Apple's Prototype iPhone 5S Based on New A7 Chip

[teknikal90]

That iphone looks worse than my 4s that I've been treating like ass for the past 1.5 years with no case ever

 

[JarJarThomas]

i am really happy to get the 5s as soon as its available.
my wife has a 5 while i am on a 4 (we bought our 4's together for the marriage).

I think also as stated earlier that the dual color flash could greatly improve the color reproduction of fotos (that doesn't mean i am not extremely impressed with the photos the 5 does)

I am sure there is also another feature, there was always another feature, they wouldn't change that.
Having a finger print sensor would be great, allowing it to securely pay by paypal or itunes account, or just swype to buy an app instead of entering my password.

Truth is i can't think of many hardware features usefull (and good enough) so that apple would implement them.
- NFC is a dead horse, no one should ride a dead horse (well some managers do it always but thats their problem)
- more resolution not necessary, at least i can't see a difference between a fullhd screen or apples retina screen. Would only cost more power, don't think it makes sense yet.
- screensize ... yes i have nothing against a larger screen, i only have something against a larger phone
- 20mp (well even 10mp) really useless. more mp means worse images with current tech

usefull apple like features would be
-> better foto
-> more battery power
-> fingerprint could be, if it is done good, it would be great, if it is as sluggish as in most notebooks, please no
-> more power in some situations usefull (eg streaming over lightning)
-> ac wifi i don't know if there are mobile chips for ac wifi, but if it would be good for airdrop

rest is more in software and as far as i could work with the ios7 beta and especially saw in the wwdc dev videos, for a companion device (like the iphone is designed to be) i cant see any more necessary features.

i mean in many cases phones can do already more than pc's (also macbooks) with their sensors, mobile access and specialized mobile apps.

Only pc feature missing is a file explorer, which is something i don't want on a phone. Here i like the idea of synching my app to the phone much more.

 

[Nightarchaon]

I prefer it. This is a beta, understand, and some mods will likely be seen by release. But there is much more to like in what they've done, than to dislike.

If you're using the beta, and not liking it, it's because you shouldn't BE using the beta, as you are obviously not someone who it is intended for.

Or im using the beta because i work in the IT department of a large ($40bn per year) company and have to make sure our corporate apps are up and running on the new OS for day 1 when it launches so that our clients using our apps get a seamless experience, but you go ahead and "assume".

i dislike, on a personal level, everything about the new design of the OS, i think its pandering too much to "change for the sake of change" and Ives need to prove himself "ruler of apple".

The beta problems (Bad battery life, apps crashing etc) will be ironed out by release, but the overall look of the OS wont change, and i really prefer the "skeuomorphism" design we have had so far, making iOS more like Touchwiz isn't the way to go IMO


on a professional level, well, i guess im happy, as now its pushed iOS more evenly into the android look and feel i might be able to get our iOS trenched people out and onto devices better suited for the business needs (read: Longer Battery Life, and user replaceable batteries for reps on the road)

 

[franswa za]

"dual" flash?

as a photographer i sincerely hope that the reddish looking module is a pre flash focussing aide...... iphone flash pictures in low light and darkness result in out of focus pix in most cases, hopefully this will solve that problem.

 

[Mackan]

RAM is equally important as CPU/GPU. But still only 1 GB of RAM. Instead, dual flash?

 

[Rogifan]

Or im using the beta because i work in the IT department of a large ($40bn per year) company and have to make sure our corporate apps are up and running on the new OS for day 1 when it launches so that our clients using our apps get a seamless experience, but you go ahead and "assume".

i dislike, on a personal level, everything about the new design of the OS, i think its pandering too much to "change for the sake of change" and Ives need to prove himself "ruler of apple".

The beta problems (Bad battery life, apps crashing etc) will be ironed out by release, but the overall look of the OS wont change, and i really prefer the "skeuomorphism" design we have had so far, making iOS more like Touchwiz isn't the way to go IMO


on a professional level, well, i guess im happy, as now its pushed iOS more evenly into the android look and feel i might be able to get our iOS trenched people out and onto devices better suited for the business needs (read: Longer Battery Life, and user replaceable batteries for reps on the road)

So basically because you personally preferred the iOS 6 and prior design iOS 7 is just change for the sake of change?

