Apple Highlighting iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c Reviews by Tech and Mainstream Press

[Dubthedankest]

Was the Verge not sampled with a review unit?

Their review wasn't released at the same time as these other outlets but I can't imagine the Verge not getting a review unit, as they are one of the foremost sources for tech news and they seemed to be in attendance at the phone announcement with their liveblog.

Anyone know anything about this?

 

[jaymzuk]

9 million sold within 3 days?! Even Android fans have got to recognized that feat for what it is: amazing!!!

Batman and Robin grossed $238m back in 1997, and that was a heap of ****. Maybe it speaks volumes about the customers more than the product.

Sales =/= great product

The 5S and 5C are variants of the 5, with little that's game-changing. I've no doubt it's not bad, but there's no need to start wetting your panties.

 

[samcraig]

To be even more fair, I was responding to what he actually said.

To be even more fair - context is everything and he was responding to the promotion of quotes. Personally I don't think keynotes count as real promotion. Certainly not formal promotion. But you go ahead and count it all you want.

 

[Trius]

It may be the best smartphone on the market right now...but there is almost no reason to upgrade if you have a 4S or 5 already...unless you want a fingerprint reader.

Upgraded from a 4S for a larger screen and LTE. The latter being a big one.. It allows me 5gb of "unlimited data" instead of 3gb before being throttled.. Not to mention that it is LIGHTNING FAST. Couldn't be happier. It is the best iPhone, hands down.

 

[BaldiMac]

To be even more fair - context is everything and he was responding to the promotion of quotes. Personally I don't think keynotes count as real promotion. Certainly not formal promotion. But you go ahead and count it all you want.

Just to cover all the bases, here you go!
http://web.archive.org/web/20050416002621/http://www.apple.com/switch/press/

 

[muadibe]

It may be the best smartphone on the market right now...but there is almost no reason to upgrade if you have a 4S or 5 already...unless you want a fingerprint reader.

Never had an iPhone? Sure...iPhones are very nice. I love my 4S 64GB. I really was looking for a reason(s) to upgrade to the 5S (the super-slightly larger screen which was introduced on the 5 didn't cut it for me) but no reasons appeared.


What would have made me happier (outside of iOS software improvements) and purchased an upgrade?...

-much better camera improvement
-larger storage options as well as replacing the 16GB option with 32GB
-USB 3.0 connectivity so I don't spend forever (on USB 2.0) transferring tons of content
-jaw-dropping Siri functionality/improvements thanks to newer CPU/iOS
-direct device-to-device Airplay support so I don't have to go through my router/network.


On a side note, I have seen iOS 7.0 on a friend's iPhone 5. YUCK! The whole style/colors is horrific, Calendar is all new look and feel, ditto for Notepad...just terrible from a UI perspective IMO. Oh, and she hates it too...she's gonna try to restore a backup.

Well, I am using a 5S. You can't tell due to the case, but believe me, people have them in their hands.

Also, upgrading from a 4S as I did, is a significant change. I agree with the poster who said they were surprise at how pleased they are with the 5S. I also find iOS 7 to be very fast and is quite slick. Great device. The fingerprint sensor alone was worth it for me. And I'm getting excellent battery life.

 

[dgree03]

Dedicated flash drives that can achieve those speeds and SSDs use banks of interleaved flash chips to be *able* achieve those speeds. (Think RAID 0.) The phones don't, or at least not to the same extent.

To the best of my knowledge, there's no phone on the market that even comes close to being able to write to it's flash at USB 2.0 rates, much less USB 3.0. Think of it this way. If you stuff an old 3400rpm EIDE laptop drive into a USB 3.0 cage, it's not going to be any faster than it will be inside a USB 2.0 cage. The bottleneck isn't between the device and the computer, it's inside the device itself.

Note 3 has USB 3.0 connectivity... It will be interesting to see the speeds at which it transfers data.

 

[BaldiMac]

It may be the best smartphone on the market right now...but there is almost no reason to upgrade if you have a 4S or 5 already...unless you want a fingerprint reader.

Or a larger screen.
Or better battery life.
Or LTE.
Or better performance.
Or a much better camera.
Or a lightning connector.
Or slow motion video.
Or...

 

[TMay]

This has nothing to do with Android. No idea why you would bring it up except to start a flame war on a thread that again has nothing to do with Android.

Yeah it does have to do with Android.

