to the visibly aluminium body.

The One mini comes with 4.3-inch display fitted on slightly smaller and lighter chassis, which makes it comfortable to hold in even relatively small palms. The Taiwanese handset maker has focused more on the device's width rather than its height, thanks to which the One mini is actually easier to hold one-handed, and also allows users to reach more of the display with just their thumbs.

Talking about the buttons and ports on the HTC One mini, the front also houses two feather-touch keys for home and back, with the HTC logo in the middle, and a secondary camera on top of the display. The sides have the micro-SIM slot and a volume rocker key.

However, as we mentioned, in place of the polished aluminum edges of the HTC One and its spun-metal volume rocker, the One mini has white polycarbonate edging and two metal volume buttons.

This is one element we do like over the HTC One, as the volume rocker buttons are more distinct, making it easier to find and hit them when not looking directly at the phone (even when on a call or listening to music).  The volume rocker buttons on the HTC One mini do feel a little wobbly and not as premium, but we still prefer the layout to the single block on the One.

The audio jack along with power button is located on the top of the HTC One mini, while the bottom panel features a microphone and a Micro-USB port.

Display
It's worth pointing out that the HTC One's full-HD display won a lot of accolades and even was considered one of the best displays in the premium segment. The HTC One mini features a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display that sports a resolution of 720x1280 pixels and pixel density of 341ppi. The company has also used Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the device, making it stronger, and more scratch-resistant.

The Super LCD 2 display doesn't gives the fullest colours or the deepest blacks like AMOLED displays do, but it is a bright panel at nearly all times. Colours on the One mini are quite vibrant nevertheless, and consistently reproduced well. The viewing angles were never a problem. The display is not very reflective, and sunlight-legibility was acceptable. Reading text on the device was always crisp and clear against white backgrounds. Typing on the 4.3-inch display of the One mini would be imprecise for large-handed people, though we assume that there's nothing that Swype can't fix.

After using the HTC One min for some time, we experienced that although it doesn't comes with a full-HD display, 341ppi is more than enough for a screen of this size. All that said, using the One mini with 4.3-inch display did take some time to get used to as we shifted from larger Android device.

Camera
HTC, earlier this year, instead of continuing to run the race for higher megapixel counts, defected and introduced the UltraPixel technology on its flagship device, the One, which features a 4-megapixel rear camera. The megapixel count might be on the lower side, but the sensor size is bigger which enables the camera to capture more light. The result is usually better than regular cameras and one gets crisp and vivid shots. HTC ships the One mini with the same 4-megapixel UltraPixel camera at the back.

The HTC One mini's 4-megapixel rear camera delivers uninspiring, but decent shots in both good and low-light conditions. In fact, the camera's sensor did remarkably well in low-light conditions - they were relatively low on noise and retained nearly as much detail as under good light.

A big difference in cameras of the One and One mini is OIS (optical image stabilization) - the latter doesn't includes it.

The HTC One mini's camera also features the Zoe mode, another new addition first seen on the full-sized counterpart. The Zoe mode feature takes a four-second burst shot including the audio of any sight, clicking a second before and three seconds after the camera soft key is completely pressed. It actually gives an option to edit remove redundant objects from the image and creating action shots. The HTC's Zoe feature is somewhat similar to the effect seen in the Harry Potter movies, where still pictures come to life.

The HTC One mini further comes with a dedicated HTC ImageChip 2, the Taiwanese handset maker's own Image Signal processor (ISP), which enables faster and better shots in any light conditions. We did not face any lag, both in capturing and saving an image.

HTC also ships the device with its own camera app that offers different scene settings like normal, landscape, portrait, backlight, night, text and macro for still photography, and other modes like HDR, sweep Panorama and group portrait.

Additionally, the HTC One mini's camera app comes with options like face and smile detection, geo-tagging, shutter sound and a grid interface. The One mini, much like other HTC smartphones, also offers 'lenses' for adding effects like sepia, negative, and vintage. 

