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Apple iPhone 5
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We’ve given the iPhone 5 the full video review treatment, bundling all our most pertinent thoughts on Apple’s sixth smart phone into one gorgeous moving picture. Hit play on the video above to hear what we think about the year’s most anticipated gadget, and see if you agree with our conclusions.
Visually, the iPhone 5 looks like an iPhone 4S that’s had a run-in with a rolling pin. It’s thinner and longer, with a 4-inch display that’s bigger than any iPhone to date.
The lightweight design is the first thing you’ll notice when you pick this phone up. It weighs just 112g, and makes the iPhone 4S feel as dense as lead by comparison.
The larger screen looks a treat, with Apple adding an extra chunk of resolution to keep the pixel density high. The screen isn’t any wider, but Apple’s added pixels at the top and bottom of this display, giving the iPhone 5 a 16:9 aspect ratio.
That means fewer black bars when you’re watching TV shows, but where you’ll really appreciate the extra real estate is with apps like Twitter, Kindle or when web browsing, as you can fit more text on the screen at once.
Apps that haven’t been updated to take advantage of the larger screen will run with the bars at either end of the display. That’s annoying, but plenty of major apps have already been updated.
The iPhone 5 comes pre-loaded with iOS 6, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system. There are some great new features such as Facebook integration, which shows your friends’ birthdays in the Calendar app among other things, and you can now make FaceTime video calls over 3G. Unfortunately though, the new Maps app is… not so good.
The iPhone 5 is more about refinement than introducing any jaw-dropping new features. We can’t find fault with the gorgeous design, and the rubbish Maps app is the only real downside. If you’re not convinced by its shiny allure, then consider the Samsung Galaxy S3 as a worthy alternative — especially if you’re after a much bigger screen.
