Apple iPhone 5S Reviews

Apple iPhone 5s Review at Engadget

Is the 5s the best iPhone ever made? Yes, though that shouldn't come as a surprise. Apple took a good product and made it better through hardware upgrades, new features and completely revamped software. In what would otherwise be considered a mundane update to the iPhone 5, Apple somehow managed to appeal to both the geek (64-bit support, M7 coprocessor, Touch ID) and the average Joe (a fresh, colorful iOS 7), all while laying the groundwork for the company's future.

Thanks to the introduction of the iPhone 5c, potential iPhone buyers now have another option to consider. If you want the latest and greatest, the 5s is clearly your best bet. Those content with owning a device like the iPhone 5 for a lower price (and those who love the color choices) will prefer the 5c. Frankly, though, if you currently own a 5, it's hard to justify coughing up the extra cash for an early upgrade to get either one. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at Pocket-lint

The iPhone 5S fulfils the pre-determined destiny of all Apple "S" devices - it's the one that's normally met by the baying crowd as "meh". 

In many ways Apple has released a phone for tomorrow rather than today. That's a hard sell, but it's also the exciting part. The Touch ID scanner is yet to be fully realised, as are the A7 and M7 processors and the 64-bit support. But the potential for that power is huge - it's got more grunt than its near competitors and that makes it extra exciting.

But we do still have a shopping list of wants: we would like a bigger and higher resolution screen, there is still no NFC (even though we believe iBeacons will destroy the need for that) and the software, despite looking cleaner, doesn't really move the 5S on too far from where the iPhone 5 was (indeed, plant iOS 7 on your iPhone 5 and it's a similar experience). iCloud still needs to be overhauled to be more fluid, while the social aspects of the phone such as helping you join the dots in your contacts book still need to be addressed and improved. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at Slashgear

The iPhone 5s is the best iPhone so far, by a long shot. Apple is notorious for describing its products as “magical”. The magic of the iPhone 5s is in how usable its improvements are. The updated camera is both fast and capable, with the True Tone flash proving itself to be no gimmick, while the Touch ID system feels like the first biometrics system that actually stands a chance of succeeding in the mass market.

Best of all is the performance. iOS 7 may take some getting used to for those familiar with earlier versions of iOS, but the combination of its improvements like iTunes Radio, more refined access to multitasking, controls, and notifications, and the new Apple A7 chip means the iPhone 5s simply flies. Exactly how much of that refinement is down to the transition to 64-bit is, perhaps, immaterial to the user, though it sets iOS 7 up well for the future. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at Wired

Apple's ability to bake in advanced features and keep the interface simple, and to provide processing power as seemingly great as what's on offer in a quad-core Android device, is testament to its skill at pairing custom hardware with an in-house operating system. It's complemented by the best app store on the market in terms of quality downloads, and although its an expensive product, it's one that rewards with a great performance and design, and will retain its value well for future resale perhaps.

But as ever, many of the high-end improvements present are left for future developers to exploit -- Infinity Blade III takes advantage of the new tech on day one, but every other app out there on launch day runs just as well on the iPhone 5 and 5c.

So if you're upgrading from an iPhone 5, particularly if you've upgraded it to iOS 7, the benefits initially are largely confined to the camera (which really is drastically improved) to begin with. But if you're considering upgrading from an iPhone 4s or earlier, the 5s will be like moving from a little old Ford Fiesta to a brand new Mercedes -- you may just have to wait a little for developers to build some incredible roads for you to really take it for a joy ride. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at Mashable

The iPhone 5S is, without a doubt, the best phone Apple has ever made. It's the top choice for anyone who wants a smaller phone with a high-resolution screen, formidable power and an unmatched mobile operating system. Still, Apple has no answer for those who demand larger screens. If that's your desire, you don't need to look any further than Samsung's Galaxy S4.

The two devices offer very different approaches to mobile phones. Samsung squeezes tons of functionality and even multiple options to perform the same task into its device (not typical of an Android phone). The Galaxy S4 can actually watch you, so it knows when to stop and start video, and even lets you navigate a website with your eyes. These are amazing features, but not necessarily ones I want. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at CNET

All you can really count on for sure with the iPhone 5S is that it has a noticeably better camera, is faster, and has better graphics punch. The rest is "future stuff." Odds are that Apple will make good on many of these claims, but it's never a guarantee. For the immediate now, the impact is incomplete. As the iPhone 5S and its apps evolve, so will this review.

The iPhone 5S feels like a "pro" phone more than ever, the iPhone equivalent of the MacBook Pro. Its features don't feel as immediately consumer-understandable. For many, the iPhone 5C will do just fine. The biggest wished-for features -- a MacBook Air-level battery life improvement and an even larger screen -- aren't on either new iPhone yet. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at Macworld

The existence of the iPhone 5c as a second new iPhone in Apple’s product line gives the iPhone 5s some breathing room. It doesn’t have to be the one and only iPhone. Instead, it can be the high-end model, packed with new features that will spread throughout Apple’s product line in the future—but for now, are exclusive to the 5s.

The iPhone 5s continues Apple’s relentless iteration, with the company adding several cutting-edge technologies into the product line, impressively improving on last year’s model while utterly blowing away the features of the two-year-old phones owned by users who are ready to upgrade. Rather than tossing a couple of dozen half-finished features into a new model and hoping for the best, Apple has focused on a few specific areas. It has combined its hardware knowledge with its software expertise, and done an impressive job of making the new features elegant and usable. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at TechRadar

The iPhone 5S is, predictably, the best iPhone ever from Apple - but what's intriguing is just how much we enjoyed using this evolutionary device. There's always an apathy with any kind of 'S' device from Apple, as it's historically just the same thing made a little bit better. It's true the advances on the iPhone 5S are few, but the ones that are there are very impressive indeed. 64 bit apps, while consumers are paying to not have access yet, are coming to really turbocharge the experience, and the A7 processor is clearly capable of some very heavy lifting.

The camera is improved impressively, taking some excellent shots with minimal backlift needed from the user, and the Touch ID sensor is the first real step into biometrics on a smartphone, and one that Apple has succeeded in implementing. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at PCMAG

The iPhone 5s isn't the phone for everyone, but it's the phone for a lot of people. The key, as always, is the combination of Apple's clean design, no-worry interface, still-unbeatable selection of apps, and industry-leading customer support. Combine that with the most powerful processor available in a smartphone today, the fastest Web browser, and the second-best camera (after the Nokia Lumia 1020, which has other problems), and you have a killer smartphone with potential to gain features over the next year. Also, it comes in gold.

The iPhone 5s gets our Editors' Choice on Verizon Wireless, but it isn't our only winner. The Samsung Galaxy S4 offers a very different path: It's much more user-configurable (down to the battery and memory), and has a much bigger screen, slightly better reception, and simultaneous voice and data on the Verizon network, but it comes with a heavy-handed software design. And it lacks all of those exclusive iOS apps and the potential represented by the A7/M7 CPU combo and the Touch ID sensor. Read more...

Apple iPhone 5s Review at TechCrunch

With the iPhone 5s, Apple once again wins the right to claim the title of best smartphone available. The hardware may resemble its predecessor in many key ways, as with the 4-inch Retina display, but it improves dramatically in areas like the camera where it makes the most difference to every day users, and in the addition of the fingerprint sensor, which is already a feature I miss when I switch back to older generation devices or the iPhone 5c. And thanks to the 64-bit A7 processor, this phone, more than any iPhone before it, is likely to be the device that grows more appealing as the software ecosystem catches up, which is great news for buyers looking for something that isn’t so easily replaced by the next big thing that comes along. Read more...