So using your logic, when Apple release a 5" phone can call it change for the sake of change because I like the current size.

 

[chrmjenkins]

RAM is equally important as CPU/GPU. But still only 1 GB of RAM. Instead, dual flash?

For all you know its 1333 MHz LPDDR3 RAM with a 128 bit memory interface. It's not just about quantity, it's about speed too. And quantity matters less on iOS platforms because the memory footprint is more aggressively managed by iOS than android.

 

[ukiss]

Hope it will have more ram for ios 7 multitasking.

 

[pdqgp]

So will Apple ever LISTEN and allow us to insert our own storage card.....

 

[dojoman]

The 6 will have the major updates. Seems like a spec bump and minor mods to the phone.

I doubt 6 would be no different except the body shell changed just like iP5.

 

[Vanilla35]

methinks that Apple's A7 chip would be as such:

• GPU: 2x the performance or more. PowerVR Series 6 (Rogue) unleashed!
• RAM: 1GB, no change.
• CPU: Dual-core at 32nm, no fundamental change from A6.

Why? iOS 7's animations, translucency, parallax wallpaper effects etc. calls for a new GPU!

On the RAM side, the same 4-inch Retina Display is reused, containing the same amount of pixels. No increase in RAM (for graphics) required!

On the CPU side, the same dual-core built with a 32nm process makes sense for battery life to be maintained. Want a quad-core with the similar or lower energy consumption? We'll have to wait for a 20nm process first.

This seems to be spot on to what I was thinking.

For anyone that is thinking it's going to be quad core, you're wrong. And although it would be nice, 2gigs of ram isn't necessary, so don't expect it. You know how apple likes to do the bare minimum in certain categories

~~Judgements made based on iPhone5's performance with iOS7~~

 

[theSuit]

Look at the bottom left of the 5S, the 2 homebutton prongs on the iPhone 5 are replaced by a small connector - likely to support a touch button/fingerprint scanning sensor.

Edit:Here's the iPhone 5's connector for comparison:

I'm guessing they'll implement a trackpad-like wide homebutton which is still clickable. That way you can swipe left and right in Safari and other apps, swipe the homebutton to unlock (with fingerprint sensing), and use it as a cool little game controller.

I could see no other need for more pins going to the home button.

 

[Ungibbed]

Very interesting modifications no less, I love that the flash will provide a natural color balance indoors as the current solution is post processing for natural skin tones instead of a room full of vampires.

A jump from the A6 directly to the A7 is a bit painful for me as I just got my iPhone 5 for T-Mobile. I'm curious if the 5S will have the required bands for AWS on 1700 MHz? That way I could make a quick sale and upgrade if the extra hardware is worth the investment.

If my iPhone 5 runs iOS 7 just fine, I will stick with what I have. I do wonder what will become of the A6X CPU which I expected to be in the 5S. Guess the new A7 powered iPad is going to absolutely fly!

 

[D.T.]

Agreed! Just over the weekend, I surpassed 10,100 pictures on my 64gb iPhone 5. Between those pics, videos and my music, I still have about 9 gigs free... but I like the extra breathing room! bring on the 128gb iphone 5s!

Holy smokes man! Back those pics up and free up some space I actually tend to leave a 3-6 months rolling window of pics too, but 10K+ sounds like photos from the beginning of time

-> better foto
-> more battery power

I could very well be a buyer (as a current iP5 owner) with another 2-4 hours of usable battery life and some photo system improvements (especially in the area of flash/low-light pictures).

 

[kskill]

This seems to be spot on to what I was thinking.

For anyone that is thinking it's going to be quad core, you're wrong. And although it would be nice, 2gigs of ram isn't necessary, so don't expect it. You know how apple likes to do the bare minimum in certain categories

~~Judgements made based on iPhone5's performance with iOS7~~

Was hoping for 2GB ram. Even if iOS7 doesn't need it, iOS8 likely will. And thus, I don't even have a 5S yet and I already want a 6/6S. D'oh!

