HTC One X Review

HTC One X Review

Let’s kick off this HTC One X+ review by dealing with the elephant in the room.
If you’re an Android phone maker today, you need to answer a fundamental question: Why should someone buy this instead of Samsung‘s Galaxy S III? (Yes, I’m riffing on a similar question once posed by my colleague, Harry McCracken.) Because the reality is that Samsung’s savvy marketing–plus the fact that it makes great phones–have allowed the Galaxy S III to become widely available across all wireless carriers, and therefore wildly popular. It’s simply the standard for anyone who’s not buying an iPhone, and other phone makers need to wrestle with that.
For the last week or so, I’ve been using an HTC One X+ on AT&T, which sells for $200 on-contract. It’s an update to the earlier One X in a few key areas: It has a faster processor, a bigger battery, more storage and a newer version of Android. You know what? Those are exactly the same advantages the One X+ holds over the Galaxy S III, except for the equally-sized battery. The question is whether those differences, and others, are enough to help the One X+ stand out.
(MORE: Compared: HTC’s One X, One S and Evo 4G LTE)
It’s a nicely-designed phone, covered in grippy, soft-touch plastic with comfortable, rounded corners. The edges of the One X+ are angled slightly inward, helping to frame the hand while making the 4.7-inch, 1280-by-720 S-LCD display appear to thrust toward the user. It’s a gorgeous screen too; while it doesn’t have the pop of an AMOLED display, you couldn’t see a pixel on it if you tried.
Like HTC’s other recent Android phones, the One X+ has three capacitive buttons on the bottom: one for back, one for home, and one for a list of recent apps. You can switch that last one to a menu button, so it’s more like the Galaxy S III. If you don’t, some apps will clog up screen real estate with a big black bar dedicated only to the menu, so I think switching the hardware button’s functionality is the way to go.

Jared Newman / TIME.com

My only gripes with the design are that the power button is on top, rather than the side, where it’d be easier to hit, and that the volume rocker is so flush with the side of the device that it always takes an effort to find and press. I also never got used to the placement of the microUSB charger on the upper-left edge of the phone, but that’s really a minor complaint.
But what about those specs, the ones that help the One X+ stand above its rival, at least on paper?
The truth is that most of them don’t make a huge difference. The One X+ is no slouch at basic tasks, but I did notice some minor stutters while flipping through the home screen, and some choppiness while playing Dead Trigger, a game that’s supposed to be optimized for this phone’s Tegra 3 processor. It has half the RAM of the Galaxy S III’s U.S. version, at 1 GB, but that never became a problem for me while switching between apps.
(MORE: New HTC Android Phones Tweaked to Evade Apple Patents)
As for battery life, I found that the One X+ got through most days of moderate use without a problem, but on travel days where I was regularly fiddling with it, placing calls and listening to streaming music, the phone ran out of juice just before bedtime. It’s not a phone you can use constantly without worry, and keep in mind that the battery is non-replaceable.
In the camera department, HTC and Samsung are basically equals–unrivaled ones, at that–with instant shutter speeds that produce excellent 8-megapixel photos. The camera app provides quick access to key features like flash and filter effects, and you can easily snap several photos in a row by holding the shutter button down. I particularly like the feature that lets you snap photos from a video you’ve already recorded; it works really well, even in fast-motion situations.