Videos recorded on the One mini top out at full-HD (1080p) with a steady 30 frames per second. The recorded video quality is good, with no stuttering and sharp details. The 1.6-megapixel front-facing camera shouldn't be relied on for anything other than self portrait.

The HTC One mini shares an obvious lineage with its elder sibling, but where the original was innovative and inspiring; the One mini is decent - we expect better that the price.

Software/ Interface
The HTC One mini runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Sense 5 UI on top, (slightly updated from the UI seen on the One) which is HTC's own skin that includes some custom apps as well.

The flagship HTC One natively runs Android 4.1.2 out of the box and is still waiting for the updated Sense 5.0. The device is expected to be going straight to Android 4.3 update, giving Android 4.2.2 a miss.

The central homescreen on the One mini is replaced by the BlinkFeed, the most popular Sense 5.0 UI feature that was first seen on the HTC One.

BlinkFeed is basically a blend of several Internet and social feeds running on the homescreen in the form of panels or tiles, as seen on Windows Phone. One can select which feeds to show on this screen and can pick categories of interests from topics like astrology, news, sports, lifestyle, society, videos, technology and others. There is also an option of having local news services in the BlinkFeed that popularly includes NDTV, Hindustan Times, India Today, Aaj Tak and a few others.

Users can also have feeds on the One mini from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, Plurk and even from instant messaging app, WeChat, which comes preloaded on the One mini. The updates appear in the form of tiles that can be tapped to offer full text or videos. BlinkFeed also has an option to share the updates via social networks and also through email.

In addition to the BlinkFeed, users also get two more homescreen panes, where users can house their apps and other widgets. Aesthetic changes can be seen to the app panel as well. The Sense 5.0 UI on the One mini also comes with new addition that allows group of app icons and such groups can be scrolled vertically. One can group their favourite apps in one icon to make scrolling and browsing through apps easy. The app icons seen in Sense 5.0 UI are a bit small for our liking but do give the HTC One mini a crisp, non-tangled feel.

At the bottom of the display, one can find four customisable shortcuts for the dialler, messaging, browser and camera, which are also available on the lock screen.

The HTC One mini's menu has a neat look and one can arrange apps in either a 3x4 or 4x5 grids  which make scanning the apps easier. However, we were a bit disappointed by the placement of search, settings, Google Play and customise options as these only appear when one pulls down the apps grid.

HTC One mini ships with the revamped Gallery app that allows browsing images and videos on the device, along with ones present on online services like Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa. The Gallery app allows browsing based on Events (Time, Date and Place) and Albums, first seen on the HTC One.

The HTC One mini's messaging app offers some interesting features, including a secure inbox, a password protected folder for storing confidential messages, and the option to block messages from select senders. The messaging app offers similar options as seen in Sense 4.0 and above UI. The messaging interface is also customisable with different colour options for message bubbles and the ability to choose a background image.

However, there were some disappointments in the interface of the One mini in terms of personalisation, as Sense 5.0 UI has removed scenes and skins to change the look and feel of the overall interface. In fact, we could say that the new HTC Sense 5.0 UI has reduced the amount of skinning options. In addition, the familiar ring-like lock screen has also been removed. One can further choose between five lock screen styles which include no lock screen option, music, photo album, productivity and wallpaper. The new lock screen still follows the similar pattern of unlocking the device by dragging any of the dialler, message, browser and camera icons on the screen.

There are two capacitive buttons for back and home below the display. Much like the One, the One mini also gives a miss to the third capacitive touch button, instead comes with HTC logo branding which is placed in the middle below the display of phone. It takes some time getting used to the new arrangement.

On long pressing the One mini's home button it launches Google Now and on double tap it offers the app switcher. One can change the double-tap speed of the home button through settings. The recent Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update has also brought in Google Now, which has to be initialised for the first time, and can be accessed directly by long pressing the home button or through the search widget.

The notification tray on the HTC One mini features a settings shortcut and a clear all notifications button, along with expandable notifications (expanded with the two finger pull gesture).

