The Complete Apple Update - iPhone 5C, 5S and iOS7

Apple has announced their two latest phones, along with an updated operating system, at their keynote event this month. The iPhone 5S, along with the budget iPhone 5C, will be released on Friday, September 20 in 10 major countries around the world, and is expected to take the smartphone world by storm with its exquisitely sharp graphics, super-fast processing speeds and ergonomic design. iPhone 5S - Specifications: Colours Available: Silver, Gold, Space Grey Size: 4.87in (123.8mm) high. 2.31in (58.6mm) wide. 0.3in (7.6mm) thin. Weight: 3.95 ounces (112grams) Internal Storage: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB Processor: 64-bit Apple A7 Chip Graphics: OpenGL ES 3.0 Camera Size: 8megapixel Video: 1080p & 120fps 720p slow-motion capture Battery Life: 250 hours Standby, 40 hours audio play or 10 hours browsing Price: You get a lot with the new iPhone 5S, and you definitely have to pay for what you get. Now, this isn’t an ordinary smartphone. It goes above and beyond what the customer could expect and for that, you can expect to have to pay a bit extra for what is the most eagerly anticipated phone release, EVER. For the standard 16GB handset you will have to pay £549. The 32GB phone will set you back a cool £629, whereas the 64GB iPhone 5S will cost you an eye-watering £709. Apple did announce that for a two-year contract, the handsets will cost $199, $299 and $399 respectively, so expect British Pound prices to be similar to that! The Phone: Apple summarise this new phone as “a combination of what is technologically possible, and technologically useful”, so you know every function and element of the phone is there to provide a service and purpose, combined with showcasing the advancements of the tech involved. The biggest selling point for a lot of people is the Touch ID fingerprint identity sensor. Used to unlock the phone, and also provide unique security and purchasing features, Touch ID is doubled up as the home button and is made partly from sapphire crystal to protect the sensor underneath. To unlock the phone, all you need to do is teach your phone your thumb or finger print, and hold it over the sensor. The steel ring around the button detects the presence of your finger and tells the scanner to start. Alternatively, you can set up a personal password as was possible for previous versions of the iPhone. Admittedly, this Touch ID technology is quite cool and the more you use it, the more it learns your prints ??" making it faster at unlocking and purchasing ??" along with the fact that your fingerprint data is completely secure as the info is stored on the phone and is only accessible to Touch ID and not other software or Apple servers. However, it isn’t necessarily that ground-breaking with regards to step forwards in technological improvements. Laptops almost 10 years ago had fingerprint scanners so only you could access the contents of your laptop. Yes, Apple have developed and moulded this technology to come up with a more secure and user-friendly experience, but it’s hardly an Apple invention, not by a long way. Internally is where the iPhone 5C really impresses. It is the first phone ever with 64-bit architecture, delivered with the A7 chip. Processing speed is astronomically high. CPU performance in the iPhone 5S has increased 40 times the first iPhone, and is twice as fast as its predecessor, and with ultrafast Long Term Evolution wireless data, you can browse and search instantaneously. The graphics performance is also astoundingly fast, increasing 56 times the speed of the original iPhone and, again, twice as fast as the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5S incorporates a considered design and elements to enhance the user’s experience, including the incredible iSight camera which, personally, is the biggest selling point of the whole phone (if you overlook personalisation and top-of-the-range security features which should come as standard). The camera’s sensor is larger and allows for more light to hit it, creating bigger and better photos, and when you take a picture, the iPhone takes multiple images and automatically selects which is the best quality to return to you. Consisting of two flashes, white and amber, the iPhone 5S instantly analyses the scene of the photo you are taking and decides which of over 1000 unique colour flashes to use to give you the best quality image, reducing unnatural lighting and glare. These types of flashes aren’t even on the world’s most expensive cameras! Wow! Some other great camera functions are the video capabilities, including slow-motion capture, image bursts, allowing 10 images per second and automatically receiving the best quality image or image sequences, and real-time filters, so you can choose which one is best for the current situation you are in. Accessories: You can purchase a soft leather case for the iPhone 5S, which feels luxurious. It consists of an internal microfiber lining to help protect the phone and are available in yellow, white, blue, orange, black and red. Click here, for full specs. iPhone 5C - Specifications: Colours Available: White, Pink, Yellow, Blue, Green. Size: 4.9in (124.4mm) high. 2.33in (59.2mm) wide. 0.35in (8.97mm) thin. Weight: 4.65 ounces (132grams) Internal Storage: 16GB or 32GB. Processor: Apple A6 Chip Camera Size: 8megapixel Video: 1080p & 30fps Battery Life: 250 hours Standby, 40 hours audio play or up to 10 hours browsing. Price: Usually, when Apple bring out a new phone, they reduce the price of its predecessor to make it more accessible to those who can’t afford the new version. With the iPhone 5, this isn’t the case. Production has stopped, and the iPhone 5C, billed as a budget option for those unable to afford the 5S, will replace it instead. Yes, it does come with some very impressive new features, and funky colours that don’t feature on the iPhone 5, but it also doesn’t come with the major selling points of the 5S ??" such as the Touch ID, slow-motion video capture, the A7 chip and the dual flash. The 16GB handset will cost £469 and the 32GB phone is priced up at £549. Pretty expensive for a phone without the major attractions of its sister! If you buy with a contact, then obviously the initial price for the handset will be cheaper, but