Jared Newman / TIME.com

The rest of HTC’s Sense interface is hit-or-miss. The lock screen, which lets you quickly jump into a few favorite apps, is still one of HTC’s most clever software features, and the software in general is a lot smoother and less obnoxious than it used to be. The software keyboard on the One X+ is fast and accurate, and it has Swype-like gesture typing built-in. On the downside, HTC’s use of pea-green accents throughout its software is an undesirable remnant of Android’s earlier days, and as a whole I wish the visual style of the interface hewed closer to stock Android’s futuristic vibes. Also, the lack of quick settings access via the notification area is a drawback, but at least HTC provides a decent amount of toggle widgets that you can add to the home screen.
In the end, the HTC One X+ isn’t a major leap over the Galaxy S III, but I came away thinking it’s a slightly better phone for a few other reasons: It has loads more storage, at a whopping 64 GB, and I shamefully admit liking the phone’s Beats Audio integration for listening to music through headphones, even though I know the excessive bass is drowning out all kinds of nuance. The fact that the One X+ comes pre-loaded with Android 4.1, including the increasingly useful Google Now, is a nice bonus, and in principle I appreciate that HTC doesn’t get in your face with gimmicky software features like Samsung does with the pointless S-Voice virtual assistant.
I’m not sure whether all of that provides a crystal-clear answer to the fundamental question at the top of this review. But if you’ve been thinking about picking up a Galaxy S III, the One X+ does raise another question of its own: Why wouldn’t you at least consider something a little better?

Motorola Atrix HD Review

Motorola Atrix HD Review

I’ll start the review with what might come as a shocker to those that know me -- I love the Motorola Atrix HD. I love the way it feels, the way it runs, the changes Motorola has done with Ice Cream Sandwich in the non-Blur OS, and the overall design of the phone clicks with me. It’s not perfect, but then again, what phone ever released is? There's also the initial feel of the phone, which isn't a great experience because of the materials chosen. When the pros are weighed against the cons though, I’m left with a device I would not be afraid to recommend to anyone.
With the release of the RAZR and RAZR MAXX late last year, Motorola let everyone know that they think the age of thick and bulky Android smartphones is over. The Atrix2 and Bionic were the last of a dying breed, to be replaced with sleek devices made with exotic materials like Kevlar, weighing in at next to nothing. It’s a trend we’ve seen all the major Android OEMs follow, and while there’s something to be said for the sturdy feel of half-inch thick phone in your hands, we’re all pretty much on-board with the new thin styling. Click through the break, and see what I think about the Atrix HD.

---

The hardware inside the phone is top notch, and on par with most of the high-end phones in the U.S. today. Motorola decided to go with a great display, and use their "Colorboost" technology to make the colors rich and bright. The price is right -- you'll get great mileage out of your $99.	It feels, and looks oddly cheap. For all the work Motorola put into the software and the screen, they seem to have skimped on the materials this time. If the way your phone looks is important to you, you might not like this one.
The Atrix HD is a very solid phone that offers surprising performance for the price. Part of the reason is the best-in-class hardware Motorola is using inside of it, and part is the light and snappy feel you get from the new Blur. After learning to ignore the perception that the materials it was made from were somehow sub-par, I really enjoyed using this one. It's a bit overshadowed by other great phones on AT&T, but it shouldn't be.

Inside this review	More info
Video walkthrough Hardware review Software review Camera tests	Motorola Atrix HD specs Motorola Atrix HD  forums

The Atrix HD hands-on

As always, we like to start with a hands-on first look at the phone. We do it so you guys can have an early look while we put the device through its paces, and so we can go back and see how time spent with a phone can change our initial impressions. Have a look, then join us as we dissect the Atrix HD a little bit.

The Atrix HD hardware

When you first see the Atrix HD (especially the whitish two-tone version), you likely won’t be saying “wow”. The phone is, well, its fairly ugly. We can say that, because we love it. But it’s not much of a looker. Image the RAZR, with softer, more rounded edges, and in the case of the “white” version, a opalescent antique white plastic outer shell and backing. Throw in a Kevlar insert, and a black external speaker/camera face assembly, and things look pretty different than anything we’ve seen before. But, it will grow on you. At least it did for me, and now instead of thinking the Atrix HD is ugly, I think of it as homely -- like a shaggy mutt who is so ugly you have to love it. But next to a phone like the One X or the Galaxy S III, it won’t win any beauty contests. The black version likely isn’t quite as bad, but then again you won’t have that homely charm.

