Whilst the iPhone 5C might be somewhat of a disappointment with its plastic covering and garish colours, the new flagship iPhone 5S is a more interesting proposal as the world’s first 64-bit smartphone.
The flagship Android smartphones have all been making use of the latest quad-core 32-bit technologies to improve performance, but as Apple have control of both their hardware and software they are able to bring to market the first smartphone making use of the more powerful 64-bit architecture with the A7 chip.
Alongside the A7, the iPhone 5S also comes with a M& “motion coprocessor” that offers continuous tracking of accelerator, gyroscope, and compass which should allow improvements to fitness tracking apps. Whether this data will be offered to the NSA is another matter…
The battery life is also improved, which is always welcome, and the camera is improved with a 15% larger sensor with “1.5 micron pixels” which Apple says will improve picture quality. The camera also has 2 flash LEDs to give greater control of the light.
A very interesting new feature is the “Touch ID” physical home button on the iPhone 5S, which scans your fingerprint when you press it to unlock the phone. This could save a lot of time typing in your passcode each time you want to open your phone and use it. Your fingerprint data is locked securely on the A7 chip, and is not backed up to Apple’s iCloud servers – hopefully this should mean the NSA won’t have access to it!
The iPhone 5S comes in black, silver, and a new “champagne/gold” colour.
The US pricing will be $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB on a 2 year contract, with UK pricing to follow shortly.