The HTC One mini comes with a host of preloaded apps like Car app, that shows only essential apps while one drives; Kid mode which is sort of child lock, where only those apps will be enabled which one wants the child to access; Zoodles, another kind of kid mode that allows users to enable selective access to some apps for kids. Other popular apps includes on the One mini are Dropbox, Polaris Office to edit Microsoft Office files, TuneIn Radio and SoundHound among others.

Performance/ Battery Life

The HTC One mini is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 for graphics processing. It comes with only 1GB of RAM onboard. There is 16GB of inbuilt storage, out of which only 11GB is user-accessible and sadly the phone does not support expandable storage. Considering that the One mini comes at a premium price, the limited storage on the device is definitely a deal breaker. We wished that the One mini could come with at least 32GB onboard storage at its price, if not a microSD card slot.

Yes, it also comes with 25GB of Dropbox space free for two years; however, we know that cloud storage is not always handy.

Considering there is a fairly respectable dual-core processor running under the hood, the HTC One mini manages to chug along just fine. In day to day activities the phone feels smooth enough and you are not really left wanting for more power until you are stuck with BlinkFeed lags. However, the lags were not always because of hardware inefficiency but sometimes due to bad internet connectivity.

The HTC One mini could easily handle games like Temple Run 2 and Subway Surfers which are not that heavy graphics game but things get a bit choppy when playing games like Shadow Gun and Dead Trigger.

On the sound front, the HTC One mini impressed us much like its full-sized counterpart. The device features BoomSound and Beats Audio, premium features of the revamped One smartphone series. BoomSound is HTC's marketing term for dual front-facing speakers backed by an amplifier. The set of speakers on the One mini can be considered as the best in the price segment, offering loud audio with decent quality, and the addition of two speakers in a stereo setup help while watching videos and also while playing games.

The 4.3-inch HD display is good for viewing movies and videos. The device was able to play full-HD videos and supported popular video formats like .AVI, .MOV, .MKV and .MP4.

Call quality on the One mini was impressive and the device was able to latch on to cellular networks even in weak signal areas which came in handy at times.

The HTC One mini ships with a 1800mAh battery that according to the company can deliver up to 692 hours of standby and up to 13 hours of talktime on 3G networks. Based on our testing period the One mini delivered satisfying battery performance.

We were able to get about 14-16 hours with normal usage on the One mini that included Wi-Fi switched on for all time; Web browsing for about an hour; a few calls lasting for about an hour; display set on auto-brightness and with the usual notifications for messages, emails, Facebook, Hike and WhatsApp. This means, the phone would roughly last a full day from full-charge in the morning.

Though with heavy usage of the One mini, that included full screen brightness level, calls lasting for about two hours, 3G turned on all time, clicking some casual shots with the UltraPixel camera, watching videos for around two hours through YouTube and also on the device, three to four hours of gaming, and with usual notifications for messages, emails, Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts and WhatsApp, the device lasted for only about 8-10 hours. Not too bad, considering that BlinkFeed auto-sync was turned on. 

However, altering these settings can help in increasing the durability of the phone for longer period.

Verdict

The HTC One mini scores heavily in terms of style and substance, with our biggest quibbles being the lack of processing power and the limited storage, at its price. The device definitely feels like a premium one and includes much of the full HTC Sense 5 experience, such as BlinkFeed, the updated Gallery. It also has premium hardware features like BoomSound, UltraPixel camera, and Zoe photos. 

Despite the glaring hardware difference with the HTC One, the One mini shares a similar aesthetic design, and arguably has better ergonomics than the full-sized counterpart. 

Unfortunately however, as expected for a dual-core Android phone at price of Rs. 36,790, the  HTC One mini underperforms noticeably. The market features a plethora of quad-core Android phones today, from budget to top-end, and we have better performing devices that are much cheaper (the recent price cuts of the S III further driving the point home). 