The front of the Atrix is a 4.5-inch LCD, covered in Corning’s Gorilla Glass, and featureless minus the tiny earpiece. There are no buttons of the capacitive or physical variety, and everything is handled with on-screen software buttons like the Galaxy Nexus. You also have a 1.3MP camera and notification LED up top under the glass, and the bottom of the bezel has the AT&T trackball logo, that I constantly found myself trying to press for the first few days with the phone. No matter how hard, or how many times you press it, nothing happens.

The back of the Atrix has the aforementioned Kevlar inset, an 8MP/1080p HD camera and LED flash, and an external speaker grill. Down at the bottom is a secondary noise-canceling mic, which faces the rear of the phone rather than pointing down.
The right side has the customary volume rocker and power switch, while the left has a small plastic door that covers the microSD card and SIM card slots. That door isn’t very well designed and looks loose when closed, even though it isn’t. We would have liked to see a bit more engineering here.

Up top you have a standard 3.5mm headset jack, the microUSB connector, and a microHDMI connector. No MHL or other silly games to provide video out here, just an old-fashioned, but tested and true, HDMI connector. Score one for the old ways.

Overall, the hardware isn’t screaming quality. Not that it’s bad, or even bad feeling, but you won’t get the same thoughts looking at the Atrix HD that you might have had about the Motorola phones of yore. I think you could jack up a car with the OG Droid -- at least it looks like you could. The Atrix HD looks like what it is -- a $100 smartphone. But when you get into the performance, it begins to shine.

Performance and specs

• 4.5-inch 720p LCD display with ColorBoost
• Android 4.0.4 with Motorola’s Blur-not-Blur customizations
• 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon MSM8960 processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 8GB of internal storage
• microSD card slot
• 8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera
• Quad-band GSM with LTE functionality (AT&T)
• $99 bucks with a new contract

The Atrix HD did a great job at all the things Motorola phones have done well for years. Calls were very clear, radios and signal strength was strong, and the “phone” part of the phone was one of the best I’ve used. We expect Motorola phones to work well with calls and signal, and the Atrix in my testing exceeded expectations. If you’re looking for a phone you need to rely on for business calls, you need to look at the Atrix HD.
On the Android side, the phone performs just as well. The Qualcomm S4 is a screamer, easily matching the CPU performance of the quad-core offerings on the market. Whether you’re playing games, or watching video, or web browsing, the Atrix HD delivers. It’s amazing that Motorola can put out a phone with this kind of performance, and that AT&T will sell it for just a hundred bucks.
The whole thing's powered by a 1780 mAh battery. So, no, it's not a MAXX-type smartphone with double that capacity. But we've had decent battery life. LTE data sucks down more, of course, but we haven't seen any serious leakage.

The screen

Motorola has put a damn nice 720p LCD on the Atrix HD, and they’re topping it off with what they’re calling “ColorBoost” technology. The display is clear, crisp, and the best we’ve ever seen from Motorola. There is no Pentile matrix, no screen-door effect, or fuzzy text like you’ll see on the RAZR. In fact, the screen holds its own against the HTC One X, which is generally regarded as the best display on any smartphone. Pictures and reviews don’t do it justice, so be sure to visit an AT&T store and have a look for yourself -- you’ll be impressed.
ColorBoost takes the “pop” of AMOLED and applies it to the LCD display. Moto isn’t sharing the secret, but on the surface it looks like the saturation and brightness have been cranked to 11, and the effect isn’t lost on an AMOLED junkie like myself. Is it realistic color? No, but many of us don’t care, and it delivers when looking at images or video. You might care, and might not like it as much as a more subdued traditional LCD display, so you’ll need to spend some time looking at the screen to decide on this one for yourself. To me, even though the display isn’t quite as clear or crisp as the One X’s panel, I prefer it because it’s so blue and pretty. I’m shallow like that, I guess.

The Software

Blur, or whatever Motorola is calling it now, keeps getting better with each iteration. Much like HTC Sense, it’s been stripped and simplified to let the good parts of Ice Cream Sandwich shine through. It’s easy to see it’s not stock Android, but the additions are tasteful and well done. I like the direction Motorola is going here, and they have found a way to differentiate themselves without ruining Android.

