Directly after the launch, Apple allowed journalists a brief bit of hands-on time with the new iPhone 5s and 5c handsets. Here’s my early thoughts.
This isn’t a full review, but then I’d never opt for a full review after five minutes in a noisy room filled with hundreds of other journalists. I need time to bounce a product around, you know?
They’re very much iPhones, and you can take that as either a good or bad thing; Apple knows what it wants out of a smartphone product, and neither is a genuinely radical departure from that kind of vision. Both feel quite premium — which could well be a big plus in the only-slightly-cheaper iPhone 5c’s case — and the new features don’t entirely feel like clutter, which is a positive.
I was a little concerned that there could be unlocking issues in the case of the iPhone 5s’ fingerprint sensor, but a quick check shows that you can’t just set a fingerprint; it requires a passcode as backup.
The camera apps are — much like other camera apps for competing smartphones — potentially useful but not entirely vital, although the burst mode has impressive range given it appears that it’s capturing full resolution shots.
Worth it as an upgrade? Interesting thought, and honestly I’d need more than the quick hands-on time I’ve had to make a full judgement, but with the 5C being a iPhone 5 on a very slight upgrade path that’s probably a harder sell, whereas the 5S certainly feels like a good upgrade if you like the iOS ecosystem.