A few days ago, Apple unleashed new iPhones onto the world. Apple unleashed the new iPhone 5c and the new iPhone 5s. Let’s talk about the new models and where Apple is going next.
iPhone 5c
The iPhone 5c was the first iPhone to be announced at Apple’s keynote on September 10. The iPhone 5c was long rumored to be Apple’s attempt to rival other smartphone makers making cheaper phone and these phones will help Apple with their overseas market. The iPhone 5c is, for lack of a better term, a colored iPhone 5. Apple made the iPhone 5c in white, green, red (Apple says pink), blue and yellow. It is Jony Ive’s iPhone. This phone is the phone that Jony would have made back in 2007 if given the chance. His design with iOS 7 says that. The iPhone 5s and iOS7 are made to work together, designed together. Personally, I like the design of the new iPhone 5c, it looks really nice on the outside and looks nice with the new iOS 7.
I mentioned before that the iPhone 5c is basically a colored iPhone 5 and do I believe that it is true. The iPhone 5c comes with the same powerful A6 chip that is found in the iPhone 5. It has the same beautifully designed 4-inch Retina Display that the iPhone 5 had. It has the same 8MP camera that the iPhone 5 had. The iPhone 5c is slightly thicker and heavier than the iPhone 5 but it’s so fractional, you probably won’t notice a difference. iPhone 5 and 5c both have iOS 7 and both take full advantage of the features of iOS 7. The phones both have 4G LTE, like many smartphones these days. The iPhone 5c, is in essence, the iPhone 5 Jony Ive would have made, and he did make. The only thing different between them is that there is multiple colors in one and no array of colors in the other. The iPhone 5 is definitely a great phone so Apple did not make a mistake with not adding anything significant to the 5c from the 5, especially considering it is meant to be a cheaper option. Apple went a bit further with the color aspect with the 5c and made colorful cases for it, allowing for further customization of the phone. While I think it is was an interesting move on Apple’s part to finally make cases for the phones they make, I am not sure it will be a very successful one since the cases are more like crocs for iPhone- or should I say “hon” than a case (when the case is on, part of the word iPhone is covered to reveal hon, a poor design move). People will probably just buy third party cases like they always have.
I do not know if I can see the iPhone 5c becoming a big hit in the US other than for it’s color. People love to customize their phones and the colors will allow for more of that. However, I don’t think the phone will be as successful here than it will be in Apple’s emerging markets such as China because of it’s cheaper price. The iPhone 5c starts at $99 with a contract, allowing Apple to finally play in the cheap man’s phone arena that they never have entered before. In fact, Apple has always sold products in the higher end of the price tag and this move to the iPhone 5c represents a change to the every man’s company. Whether this will be good or bad for Apple will depend on whether Apple actually was able to design a well-made plastic phone, something very few companies, if any, are capable of doing. I think the the 5c will be a great opportunity for Apple to make more money and be able to put more iPhone’s in people’s hands, thus improving their market share, which has slumped lately due to the popularity of Samsung phones, which still bewilders me to this day.
iPhone 5s
Yes, Apple did decide to stick with the 5 name for now. They have gone to the 5s instead of the 6, which makes sense considering that they unveiled the 5 last year and the 5 name still has time to shine, just as the 4 name did back in 2011 and even still today (more on that later). Apple unveiled some pretty awesome features for the iPhone 5s. Let’s go and take a closer look.
The iPhone 5s’ main feature is the new fingerprint scanner tucked into the home button. The new scanner will allow for people to protect their phone with one of the safest methods available, a passcode only you will ever have, your fingerprint. This new method of protection will not be monitored by the NSA as the fingerprints are stored only on the phone itself and never in the cloud. The fingerprint scanner will allow for users to get into their phone much quicker than providing a long passcode or password like many users do today. The scanner will also allow for you to use your fingerprint to confirm transactions in the iTunes and App Stores. The scanner can read your fingerprint at any angle. The device will recognize up to 5 fingerprints so your family or trusted people will also have access to your phone, that is, if you allow them to have that access. The look of the home button, because of the new scanner, has changed for the first time ever. The button no longer has a square in the middle of it and it has a metal brim surrounding it. There is also sapphire crystal in the home button. I personally like the new look of the home button. It is similar to the change in keyboard layout that Apple had made in their laptops in late-07.
