iPhone 5S Hands On

So, today I visited an Apple store for the first time since the iPhone 5S and 5C were released. My wife was in for a repair on her iPhone which gave me ample opportunity to have a play with the newest iDevice on the block.

Picking up a display model I have to say, it's very impressive. What struck me immediately was its thinness, managing to make my iPhone 4S look positively lardy in comparison. I know the dimensions and weight are almost identical to the iPhone 5, but it's still a marvellous thing to behold when you do get your hands on one .

The first thing I went for was the TouchID demo they have on the display units. This app basically allows you to map your fingerprint to the phone and test it without actually saving it. About 5 taps later and my thumb was successfully mapped and the device was registering my touch with 100% precision. This is very impressive technology for sure.

Next up is the camera, which is a similar 8mp effort as the 5, however with a greatly improved sensor. Now, while I couldn't check any photos on a large screen, the quality of what I was dealing with on the phone itself was superb. Great colour balance and fantastic clarity, everything you want in a decent camera. The slow motion video was well implemented and great fun, though I'm not sure if I'd ever use it properly, it's a fun enough toy.

With the boosted processor, iOS 7 whipped along at a fantastic pace. I've noticed that it can hang a little on my iPhone 4S. With the 5S being designed for the new OS, the performance is excellent. Very quickly opening apps and transitioning between screens.

The new champagne gold colour is quite nice in the flesh, however I still think it's a little gaudy. However, the silver and slate colours are beautiful and understated. I think I would personally go for the silver colour myself, that one to me is clean and elegant.

Initial impressions for the iPhone 5S for me are really good. The TouchID feature is particularly impressive in my eyes. I'll be getting a 5S in the coming months when my upgrade is due so look for a full review coming soon. However, on first impressions this is a stellar handset and worth every bit of the hype

Read More

iOS7 Review

So, after months of waiting, Apple finally released iOS7 to the public on Wednesday. This is the first chance I've had to play with it, so I'm understandably excited.

Now, I'm not going to detail all the changes, that would take far too long and to be honest, there's already been plenty written about the new features, so I'm going to pick out a couple of things I use and detail those.

1: The UI

As you can see, it's a complete redesign. The Forstall design era is well and truly over. The new UI is flatter, features a lot of visually pleasing tricks and gimmicks.

For a start, the apps sit forward from the background, so if you tilt the phone on the home screen the background moves slightly. It's not a big difference, but it's a nice effect nonetheless.

Fonts have been refined, everything is cleaner and neater. It's rather nice.

2: The task menu

Swipe up from anywhere in the phone (including the lock screen) and you get this task menu. Simply enough it gives you quick short cuts to common functions such as Bluetooth, wifi, airplane mode, air play and the current music playing.

It's a nice feature, something iOS has been lacking since it's inception.

3: Multitasking

So whereas in iOS6, multi tasking consisted of the screen sliding up and a row of your open icons, in 7, you double tap the home button and you are greeted by this rather splendid card view.

While it does look similar to the Palm Pre's Palm OS, it makes multitasking look much snazzier, even if it doesn't add any functionality.

4: Notification Centre

The notification centre has had an overhaul. The transparency that sits throughout iOS7 is present here. Swipe down from any screen, again, including the lock screen, and you get a quick overview of your day. The weather, calendar events and your stocks.

The previous notification centre was overly cluttered and too busy for me, so this is a welcome change.

5: Camera

The camera app now caters directly for the Instagram lovers out there, with live filters and square frame photos all available from the camera's menus, it's a fairly pointless change in my eyes. But, plenty of people will enjoy it, so I can see the reasoning behind it.

The Verdict

I've only been able to play with iOS7 for a few hours, but overall it's a welcome change. iOS was getting stale and restrictive.

Although this UI change is very reminiscent of Android 4.3, it puts Apple back into the game when it comes to a modern UI.

One thing I will say is that on the iPad 2 it runs pretty slowly. So I'm assuming that on the iPhone 4 it will be the same. I'm running iOS7 on my iPhone 4S and whips along at a decent rate, so I would say the best way to experience iOS7 is to use iPhone 4S/iPad 3 or upwards.

Still, I like this UI a lot and I'll be interested to see the extra functionality on the 5S, such as the TouchID and Air Drop functions.

iOS7 is free to download now through iTunes or over the air when your device is connected to a wifi hotspot

Read More

New iPhone Announcement in September?

Rumours are flying around the Internet that the next iPhone (5S? 6?) is going to be revealed at an Apple press event on the 10th of September.

At present, it's just rumours as Apple hasn't issued invites to any event on that day. However, given their past behaviour on such things its a strong possibility.

Apple have frequently revealed iPhone and iPod releases on the second Tuesday in September. There was no iPhone announcement at WWDC in June so logically this would sense.

Also, Apple has just seeded the 6th developer beta of iOS 7, so based on previous experience this would give credence the to the possibility that the new OS is close to release, which typically happens the week of, or the week before a new iPhone is released.

So while it's not set in stone yet (and won't be until Apple release press accreditation), it's looking very likely.

So what can we expect from the next iPhone?

Well, we definitely know it'll be running the completely revamped iOS7, which to be honest, I'm very excited for. iOS hasn't really changed much in its overall look since the first iPhone. Sure there's been incremental updates, but the look and feel has remained largely the same since 2007. But this is an obvious inclusion.

The rumour mill around potential features has been going ballistic of late. People have surmised that the next iPhone could contain a fingerprint reader, controls on the rear of the device (unlikely), a gold version of it (I hope that doesn't happen), a cut price version with a plastic shell as well of a host of other outlandish suggestions.

Personally, I reckon we'll get the requisite camera improvements, better signal processing and improvements to the finish so it doesn't chip so easily. The big part of the new iPhone will be iOS7, so I can't imagine there'll be an amazing amount of hardware changes. Though I'll be very happy if I'm proved wrong.

It's only a few weeks till September 10th, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll keep you all updated, because I'm nice like that.

Read More