iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5
Apple is a goal oriented company that has various methods of enticing clients to their product line. Their basic product has been the Apple iMacs, but they were able to increase their reach to the whole world exponentially with the introduction of Apple iPod and subsequently Apple iPhone and Apple iPad. The trio of these products was like a fresh fruit in the market. They were something consumers always wanted, but didn’t exist in the market until Apple released them. What made Apple reach out the world was the simplistic and intuitive nature of control in these devices. They were by no means budget devices either, having a premium price tag associated with every device. But once a sound customer base was built and that it was established having Apple product is an icon of prestige, it was natural people trying to purchase an Apple product for any price it was offered. Actually we have to say it was a genius of Apple to spend their marketing cost on a different direction to make the perception of Apple devices as superior to everything else on the market instead of trying to convince the customers to buy their product as everyone else does. This is affirmed by their unique iOS which is compiled to the exact requirements of the Apple hardware that emanates a sense of superiority compared to Android operating system which works in a range of hardware components with tweaked and recompiled kernels. We are witnessing another one of Apple’s innovating products today which is brand new Apple iPhone 5. Apple iPhone 5 was announced only minutes ago, and we are already getting some pretty good impressions about the handset. Let us compare it with its immediate predecessor Apple iPhone 4S in order to understand what has actually changed.
Apple iPhone 5 Review
Apple iPhone 5 that was announced on 12th September comes as the successor for prestigious Apple iPhone 4S. The phone was launched on the 21st of September to the stores, and already getting some pretty good impressions by those who have put their hands on the device.. Apple claims iPhone 5 to be the thinnest smartphone in the market scoring a thickness of 7.6mm which is really cool. It scores dimensions of 123.8 x 58.5mm and 112g of weight which makes it lighter than most of the smartphones out there in the world. Apple has kept the width at the same pace while making it taller in order to let the customers hang on to the familiar width when they hold the handset in their palms. It is made entirely from glass and Aluminum which is a great news for artistic consumers. No one would doubt the premium nature of this handset for Apple has tirelessly engineered even the smallest parts. The two tone back plate feels genuinely metallic and is pleasing to hold on to the handset. We particularly loved the Black model although Apple offers a White model, as well.
iPhone 5 uses an Apple A6 chipset along with Apple iOS 6 as the operating system. It will be powered by a 1GHz Dual Core processor that Apple has come up with for iPhone 5. This processor is said to have Apple’s own SoC using ARM v7 based instruction set. The cores are based on Cortex A7 architecture which was previously rumored to be of A15 architecture. It is to be noted that this is not the Vanilla Cortex A7, but rather an in-house modified version of Apple’s Cortex A7 probably fabricated by Samsung. Apple iPhone 5 being a LTE smartphone, we are bound to expect some deviation from the normal battery life. However, Apple has addressed that problem with the custom made Cortex A7 cores. As you can see, they haven’t increased the clock frequency at all, but instead, they have been successful in increasing the number of instructions executed per clock. Also, it was noticeable in the GeekBench benchmarks that the memory bandwidth has been significantly improved, as well. So all in all, now we have reason to believe that Tim Cook wasn’t exaggerating when he claimed that iPhone 5 is twice as faster as iPhone 4S. The internal storage would come in three variations of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB with no option to expand storage using microSD card.
Apple iPhone 5 has 4 inch LED backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels at a pixel density of 326ppi. It is said to have 44% better color saturation with full sRGB rendering enabled. The usual Corning gorilla glass coating is available making the display scratch resistant. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims that this is the most advanced display panel in the world. Apple also claimed that the GPU performance is as twice better compared to iPhone 4S. There may be several other possibilities for them to achieve this, but we have reason to believe that the GPU is PowerVR SGX 543MP3 with a slightly overclocked frequency compared to that of iPhone 4S. Apple has apparently moved the headphone port all the down to the bottom of the smartphone. If you have invested in iReady accessories, you may well have to buy a conversion unit because Apple has introduced a new port for this iPhone.
The handset comes with 4G LTE connectivity as well as CDMA connectivity in different versions. The implications of this are subtle. Once you commit to a network provider and a specific version of Apple iPhone 5, there’s no going back. You can’t buy an AT&T model and then transfer the iPhone 5 to Verizon or Sprint’s network without buying another iPhone 5. So you will have to think rather carefully on what you want before committing to a handset. Apple boasts of an ultrafast Wi-Fi connectivity as well offering Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band Wi-Fi Plus cellular adapter. Unfortunately, Apple iPhone 5 doesn’t feature NFC connectivity nor does it support wireless charging. The camera is the regular culprit of 8MP with autofocus and LED flash that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second. It also has a front camera to make video calls. It is worthwhile to note that Apple iPhone 5 only supports nano SIM card. The new operating system seems to provide better capabilities than the old one as usual.