One of the biggest features of the iPhone 5s is it’s incredible speed and processing power. For the first time in history, there is now a 64-bit desktop class processor on a phone. And guess who was the first to do this? Samsung? Nope. Apple! Apple became the first smartphone maker to put a 64-bit processor in the iPhone. The iPhone 5s has become the fastest iPhone by a very long shot. The performance in the iPhone 5s is double that of the incredible iPhone 5/5c. The A7 processor also has the fastest graphics in any iPhone ever made. It’s graphics are double that of the iPhone 5. The A7 is truly a work to behold, providing better graphics and better processing power than any other phone. It’s OpenGL ES V3 also allows for even better graphics. Textures and shadows in games pop out at you and everything looks insanely real. In addition to the A7, there is it’s sidekick, the M7 chip. The M7 chip is designed to take the processing of location, compass, gyration, and acceleration as to allow the A7 to focus on other tasks, allowing for a more power-efficient phone.
Apple also unveiled new camera features for the iPhone 5s not found in any other phone. First, the iPhone 5s has a larger aperture, and it has larger pixels and when there are larger pixels, there is a better image because more light is let in for the image. Furthermore, it’s video camera films at 1080p. Second, the iPhone 5s has a continuous burst mode so you can take 30 images of an action shot such as a skateboard stunt. This feature will be great for anyone who wants to get an in the moment photograph that they can take without pressing the button 30 times. Third, a new feature called True Tone Flash will allow whatever you are taking a picture of to have good lighting and be able to light whatever it is that needs light just right so images look as natural as possible. Fourth, the iPhone now has auto image stabilization so now the image will stabilize when the phone is being moved. Fifth, you can now shoot slow motion video with the iPhone 5s camera. You can shoot the video and simply switch to 120fps to slow down the shot being taken to add a dramatic effect to your video. Sixth, the iPhone 5s has Live Video Zoom, allowing you to zoom in and out on your video in real time and record what you are zooming in and out of. And finally, the iPhone 5s has an HD front camera for the best FaceTime experience possible.
The iPhone 5s will now have even better LTE wireless coverage than ever before. The iPhone 5s has up to 13 LTE bands, more than any other smart phone on the market. Therefore, it will have more coverage in more places than ever before and the coverage will be better than ever before.
Finally, Apple is also selling cases for their iPhone 5s phones. These cases, unlike the rubber croc ones made for the iPhone 5c, are leather and are multicolored. The colors look great with the different colored models of the iPhone (silver, gray and gold). The colors for the cases are yellow, tan, blue, brown, black and red for Project RED.
It appears that the new iPhones will be incredible phones that I think Apple has done an excellent job with and they are moving in a “Forward Thinking” direction. Now, let’s pay tribute to the iPhones lost at Apple’s event.
Gain two, lose two
At Apple’s iPhone event, Apple unveiled two new iPhone models, but they also ceased to sell two models. The iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5 have both been been discontinued, allowing the iPhone 4S to stay behind as the free phone that Apple offers. The iPhone 4 was a phone that really changed the iPhone line forever, with it’s FaceTime camera and it’s upgraded design, it has come to define the iPhone line. Many people recognize the iPhone 4 as the biggest innovation to the iPhone line since the original iPhone and I completely agree. The iPhone 4 will forever be one of the greatest of Apple’s many innovations. The iPhone 5 was also discontinued at the event. This was Forstall’s phone, it was the iOS6 phone. Now that he is gone, his legacy at Apple is fading too. Jony replaced the iOS 6 phone with his own colored iOS7 phone. It’s the same phone but with color, the way Jony had it, not Forstall. Apple is becoming more Ive all the time with the removal of the only SVP that would challenge him and the discontinuation of the iPhone 5 is actually what this represents. The iPhone 4S was only kept around because they needed a free phone to give away with 2-year plans. Thank you iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 for changing the world with your incredible abilities. Your successors will forever hold your legacy.
iOS 7
iOS 7 was launched on Wednesday and it has become the download with the largest amount of downloads in a single day in history. iOS 7 is predicted to be on 95% capable iOS devices by next month, the fastest adoption rate in history. iOS7 brings in a slew of new features that the new iPhones have. iPhone 4 and above, iPad 2 and above and iPod touch can all upgrade. Get your download by heading to the Settings app and install the new update. It’s free and it’s worth the 10 minutes of your time. Way worth it.
Apple has a hit a very busy time, new iPhones are coming out. New iPads probably on the way along with the new Mac Pro’s and Mavericks due out soon, as well as Haswell Pros. It will be interesting to see what the test of time will do for Apple in the next few months. I can’t wait to see what happens.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Images Courtesy: Apple Inc.