As speculated earlier, Apple has finally unveiled the iPhone 5C. The good news is that Apple has promised to make the iPhone 5C available in 100 countries including India. But the million dollar question is will it have any takers in India?
Price:
First of all, contrary to speculations, the Apple iPhone 5C is not at all even near “affordable” category as its 16 GB version is priced at $549 (Rs 35,000 approximately) while the 32 GB version is to cost $649 (Rs 41, 400 approximately) – at which one could get high end Android devices including the flagship devices of Samsung, HTC and Sony. With Rupee rising against Dollar, the new iPhone 5C may cost more than the aforementioned price in India.
Even at Rs 40,000 and less, one could get handsets like HTC Butterfly, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One X, LG Optimus G Pro, and the newly announced Sony Xperia Z Ultra.
Design and Display
Apple iPhone 5C has a 4-inch Retina IPS panel display with great viewing angles and supports multi-touch. By default, this display has 1136×640 pixel resolution and offers Pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. Apple has offered 800:1 contrast ratio for this display and has used finger-print resistant oleophobic coating on the touchscreen.
Moreover, the iPhone 5C has a unibody design – no joints or part lines. Apple has used hard-coated polycarbonate to construct the glossy chassis of the iPhone 5C back panel. But the notable thing here is that ditching its old practice of offering black and white devices, Apple will offer the iPhone 5C in five different colours – White, Pink, Yellow, Blue and Green.
Now all its competitors come with bigger screens with even better resolution. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with a 5 inch display and that too with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution; while LG Optimus G Pro has 5.5 inch screen with full HD resolution. HTC Butterfly too has a 5 inch LCD 3 display with full HD resolution.
However, though most of the aforementioned Android handsets come with metal body, we cannot really comment on the look of iPhone 5C as we haven’t seen it in real.
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Processor
Apple has used the Apple A6 System on Chip inside the iPhone 5C but we believe that this smartphone deserves a faster Apple A6X System on Chip used in the current iPad model.
As per a report of CNET, the dual core Apple A6 Processor is clocked at 1.3 GHz and has been hailed for its performance. Though not clear right now, we expect the iPhone 5C to have 1 GB RAM as the iPhone 5 because both the phones share the same processor and are not that different in terms of pricing either.
But Samsung Galaxy S4’s octa core processor is far ahead of the Apple A6 in terms of performance. All other high end Android phones in discussion also come with quad core processor and 2 GB RAM.
Camera:
At the back, Apple iPhone 5C features an 8 Megapixel iSight camera with five-element lens and hybrid IR filter. This camera is accompanied by an LED flash. The 8 megapixel iSight camera module has f/2.4 Aperture for Wide-Angle imaging and it can also shoot panorama images. Apart from that, the camera can flawlessly record full 1080p (full HD) videos at 30 frames per second and can take still photo while recording a video. Apple has added Video Stabilization and Face Detection as add-ons for video recording.
Apple has also tweaked the Camera App to shoot images in square format and also use the Instant filter features for making those images more interesting. In the front is a 1.2 megapixel FaceTime camera with 720 HD video recording support and capability to hold FaceTime HD video calling. The iPhone 5C will be able to engage in FaceTime over Wi-Fi as well as Cellular network with other FaceTime-enabled device.
In its comparison, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra has 8 megapixel rear camera and a 2 megapixel front camera; the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 13 megapixel rear and 2 megapixel front camera; the LG Optimus G Pro has a 13 megapixel rear and 2.1 megapixel front camera; while the HTC Butterfly too has a 8 megapixel rear and 2.1 megapixel front camera.
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Battery:
The battery capacity has not been specified but Apple promises 10 hours of web browsing time over LTE networks, 10 hours of Talk time and 10 hours of video playback time.
On the other hand, Sony Xperia Z Ultra has a 3050 mAh battery that promises 14 hours of 3G and 16 hours of 2G talktime. The Galaxy S4 comes with a 2600 mAh unit. As we stated in our review (https://www.themobileindian.com/reviews/783_Samsung-Galaxy-S4-review:-Amazing-but-not-killer#Performance and battery life) as well, under normal usage conditions: 3G connectivity, one personal email id, one official, messengers, some photography, 15 minutes of video viewing and 3 hours of WiFi access, we were able to get back up for 8 hours after a full charge from Galaxy S4.
LG Optimus G Pro has also a 3140 mAh battery and it too gives a good battery back up; for more information you can refer its review here.
Memory:
As stated earlier, the Apple iPhone 5C comes in 16 GB and 32 GB versions. No expandable memory option is available in the handsets.
On the other hand, Sony Xperia Z Ultra has 16 GB of Internal Memory and 64 GB of expandable storage slot as the Samsung Galaxy S4 and LG Optimus G Pro. HTC Butterfly too comes with 16 GB internal and 32 GB of expandable storage slot.
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Other features:
Apple has added a three-axis gyroscope sensor along with accelerometer, Proximity Sensor and ambient light sensor. Other features include Dual-Band WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, Digital Compass and Assisted GPS with GLONASS support. Of course, the new iPhone 5C will come with Siri and other several updates with the iOS 7 software update that will be pre-loaded on this smartphone. Indeed, the iPhone 5C will have the Lightening Connector port.
Apple will offer the iPhone 5C in 4G LTE network supporting GSM model and also CDMA models. Apple will also offer cases costing $30 for the iPhone in the six colours – Black, White, Pink, Yellow, Green and Blue.
Conclusion:
The Apple iPhone 5C is definitely a good looking iPhone but it has been priced too steeply for the said features and does not fall in the affordable category at all. On the contrary, there are plenty of handsets that offer much more features than the iPhone 5C at the stated price.
Infact, most high end Android smartphones’ price has been reduced in the past to make them attractive in India including the Galaxy S4 which is the fastest smartphone in the world in terms of processing power. Even after the price cut, many device makers have been struggling to sell their flagship products in India. Considering that Apple iPhone 5C seems to have a bleak future as Apple has so far not reduced prices of its models drastically in India. In the past it had only lowered the price of its outgoing iPhone 4.