Apple : In Depth: 7 things you'll hate about the iPhone 5S

In Depth: 7 things you'll hate about the iPhone 5S
In Depth: 7 things you'll love about the iPhone 5S
Apple says app developers won't get paws on iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor
AppleCare+ for iPhone, iPod hits UK, accidental damage fees hiked in US
In Depth: iPhone 5S: 10 things you need to know

In Depth: 7 things you'll hate about the iPhone 5S

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Some people believe that the iPhone 5S is the best iPhone that Apple - or for that matter, anybody - has ever made.

They may well be right, but that doesn't mean it's perfect, and it certainly doesn't mean that Apple's latest i-device is flaw-free or beyond criticism.

There are plenty of reasons to love the iPhone 5S - here are seven reasons - but you won't find them here: right now we're the haters, and haters gonna hate.

1. It's even more expensive

The iPhone has never been the most affordable smartphone, and the iPhone 5S is the most expensive yet: it starts at a whopping £549 for the 16GB version, which is £20 more than the outgoing (and obsolete) iPhone 5.

And that's for just 16GB of storage, which isn't really enough any more. The sensible choice, the 32GB model, is £629 in the UK. It'll be a bit cheaper on contract, of course, but it's still quite hefty.

2. It's ruined the trade-in value of your iPhone 5

Here's how the smartphone Circle of Life is supposed to work. Apple unveils a new thing, you trade in last year's new thing, you put the money towards the new thing. Easy.

Here's how it worked this year. Apple unveiled the iPhone 5S and discontinued the iPhone 5, causing recycling sites to rush to their computers and brutally slash their iPhone 5 trade-in rates so severely that a mint iPhone 5 will soon be worth less than a packet of mints.

And as we've already mentioned, the iPhone 5S got a sneaky price hike too, which just adds insult to injury.

3. It should be scratch-proof, but it isn't

Apple can call the dark coloured one Space Grey all it likes, but its real name should be Scratchy McRubbish: that anodised aluminium casing is so prone to scratching that you can scuff it by playing an episode of Itchy and Scratchy in iTunes.

The white one's a bit better, but only because white is closer to the colour of bare aluminium and as a result, the scratches aren't as obvious. The gold one should be fairly scratch-resistant too, because gold is comparatively easy to anodise. Hang on - did someone mention the gold one?

4. Apple's gone bling

iPhone. iPhone 3G. iPhone 3GS. iPhone 4. iPhone 4S. iPhone 5. What do they all have in common? That's right. NONE OF THEM ARE GOLD.

There's a reason for that, and that reason is simple: gold things are for magpies, old people and idiots. Don't believe us? Sit back and imagine the kind of people who would just love a gold iPhone. Are you thinking Robin Thicke? Russian gangsters? The cast of The Only Way Is Essex? Of course you are.

5. There's a bigger, better one due next year

The networks would really like you to take your iPhone 5S on a two-year contract, but we all know Apple's modus operandi by now: the big hitters come out every two years with a new design and lots of new goodies, and the S models are relatively minor upgrades released in the years in between.

This is an in-between year, an "S" year, and we know what that means: a bigger, better iPhone 6 this time next year that will make you rue the day you put a cross in the box of that two-year contract. Just imagine what it might do.

If an S-model iPhone can read your fingers, maybe the 6 will be able to read your mind, or make your pets levitate. To be honest, we'd be quite delighted if it just had better battery life and a slightly bigger screen.

6. The irrational fear that somebody's going to steal your fingers, or maybe photocopy them

Now that Apple's embraced fingerprints to unlock your iPhone and authorise iTunes purchases with Touch ID, try not to imagine somebody stealing your phone and then coming back for your fingers so that they can unlock it.

That's far-fetched to say the least, of course, and we'd just dismissed the whole paranoid possibility when Newsweek writer Peter Jukes mentioned on Twitter that criminals would be able to 3D-print replacement fingers. Just because it's unlikely doesn't mean that you shouldn't fear the Fingerprint Thieves.

7. You'll have to wait for it

If you've already decided you want an iPhone 5S, nothing here will change your mind - but that doesn't mean you can just order your iPhone 5S today and embark on a new life of gadget-fuelled cosiness.

Nope: you'll have to wait until 20 September, or longer still if you don't live in one of the nine launch countries (the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK).

There's a flipside! Here are seven reasons you'll love the iPhone 5S

In Depth: 7 things you'll love about the iPhone 5S

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It's here - or at least it nearly is: Apple's latest and greatest iPhone, the iPhone 5S ships on the 20th of September.

It might look like an iPhone 5, but there are stacks of improvements: it's the smartest, most powerful iPhone that Apple has ever made. Here are the seven things that you're going to absolutely love about it.

And here are seven reasons you'll hate it

1. It's the fastest iPhone ever

While the cheaper iPhone 5C makes do with Apple's A6 processor, the iPhone 5S benefits from the most powerful processor Apple has ever put into a phone. The iPhone 5S has the brand new A7 processor, the first 64-bit processor to power a smartphone, and that means it's twice as fast as its predecessor.

