New iPhones Score Well with 'Consumer Reports', but Display and Battery 'No Match' for Android Competitors

[ineedamac]

Dear , If in your wisdom you decide to create an iPhone with a larger screen, please keep the 4" screen. I like being able to hold the iPhone with one hand and it fits in my pocket nicely. The same cannot be said for the phablet category.

 

[mackinmike]

I have both an IP5 and S3 and my IP5's battery craps out faster than my S3. Just saying cuz I think some people here are in denial as with anything bad related to apple. The fanboism is strong here.

 

[Dreamer2go]

hope the new phone's screen is big enough but still allows comforting 1 hand use.
I've only view videos on my work phone - Samsung Galaxy s4, but for every day use, my iphone 5s is my main phone to go.

 

[bigkool2]

As the saying goes, the iPhone 5 and 5S are both the best selling 4 inch phones you can get. If that is what you want.. It's like the Honda Accord or the Toyota Camry are probably the best selling cars in their class if that is what you want.

The thing is, not everyone wants to drive an accord or Camry. Many want SUVs or minivans. There is nothing wrong with that but it is what it is.

The wife has an iPhone 5 and I have a Lumia 1020. She loves her phone and I love mine. There are software features I wish WP8 had (alerts for missed calls, text, etc, notification center, control center.)and there are things that WP8 does that she wish iPhone did. (Live tile, AWESOME camera, info on the lock screen, etc..).. The arguing of my phone is better than yours is old. No one made me buy a Windows Phone and no one made me get my wife an iPhone. We bought them buy choice and if/when were are unhappy, both of us have the option to try the other OS or go to Android. JUST LIKE YOU!!!

I am glad that iOS and android are knocking on Billion apps. Sooner or later, that won't be selling point.. I can just hearing Tim Cook saying in a couple of years (We have 2 BILLION APPS, wooo peeee deee doo, I can't wait to try them all one day. RIGHT?). smartphone owners will never own/ regularly using anything close to a 100 of them. If I had to count how many apps I NEED on a phone, I think I would struggle after 15-20 and I am sure most would as well. Apps that help you make it through the day or week, not games that you play to kill a few mins.

Apple is even slowing killing apps in it's own store..... How many of you have downloaded or used another flashlight app since the control center in iOS now has one?...

 

[admmasters]

With the bigger screens will come the fragmentation - one of many issues that Android phones suffer from. The app standard on Google Play is frankly garbage and this will be mirrored on the iOS App Store once this (very likely) will happen. Certain styles of custom app will disappear and apps that work on multiple ratios but not excel on any ratio will appear.

 

[GenesisST]

Battery life took a hit across the board with iOS 7, most notably the iPhone 5. It's certainly possible that the 5s suffers from the same issue.

My 5's battery life is pretty bad... i'm luckily plugged in or close to a charger mist of the time.

And yeah, Indisabled a few thing like parallax, some location services, background refresh, etc...

 

[OlMighty]

In fairness to this report the screen is small - I compared it to my laptop, and they're right, it's definitely smaller...

Did they also compare the ipad mini and say that it has a smaller screen than a 10" tablet?

 

[Dr McKay]

Never thought I would have heard Android being better for battery than iOS.

I can usually get a couple of days out my iPhone 5... yet my GS4 wielding friends get worried at the thought of leaving their houses without the charger.

Im guessing you hardly use your phone while your friends with GS4s are on them all day. I got 6 hours screen on time with my GS4, same as my friends with it. My iPhones always got around the 5 hour mark.

 

[pawn80]

my 5S battery is pretty *good* actually. def go more than a day with fairly heavy usage. not sure what cr, or other people, are doing with their phones.. but calls, texts all day, surfing, some video and music pb, takin pix... no battery issue.

and i for one do not want a phone bigger than the 5. when i want a tablet, i'll reach for a tablet; when i want a phone, i reach for a phone....

I'm with you man. I forgot my 5s charger over the weekend when traveling back and forth to Denver for a business trip. So I had limited availability to a charger when I was home and my 5s didn't die all weekend. Similar usage to what you've said also including listening to music or playing games for 3.5+ hour flights.

 

[wigby]

It's strange to see screen size as an objective measure of overall quality.

Not for TVs. I suspect the same logic goes into this evaluation of phones too.

 

[tann]

For me screen on time seems to be about as good as that of most non iPhones people I know have, though standby and talk time could be a lot better if given a bigger battery.

 

[KPOM]

It's strange to see screen size as an objective measure of overall quality.

True. CR does seem to rate "specs" like screen size and PPI a bit more than color accuracy, which isn't mentioned in their article. Consumers seem to have a preference for oversaturated screens, which is why TVs in stores are oversaturated. However color accuracy is one of those things that is actually better, but which people don't realize until they try to figure out why their pictures don't "look right" on their phones.