These reviews are by definition subjective, hence biased, and the Android fans are out in force. This was especially true when there were articles specific to Apple's A7. Very few Android fans would even acknowledge the benefits of 64 bit processors, claiming that Apple can't do anything without more RAM, or that it would take years to transition, or that Google is ready to go to 64bit and Samsung's 64bit processor is around the corner.

There are already 64 bit apps for the iPhone 5s, and recompiling to 64 bit is not a big effort, so of course, those Android fans were wrong and in denial. They've been on these threads since iOS7 was announced.

This isn't to imply that there aren't Apple and MS fans, but it sure disproves your premise that it has nothing to do with Android.

 

[BruceEBonus]

Heres some more interesting observations for all you iPhone Fact-Hunters out there ....

A high court found an Android-user's DNA guilty this afternoon. The evidence showed that the nucleic acid which encodes the body's structure and behaviour had caused the man to buy a phone that wasnt made by Apple. Passing sentence the judge said the man was free to go but ordered that his DNA be confiscated and imprisoned in a special cell for people who own Android-based mobile devices.

Beat that!
Good. Sorted. Fine. Done.

 

[samcraig]

Just to cover all the bases, here you go!
http://web.archive.org/web/20050416002621/http://www.apple.com/switch/press/

Thanks.

It is interesting that you had to go back to 2002 to find that, no?

In the history of the iPhone and iPad - Apple's never created (as far as I can tell) a pull quote page.

Again - my opinion is that it's because competition is greater now.

----------

Yeah it does have to with Android.

These reviews are by definition subjective, hence biased, and the Android fans are out in force. This was especially true when there were articles specific to Apple's A7. Very few Android fans would even acknowledge the benefits of 64 bit processors, claiming that Apple can't do anything without more RAM, or that it would take years to transition, or that Google is ready to go to 64bit and Samsung's 64bit processor is around the corner.

There are already 64 bit apps for the iPhone 5s, and recompiling to 64 bit is not a big effort, so of course, those Android fans were wrong and in denial. They've been on these threads since iOS7 was announced.

This isn't to imply that there aren't Apple and MS fans, but it sure disproves your premise that it has nothing to do with Android.

If you say so

 

[minkeycat]

How can apple claim these are the best smartphones on the market when their software is besieged with problems (maps!) and they don't offer half the features of competitor models and the specs are nothing to write home about.

Sorry apple, you certainly have the best tablet on the market (IMO), but the best smart phone ... Not a chance!!!

 

[thasan]

Thanks.

It is interesting that you had to go back to 2002 to find that, no?

In the history of the iPhone and iPad - Apple's never created (as far as I can tell) a pull quote page.

Again - my opinion is that it's because competition is greater now.

----------



If you say so

i second his opinion too.

 

[CausticPuppy]

The 5S and 5C are variants of the 5, with little that's game-changing.

The people that think the 5S is not game changing tend to be the same ones that think adding an inch to the screen would be a "revolution."

 

[minkeycat]

9 million sold within 3 days?! Even Android fans have got to recognized that feat for what it is: amazing!!!

I think android fans realise the qty sold is not a reflection of the quality of the phone, more the number of apple fans who'll buy anything Apple brings to market!!!

 

[dugbug]

Batman and Robin grossed $238m back in 1997, and that was a heap of ****. Maybe it speaks volumes about the customers more than the product.

Sales =/= great product

The 5S and 5C are variants of the 5, with little that's game-changing. I've no doubt it's not bad, but there's no need to start wetting your panties.

Nothing to see here folks. 9 million bad products. Gold Galaxy roxors.

----------

Thanks.

It is interesting that you had to go back to 2002 to find that, no?

In the history of the iPhone and iPad - Apple's never created (as far as I can tell) a pull quote page.

so

 

[JGowan]

And the "message board posters" are in Samsung's pocket.

Touche'

/s

I didn't say that. Those people are just jerks.

/not being sarcastic

 

[CausticPuppy]

Where are the naysayers now?

Apple would never produce a gold one.
Apple will never produce a plastic one.
Apple would never come out with those colors.
Apple priced the 5c too much.
Apple needs a larger screen.
Apple cannot innovate.
Apple is doomed.

It's the same people that yelled "it's just a big iPod Touch" when the iPad first came out. By the time they're proven wrong, they're already yappin' about the next thing down the line...

