Apple released the new iPhone 5S and the specs of the new device don’t meet our expectations. It’s difficult to compare iPhone 5S to other Android smartphones because you cannot compare this phone to other 4 inches Android smartphones as the price gap is huge. So yes if you compare iPhone 5S with 4 inches phones, it is much better. But you can buy two (or three) Android smartphones with 4.0 inches screen at the price of a new iPhone 5S. So it’s better to compare it to premium smartphones. Of course premium smartphones in Android have bigger screens (4.3+ inches) so it is again a bit complicated as Apple gives you no choice on the screen size like Android does.
iPHONE 5S VS 4″ ANDROIDs
There are a lot of 4.0 inches Android smartphones at a price half of that of an iPhone. Of course iPhone 5S is overall better than all these 4 inches smartphones but there are great Android phones on that size like Samsung Galaxy S4 mini which has a lot of great apps or Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2. As you will notice all Android smartphones with 4 inches screen have a 5MP camera (except Huawei Honor 2 with 8MP camera) and they have bigger batteries (from 1500 to 1730) than iPhone 5S (1440). Of course they all have tiny prices so you can get two (or three) of them for the price of a new iPhone 5S.
iPHONE 5S VS ANDROID PREMIUM SMARTPHONES
Lately we have great Android smartphones with great specs so iPhone 5S has difficulties in impressing us. Let’s take a look at the specs compared to premium Android smartphones.
SCREEN
The screen of iPhone 5S is just 4 inches with 326 pixels per inch. The size is good but not for videos and games, there you need a bigger screen like 4.3 or 5.0 or a phablet. If we compare iPhone 5S to premium smartphones, the device is far away from the top. There are a lot of phones with more than 350 pixels per inch. The best screen is found on HTC One with 469PPI followed by Huawei Ascend D2 (443PPI) and then there are 4 phones with 441PPI. We are talking about smartphones with 4.7, 5.0, 5.5 and 5.7 inches, big screens, quality screens.
CAMERA
Apple kept the main camera to 8MP and the front camera is 1.2MP. Apple said that the sensor is larger and it will allow more light to the shot. This is like the HTC technology on HTC One with the 4MP camera. It didn’t work there, it will not work on iPhone 5S. There are some apps like slow motion video, live video zoom (x zoom), square photos, panorama and filters that can be also found in Android phones. More or less, all Android smartphones have extra photo features. Today there are premium phones with 20.7MP cameras like Sony Xperia Z1. There are more great Android camera phones with 13MP cameras like Huawei Ascend D2, Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z or LG Optimus G Pro. If you need a camera phone, check one of these great phones.
PROCESSOR
It’s true that iPhone 5S is the first phone with 64-bit processor. Ok good. But is it faster than the octacore Samsung Galaxy S4, the octacore Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (with 3GB of RAM) or the quad core monsters? Apple said it is twice faster than the previous processor. So if Apple iPhone 5 was dual core, now Apple iPhone 5S is quad core? And what about RAM? iPhone 5 had 1GB of RAM when Note 3 has 3GB of RAM. Moreover the 64-bit architecture is a nice idea but far from reality as there are no apps right now that can use it. It’s good for hardcore gamers but these guys play on Playstations, not iPhones. You can find a lot of power phones with quad core processors on the market like Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Samsung Galaxy S4, LG Optimus G Pro or Sony Xperia Z1, Z ultra and HTC One. The list of quad core Android smartphones is big so you have the top speed at a big variety of devices.
BATTERY
iPhones had always battery problems and this model has a really small battery compared to the huge smartphones batteries on the market. iPhone 5S has a 1440mAh battery when Huawei Ascend Mate has a 4050mAh battery, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 a 3200mAh and there are more than 9 phones with 3000+mAh batteries so why choose a phone with less than the half battery? Apple should invest more in the battery section as smartphones users need their phone powered the whole day, not just a few hours.
SOFTWARE
Premium smartphones have their own software package and you will find some useful apps on iPhone 5S as well as on Samsung, Sony, LG, even Huawei phones. The most interesting iPhone 5S feature is TouchID. It is interesting because we don’t know if it will work. iPhone 5S is not the only phone with that technology, previous attempts failed. We want more security on our phones, we want the companies to help us find a stolen iPhone but we don’t want fingerprints detector on our device. I don’t know if it is the NSA scandal or something else, we just want to be able to unlock our phones and keep our privacy. iOS 7 made some improvements to look more like Android 4.3 and it has some apps for email, internet and sharing photos like all Android phones do.
SIZE
iPhone was always thin and the new model is slim. iPhone 5S is 7.6mm wide and weighs 112g. There is just one Android smartphone that is slimmer, Sony Xperia Z Ultra with a body of 6.5mm and there are some lighter Android smartphones at 4 inches like LG L5ii. iPhone 5S is thinner and lighter than premium Android smartphones as it has a much smaller screen so it’s smaller overall. But the difference is not big, HTC One with 4.7 inches screen weights 143g but you will not understand the difference because the screen is much bigger. So the body size depends on the screen and the feeling. HTC One mini has a 4.3 inches screen and weighs 122g but you will not understand the difference with a lighter phone because of the beautiful and sleek design. So hold the phones on your hands and decide.
DATE RELEASED
iPhone 5S is one of the latest devices on the market but not the only one. In IFA 2013 we had great announcements and there are a lot of strong devices on the market like Samsung Galaxy Note 3 that is brand new, Sony Xperia Z1, HTC One mini and Moto X that were launched the last two months. So if you want the newest phone of the market, you have many choices on the Android market.
THE VIDEO
VERDICT
iPhone 5S is not the revolutionary device it used to be. It’s just a phone with some improvements but you have no reason to buy it. The 64-bit architecture is not useful and it can be compared with the quad core giants right now on the market. When the 64-bit technology will be useful Apple will have launched iPhone 7S so you have plenty of time to rethink. The Touch ID technology is an old idea that need to be approved by the users to be considered successful and the software options are good but not unique. You can find similar or better apps on Samsung and Sony devices. At the same time the battery and the camera of iPhone 5S are not as good as the cameras and the batteries of Android power phones and the 4 inches screen is too small for that big price. You can buy better Android phones with the money you need for an iPhone 5S. And Android phones give you many more options.
SHOULD I BUY?
1. If you want a great camera phone, skip iPhone 5S and choose Sony Xperia Z1
2. If you want a smartphone to work with, skip iPhone 5S and select Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with the great S Pen features
3. If you want a smartphone with rich software solutions, skip iPhone 5S and get the clever Samsung Galaxy S4