The iPhone 5 release date is just two days away, and tech journalists are already submitting their overwhelmingly positive reviews of Apple's newest device. Here's our roundup of what the best reviews had to say:
CNET was quick to point out that iPhone 5 is a full ounce lighter than the iPhone 4S, thanks to the smartphone's thinner body and metal back casing.
"First off, you're going to be shocked at how light this phone is," writes the tech news-site. "It's the lightest iPhone, even though it's longer and has a bigger screen. After a few days with it, the iPhone 4S will feel as dense as lead."
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CNET also praised the larger, 4-inch screen:
Secondly, the screen size lengthening is subtle: but, like the Retina Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it. The extra space adds a lot to document viewing areas above the keyboard, landscape-oriented video playback (larger size and less letterboxing), and home-page organizing (an extra row of icons/folders). Who knows what game developers will dream up, but odds are that extra space on the sides in landscape mode will be handily used by virtual buttons and controls.
USA Today noted that Samsung still boasts bigger screens, but that the iPhone 5's screen features a sharper display.
I was able to display more than four extra paragraphs reading the same newspaper article on the Samsung [Galaxy S3] as opposed to the iPhone 5. On the other hand, the iPhone screen appears sharper and brighter, and the phone is easier to carry.
The release of the iPhone 5 also represents a drastic redesign of the smartphone's rear-camera. The camer
"The iPhone 5 truly rivals a dedicated point & shoot in its camera abilities," argues SlashGear. "Stills are crisp and bright, using a new spacial noise reduction system that can identify any outlier pixels - such as a rogue green dot in among an otherwise blue sky - and iron them out."
The NY Times also praised the new camera, calling it "among the best ever put into a phone."
The new camera also features a built-in panorama mode, which the Times noted is "fully automated and offers a preview of the panorama that materializes as you're taking it."
The iPhone 5 features a redesigned A6 chip which Apple claims is the most powerful smartphone processor yet.
The Telegraph agreed, writing:
Starting the phone, loading apps, or taking photos - everything is faster on the iPhone 5. Benchmarking with the Geekbench app has shown that the iPhone 5 is not just faster than the iPhone 4S but it also outperforms Samsung's Galaxy S3.
CBC News conducted their own processing tests and came to the same results, noting, "The iPhone 5 does everything - from computations to 3D rendering to opening apps - faster than the 4S, in some cases at double the speed."
One of the most exciting new features for the iPhone 5 is Apple Maps, the company's in-house replacement for Google Maps.
TIME Magazine praised Apple Maps, particularly the new "Flyover" feature which displays 3D renderings of cityscapes:
The slickest think about the new Maps is one of the most spectacular things that Apple, or anybody else, has ever put on a gadget: Flyover... Flyover melds 3D models with photos shot from airplanes to recreate urban worlds with unprecedented realism.
Not surprisingly, Flyover seems to be very, very data-intensive: It took a while for those gorgeous scenes to pop up into place when I viewed them. But it was worth it.
TechCrunch admitted to being "impressed" by Flyover, although they noted that the new service is not as good as Google Maps. The tech-blog did praise the addition of turn-by-turn directions, however, writing:
I used turn-by-turn fairly extensively on the highway one day and it worked well. It's great to have it on the lock screen and even better that it works even as you're in other apps (it will pop up alerts as you travel). This is a welcome addition.
There you have it, the reviewers have spoken, and for the most part the iPhone 5 has been hailed a success. All there is to do now is wait until consumers get their hands on the new iPhone and see what they think.