Samsung seems to have set its mini-variant pricing a little more accurately (now) with the S4 mini, though it skipped out on some of the premium features the HTC One mini still manages to retain from its flagship original. The S4 mini also has only 8GB of built-in storage (though expandable up to 64GB via microSD card), and a low-resolution qHD display. 

Right now, at its pricing, the HTC One mini would be hard to recommend. It astoundingly competes against some of the high-end devices in the market, such as the Sony Xperia Z, Nokia Lumia 925, LG Optimus G, and the Apple iPhone 4S, while delivering an obvious stutter in performance. 

Of course, if price is not the bone of contention for you, rather, a 4.3-inch form factor is your preference, apart from the iPhone 4S, you can look at the BlackBerry Z10, or even the S4 mini. For quad-core performance and decent build on Android however, you'll have to look to at least the 4.5-inch form factor to get sufficient choice.  

Price: Rs. 36,790

Pros

• Premium build and style
• Good ergonomics
• BoomSound feature
• UltraPixel camera

Cons

• Expensive
• Lags often
• Limited storage

• Design: 4
• Display: 3.5
• Camera: 3.5
• Performance: 3
• Software: 4
• Battery Life: 3.5
• Value for Money: 2.5
• Overall:
  3

Apple's iPhone and iPads are best for touch

Apple's iPhones and iPads have the fastest touch responsiveness according to testing

One of the most immediate things to turn to when comparing smartphone and tablet performance is the processing power. You can quickly compare the clockspeed, number of cores, RAM and even benchmark tests to get an idea of what devices are faster. But one thing which is just as important in end-user satisfaction –– and which barely ever gets a look-in –– is touchscreen responsiveness.

That’s why Agawi has been doing a fair bit of testing and has now published a set of results, which are intriguing to say the very least.

Agawi’s test is called TouchMarks and it measures touch responsiveness in milliseconds – of course the lower the millisecond score the faster the touch responsiveness. Agawi has tested both smartphones and tablets and the results clearly show that Apple’s products have much faster touch responsiveness than most of the Android and Windows competition, with a few notable exceptions.

The current average touch responsiveness speed is around 100 milliseconds (ms), that’s a delay which is noticeable to the end user. While improved speeds down to 50ms or even 10ms offer a more responsive experience, human perception is such that we can still easily notice the delay. At as low as 1ms though, users cannot perceive a delay in touch responsiveness, it’s effectively instantaneous. While no manufacturer has yet put out a product that is advanced enough for 1ms response speeds, there’s a noticeable degree of variation from one device to the next.

Agawi’s testing doesn’t incorporate the most recent iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, only going as high as the iPhone 5, but the iPhone 5 does have the fastest touch responsiveness of all tested devices at 72ms and it’s considerably faster than the next best offering – the iPhone 4 at 92ms.

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is next fastest at 114ms but this is slower than the average 100ms, while the HTC One is slower still at 121ms. Motorola’s Moto X, for all its praise, trails at the back with 123ms.

This means, according to Agawi’s report, the iPhone 5 is 1.5x more responsive than any other Android or Windows Phone device tested.

“Our best guess at Agawi is that Apple’s touchscreen hardware is better optimized or more sensitively calibrated for capturing and processing touch,” said the report.

“Another possibility is that while the Android and WP8 code are running on runtimes (Dalvik and CLR respectively), the iPhone code is written in closer-to-the-metal Objective-C, which may reduce some latency.” 

Equally interesting is the tablet data, which shows the iPad Mini as the fastest at 75ms, quicker than the full-size iPad 4 at 81ms. Curiously, the best performing non-iOS device is Nvidia’s SHIELD portable gaming device at 92ms, followed by the Surface RT on Windows RT at 95ms and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD 2013 edition at 114ms.

Google’s own Nexus 7 (the 2013 edition, not the Nexus 7 2) scored 135ms and was the second slowest tablet tested just ahead of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 at 168ms.