 

[dugbug]

It's the same people that yelled "it's just a big iPod Touch" when the iPad first came out. By the time they're proven wrong, they're already yappin' about the next thing down the line...

well to be fair the whole gold thing got all of us

its far more tasteful than I was envisioning though

 

[samcraig]

It's the same people that yelled "it's just a big iPod Touch" when the iPad first came out. By the time they're proven wrong, they're already yappin' about the next thing down the line...

Well it is/was a big iPod Touch - but real estate is everything. So it's not a fair comment to make without further explanation

 

[CausticPuppy]

Yeah it does have to do with Android.

These reviews are by definition subjective, hence biased, and the Android fans are out in force. This was especially true when there were articles specific to Apple's A7. Very few Android fans would even acknowledge the benefits of 64 bit processors, claiming that Apple can't do anything without more RAM, or that it would take years to transition, or that Google is ready to go to 64bit and Samsung's 64bit processor is around the corner.

There are already 64 bit apps for the iPhone 5s, and recompiling to 64 bit is not a big effort, so of course, those Android fans were wrong and in denial. They've been on these threads since iOS7 was announced.

This isn't to imply that there aren't Apple and MS fans, but it sure disproves your premise that it has nothing to do with Android.

The benchmarks have already proven that applications get a significant performance bump by recompiling to 64-bit.
But it's not because there's anything inherently faster about 64-bit computing, the Android whiners are actually correct that it's slower in theory-- but it's the fact that it's an entirely new, more powerful, more efficient architecture that gets the performance boost. It's not 64 vs 32-bit, it's ARMv8 vs ARMv7.

And think about it, by the time phones need more than 4GB memory, Apple will already be firmly established with their 64-bit platform and all the apps. Waiting until the 4GB limit becomes a problem is not the time to think about changing to a new 64-bit architecture! This is what they meant by "forward-thinking."

 

[slu]

Daring Fireball gave a pro-Apple review? I am SHOCKED!

 

[Macist]

Not surprised the phones are getting killer reviews. In the hand they feel far and away the best products on the market.

That's what Android spods don't get. It's not numbers and specs - it's the real world overall experience of handling and using the products.

 

[CausticPuppy]

Well it is/was a big iPod Touch - but real estate is everything. So it's not a fair comment to make without further explanation

The point is that it was dismissed by many to be "not innovative" and even irrelevant, because it was nothing more than a big iPod Touch.

I wonder if these people still believe the iPad hasn't had a significant impact on the industry?


By the same criteria, here are other things that shows Apple's "failure to innovate" based on responses over the years: iPhone3G (they added 3G, woohoo), 3GS(same thing just faster, Woohoo), iPhone 4(great display, still no LTE, antennagate, where's the innovation), iPhone4S(it's just a faster 4, woohoo), iPhone 5(looks just like a 4S, scuffgate, woohoo).

iPad2:they added what should have been there to begin with, a camera, woohoo
iPad3:it's heaver, come on Apple, what are you doing!
iPad4:too much like the 3 and came out too soon, woohoo


Gee, I guess Apple hasn't been innovating worth a crap over the last 6-7 years.

 

[samcraig]

The point is that it was dismissed by many to be "not innovative" and even irrelevant, because it was nothing more than a big iPod Touch.

I wonder if these people still believe the iPad hasn't had a significant impact on the industry?


By the same criteria, here are other things that shows Apple's "failure to innovate" based on responses over the years: iPhone3G (they added 3G, woohoo), 3GS(same thing just faster, Woohoo), iPhone 4(great display, still no LTE, antennagate, where's the innovation), iPhone4S(it's just a faster 4, woohoo), iPhone 5(looks just like a 4S, scuffgate, woohoo).

iPad2:they added what should have been there to begin with, a camera, woohoo
iPad3:it's heaver, come on Apple, what are you doing!
iPad4:too much like the 3 and came out too soon, woohoo


Gee, I guess Apple hasn't been innovating worth a crap over the last 6-7 years.

I wrote in another thread that people confuse innovating with many other things. There are several ways of being innovative. But truth be told - most of the tech works works in iterative and evolutionary products once they have their "core" products. The lack of innovation comment comes from forum members because we read all the tech news and can see the various technologies and how they may one day be implemented. We know there are flexible screens. When we see several phones come out with them in the same year - it won't seem innovative. Just an example.