THERE S A SIMPLE
way to describe the Apple iPhone 5: it s thinner, lighter and a bit taller than the 4S. While this summary certainly conveys the general look of the phone, it underestimates what s gone into the design to produce this striking handheld.
LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Apple has managed to shave 1.4mm from the thickness of its previous phone. When you compare the two models side by side, it s quite obvious. The iPhone 4S s screen and back bulge out from the side, whereas the iPhone 5 has a flush-fitting back, and the screen is barely raised at all. It s easy to tell the difference in size from photos, but weight s a hard thing to describe. The iPhone 4S weighed 140g, while the iPhone 5 is just 112g.
Trust us, this is a big difference, and it s immediately noticeable when you pick up the iPhone 5. You just get the feeling that it should weigh more it s that light. While the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 are clearly related, there are some cosmetic changes to the new model, which give it a different look and help to keep the weight down. Gone is the all-glass rear, replaced with an aluminium panel that covers most of the back of the phone, bar two glass panels at the top and bottom. We ve been told that during manufacturing, the rear of the phone is photographed with the aluminium panel in place, so that the best-fitting glass panels can be found. Our review model was certainly well put together, with a flush-fitting rear.
DISPLAY FOR TODAY
The iPhone 5 has a larger 4in screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, as opposed to the 3:2 aspect ratio used on the iPhone 4S. What this means in practice is that both screens are the same width, but the iPhone 5 s is slightly taller, with a resolution of 1,136x640, maintaining the same high 326ppi pixel density (whereas the iPhone 4S has a resolution of 960x640). This is still a Retina display, which Apple defines as a screen where you can t see individual pixels.
The extra resolution is useful, as you can now fit five rows of icons on the homescreen, up from four on the iPhone 4S. It also makes sense when you use a lot of the applications: you can view more calendar appointments and emails in a list, for example. Typing with the phone in portrait mode is also easier, as there s more space above the keyboard for text, making it easier to see what you re writing and correct any mistakes as necessary. It s not just a bigger screen. The iPhone 5 s display embeds the touch components with the actual pixels, removing a layer from the old screen. As well as being thinner, the new screen is brighter with higher colour saturation. Compared side by side with an iPhone 4S, we really noticed the difference; the iPhone 5 s screen looks a lot more vibrant, with more pleasing colours. The screen is evenly lit and the viewing angles are excellent, with the display easy to see from any angle. A 16:9 display also makes more sense if you re watching a lot of TV programmes or films on your phone. The screen suits the aspect ratios usually used, leading to a reduction (if not complete removal) of black bars
THE NEW PROCESSOR
Along with the new phone comes a new processor: the Apple A6. Apple promises this is twice as fast as the iPhone 4S for the CPU and provides double the graphics performance. It s also 22 per cent smaller. It s hard to test a phone s processor, but this dual-core model certainly proved itself in the tests we performed. The SunSpider JavaScript test completed in 944.1ms on the iPhone 5 and took more than twice as long on the iPhone 4S, completing in 1,917.3ms. Web browsing in general was very quick, with the BBC News home page rendering in less than four seconds. The iPhone 5 was a little snappier than the iPhone 4S, opening applications such as Photos just that little bit faster. As you d expect from Apple, iOS is beautifully smooth throughout, effortlessly rendering all the operating system s animations.