Apple says that the iPhone 5S's performance is 40 times faster than the original iPhone, and its graphics performance is an incredible 56 times faster - and while you should always take manufacturers' figures with a hefty dose of salt, there's no doubt that this is the fastest iPhone ever made.

2. It knows what you'll do next summer

The A7 isn't the only new chip you'll find inside an iPhone 5S. There's a new motion co-processor, the M7, and it's designed to do something very useful: it continually monitors movement, so for example it can track your steps while the main processor sleeps.

That's great for several reasons: it enables a new generation of health and fitness apps to track what you do each day; it can tell your iPhone whether you're sitting, walking or in a vehicle and tailor apps accordingly; and it can do its monitoring without having to power up the main phone - so you get all the benefits of smartphone fitness apps without any of the battery drain.

Apple has opened up the M7 processor to app developers, so we should see all kinds of interesting new apps - not just fitness ones, but apps that use the M7's senses in interesting ways.

3. It won't make anybody look like a zombie

Previous iPhones - and many rivals - make do with a single LED flash, but the iPhone 5S has two. Apple calls it a "true tone flash", because that sounds more interesting than "twin flash", but what it does is very useful: it has one cool white LED and one warm amber one, and it can mix the light from the two flashes to get the right colour balance.

Where normal flash photos tend to look like the subjects have just been dug up, true tone flash photos should look much more realistic - and a lot more flattering.

4. It has a really clever camera

The iPhone 5S has a brand new camera, and it's clever in all kinds of ways. The lens is a new, five-element lens of Apple's own design, boasting an impressive aperture of f2.2. That means it's good for low light, as does the improved backside illumination that makes the sensor perform better in dim lighting.

The sensor itself is 15 percent bigger, which improves picture quality, and the camera software has been updated to take full advantage. It automatically sets the white balance and exposure, takes multiple photographs and chooses the best, and you can shoot using the new burst mode and slow-mo modes. The camera can also record HD video at 120 frames per second.

5. It can feel your fingers

Fed up with fiddly PINs and passwords you can never remember? Why not give your phone the finger? The iPhone 5S's home button contains a fingerprint sensor, which Apple calls Touch ID. It scans and securely stores your fingerprints, and you can then use the sensor to unlock your phone and to approve iTunes purchases.

In the long term, app developers might use fingerprint authentication for their own apps - so you might approve payments with your fingerprint rather than a crackable password.

6. You get iWork for free, and iOS 7 too

Apple's iWork apps are superb tools for home and business use alike, and every iPhone 5S buyer gets the lot for free: presentation program Keynote, word processor Pages, spreadsheet app Numbers, image editor iPhoto and video editing app iMovie.

That A7 processor should mean they're silky smooth no matter how big the projects you throw at them. The iPhone 5S also runs iOS 7, the latest and most useful version of Apple's mobile operating system.

7. It's a phone for grown-ups

As much as we like the brightly coloured cases of the iPhone 5C, when we're dropping serious money on a smartphone we'd prefer not to end up with something that looks like it came from Toys 'R Us. The anodised aluminium of the iPhone 5S comes in three distinctly sober colours: silver, gold and what Apple likes to call "space grey".

Even the gold one looks relatively restrained, especially when you compare it to its sibling's exuberant neon hues. Where the iPhone 5C is a phone to make you smile, the iPhone 5S is a phone to take seriously.

Wait! Here are seven reasons you'll hate the iPhone 5S

Apple says app developers won't get paws on iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor

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Apple has no current plans to open up its new fingerprint sensing technology to third-party app developers, the company's Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller has confirmed.

The new Touch ID tech, announced on Tuesday for the new iPhone 5S handset, enables users to unlock the handset and authenticate iTunes purchases by placing a finger on the revamped Home button.

The dual functionality has immediately led to speculation about what else the sensor could be used for, but Schiller told AllThingsD Apple has shut down the possibility, for now at least.

When pushed on whether devs could get access in the future Schiller declined to comment, potentially leaving the door open for a future roll out.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was a little more forthcoming when asked by the same site. He said: "You can probably imagine a lot of [other] uses," but wouldn't be drawn on the company's future plans.

Security concerns?

The Touch ID tech, which blends right into the new Home button, utilises a sensor that's 170 microns thin, and scans sub-epidermal skin layers using a 500ppi resolution sensor.

In order to conserve battery, the sensor is only active when it knows your finger is present and has 360-degree readability so you won't have to reorient your finger every time you wish to use the device.

The company has also promised that all of your fingerprint data will be stored locally on the device and will never be uploaded to iCloud or the company's servers.

It's surely those security precautions that would prevent Apple opening the Touch ID tech up to its army of iOS developers. Naturally, users would not want that data fed back to app developers alongside email addresses, high scores and more.

