On Sept. 10, Apple finally released information about one of the most talked about pieces of technology: the iPhone 5s and 5c. And boy, has there been talk.
First, let’s look at the iPhone 5s. It’s similar to its predecessor, the iPhone 5, in its light weight and large screen. The biggest new features on this phone are the dual LED flash, iOS 7, a better camera than before, new colors and a fingerprint identity sensor.
The dual LED flash, according to Apple’s website, it means that when taking a photo with flash, two colors will be used as the light: white and amber. This flash, also called the True Tone flash, helps give colors their proper shading as opposed to making everything whiter.
The iPhone 5s camera, called iSight, will have a new burst mode – capturing 10 photos per second, auto-image stabilization for those who shake, a better panoramic view, more features with video – slow motion and live video zoom – and filters that can be applied before and after photos under the camera app.
The new colors include silver, gold and space gray, the gold being the newest color to the bunch. This is a more interesting variety than the typical black and white that was offered before.
Finally, the feature I’m most excited about: the fingerprint identity sensor. This is a unique feature for Apple products, to my knowledge, and I find it to be more secure than the simple passcode that you have to enter.
The Apple website states, “. . . your phone should recognize you. It should learn you.” The fingerprint is the easiest way for the iPhone to identify you, and with it being on the Home button, it makes it all the easier. Instead of having to remember what passcode you put in, making it your job to get into your phone, it has now become the phone’s job to let you in. What a change!
As for the iPhone 5c, the first word that comes to mind is color. These aren’t the metallic colors of the iPhone 5s. From the shopping page, the colors are listed as white, blue, green, pink and yellow; and the colors pop. This is because 5c doesn’t have a metal backing; it’s plastic. It has a steel-reinforced frame, which was attached to the plastic in individual pieces and laser-welded shut. It’s much stronger than it looks.
One feature that will be available on both of these phones, as well as newer generation Apple products, will be iOS 7. It will come standard with iPhone 5s and 5c.
iOS 7 is a completely new design; it is simple but beautiful. It’s clear, uncluttered and looks almost nothing like the old iOSs. For example, multi-tasking has been redesigned. On iOS 6, when you click on the Home button twice, it will pull up the icons that you’ve recently used, and to get rid of one, you hold it until it shakes and push the exit button. With iOS 7, click the Home button twice, and simply swipe away the windows that you aren’t using anymore.
Brightness, turning on or off Wi-Fi and accessing the flashlight are just a few of the many options on the new Control Center. AirDrop, another new feature, allows you to connect to other iOS devices and share photos or messages without having to go through the process of texting or emailing them.
5c has a few differences. It does not have the fingerprint identity sensor, burst mode or auto-image stabilization in camera mode, slow motion video in video mode, does not have True Tone flash, weighs a smidge more and has slightly bigger dimensions than the iPhone 5s.
Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on one of the new iPhones, if I get the chance. There’s been a lot of hype about them, but I think the talk is worthwhile. I can only hope I’ll get the chance for one soon.