Apple iPhone 5S Review : Is it the Best iPhone Ever ?

Putting all critiques to rest, Apple finally released a much enhanced iPhone this year, and boy, did it do a good job with it. As the tech gurus over at KYM found, the iPhone 5S is more a refinement over the iPhone 5 instead of a revolution of smartphoning, but in terms of power and utility, it is a leap forward in functionality.

Its 64-bit processor, its M7 co-processor and its new imaging capabilities put the handset right at the top of its game, amongst the best of them. We spent some time with the iPhone 5S to find out just how useful the Touch ID really is, how fast the A7 processor can actually go and if the handset truly is 'the best iPhone' yet.

Design, Build and Display

In terms of its physical body, the iPhone 5S is just like the iPhone 5 with the same materials and the same button and speaker grill layout. What's different on the iPhone 5S is the home button. Because of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor that's built into the home button, the button on the new handset is no longer as concave. Still, it is just as responsive and in fact, better on the fingertip.

The colour change on the iPhone 5S is also quite refreshing, the phone retails in space grey, silver and gold instead of the age old black and white options. The new handset looks classy and sophisticated with its offbeat colour variants.

The display of the iPhone 5S is just as it was on the iPhone 5: a 4-inch Retina display IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels and a pixel density of 326ppi. It is gorgeous of course, but in the days of Full HD displays, still unchanged.

Connectivity

Just like the iPhone 5,the iPhone 5S offers that same Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot and Bluetooth 4.0 options, along with full support for Apple’s AirPlay and AirDrop clients. Besides 2G and 3G (DC-HSPA and HSPA+), the handset also supports 4G bands. The iPhone 5S is truly global, you can rest assured that it will work in any country in the world provided you have a compatible nano-SIM card.

Touch ID

The iPhone 5S's fingerprint scanner works well for the most part. It takes a while to set up, but once its ready to go, it functions pretty seamlessly. The only thing is, it is very limited in terms of its functionality - at least just yet. One can currently use it only to unlock your iPhone and approve purchases in the App Store and the iTunes Store.

Touch ID will of course grow in functionality, but it will take a while to become fully operational on many fronts. Once Apple rolls out iCloud Keychain, it will allow users to log on to websites with just the touch of their finger and without any passwords and usernames. Things will get even more convenient when Apple makes Touch ID work with third-party apps and mobile payments. Though extremely functional, these changes are still some time away.

Processor and RAM

Apple's A7 chipset is a 64-bit ARM processor with two cores running at 1.29 GHz. It is the world’s first 64-bit processor in a smartphone and is speedy like no other. It scored 2560 on KYM's Geekbench test with both cores in use. In comparison, the iPhone 5C scored 1646 with its older A6 processor.

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

In the days of 2 GB RAMs, the iPhone 5S does pack in 1 GB of RAM but contrary to popular belief, that doesn't diminish its power and speed. In fact, the phone is much faster than its competitors. That’s because Apple doesn’t rely on raw power to speed up its phones, it designs the iOS around the processor and RAM, making them work smarter and speedier together.

The M7 motion co-processor works in tandem with the A7 chipset. It measures motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass and frees the A7 of these responsibilities, saving battery life along the way. The M7 handles all its tasks in the background much more efficiently.

Even better, the M7 is so sensitive, it can differentiate between when you are walking, running, sitting or driving. The apps that work with the M7 can thus give you a more accurate reading of how many calories you are burning at a particular time. Also, fitness apps no longer need to be actively engaged to record your motion since they can rely on the data the M7 is always recording in the background.

iSight Camera

Though a number of Apple loyalists have been disappointed that the tech giant has given the iPhone 5S an 8-megapixel camera when other manufacturers are going the 12 or 13-megapixel way, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The light sensor on the handset has been bumped up by 15%, allowing it to capture that much more light and making pictures look that much better. In order to ensure that the phone captures even more light, Apple has also added larger pixels to the light sensor, measuring 1.5 microns, and increased the aperture to ƒ/2.2. As far as capturing sharp, clear images is concerned this is even better than upping the megapixels on the iSight camera to 12 or 13-megapixels.

The iPhone 5S also boasts of a much improved flash functionality. Its True Tone flash consists of an amber LED and a white LED and the dual flash works with software algorithms in iOS 7 to adjust intensity and color temperature. The phone thus figures out the best type and amount of light to emit in order to capture the most natural looking images. As KYM found, the iPhone 5S specially captures skin tones more accurately than its predecessor.

Additionally, camera features like live filters, auto image stabilization, slow-motion video, Burst Mode and a brand new UX on the iOS 7 work smoothly and make photography on the go varied and interesting on the iPhone 5S.

Storage and Battery

Storage on the iPhone 5S comes in typical Apple flavours of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. The battery on the handset is slightly improved with a capacity of 1560 mAh. According to Apple, it will give you 10 hours of talk time on 3G and 8 hours on 4G. The battery on the iPhone 5S does last about 10 per cent longer on a single charge than the one on the iPhone 5.

Contracts, Deals and Offers

RComm is offering the iPhone 5S for 'free' with a 2 year contract at Rs. 2,999 per month that includes unlimited national usage of calls, SMS and data.

Of course, the phone is not actually free. As BGR points out, RComm is charging customers Rs 61,856 for the 16GB iPhone 5S and Rs 10,124 make up charges levied by banks as interest calculated at the rate of 15 percent per annum on a reducing balance over 24 months. RComm's offer is thus essentially an EMI scheme that has been made enticing by bundling it up with unlimited usage. With this offer, users pay Rs 18,480 or Rs. 770 per month extra for two years of unlimited service. This offer is only available on Citibank, ICICI and Standard Chartered credit cards.

Enticing as it is, an important point to be kept in mind is that a user's credit card company will actually block the entire payable amount from the user’s credit card limit and will keep unblocking the monthly plan amount that is paid at the end of every month. Users, then, need to have much more than just Rs. 2,999 within their credit limit every month.

Those who don't want to have so much of money blocked on their credit cards have another option they can go in for. They can pay RComm the full amount up front and even avail a discount of Rs. 6,000 by doing so. Those who opt for this offer will pay Rs 65,980 for the 16GB iPhone 5S and receive two years of unlimited service. They will land up paying RCom Rs 12,480 or Rs 520 per month for 24 months upfront for unlimited service, essentially.

Unlimited service at this rate is certainly a good deal. However, spreading the payment over 2 years and handling a lowered credit limit in the bargain, along with paying Rs. 250 extra per month to do so, seems unnecessary. For whomsoever it is possible, it makes more sense to go in for an upfront payment.

Before making a final decision, one more point must be taken into consideration. Users who go in for RComm's offer must gauge how reliable its network is, especially in areas where they live, work and travel and whether they are really ready to commit to using this network for the next two years.

In addition to RComm, Airtel has launched special monthly tariff plans with a discount of up to 50 per cent on monthly rentals for iPhone 5S users. Consumers can reportedly save up to Rs. 12,000 with these plans.