it is still a hefty chunk of money for a second-rate handset. The Phone: Although the iPhone 5C is a plastic phone which, apparently, still has the feel of quality and integrity synonymous with the iPhone (can you REALLY get this with a plastic phone??), inside the plastic, polycarbonate case there is a reinforced steel frame, adding structural soundness, stability, protection and also acts as your antenna. Apple have tried to create a phone, which feels familiar to the user, but is altogether new, distilling what people loved about the iPhone 5, but making a simpler, more essential and capable phone with the 5C. The iPhone 5C is ever so slightly bigger than the iPhone 5S, with a 4in retina display. The A6 chip still delivers console-level graphics and speeds, as demonstrated in the keynote delivery with the exhibition of Infinity Blade 3. The 8 megapixel iSight camera is the same that is on the iPhone 5S, but there are some awesome features missing, such as the slow-motion video capture and the dual flash functionality. The battery life has been improved to meet the standard of the iPhone 5S. Unfortunately, the iPhone 5C is only available with a black front, and all the funky colour is on the back. Apart from the on-screen colour, which matches the colour of the plastic case. Your colour choice is apparent throughout practically everything you do on the iPhone 5C, especially with the translucency levels allowing you to see through to the background. With the iPhone 5C you don’t get the A7 chip. You don’t get Touch ID or dual-flash. Nor do you get a high-quality metal phone, the option for a 64GB handset or most of the awesome camera functionality. It has really made us question the purpose of this phone. Is it genuinely to give the user a better experience, despite the only major selling point being the colour and case? Why not just create the 5S with these colour options too, and leave the iPhone 5 in production, as they have done with the phones before them? We think the fact that the keynote speech announcing the iPhone 5C was less than 10 minutes long, included a buzz-word-filled 4 and a half minute video discussing the manufacturing process and consisted mostly of iOS7 functions just goes to show that this phone is purely to have something else to sell. And it isn’t as though they can claim it is a budget version, with the cheapest model still costing £469. If you have your heart set on buying the new iPhone, that’s fine, but you might as well spend the extra £80 for a 16GB iPhone 5S than 16GB iPhone 5C. Or, if you were going for the 32GB iPhone 5C, you can upgrade to the 5S for nothing ??" although you do get half the storage capacity. Here are the 5C full specs. Accessories: Colourful and soft matt microfiber light silicone cases in a variety of colours, giving you a 6-colour combination option. Coming in white, red, yellow, blue, green and black, these cases give you the chance to add a touch of personality and protection to your phone. iOS7 “The biggest change to iOS since the original iPhone” is how the new operating system was put across. And it truly is. It has a simple, useful and enjoyable design with an updated Siri, who not only looks and sounds better, but has more capabilities than ever before by being able to control Bluetooth and Wifi. Apple has learned some big lessons from the usability features of their competitor’s new phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4, with a Control Centre that gives you quick access to numerous operations such as flight mode, Wifi, volume levels, music playing, Bluetooth, orientation lock, do-not-disturb mode, brightness levels, air-play, air-drop and torch controls, simply by swiping up on the screen. The Notification Centre has also had a redesign, becoming an interactive area accessible from the lock screen separating notifications into three categories; “today”, “all” and “missed”. The new operating system comes with new sounds for notifications, texts and incoming calls, for a fresh, new, technological age feel. A further user-experience enhancement is the parallax effect of the iPhone screen. Responding to your movements, the screen shows an optimum display for the angle you are looking at it, with a depth experience that really makes your phone come to life. As mentioned above, the camera on the new iPhone, and all iOS7 devices, has a completely new interface, giving the user the ability to swipe between photo settings and real-time filters to create the perfect image capture experience so you can remember all of the special moments that happen with your iOS7 device forever. Another camera function that Apple users have been crying out for is in-video zooming, allowing you to zoom in whilst shooting a video using the standard two-finger pinch and pull. Devices that support iOS7 are: o iPhone 5S o iPhone 5C o iPhone 5 o iPhone 4S, excluding: o Filters in Camera App o AirDrop o iPhone 4, excluding: o All items from iPhone 4S plus: o Panoramic photos o Siri o Fourth-Generation iPad o Third-Generation iPad, excluding: o Filters in Camera o Panoramic Photos o AirDrop o iPad 2, excluding: o All items from Third-Generation iPad, plus: o Filters in Photo App o Square Photos and Videos o Siri o iPad Mini o Fifth-Generation iPod Touch Socially sharing content is a big part of iOS7 and the new function, AirDrop, allows users of the latest operating system to instantly send other iOS7 users around them anything they want to share. There are a couple of options for AirDrop, with the ability to share with just your friends, or openly look for others around you and send to multiple users at the same time over peer-to-peer, secure Wifi for fast sharing. Ever find yourself with pages upon pages of folders and apps? That can now be a thing of the past with iOS7, as now you have pages within your folders, making categorising, organising and locating your apps so much easier. Overall, the new iPhone 5S is a fantastic piece of technology that will win over many anti-Apple customers and excite current Apple-product users. Combined with iOS7 it is, without doubt, one of the most advanced handheld technology kits available on the planet. It’s just a shame that the iPhone 5C lets the side down with barely any updates on the iPhone 5’s hardware, and costs an arm and a leg.