The big question is why is there this gap? Is this a hardware issue or a software one? It’s quite easy to jump to the conclusion that it’s down to software, as iOS has long been regarded as a better optimised platform. Google has come on leaps and bounds in this regard, most notably with Project Butter on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but it still isn’t quite as slick as iOS.

However, could it be a hardware issue at heart? The software argument with iOS vs Android makes sense until you look at the difference between Apple devices all running the same OS. The iPhone 5 is the fastest, followed by the iPad Mini, the iPad 4 and the iPhone 4 - surely if the responsiveness was down to the software they'd all score equally?

Particularly interesting in all this is Nvidia’s SHIELD. We spoke to an Nvidia rep at IFA 2013 and, talking about the SHIELD, he explained that normally when the company presents its Tegra chips to manufacturers it suggests what kind of hardware will work best together, but ultimately it’s up to the OEM and they invariably choose a few cheaper parts to cut costs. He said that with the SHIELD, Nvidia really got the chance to pick all the bits it knew would offer the best end user experience.

We didn’t think much of this at the time, but the results are there for all to see – the SHIELD really is one of the most responsive Android devices there is. And yet it’s still behind Apple’s iPads.

Agawi’s research is ongoing and it reports that it will soon be testing other devices, including the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

Larger Screen iPhone 6 Touted For September 2014 Launch

No sooner are we past the launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C than the rumors begin to mount for the next—and this one is big. Literally. Zach Epstien on BGR reported yesterday about a research note to investors from analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. that raises his hold rating and $450 target for Apple AAPL +1.16% to a solid buy with a new target of $600. Why the big mood swing on Cupertino? A bigger iPhone.Apple has solidly resisted any move into the palm-widening world of phablets dominated by Samsung. Whether this has been because of deeply-held notions of human factors engineering, manufacturing difficulties or a desire to not appear imitative of Samsung, the tide may be definitively turning. According to Misek, the iPhone 6 will launch with a 4.8″ screen, probably in September of 2014. He sees that approximately 50% of smartphones shipped in the second-quarter of 2013 had screens larger than the 4″ of the current iPhones and believes that “iPhone 6 will catalyze a large upgrade cycle.” The relative sales weakness of the newest iPhones could be a bonus next year. Forbes’ Connie Guglielmo explains:“A poor iPhone 5s/5c cycle means a bigger upgrade opportunity for the iPhone 6,” Misek wrote in a report. “We think the 85 million iPhones eligible for an upgrade when the iPhone 6 launches (we think Apple is targeting Sept. 2014) could be boosted by another 5 to 10 million from people who skipped the 5s/5c cycle. While we think a 4.8″ screen iPhone could lead to Apple regaining share versus Android, just the iPhone installed base refresh supports upside to the streets fiscal year 2015 estimates.”

The recent Samsung “Patentgate” fiasco points to an Apple confident in its claims against its arch-rival and willing to take a position in the emerging smartphone sweetspot—which seems to be larger than the current iPhone’s 4″ screen. Where exactly Apple will go with screen size and proportion is still a big guess. At the iPhone 5 line’s current 1136-by-640 resolution (326 ppi) there is room to go up anywhere from full 720 HD (1280-by-720 pixels) all the way up to the Samsung S4′s full 1080 HD of 1080-by-1920 pixels (441 ppi).

Suffice to say, if the switch to iOS 7 has employed a lot of developers to upgrade everyone’s apps, a shift to a larger screen will throw app makers into a positive panic. And this is just as it seemed that one of the main goals of the (not quite) “low cost” iPhone 5C was to consolidate more of the iOS audience on the taller screen proportion. With the introduction of a larger-screened iPhone 6, all of this de-fragmentation would be out the window. It is an open question if an iPhone 6 would partake of the tall iPhone proportion or the squatter iPad proportion. At 1024-by-768 (and 2048-by-1536 for the retina versions) the iPad is more page-like, less cinema.