Besides the things you expect to see from a high-end Motorola device, like SmartActions and Moto print services, there’s a few surprises in the software that I think you’ll love. The first is the Circles widget, which provides time, weather, and settings information in a pleasant way on your home screen. Each of the circles react to a swipe, so you can switch from the current time in analog format to a digital time and date style, cycle through your cities for weather, and swipe between battery level, a data usage tracker, and a setting shortcut. We’ve see that sort of functionality from independent developers in Google Play, but Motorola has incorporated it well into their new OS.

The next, and admittedly innovative feature, comes with the mini-widgets you get from the default Email, Phone, People, Messaging, and Browser apps. Drop a shortcut to any of them on your home screen, and a swipe up expands a notification window with pertinent information -- like your bookmarks for the Browser app or your unread messages in the Messaging app or Email. I’m already used to having them, and I know I’m going to miss them when i send the Atrix HD back to AT&T. Google, please steal this for stock Android.

The one thing I didn’t care for about the new Motorola OS is the way new home screens are added or removed. Swipe through the included screens, and when you reach the end you’re faced with a sort of “options” screen where you can add a new home panel or manage existing ones. The method to add or manage them isn’t bad, but the way to get to that screen certainly is. I want it to either cycle through to the first panel, or preferably just flash to let me know I’m at the end. I know it’s there, but still end up swiping over to it even though I don’t want or need to see it. It’s not a deal breaker, and the good Moto has done to Android certainly outweighs the bad, but I would rather see this done with a long press on the home button or even the screen itself. Hackers, you have your first project.

The Atrix HD camera

Things don't look as good here. The 8MP camera on the Atrix HD is fair at best. Feed it good light and you'll get decent pictures, but any type of complex lighting, like you would find indoors, sends things downhill fast. Motorola has come a long way in the software department with Blur, but they are still behind the pack in quality of lens and sensors it seems.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The video camera fares a bit better. There's no actual shutter on the camera, so I'm not sure why the camcorder  handles focus and changes in light so much better than the still camera does. If it's a software issue, it's something Motorola hopefully addresses soon. See what I mean below.

The bottom line

The Atrix HD is a damn fine phone. In fact, it's probably the best phone we've seen come in at $99 on a contract. There will be phones coming soon with better hardware specs, and phones that look sexy when compared to the Atrix HD, but this is a really good, solid device. It's definitely worth the $99 it would cost you on a contract, and I think it's worth the  price unlocked (the usual places have it listed for about $380) if the Galaxy Nexus doesn't tickle your fancy for one reason or another. It showed up at  time when folks were interested in Nexus devices and Jelly Bean so it was a bit overshadowed, but it really deserves your attention.

IPHONE 5 Review

The good: The iPhone 5 adds everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S: 4G LTE, a longer, larger screen, free turn-by-turn navigation, and a faster A6 processor. Plus, its top-to-bottom redesign is sharp, slim, and feather-light.

The bad: Apple Maps feels unfinished and buggy; Sprint and Verizon models can't use voice and data simultaneously. The smaller connector renders current accessories unusable without an adapter. There's no NFC, and the screen size pales in comparison to jumbo Android models.

The bottom line: The iPhone 5 completely rebuilds the iPhone on a framework of new features and design, addressing its major previous shortcomings. It's absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its place in the top tier of the smartphone universe.

I've had the chance to use the iPhone 5 for nearly a week, and have been using it for nearly anything I can think of. Is it as futuristic or as exciting as the iPhone 4 or the original iPhone? No. Does this change the smartphone game? No. Other smartphones beat it on features here and there: if you want a larger screen, go with a Samsung Galaxy S3. If you want better battery life, go with a Droid Razr Maxx.
But, if you want a great, all-around, beautifully engineered smartphone that covers all bases, here it is. Just like the MacBook is to the world of laptops, the new iPhone is one of the top three, if not the best-designed, smartphone around. It's better in all the important ways.
Editors' note: We are continuing to update this review with additional observations and test results. Among the latest additions (October 4, 2012) are the inclusion of 4G LTE speed tests (see "4G LTE: Faster, at last" section); detailed comparisons to camera quality between the iPhone and rival smartphones (see "The camera" section); and detailed battery test results for both video playback and talk time (see "Battery" section).