 

[wigby]

Do you have LTE disabled? I keep a charger at work as well because I know if I go out after work the battery will end up very, very low.

I've never been able to go more than a day without charging it... but maybe that's because I actually use it as more than just a phone?

LTE isn't a big battery drain. 3G and edge on AT&T are the worst. I am not a heavy user but I use my iPhone 5S throughout the day for a variety of tasks using both Wi-Fi and LTE 4G combination (bluetooth always on too). By the time I charge it at the end of the night it usually has over 25% capacity left. That's not great but it's no worse than any other iPhone I've used since the 3G.

 

[Corban987]

I have a motorola droid phone - I get 5-7 hours standby out of it. Not sure where these reports come from. I have iPhone 5 and 4 in the house as well and they are on IOS7 and get far better battery life. There are so many droid options you can choose from I am sure you can choose a phone that has a better or a few better features than iPhone, but overall I feel the Android package is not better. It is easy for a reporter to pick a phone with a bigger battery and then slam Apple for battery life, they need to start comparing Androids within Androids, start loading common apps on them and then do the comparison. If I check email on my moto droid then put it in my pocket the phone gets hot. Now this is the second Motorola I have had as the first got replaced and both were the same. I have had 2 iPhones before, I can tell you I would never buy a droid again based on my Moto experience and I would definitely buy an iPhone next time. My droid is company supplied so I had no choice, but now I can say I have both, use both and I can fairly compare the 2 side by side now for everyday use. I know what I prefer.

 

[neuropsychguy]

iPhone battery life could be improved but iPhone screen outclass almost all Android-based phones.

 

[GQB]

Probably the millions of people that read their reviews to get more informed about products. They're one of the most unbiased sources out there. I bet if this review was saying the iPhone beat the competitors in every category you'd be praising them.

You haven't been following their completely incompetent coverage of most consumer electronics for the past few years, have you.
They clearly have an axe to grind with Apple.

 

[njchris]

With the bigger screens will come the fragmentation - one of many issues that Android phones suffer from. The app standard on Google Play is frankly garbage and this will be mirrored on the iOS App Store once this (very likely) will happen. Certain styles of custom app will disappear and apps that work on multiple ratios but not excel on any ratio will appear.

Much of the fragmentation in Android is from the different chips/graphics processors and configurations. Having a limited # of differences that the iPhone would have with different size screens would not cause that kind of fragmentation.

 

[jtmarine73]

What the heck were they testing?

Never thought I would have heard Android being better for battery than iOS.

I can usually get a couple of days out my iPhone 5... yet my GS4 wielding friends get worried at the thought of leaving their houses without the charger.

Sorry CR, but there is no way this test is accurate. First, did you test the screen in a dark room or in sunlight? Try reading any android phone in the sun and your battery decreases 50-60% because you have to turn the brightness so high. Turn on the silly eye motion and turn a page without touching the screen functions and watch your galaxy battery drain away. The Motorola that lasts 24 hours weight a ton, and only lasts 24 hours if you only talk. The Motorola screen might be bigger, but it is not as clear as the iPhone. And seriously.... WHO TALKS on the phone anymore. Test data usage, cameras, texting, email.... not talk time. I get two days from my iPhone 5 and my daughter hasn't charged her 5c since we bought it on Monday (still on the charge it had out of the box, plus the short time it was connected to the computer to transfer apps). For anyone that says I'm a "fanboy"... give me a break. I've tried several android phones. I'll stick with a phone that works and fits in my pocket. When I need something bigger, it's called a tablet or computer.

 

[neuropsychguy]

As the saying goes...

Thanks for joining MacRumors. We can always use more anti-Apple Androidians around here.

/For the record, I use a Nexus 4 and quite like Android.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Consumer Reports? Does anyone care what they have to say anymore?

When they said that the iPhone or Macs were the best people thought their ratings were relevant.

 

[extricated]

Why some of the hate regarding CR?
The iPhones "scored well" with them; giving a largely positive review.
They just presented (hopefully objective) thoughts regarding display and battery in comparison to other products on the market.

 

[everything-i]

That is a pretty shoddy review which seems to be more about the writers personal tastes rather than a genuine review of any of the devices mentioned.

 

[wigby]

Can anyone pinpoint which Motorola phone(s) they are comparing iPhone to? Anything with a screen size larger than 4" should match or beat iPhone's battery life. If we're talking 5" or larger, they should be embarrassed if they can't double iPhone's battery life.

Apple's devices are the thinnest. If that starts to affect my daily use in a negative way, I might wish for a change but not yet.

 

[eltaurus]

true..

I find my HTC ONE better in Speed / Display & it has less restrictions then Apple ios.

 

[tzeshan]

Moto X battery is 2200 mAh battery. iPhone 5 is 1440 mAh. 5s is 1570 mAh. There are two reasons Apple can not put a larger battery in 5s. First the phone is 4". Second Apple makes it as thin as possible.