If I had to predict, I would say that the iPhone 6 would continue in the tall iPhone mode and that it would distinguish itself from the Samsung Galaxy series by making the screen go edge to edge on the sides and limiting the “bezel” to “bumpers” on the top and bottom that hold the home button and front-facing camera and microphone, like the current versions. This would give it a distinctly tall and elegant look, but make it more of a two-handed device for more diminutively scaled users.

One way or another, an iPhone 6 with a larger screen would need to be its own distinct screen to address. Apple will not be able to merely double the iPhone 5 proportion (as it did with the retina iPads and then in reverse for the iPad Minis.) This means that iOS 8 will possibly have even more radical changes than iOS 7 since somehow at least 4 different screen proportions (and in some cases retina resolutions of those proportions) will need to be addressed and finessed with grace. Developers, start your engines—again!

Is Apple's iPhone 5S the best iPhone ever created? Michael endeavours to find out

This year was the first time Apple ever end-of-life’d their previous iPhone –– the iPhone 5 –– and removed it from sale after only 12 months. Many had expected the opposite – drop the price of last year’s model and introduce this year’s model as the new flagship. But instead Apple shelved the old one and introduced the iPhone 5c, the one made of a plastic, in its place.

We’ve already taken a thorough look at the iPhone 5c, so now it’s time to examine the iPhone 5s. Is it really the “best iPhone ever”? Just how fast is that A7 processor? And is the Touch ID really that useful? Read on to find out. 

iPhone 5S review: Design, Display and Build

To start with, lets get the design, display and build out of the way, because little has changed from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 5s. The 5s has the exact same physical body as the iPhone 5. The materials are the same, the volume, mute, and power buttons are the same, and even the speaker grille layout is the same.

Physically speaking, the only differences between the iPhone 5 and 5s are the Home button and the colors, with the latter being the most obvious change. The iPhone 5 came in black and the two-tone white and silver variant, dubbed "White". The new iPhone 5s comes in “space grey” (which could have easily been called “platinum”), gold and silver. The model I tested was the space grey model and I actually prefer its look over my old black iPhone 5.

Besides colours, the only other physical difference is in the Home button. Because of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the home button, the button is no longer as concave as on previous models. However, it feels just as good –– if not better on the fingertip. It’s also just as responsive when pressed.

As for the display, absolutely nothing has changed. It’s the exact same display found on the iPhone 5 and the new iPhone 5c: a 4-inch Retina display IPS LCD panel with an 1136x640 resolution at 326 ppi. It’s as beautiful as ever, but nothing is new. 

iPhone 5S review: Connectivity 

Just as with the design, display and build, little has changed with the connectivity features of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s offers that same Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot, andBluetooth 4.0 as its predecessor, including full support for Apple’s AirPlay and AirDrop clients. 

The iPhone 5S fully supports 2G and 3G (DC-HSPA and HSPA+) bands just as before but this time Apple has added in a host of additional 4G bands. With the iPhone 5s you are virtually ensured that the phone will work in any country in the world provided you have a compatible nano-SIM card. Apple’s new iPhones are the first truly global handsets the company has ever produced.   

iPhone 5S review: Touch ID

But what about the Touch ID? That’s Apple’s flagship iPhone 5s fingerprint scanner feature. Apple was keen to add biometrics to the iPhone and for the most part the fingerprint scanner works well. However, my issue with it is that is offers very little benefit – for now at least, anyway.

That’s because all you can do with the Touch ID right now is use it to unlock your iPhone and approve purchases in the App Store and iTunes Store. Now, I completely understand why this is the case – Apple needs to go slow and steady with the capabilities of the first useful fingerprint scanner a smartphone has ever seen. There’s also a large amount of trust that users need to build up as far as biometrics are concerned. It’s a new technology and needs to be understood and proven safe before it’s adopted for more advanced features like mobile payments.

That’s why I tell people not to buy the iPhone 5s only for the Touch ID. You’ll be disappointed because there is little to use it for. The good thing about the Touch ID is that it will be easy to add capabilities to in the future since the hardware is now there. Hopefully Apple will be rolling out iCloud Keychain soon, which would allow users to log into websites on their iPhone 5s with just the touch of their finger – no more passwords and usernames! 

