Apple will be Plastic Re-imagining of The iPhone 5

Apple released two iPhone handsets for the first time last month.

Apple released two iPhone handsets for the first time last month, and today we're delivering our final verdict on the iPhone 5C

This year, 2013, was the first time in tech-history that two iPhones were launched at the same time. Usually we got one premium handset but this time we were treated to two –– the “premium” iPhone 5S, with its next-gen A7 processor and hugely updated camera, and the “slightly-less-expensive-but-still-premium” iPhone 5C.

Apple had two options with the iPhone 5C –– go cheap and ransack the sub-£200 bracket or keep things “Apple” and offer a premium handset at a slightly more egalitarian price point. Cook and co. of course opted for the latter scenario, pitching the iPhone 5C as a replacement for the now defunct iPhone 5.

Would Steve Jobs have signed off on the iPhone 5C? Plenty of people say no, but I’d argue the opposite. Upon his return to Apple in the late-90s, Jobs cut staff and product lines and commissioned Apple’s first iMac. That iMac, the brainchild of one Jony Ive, was colourful, used plastics, and was cheaper than Apple’s previous offerings –– but only by a small margin. Sort of like the iPhone 5C, no?

I’m just going to come right out and say it –– I love the way the iPhone 5C looks. Following its launch I was fortunate enough to have two iPhone 5Cs in my possession –– a lime green one and a white one. I don’t know which one I liked best, probably the white one, but what I do know is that I like this phone – I like it a lot.


The new plastic chassis does add a bit of heft but the added bulk doesn’t feel amiss in the context of Apple’s redesign –– in fact, it works rather well. The 5C feels very robust and sturdy in the hand compared to the feather-like iPhone 5/5s. The iPhone 5C is 9mm thick and weighs 132g, while the iPhone 5 is 7.6mm and weighs just 112g.


The handset itself is built around a steel frame that also doubles as a wideband antenna. The frame is then laser-welded to the polycarbonate outer casing for what Apple describes as “precise fit.” The plastic chassis itself aids grip, negates the need for a case, and makes the 5c feel very solid in the hand.


All the hardware keys are in the same locations (audio jack on the bottom left, volume and mute keys on the left-hand side, and the power/unlock on the top right-hand side). The Lightning connector is located on the bottom of the device and to the right of it is the speaker grille. It all feels very familiar.

The iPhone 5C uses exactly the same display setup as the iPhone 5 –– a 4-inch 640x1136 pixel IPS LCD panel with a pixel density of 326 ppi. Apple’s “Retina Display” is a solid performer with excellent colour reproduction, viewing angles and brightness levels. It’s not 1080p but aside from that it really cannot faulted.

Apple, of course, did not up the ante with regards to size. The iPhone 5C –– like the iPhone 5 before it and the new iPhone 5S –– uses a 4-inch setup. Compared to almost everything else on the market, this is pretty tiny.

Apple says 4-inches is the perfect size for a smartphone as it’s great for watching video but it also allows for one-handed use. In some respects Apple is right but I do wish it was slightly bigger and I know I am not alone in thinking this, which is very frustrating because the display size is literally the only thing I’d change on Apple’s iPhone –– everything else is about as good as it gets.

iPhone 5C review: Hardware & Performance
It might look playful on the outside but the iPhone 5C is pretty stacked when it comes to hardware, featuring more or less the same internal spec as last year’s iPhone 5. The 5C is available in two storage flavours –– 16GB and 32GB –– and there’s no microSD support.

The iPhone 5C also uses the same A6 processor as the iPhone 5 –– two 32-bit ARM CPU cores based on Apple's custom "Swift" architecture –– and the same amount of RAM, too – 1GB of DDR2. Internally the iPhone 5C is a clone of the iPhone 5. The only difference is the addition of Qualcomm’s WTR1605L transceiver, which allows for “global” LTE support.



Apple is a master of optimizing its hardware and software to ensure near-seamless performance across the board, so whether you’re multitasking, playing games, or browsing the web everything rockets along without a hint of lag or stutter. The iPhone 5C like its predecessor does not disappoint in this regard.

The iPhone 5C won’t cause any top-flight Android handsets any grief and devices like the Galaxy Note 3, with its quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset and 3GB of RAM, will leave it well and truly in the dust. However, this isn’t an Android handset –– it’s an iOS handset optimized to work within Apple’s iOS ecosystem, so it’s kind of a moot point.

Apple designs its phones to work within its ecosystem and, for the most part, is not interested in the specs race –– everything it does is for the betterment of its own ecosystem. That’s why there’s still no NFC. If you buy this handset you’re buying into Apple. If you want gross specs you’re better off with Android. Simple.

