iPhone 5S/5C thread

[Eug]

It would be interesting to see how big the iPhone battery would be if it had a larger, higher resolution display that matched Android phones. Going from the iPad 2 to the 3 was definitely a huge battery change.

Very true. My RAZR HD does have a much bigger screen.

But then again, the RAZR M which is 4.3" and only a 960x540 resolution, still has a 2000 mAh battery. Its battery life has been tested to be the same as the Verizon Galaxy S III which has a 2100 mAh battery. OTOH, the Galaxy Nexus has a much, much worse battery life, with its 1750 mAh battery.

 

[jpeyton]

The market isn't enjoying the 5C very much. 4 major stock downgrades and it's down almost 8% since the reveal yesterday: https://www.google.com/finance?authuser=0&q=aapl

 

[WelshBloke]

This is a tricky statement. Yes raw battery life Android wins because larger screens seem to come with larger batteries also.

You can penalize Apple for only including a 1500 mAh battery, but at the same time most of our battery discussion is focused on which kind of phone drains more--and therefore efficiency.

Perhaps its more appropriate to normalize battery life in terms of runtime / mAh.

Now of course this is only part of the picture because I know some of you will tell me screen size matters. So perhaps apply an additional normalization factor for screen size/area? Therefore, by comparing a new normalized figure, you're able to compare the true battery efficiency of the OS and its internal components.

Does any of that matter to the end user though?

 

[Eug]

I don't know who was in charge of picking colors but personally I don't want my phone to look like a giant easter egg with a game of connect four on the back. Should have just kept the 5 if they are going to sell at that price.

Nobody is forcing people to buy the case, and they do have a white one. Think of it as a white iPhone 3GS with a nicer form factor and hugely updated specs.

Does any of that matter to the end user though?

Most of what we argue about doesn't really matter to end user. Seriously though, yes, of course absolute battery life is more important, but it is an added point to the discussion about hardware design and OS optimization.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Does any of that matter to the end user though?

No, it doesn't. Out of the box performance matters. Which is why when we quote raw numbers, someone will say

- But the iPhone has a smaller screen. Of course it wins
- But XYZ phone has a giant battery. Of course it wins.

By doing all that normalizing we're trying to dive into efficiency. Consumers clearly don't give a damn about power efficiency, just that their phone can last.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It would be interesting to see how big the iPhone battery would be if it had a larger, higher resolution display that matched Android phones. Going from the iPad 2 to the 3 was definitely a huge battery change.

I did the normalization of Anand's numbers by adding screen size. Sorry, all file sharing is banned at work even my supposedly hipster cloudapp that only OSX users use finally got banned. So here's the raw #s.

The formula is Wifi Runtime / Whr * Screen area

HTC One X (AT&T) 13.70
Apple iPhone 5 12.84
HTC One X (International) 10.88
LG G2 10.88
Motorola Moto X 10.41
HTC One (Google Play Edition) 9.29
Apple iPhone 4S 9.10
HTC One 8.42
Motorola RAZR i 8.19
Samsung Galaxy S 3 (AT&T) 7.98
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 7.84
Google Nexus 4 7.66
Motorola Droid RAZR M 7.19
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (T-Mobile) 7.12
LG Optimus G 7.06
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (Google Play Edition) 6.74
Samsung Galaxy Note 6.20

 

[MrX8503]

I'm not a fan of the 5C colors myself. I would prefer more solid colors rather than pastel. I like the new features of iOS7, but I don't like the new look.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

OP.
Can you add a poll?

Will you buy the iPhone 5(s/c)
No.
Yes, the 5s Silver
Yes, the 5s Black
Yes, the 5s Gold
Yes, the 5c

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I did the normalization of Anand's numbers by adding screen size. Sorry, all file sharing is banned at work even my supposedly hipster cloudapp that only OSX users use finally got banned. So here's the raw #s.

The formula is Wifi Runtime / Whr * Screen area

HTC One X (AT&T) 13.70
Apple iPhone 5 12.84
HTC One X (International) 10.88
LG G2 10.88
Motorola Moto X 10.41
HTC One (Google Play Edition) 9.29
Apple iPhone 4S 9.10
HTC One 8.42
Motorola RAZR i 8.19
Samsung Galaxy S 3 (AT&T) 7.98
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 7.84
Google Nexus 4 7.66
Motorola Droid RAZR M 7.19
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (T-Mobile) 7.12
LG Optimus G 7.06
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (Google Play Edition) 6.74
Samsung Galaxy Note 6.20

You aren't accounting for resolution and you are also assuming that power consumption increases directly with screen area.