But the holy grail of Touch ID use is when Apple opens it up for use in third-party apps – something not likely to happen until at least iOS 8. But when they do, Touch ID will be a godsend. I keep several of my apps passcode protected. Instead of entering a passcode each time, it would be much faster if I could just tap my finger.

Touch ID is also probably Apple’s “in” into the world of mobile payments. NFC is great, but not very secure. But NFC with a Touch ID sensor provides security and speed and you can be sure Apple will use both in conjunction when they do enter the mobile payments market.

iPhone 5S review: A7 Processor and RAM

If there were one reason to buy the iPhone 5s the A7 processor and M7 motion-coprocessors would be it. Let’s talk about the A7 first. It’s a 64-bit ARM processor with two cores running at 1.29Ghz.

The A7 is the world’s first 64-bit processor in a smartphone.... and it freaking flies. In my Geekbench tests the A7 scored a whopping 2560 when both cores of the A7 were in use. That compares to a scores of 1646 in the iPhone 5c, which uses the older A6 processor from the iPhone 5.

Opening apps and loading GPU-intensive content like games is incredibly fast. Even the startup and shutdown times of the iPhone 5s have been cut in half over those of its predecessor.

In addition to the A7, the iPhone 5s also features 1GB of RAM. Now, let’s be clear: there are plenty of smartphones out there with more RAM, but they are nowhere near as fast as the iPhone 5s. That’s because Apple doesn’t rely on brute power to speed up its phones. It tackles speed the smart way by designing iOS around the processor and RAM and making them work smarter together. 

It’s this software optimization that will keep the iPhone 5s the world’s fastest smartphone even after Samsung and others rush out mobiles with 64-bit chips and more RAM. Phones can run faster on less raw horsepower with good coding – as Apple has proved time and time again.

iPhone 5S review: M7 Motion Co-Processor

The M7 motion co-processor is the second part of the reason people should buy the iPhone 5s. The M7 motion co-processor’s sole job is to measure motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass. In the past this would have been the A7’s job.

The immediate advantage this co-processor provides is a whopping saving on battery life because the A7 doesn’t have to be constantly engaged anymore to measure motion data. The M7 handles all of that in the background much more efficiently.

What’s more, the M7 is so sensitive it can tell the difference between when you are walking, running, sitting, or driving. This means apps that support the M7 can give you a more accurate reading of how many calories you are burning since it can now tell what activity you are doing while moving.

Fitness apps also no longer need to be actively engaged to record your motion. Since the M7 is always recording motion data in the background, you can launch a fitness app after you started moving and it will look at the data from the M7 and update your stats appropriately.

If you are a fitness fanatic the M7 makes clear that the iPhone 5s is the only phone for you.

iPhone 5S review: iSight camera 

Many were disappointed that the iPhone 5s kept an 8-megapixel camera. After all, it’s not uncommon to find 12 MP and larger on smartphones these days. But as is the case with iOS, the A7 CPU and the amount of RAM inside the iPhone 5s – more isn’t always the best, and sometimes a tweak will suffice.

Matter of fact, the most important factor in capturing good photographs is light. How much light can a camera’s sensor capture? In the iPhone 5s Apple has bumped up the light sensor in the iSight camera by 15%, which allows it to capture that much more light, allowing your pictures to look better. This 15% larger sensor actually gives you better pictures than a 15% bump in megapixels would.

To capture even more light, Apple also added larger pixels to the light sensor, measuring 1.5 microns, and increased the aperture to ƒ/2.2. Is this better than simply adding a 12 MP camera? You bet.

iPhone 5S iSight Picture Samples

Apple also greatly increased the flash capabilities on the iPhone 5s. Now the 5s features a "True Tone" flash, which consists of an amber LED and a white LED. The two differently colored LED flashes allow for better pictures to be taken because the dual flash works with software algorithms in iOS 7 to adjust the flash intensity and color temperature, meaning the iPhone 5s knows the best amount of light--and which type--to emit to let you capture the most natural images possible.