As long as the battery is more efficient than the 4S (can't be any worse, right?), I'll likely buy it.

 

[tann]

I think it's time to drop the 16gb Apple.

HTC One starts at 32gb for £529 (price of the iPhone 5 16gb).

Drop the 16gb, put 32gb as the minimum going up to 128gb.

Also do the same for the full sized iPad!

 

[mrhick01]

RAM is equally important as CPU/GPU. But still only 1 GB of RAM. Instead, dual flash?

There you "spec race" guys go again.

 

[ChrisTX]

As someone that jumped ship to Android for the past year. I can't wait to make this device my reintroduction to iPhone!

 

[D.T.]

Look at the bottom left of the 5S, the 2 homebutton prongs on the iPhone 5 are replaced by a small connector - likely to support a touch button/fingerprint scanning sensor.

I'm guessing they'll implement a trackpad-like wide homebutton which is still clickable. That way you can swipe left and right in Safari and other apps, swipe the homebutton to unlock (with fingerprint sensing), and use it as a cool little game controller.

I could see no other need for more pins going to the home button.

Nice analysis. If that _is_ the "home" connector, that multi-pin interface is certain not needed for the current [simple] on/off state.

It'll be very interesting if we see a home button design deviation after the same implementation since the original iPhone (and iPod Touch, and all iPads...). If it happens, I'd assume a quick as lightening (*ouch*) migration of other products too, meaning iPad 5[th gen] will have it.

 

[myrtlebee]

This has got me questioning whether my A5 devices will be able to run iOS 7 smoothly. This thing will probably be introduced when iOS 7 launches and its chip will be 4 generations removed from the A5 (A5X, A6, A6X, A7).

 

[rusty2192]

My two-year Verizon contract is up FRIDAY. Additionally, the home-button on my iPhone 4 is nearly completely shot.

Do you think I should wait for 5S or jump on 5 now?

I would wait. You will probably have to wait about 3 months. Keeping mashing that home button and wait it out.

One thing I found to help with the shoddy iPhone 4 home button is turning on a virtual home button that you can place anywhere on the screen. It's in the accessibility settings somewhere.

Settings>General>Accessibility>AssisstiveTouch

 

[Nightarchaon]

So basically because you personally preferred the iOS 6 and prior design iOS 7 is just change for the sake of change?

So using your logic, when Apple release a 5" phone can call it change for the sake of change because I like the current size.

Its why every other company offers a choice of products, apples inability to offer a choice is whats going to cripple it,

Now , i don't mean they need to do the scatter shot, 9 billion devices samsung is doing,

But iOS7 is like windows 8, too big a jump in many respects, from the previous version, the average man on the street, who has spent years with an iPhone in his pocket, is going to find this a jarring upgrade, possibly jarring enough to see them look up for the 1st time since they bought an iPhone an shop around when upgrade time comes.

From a marketing perspective i think this will loose apple more iPhone users than it will draw in ,

now interestingly, i think iOS7 on the iPad looks good, its just on my phone, the device i need to glance at, and put away, instead of an icon looking like it should (skeuomorphic) its now an abstract piece of artwork by Ive , my phone i want to be simple and be able to use with quick glances, not have to hunt for stuff because the icons change every update

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Apple already uses the flash for notifications.

Using the colored LED for that feature would be preferable.

 

[bazinga!!]

Nice! The Dual Flash looks like they're separated for Tungsten color balance and Daylight color balance..

This means your nighttime party pics aren't going to be as harsh-blue and will match room lighting.


The colored flash matches a tungsten filter. For example:
Image

Canon, really? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

[WestonHarvey1]

If you're using the beta, and not liking it, it's because you shouldn't BE using the beta, as you are obviously not someone who it is intended for.

That's silly. If you *should* be using the beta, then you by default *will like* it?

I need to be using the beta. I don't exactly like it.