 

[cheezy321]

You aren't accounting for resolution and you are also assuming that power consumption increases directly with screen area.

Care to take a stab at it?

 

[dawheat]

Android has always felt bloated, laggy, and unpolished to me.

iOS is the pinnacle of a clean smartphone design. The reason they sell like gangbusters goes WAY beyond hardware specs. It's the overall fit, feel, and polish of the OS that provides a very consistent and smooth UI experience.

That being said, Apple cannot rely on their past excellence to fuel future growth for much longer. The new larger screen introduction should have happened this year, not next.

I agree - there are advantages in a larger screen that cannot be overcome by clever design. Apple should keep their 4" line, but sooner or later will need to branch.

At this point, I can't bear to do any sort of "work" on my wife's iPhone 5 - whether it be reviewing long work emails, reviewing docs/spreadsheets/presentations, actually creating content, etc.

In fairness, these aren't things I really did on my iPhone 3G, 3GS, or 4S - but times have advanced and I like being able to be productive anywhere without a tablet or laptop. My Note 2 frankly seems barely adequate sometimes, but it's close.

Multi-tasking has some very specific gains for me as well and I"m actually excited about that new window-draw feature in the Note 3. One of my pet peeves is my work has the most convoluted conference code structure - with multiple inputs and a very long participant and host code entries. It kills me sometimes having to switch back and forth between apps. Just being being able to dial while on my work email is one of those things that makes me happy several times a day.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Care to take a stab at it?

I don't have the proper information either, I don't fault him for trying at all but there is a good reason reviewers don't try and do this, there are simply to many factors to consider. Besides given the extreme difficultly the end result is something most people don't care about.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

You aren't accounting for resolution and you are also assuming that power consumption increases directly with screen area.

Runtime/Whr*Screen Area*Re

LG G2 1.000
HTC One 0.775
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (T-Mobile) 0.654
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (Google Play Edition) 0.620
HTC One X (AT&T) 0.560
HTC One X (International) 0.445
Motorola Moto X 0.425
Apple iPhone 5 0.414
HTC One (Google Play Edition) 0.380
Google Nexus 4 0.334
Samsung Galaxy S 3 (AT&T) 0.326
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 0.320
LG Optimus G 0.308
Motorola Droid RAZR M 0.294
Samsung Galaxy Note 0.253
Apple iPhone 4S 0.248
Motorola RAZR i 0.188

 

[luv2liv]

The market isn't enjoying the 5C very much. 4 major stock downgrades and it's down almost 8% since the reveal yesterday: https://www.google.com/finance?authuser=0&q=aapl

it is embarrassing indeed. even "normal" non-tech people are starting to realize apple does not make phones people want. die hard apple friends of mine are switching to android every day cause they want waterproof phones, razor thin phones, or huge screen phones. so many choices...

year after year, apple makes their product faster and faster when nobody i know complains their iphone 5 is slow. hell, most were perfectly happy with their iphone 4s running iOS 6. speed was never an issue.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Why has Apple been so stubborn about screen size?

Can't be consistency (aka marking touting reaching all of screen) as we all remember Steve being against what we call today the iPad Mini.

Can't be lack of technology, plenty of 1080p screens to chose from.

Can't be battery life as Android has shown them the solution (bigger battery duh)

So why is it?

 

[jpeyton]

So why is it?

Can't intro a screen upgrade on an "S" cycle year.

A bigger screened iPhone is a lock for next year.

They will coast on their loyal customers and fat profit margins until then.

But is that the right strategy, given that Google considers this a land-grab era? Will someone buying a S4, One, or G2 switch to iPhone/iOS next year after they've already invested their time/money in Google's ecosystem?

 

[MrX8503]

it is embarrassing indeed. even "normal" non-tech people are starting to realize apple does not make phones people want. die hard apple friends of mine are switching to android every day cause they want waterproof phones, razor thin phones, or huge screen phones. so many choices...

year after year, apple makes their product faster and faster when nobody i know complains their iphone 5 is slow. hell, most were perfectly happy with their iphone 4s running iOS 6. speed was never an issue.

Stats show that Apple retain their customers much better than Android. Anecdotal doesn't mean much.