In my tests, the True Tone flash captures skin tone more accurately than the LED flash aboard the iPhone 5.

But it’s not just the underlying camera hardware and flash that have been added to the iPhone 5s’ camera capabilities. iOS 7 adds many new camera features to the camera software. Things like live filters, auto image stabilization, slow-motion video and a brand new UX. But some of those software features –– slow motion video, for instance –– are limited to the iPhone 5s.

That’s because the features – auto image stabilization, Burst mode, and Slo-mo video – requires the hardware found in the iPhone 5s to work. Auto image stabilization uses the processing power of the 64-bit A7 to work with the software in iOS 7 to automatically adjust for shakiness. The A6 and below don’t have enough processing power to accurately compensate for shakiness in the milliseconds needed.

Burst mode allows you to capture ten images per second – handy for shots of moving things, like players in a football match. The feature will snap 10 images per second for as long as you hold the shutter button down. iOS 7’s software then selects the best image of the series, or you can scroll through all the burst images to select the one you like best. Of course, just as with Auto image stabilization, Burst mode relies on the processing capabilities of the A7 to work well.

That same is true for Slo-mo video, which allows you to shoot at 120fps in 720p and play it back at just a quarter of the speed, which results in video that appears to be in slow motion. Good slow motion video would not be possible without the power of the A7, and the results you can capture aboard the iPhone 5S are pretty damn impressive.

iPhone 5S review: Battery and Storage 

There’s no new storage option on the iPhone 5s, unfortunately. It still comes in in three storage flavours: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. As for the battery, it’s slightly improved, with a 1560 mAhcapacity. Apple says that will give you 10 hours of talk time on 3G and 8 hours on 4G. However we rarely ever only use our iPhones just for talking, so battery life is hard to gauge. Depending how you use your iPhone, the battery could last longer or shorter, which is why I feel that any battery tests are usually completely pointless. But yes, the iPhone 5s’ battery will last about 10% longer than the battery in the iPhone 5, provided your use it exactly the same.

iPhone 5S review: Conclusion

The iPhone 5s is the best smartphone Apple has ever made and the fastest smartphone on the planet. If you are a speed junkie or a fitness buff, ditch your iPhone 5 for the iPhone 5s. It’s well worth it. It’s also worth it for the camera improvements if you enjoy taking lots of pics with your iPhone.

But don’t buy the iPhone 5s just for its flagship feature: Touch ID. Yes, it’s nice, but it has very limited use at present. But given that it would simply take software updates to make it more useful, that could change quickly. Apple no doubt has big plans for this feature.

Thinking about the iPhone 5c? Skip it if you can spend the extra money. For less than £90 more you’ll get twice the phone going up to the iPhone 5s –– and you’ll be future-proof when Apple decides to add more features relating to its Touch ID.

As for Samsung, they should be very worried. Yes, the company said the next Galaxy will have a 64-bit chip, but until they learn that software optimization is as important for performance as raw hardware power is, Apple’s iPhones will always get more power from less hardware. Such is the bonus of owning both the hardware are the software that powers it. 

Specifications

Length	123.8mm
Width	58.6mm
Thickness	7.6 mm
Weight	112 g
Screen Size	640 x 1136 pixels, 4.0 inches (~326 ppi pixel density)
Operating System	Apple iOS 7
Camera Resolution	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED (True Tone) flash. Features: 1/3'' sensor size, 1.5 µm pixel size, simultaneous HD video and image recording, touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, HDR panorama, HDR photo
Video Resolution	Yes, 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps, advanced video stabilization
Processor	Apple A7
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0
High-speed Data	DC-HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, LTE, 100 Mbps; EV-DO Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps
Built-in Memory	16GB, 32GB, 64GB, no SD-support