iPhone 4S Review
Apple iPhone 4S has the same look and feel of iPhone 4 and comes in both black and white. The stainless steel built gives it an elegant and expensive style, which appeals to the users. It also is almost the same size as iPhone 4 but slightly heavier weighing 140g. It features the generic Retina display, which Apple is extremely proud of. It comes with a 3.5 inches LED-backlit IPS TFT Capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors, and scores the highest resolution as per Apple which is 640 x 960 pixels. The pixel density of 330ppi is extremely high that Apple claims that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. This obviously results in crisp text and stunning images.
iPhone 4S comes with 1GHz dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU in Apple A5 chipset and 512MB RAM. Apple claims this delivers two times more power and seven times better graphics. It is also highly energy efficient which enables Apple to boast an outstanding battery life. iPhone 4S comes in 3 storage options; 16/32/64GB without the option of expanding the storage with a microSD card. It utilizes the infrastructure provided by carriers, to stay in touch at all times with HSDPA at 14.4Mbps and HSUPA at 5.8Mbps. iPhone 4S can switch between two antennas to transmit and receive. Location based services are available through Assisted GPS, digital compass, Wi-Fi and GSM.
In terms of camera, iPhone has an improved camera of 8MP that can record 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second. It has a LED flash and touch to focus function along with Geo-tagging with A-GPS. In cameras, it is important to have a larger aperture since it allows the lens to collect more light. The aperture in the lens of camera in iPhone 4S has been increased allowing more light to come in however, harmful IR rays is filtered away. The enhanced camera is capable of capturing quality images in low light as well as bright light. The front VGA camera enables the iPhone 4S to make use of its application facetime, which is a video calling application.
While iPhone 4S is graced with generic iOS applications, it comes with Siri, the most advanced digital personal assistant up to date. Now the iPhone 4S user can use voice to operate the phone, and Siri understands natural language. It also understands what the user meant; that is, Siri is a context aware application. It has its own personality, tightly coupled with the iCloud infrastructure. It can do basic tasks like setting up an alarm or reminder for you, sending a text or email, schedule meetings, follow your stock, make a phone call etc. It can also perform complex tasks like finding information for a natural language query, getting directions, and answering your random questions.
Apple is best known for its unbeatable battery life; thus, it would be normal to expect it to have a fabulous battery life. With the Li-Pro 1432mAh battery it has, iPhone 4S promises a talk time of 14h in 2G and 8h in 3G. The device is rechargeable via USB as well. The standby time on iPhone 4S is up to 200 hours. In conclusion, the battery life is satisfactory on iPhone 4S.
A Brief Comparison between iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S
• Apple iPhone 5 is twice as fast as Apple iPhone 4S which is powered by 1GHz Dual Core Cortex A9 processor on top of Apple A5 chipset and PowerVR SGX543MPP2 GPU and 512MB of RAM.
• Apple iPhone 5 is taller yet thinner and lighter (123.8 x 58.6mm / 7.6mm / 112g) than Apple iPhone 4S (115.2 x 58.6mm / 9.3mm / 140g).
• Apple iPhone 5 sports 8MP camera that offers simultaneous 1080p HD video recording and image recording with panorama while Apple iPhone 4S sports 8MP camera that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps.
• Apple iPhone 5 has 4G LTE connectivity while Apple iPhone 4S only offers 3G HSDPA connectivity.
• Apple iPhone 5 is said to have 8 hours of talk time while Apple iPhone 4S promises a talk time of 14 hours.
Conclusion
Apple claims that iPhone 5 is twice as faster as iPhone 4S, which is its immediate predecessor. We have reason to believe that this is not an overstatement with the recent GeekBench benchmarking results. Essentially we see the predecessor successor relationship here. Any rational company would make the successor better than the predecessor and Apple certainly is a rational company. Besides that, Apple iPhone 5 is thinner, and Apple claims it as the thinnest iPhone ever as well as the thinnest smartphone in the world. It is also surprisingly light which we love. The Apple iPhone 5 has a detailed body that emphasizes its premium nature inch by inch. Obviously Apple iPhone 5 doesn’t degrade the quality of iPhone 4S, it’s just that you don’t feel like going back to iPhone 4S when you have used iPhone 5 for a couple of minutes. Since we have established the fact that Apple iPhone 5 is better than Apple iPhone 4S, let’s look at the pricing schemes. Now iPhone 5 is offered at $199 with two year contract while iPhone 4S is offered at $99 with a two year contract. I think the latter price point is more towards the range compared to the added benefits, but hey, if you always have room for a new phone, go for the iPhone 5. After all, it’s the new iPhone in the block, but remember, your iPhone 4S wouldn’t degrade itself either because the iOS 6 update is available for iPhone 4S.