Review of iphone 5s

iPhone 5S

By تقني للمعلوميات 27 July 2016

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• 9/10
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• Read 9,912 reviews
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• Price as reviewed: £549.00

                                    Page 1: Living with the iPhone 5S                                                 Page 2: Touch ID and Screen                                                 Page 3: iPhone 5S: iOS 7 and Apps                                                 Page 4: Performance and battery li...                                                 Page 5: Camera and Picture Quality...                                                 Page 6: Call Quality and Verdict                                                 Page 7: Benchmarks                                                 Video Review                                                 User Reviews                                                 Specs                                                 60 Photos                                                 Best Prices                          

iPhone 5S review

Update: 21/03/2016

If you're looking for a new 4-inch iPhone, the iPhone 5S is no longer the best model you can buy. On March 21 Apple revealed the iPhone SE, a response to the people who still want a smaller iPhone. It's a seriously good piece of kit and if you have the money to shell out on a relatively pricey contract, it could be the perfect upgrade.

Related: iPhone SE
Related: iPhone 8
There are improvements across the board. While the form factor has remained mostly the same (say for a couple of tweaks to the corners and chamfered edges), everything else is bang up to date with the latest iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. 

First, there's the latest Apple A9 processor that you'll find in both the flagship devices, which should improve performance significantly. There's faster 4G and better 802.11ac Wi-Fi, too. The camera has had a huge upgrade, bringing it in line with the latest devices. This is huge news for anyone remotely interested in taking photos on their iPhone and is probably the most attractive thing about the iPhone SE.

You'll also get Apple Pay, 4K video recording, better slow-motion and Live Photos thrown in. Prices start from £359 upfront, and we'll update our other iPhone SE coverage when networks give us contract pricing.

If you're in the market for a new phone, the iPhone SE should be on your shortlist, especially if you need something a little smaller than the gigantic iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. 

First reviewed 5/12/2013 Related: iPhone 7 release date

Living with the iPhone 5S

By smartphone standards the iPhone 5S is outright ancient. First released in 2013, with the rumoured approach of Apple’s fabled iPhone 6S on the horizon,the iPhone 5S is close to becoming two phone generations old.

This means compared to more modern handsets the iPhone 5S is no longer a powerhouse handset. Making up for this, the upfront cost of the iPhone 5S has plummeted.

Now many carriers, including Vodafone UK, are offering the iPhone 5S with no upfront cost on a variety of affordable contracts.

Apple has also dropped the iPhone 5S’ sim-free price on the Apple Store and is selling the 16GB model for £459 - making it £80 cheaper than the £540, 16GB iPhone 6.

The price, combined with its smaller 4.7in screen and form factor mean the iPhone 5S remains, on paper, a fairly compelling choice for Apple fans on a budget and has stood the test of time surprisingly well. 

iPhone 5S video review

What has surprised me most about the iPhone 5S is that I have not missed 5-inch phones as much as I thought I would. I sometimes struggle juggling bigger phones while on a train or bus so it's been a bit of a relief stepping down in screen size. That changed since I lived with the 5.5-inch LG G3. That phone looks like a tablet compared to the iPhone 5S but manages to remain easy to use because of clever ergonomic design. Other competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 aren't quite as slick to use. 

There’s is not much to say about the iPhone 5S’s performance here other than that it’s blisteringly fast and very reliable. I’ve not experienced any issues with apps misbehaving other than the Google Maps hanging occasionally. It's annoying but may be as much down to the app as to the phone.

Apple’s iOS has its limitations, you can't customise to anywhere near the levels of an Android phone, but the fact that it just keeps working well is a godsend to those too busy to learn every little foible of their phone. I’ve not experienced the slow-down effects that tend to occur on Androids after lots of apps and updates have been installed - the iPhone 5S is rock solid. 

iOS 7 is a wonderfully simple operating system and while some don't like the new design, I've been delighted by it. The ‘Today’ notification isn’t something I’ve taken to much, but the multitasking menu and the Control Centre are great. In fact the lack of these features is one of the reasons I picked Android over iOS in the past. The Control Centre is still missing a quick access button to the full settings menu, which is particularly annoying when wanting to switch or connect to Wi-Fi networks. The neweriOS 8 is even better and the iPhone 5S runs perfectly with it on too.

It’s the Apple app store that makes iOS a great platform. As a mobile gamer the depth and breadth of titles is fantastic – Limbo, for example is a great little game that you can’t get anywhere else. Generally the apps are still of higher quality and depth than you can get anywhere else. 

SEE ALSO: iPhone 6 Review

Cameras have become so important on mobiles that there are now some, like the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Samsung Galaxy Zoom, which are more camera than phone. I’ve found that the iPhone 5S’s camera to be solid, but not as exceptional as some others. It is perfectly suited for snapping and reacts quickly, which is what I want from a phone camera, but there’s not as much detail as you can get from the Galaxy S5 or LG G3.