It’s also worth noting that Apple’s A6 chipset does out-perform Qualcomm’s S4 Snapdragon Pro and the Snapdragon 400 chipsets. You’ll find these quad-core setups inside the Nexus 4, HTC One Mini and others, and given the pitch of Apple’s iPhone 5C –– it’s marketed as a competitor to the likes of the HTC One Mini –– that is pretty significant.

iPhone 5C review: Connectivity
With regards to connectivity the iPhone 5C comes fully loaded with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 and full support for Apple’s AirPlay and AirDrop clients.

For mobile data you’ve got full 2G, 3G (DC-HSPA and HSPA+) and support for an absolute raft of 4G LTE bands –– the iPhone 5C will work on practically any 4G network in the world. Our handset was running on Vodafone’s LTE network and the results were incredibly good as you can see below.


iPhone 5C review: iOS 7
Apple’s reinvented mobile operating system, iOS 7, is perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of both the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. It’s the one thing out of all Apple’s Q4 launches that has had a complete overhaul –– it looks completely different, swapping out skeumorphism in favour of a bolder more colourful layout.

Personally, I love iOS 7 –– my only issue with it is that it didn’t happen sooner. You can check out our full review of iOS 7 here. In the context of this review we’ll be taking a closer look at certain “stand out” aspects of iOS 7, the USPs if you will.

For me there are several elements inside iOS 7 that are worth getting excited about: Safari, AirDrop, Multitasking, the Camera app and Control Center. There are lots of other things going on inside the iOS 7, but these are the aspects which really stood out to me.



Safari has been completely redesigned and now features full-screen browsing and a new tab view (see below). The UI –– like the rest of iOS 7 –– is cleaner and less cluttered, which creates a sense of roominess despite Apple not increasing the display size one iota. It’s also very easy to share content to social networks, email, or AirDrop – just tap the share button, select an option, and you’re done.




Safari is also significantly faster than Chrome within iOS 7, although that is to be expected. Apple’s browser was designed with Apple’s hardware in mind; Google’s was not. The extent of the difference is pretty significant, as you can see below from our SunSpider benchmarks below. Safari is on the left and Chrome on the right (Note: a lower score is better):


AirDrop is a pretty useful addition, too. With it you can quickly share photos, videos, contacts, webpages –– or anything else from inside an app –– with people nearby. There’s no setup required and all transfers are encrypted. Like AirPlay this feature works seamlessly. My only gripe is that it’s not supported on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Other than that it does exactly what it says in the tin.

Multitasking on iOS 7 is perhaps the most interesting addition of all. Double tap the Home key and you’re presented with a carousal-like card system where all your open applications are displayed. It’s very Windows Phone but it works well enough and is a vast improvement of Apple’s previous solution. To close an app simply swipe it up off the display, just as you would in HTC’s Sense 5 UI.

What’s most irksome about iOS 7’s multitasking, however, is that it could have been added in AGES ago. The iPhone 5C, with its iPhone 5 spec, multitasks with ease, allowing you open and run a multitude of applications all at once. There’s no lag or stutter and iOS seems like a natural multitasker, which sort of begs the question: why did we have to wait this long?


Another notable style change to iOS 7 is in the Camera app. Before it was okay to use with everything within tapping distance, but it was pretty sparse. In iOS 7 the UI itself has been completely remodeled and there’s a host of new features like the ability to skin images with Instagram-like effects prior to taking a shot, which add a whole new dimension to the application and the process of taking snaps.

Switching between modes –– video, photo, square, and pano –– is done by swiping left-to-right and you can toggle HDR mode and Flash on at the top with a single tap. The effects make a big difference to shots and while it’s not quite as feature rich as what you'll find aboard the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4/Note 3/Galaxy Camera, it’s a welcome improvement over previous iOS iterations.


The same can also be said about Siri, which is now out of beta and features a lot more functionality. It’s an improvement of what came before, but for those of us accustomed to Google Now it still feels a bit like a work in progress. I just didn’t find myself ever using it aside from the occasional enquiry about the weather.

Siri will now scan Twitter, Wikipedia and Bing to find answers for your questions. You can also get Siri to playback your voice mail, change settings within your phone –– switch profile to silent, for instance –– and return calls and texts.


Siri cannot, however, tell you when the next bus is or what your best route home is based on your location. It also seems to take a lot longer to understand and answer questions than Google Now. And I prefer the smug git that does Google Now’s voice.

iCloud isn’t new to iOS 7, but I'm sort of new to iCloud, if I'm honest. I used the iPhone 4S pretty extensively before switching to Android, and upon my triumphant return to iOS imagine my surprise to find everything as I left it –– my notes, contacts, pictures, apps and video. Everything. All I had to do was sign in with my iCloud login and it was all pulled down to the iPhone 5C.

Apple isn’t the only manufacturer using the cloud to great effect, Google and Microsoft have also got plenty of cool cloud-based functionality inside Android and Windows Phone. But, for me, none work quite as slickly as iCloud. Now, if Apple would only sort out the paltry amount of free storage you get –– 5GB is nowehere near enough, try 10GB to 15GB, and it’d be the best in the business by a country mile. Come on, Apple. Sort it out.

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