The iPhone 5C and 5S launched

For all you Apple fans, I am trying to review the colorful iPhone 5C and 5S which got launched yesterday.

The iPhone 5C has a plastic back and comes with 5 colors. Apple has smartly integrated the antenna in the back cover. It comes with the Apple A6 chip (not A7 which is the one on the iPhone 5S), 8MP iSight camera, 4-inch Retina display with a 1136x640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi and is only 8.97mm thick.  The OS is their latest iOS 7.  It comes with 2 memory versions 16GB and 32GB.

 

The wireless technologies it supports are LTE (4G), HSPA and CDMA EVDO RevB (Tri-Mode).  The phone has 5 variants with different bands for different countries. Interesting to note is that there is a variant which supports the LTE bands for India and this variant will an excellent 4G phone for India. The CDMA versions do not support the LTE bands for India and so if these are launched in India it will be a Dual Mode (HSPA+EVDO RevB) only. I am listing the variants for your reference below:

Model A1532 (GSM): UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)
Model A1532 (CDMA): CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)
Model A1456: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev B. (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26)
Model A1507: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20)
Model A1529: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20); TD-LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40)

The price for the phone in india will be around Rs 35,000 for the 16GB version and around Rs 42,000 for the 32GB version.

The iPhone 5C video

The iPhone 5S, looks the more traditional metallic iPhone design. It is supposed to be the first 64-bit smart phone. What that means to you is, it will be pretty fast in the transitions. The one new hardware feature added is the finger print sensor placed in the space below the display. It also comes with the faster Apple A7 chip, compared to the A6 on the 5C. The have also added a M7 "motion co-processor". It comes with 3 memory versions 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. The thickness is only 7.6mm.

You may ask what the M7 motion co-processor means - Apple has basically strapped this beside the A7 chip to pick up data from the device’s accelerometer, gyroscope and compass. This in turn will reduce the overhead and work-load on the A7 chipset, ensuring better processing and power efficiency. It also means a better app experience in those apps which use data from sensors. All the applications from the iStore will need to be reworked for the iOS7 which also takes care of the M7 co-processor.

Most other features and technology variants are the same as the iPhone 5C.

The iPhone 5S is priced at around Rs 42,000 for the 16GB version, Rs 48,200 for 32 GB and Rs 54,616 for the 64 GB version.

The iPhone 5S video

Have fun you iPhone fans.