Razor thin? 7.6mm isn't thin enough for you? Its one of the thinnest phones you can get.

Why has Apple been so stubborn about screen size?

Can't be consistency (aka marking touting reaching all of screen) as we all remember Steve being against what we call today the iPad Mini.

Can't be lack of technology, plenty of 1080p screens to chose from.

Can't be battery life as Android has shown them the solution (bigger battery duh)

So why is it?

Apple doesn't make a change unless they know for sure its what will make the device better. Have you seen a history of their products or their website? For the most part it doesn't change much.

This is their discipline in keeping things simple. Throwing the kitchen sink in with phones XYZ giga megahz isn't their style. Their product names reflect that as well and doesn't read like a serial number.

Focus is what saved their company from disappearing, they're not going to give that up.

 

[ponyo]

Why has Apple been so stubborn about screen size?

Can't be consistency (aka marking touting reaching all of screen) as we all remember Steve being against what we call today the iPad Mini.

Can't be lack of technology, plenty of 1080p screens to chose from.

Can't be battery life as Android has shown them the solution (bigger battery duh)

So why is it?

It takes time to revise history. Or to forget history. Apple will be forced to join the larger screen crowd with the iPhone 6. There is too much money to be made. I think it just came down to accounting. Apple can afford to wait til iPhone 6 and they'll put their usual PR spin about how the new larger phone is the perfect size.

 

[Mopetar]

Runtime/Whr*Screen Area*Re

LG G2 1.000
HTC One 0.775
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (T-Mobile) 0.654
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (Google Play Edition) 0.620
HTC One X (AT&T) 0.560
HTC One X (International) 0.445
Motorola Moto X 0.425
Apple iPhone 5 0.414
HTC One (Google Play Edition) 0.380
Google Nexus 4 0.334
Samsung Galaxy S 3 (AT&T) 0.326
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 0.320
LG Optimus G 0.308
Motorola Droid RAZR M 0.294
Samsung Galaxy Note 0.253
Apple iPhone 4S 0.248
Motorola RAZR i 0.188

It's almost pointless to try. There're too many other variables involved. For example, the WiFi battery life depends on how good the radio in the phone is, and the newer radios tend to be a lot more efficient.

Really the best way to do a test like this would to find out how much power the screen draws by itself. The easiest way to do that would probably be to disconnect the screen from the phone's power source and measure how much it draws from a monitored external source.

 

[cheezy321]

It takes time to revise history. Or to forget history. Apple will be forced to join the larger screen crowd with the iPhone 6. There is too much money to be made. I think it just came down to accounting. Apple can afford to wait til iPhone 6 and they'll put their usual PR spin about how the new larger phone is the perfect size.

Too much money to be made? Ok, lets see who is making money here...

1. Samsung
2. HTC
3. Motorola
4. LG
5. Nokia

uhhh I dont think you need to tell Apple where 'there is money to be made'...

 

[chin311]

personally I don't want my phone to look like a giant easter egg with a game of connect four on the back.

LOL! So true.

LMAO. It is pretty teeny bop of them.

I'm in the "I have a 5 and am waiting til next refresh" camp...if I can make it that long, the new iOS should help.

 

[Ns1]

Too much money to be made? Ok, lets see who is making money here...

1. Samsung
2. HTC
3. Motorola
4. LG
5. Nokia

uhhh I dont think you need to tell Apple where 'there is money to be made'...

green for you

 

[Crono]

Out of sheer curiosity: Raise your hand if you are an adult male considering buying an iPhone, and want an iPhone 5C in anything except white.

Anyone?

 

[QueBert]

it is embarrassing indeed. even "normal" non-tech people are starting to realize apple does not make phones people want. die hard apple friends of mine are switching to android every day cause they want waterproof phones, razor thin phones, or huge screen phones. so many choices...

year after year, apple makes their product faster and faster when nobody i know complains their iphone 5 is slow. hell, most were perfectly happy with their iphone 4s running iOS 6. speed was never an issue.

You sure you're not exaggerating there? If not, you either have A LOOOOOOT of friends, or you're speaking about a 2 week period.

 

[Crono]

You sure you're not exaggerating there? If not, you either have A LOOOOOOT of friends, or you're speaking about a 2 week period.

I'm pretty sure that's what we call "an expression", not a literal statement of fact.

For instance, when someone says they see or do something "all the time", they usually don't mean every second of the day, every day.

The More You Know™