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

What's different?
Look at our review of last year's iPhone 4S, where we said, "Even without 4G and a giant screen, this phone's smart(ass) voice assistant, Siri, the benefits of iOS 5, and its spectacular camera make it a top choice for anyone ready to upgrade."

(Credit: CNET)

Well, guess what? Now it has 4G LTE and...well, maybe not a giant screen, but a larger screen. That's not all, though: the already great camera's been subtly improved, speakerphone and noise-canceling quality has been tweaked, and -- as always -- iOS 6 brings a host of other improvements, including baked-in turn-by-turn navigation, a smarter Siri, and Passbook, a location-aware digital wallet app for storing documents like gift cards, boarding passes, and tickets.
The question is: a full year later, is that enough? For me, it is. I don't want much more in my smartphone. Sure, I'd love a new magical technology to sink my teeth into, but not at the expense of being useful. Right now, I'm not sure what that technology would even be.

(Credit: CNET)

Like every year in the iPhone's life cycle, a handful of important new features take the spotlight. This time, 4G, screen size, and redesign step to the top.
You've gotten the full rundown already, most likely, on the various ins and outs of this phone, or if you haven't, I'll tell you about them below in greater detail. Here's what I noticed right away, and what made the biggest impression on me.

(Credit: CNET)

First off, you're going to be shocked at how light this phone is. It's the lightest iPhone, even though it's longer and has a bigger screen. After a few days with it, the iPhone 4S will feel as dense as lead.
Secondly, the screen size lengthening is subtle, but, like the Retina Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it. The extra space adds a lot to document viewing areas above the keyboard, landscape-oriented video playback (larger size and less letterboxing), and home-page organizing (an extra row of icons/folders). Who knows what game developers will dream up, but odds are that extra space on the sides in landscape mode will be handily used by virtual buttons and controls.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

Third, this phone will make your home Wi-Fi look bad. Or at least, it did that to mine. Owners of other 4G LTE phones won't be shocked, but iPhone owners making the switch will start noticing that staying on LTE versus Wi-Fi might actually produce faster results...of course, at the expense of expensive data rates. I hopped off my work Wi-Fi and used AT&T LTE in midtown Manhattan to make a FaceTime call to my wife because the former was slowing down. LTE, in my tests, ran anywhere from 10 to 20Mbps, which is up to twice as fast as my wireless router's connection at home.
Using your iPhone 5 as a personal hot spot for a laptop or other device produces some of the same strong results as the third-gen iPad...and it's smaller. Of course, make sure you check on your tethering charges and data usage fees, but my MacBook Air did a fine job running off the LTE data connection at midday.

(Credit: CNET)

The look: Thin, metal, light as heck
You know its look, even if the look has been subtly transformed over the years: circular Home button, pocketable rectangle, familiarly sized screen. Can that design be toyed with, transformed a little, changed?

From left: The Lumia 900, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3.

(Credit: CNET)

The newest iPhone has a wide metal body that stretches above previous iPhones, but is also thinner; still, this isn't a massive phone like the Samsung Galaxy Note or HTC One X. The iPhone 5 rises above the iPhone 4 and 4S, but subtly.

(Credit: CNET)

From the front and sides, it looks very similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The same rounded metal volume buttons, sleep/wake button on top, and silence switch remain. The headphone jack has moved to the bottom of the phone, just on like the iPod Touch. Some will like it, some won't; it makes standing the iPhone upright and using headphones a virtual impossibility. Actually, the entire bottom is all new: the headphone jack, the larger, redesigned speakers, a different type of perforated grille, and a much tinier Lightning connector port.