Still, as Cook intimates, its fun to imagine potential users for the tech in gaming, educational and entertainment based-apps. Lend us some of your thoughts in the comments section below.

What is Touch ID? Bring yourself up to speed with Apple's new pass code killer.

AppleCare+ for iPhone, iPod hits UK, accidental damage fees hiked in US

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On the day it launched its iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S handsets, Apple is giving butterfingered Brits the opportunity to insure their handsets against those fatal drops and spills, for the first time.

The company has rolled out its AppleCare+ scheme to the UK (as well as Italy and France), providing additional coverage for upto two years beyond the purchase date.

For an initial payment of £79 iPhone owners will get unlimited telephone support and additional hardware cover for two incidences of accidental damage.

However, if you drop your iPhone down the toilet or run over it with your car you wont get a completely free replacement, there's a £55 excess you'll need to cover.

Price hike for American users

Stateside, where the scheme has been running for the last two years, Apple has chosen to raise the excess for accidental damage from $49 to $79. The plan itself remains at $99.

As well as extending the program to Europe, Apple has also added iPods into the mix for the first time, which is a plus for those accident prone users.

Earlier this year it was rumoured that AppleCare subscriptions would be modified to cover all of a user's Apple devices, but there's no sign of that just yet.

In Depth: iPhone 5S: 10 things you need to know

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The iPhone 5S is one of the most anticipated tech launches of the year and so it's no surprise that it was subject to months of rumor and speculation in the run up to its official unveiling.

As notoriously tight lipped as Apple is about upcoming products, a lot of information on the iPhone 5S still managed to slip through ahead of time and as it turns out a lot of it was right.

But now with the iPhone 5S officially announced and the details confirmed, here are the 10 things that you really need to know about it.

It is in fact called the iPhone 5S:

In a move that surprises absolutely no one, Apple has confirmed that the new iPhone is called the iPhone 5S. That follows the standard iPhone convention of following up a numbered model with an improved "S" version.

It's a little bit colourful:

While the shape and design is the same as the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5S is available in a few new colours. Specifically silver, 'space grey' (is space grey?) and a bling-tastic gold model.

It's got an improved camera:

Somewhat surprisingly Apple has stubbornly stuck with 8MP for the camera in the iPhone 5S. That's not to say it's not been improved though. It has a 15 percent larger sensor area which allows for bigger pixels and better quality pictures.

It also includes a new flash called "True Tone" which aims to make colour tones look more natural and avoid clashing colour temperatures. Plus it can shoot slow motion video at 120fps and can stitch together shots to create 28MP panoramas.

It's got a fingerprint scanner:

Rumours of a fingerprint scanner have been buzzing around for a while and it turns out they were true. The iPhone 5S has a fingerprint reader built into the home button, it's called Touch ID and it gives you a new way to keep your handset secure and/or endlessly show off to all your friends who are stuck tapping out a pin to unlock their phones.

It can also be used to authenticate iTunes purchases and you can operate it simply by placing your finger on the home button - you don't actually need to press it.

It will be out very soon:

Apple tends to have new products on the shelves shortly after announcing them and the iPhone 5S is no exception.

It's been confirmed that the handset will be available to buy in the U.K. and U.S. on September 20, so if you want to be among the first to get your hands on it you might want to start queuing now.

It's not cheap:

The iPhone 5S is going to set you back at least £549 (US$649, AU$869 SIM-free) for 16GB of internal storage. Meanwhile the 32GB version is £629 (US$749, AUD$999) and the 64GB version is a wallet shredding £709 (US$849, AUD$1,129).

It's got a shiny new A7 processor:

A processor upgrade was always likely and it's come in the form of the new A7 chip. It's a 64-bit chip, making it the first of its kind to ever grace a smartphone. It's roughly the same size as the A6 chip despite containing around twice as many transistors, the upside of all this? Both its CPU and graphics are twice as fast.

It's also got a new "M7" motion co-processor which continuously measures and keeps track of motion data. Essentially it's gunning for the fitness tracker market, allowing the iPhone 5S to (in combination with apps) take on the likes of the Nike FuelBand.

It will ship with iOS 7:

We've already had a good look at iOS 7 but it's going to make its proper debut on the iPhone 5S (and the iPhone 5C). As well as adding new features it gives the interface a complete and much needed visual overhaul, freshening up an operating system that was in danger of looking stale.

Its battery has been given a boost:

Battery life is the bane of most smartphones and the iPhone 5 was no exception so it's nice to see that the battery has been given a boost for the iPhone 5S.

While Apple hasn't confirmed how big the iPhone 5S battery is, they have announced some stats for it. It can manage up to 250 hours of standby time, 10 hours of talk time on 3G, 10 hours of internet, 10 hours of video or 40 hours of audio. Almost all of that is up from what the iPhone 5 could manage.

Yahuui Blog

Wednesday, September 11, 2013