Apple iPhone 5 Review

Camera

The piece de resistance of the iPhone 5 is its 8 megapixel iSight camera; unlike other OSes, the iPhone camera is the definition of Point and Shoot. Other than a Grid view, HDR and flash on/off settings, the app offers nothing else. What’s the most significant add-on to the camera is the auto-stitch Panorama option. Stitched images look just brilliant when the lighting is right and just like the previous iPhones, colours look sharp and vibrant. Touch focus is always a handy feature to have, and it works very well on the iPhone 5. 

Superb Panorama shots that are stitched together in perfection

Images captured in dark loctaions with a flash proved to be quite good, but no better than most other high end handsets.

Photo Test – Low light with flash is not too shabby

Images in daylight or well lit conditions, on the other hand, looked really good. Focus was always where you expected or wherever you chose it to be, with face recognition being swift and very accurate. Details and colours also managed to be quite full.

Photo Test – Normal - Colours look much better, but details are still quite well retained

Photo Test – with HDR - Colours look more vibrant

Full HD videos came out well irrespective of the lighting conditions.

Check out this link for a few image test comparisons between the iPhone 5, the 4S and the HTC One X.

Battery

The iPhone 5 may be slimmer, which would have you wonder just how much of the precious battery has been shaved off. But if there’s anything we’ve learned in the last decade, it’s that devices can get smaller, slimmer and more powerful— and the same goes for batteries too. The iPhone 5 has a 1440mAh battery, which might not seem like much but is capable of providing over 8.5 hours of 720p HD video playback non-stop. Our loop test – where we ran the handset for 2 hours video, 2 hours audio, 2 hours audio streaming via Wi-Fi and 1 hour of calling – for the first loop was surpassed. The handset ran into the second loop where we were able to squeeze about another 2 hours more by way of 1 hour on a call and another hour and change of music. That would be equivalent to about 9 hours of non-stop usage, which in real terms translates to about a day and half of normal usage before you’ll need to charge it again. 

The bottom line and price in India

The iPhone is still one the most sought after smartphones out there today. And the iPhone 5 is nothing more nor is it anything less in that context. Just like all the others that came before it, you’ll have to pay premium price for this handset, where the 64GB version will cost you about Rs. 59,500 followed by the 32GB addition at Rs. 52,500 and the 16GB model at Rs. 45,500 (prices will vary depending on dealers, locations and special offers). That’s an awful lot of money to spend on a handset that doesn’t have a 5-inch display or support for Bluetooth file transfer and lacks a universally applicable connector or a special concierge service. No one can say it’s not a damn good handset, but is it worth Rs. 60,000? That’s an answer only a fan can give. From where we stand, there are plenty of great options out there that would do just as well for an easy Rs. 10,000 or more cut off from the price tag.