(Credit: CNET)

The Gorilla Glass back of the last iPhone is gone, replaced with metal. The two-tone look might seem new, but it's a bit of a reference to the silver-and-black back of the original iPhone. The very top and bottom of the rear is still glass. That anodized aluminum -- which Apple claims is the same as that on its MacBook laptops -- feels exactly the same, and is even shaded the same on the white model. So far, it's held up without scratches. I'd say it'll do about as well as the aluminum finish on your 2008-and-later MacBook. On the black iPhone, the aluminum matches in a slate gray tone. On my white review model, it's MacBook-color silver. That aluminum covers most of the back and also the sides, replacing the iPhone 4 and 4S steel band, and lending to its lighter weight. The front glass sits slightly above the aluminum, which is cut to a mirrored angled edge on the front and back, eliminating sharp corners.

(Credit: CNET)

Why the move away from a glass back? Is it about creating a better, more durable finish, or is it about weight reduction? Apple's proud of its claims of how light the iPhone 5 is, and the new aluminum back is part of that. So is the move to a Nano-SIM card (making SIM swaps once again impossible and requiring a visit to your carrier's store). So is the thinner screen and the smaller dock connector. You get the picture.
Hold an iPhone 4S up to the new iPhone, and I could see the difference in thickness. It's not huge, but it feels even slimmer considering its expanded width and length. What I really noticed is how light it is. I still feel weirded out by it. The iPhone 5's 3.95-ounce weight is the lightest an iPhone's ever been. The iPhone 4S is nearly a full ounce heavier at 4.9 ounces. The iPhone 3G was 4.7 ounces. The original iPhone and iPhone 4 were 4.8 ounces. This is a phase-change in the nearly constant weight of the iPhone -- it's iPhone Air.
Yet, the iPhone 5 doesn't look dramatically different like the iPhone 4 once did. Actually, it seems more like a fusion of the iPhone with the iPad and MacBook design.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

And, of course, there's the new, larger screen. You may not notice it from a distance -- the screen's still not as edge-to-edge on the top and bottom as many Android phones, but extra empty space has been shaved away to accommodate the display. There's a little less room around the Home Button and below the earpiece. The iPhone 5 screen is just as tall as the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S 2, but it's not as wide. That thinner body design gives the iPhone the same hand feel, and what I think is an easier grip. The extra length covers a bit more of your face on phone calls.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

Over the last week with the iPhone 5, I started to forget that the phone was any larger. That seems to be the point. And, the iPhone fit just fine in my pants, too: the extra length has been traded out for less girth, so there's little bulge. And, with that awkward statement having been uttered, I'll move on.
That 4-inch screen: Going longer
The iPhone 5 finally extends the 3.5-inch screen that's been the same size on the iPhone for five years, but it does so by going longer, not wider. A move from the iPhone 4 and 4S' 3.5-inch, 960x640-pixel display to a 4-inch, 1,136x640-pixel display effectively means the same Retina Display (326 pixels per inch), but with extra pixel real estate versus a magnified screen. All the icons and app buttons are the same size, but there's more room for other features, or more space for videos and photos to be displayed.
The iPhone's interface is the same as always: you have app icons greeting you in a grid, and a dock of up to four apps at the bottom. Instead of a grid of four rows of four apps, the longer screen accommodates five rows of four apps. More apps can fit on the home screen, but that's about it as far as user interface innovation. Extra screen height means pop-up notification banners are less intrusive at the top or bottom.

(Credit: CNET)

It's odd at first going longer versus also adding width, and it means a shift away from the iPad's more paperlike 4:3 display ratio. Pages of e-books could feel more stretched. In portrait mode, document text may not seem larger, but you'll see more of it in a list.

(Credit: CNET)

In landscape mode, text actually seems bigger because page width stretches out (so, you can fit more words on a line). The virtual keyboard in landscape mode also ends up a bit more spread out, too, with a little extra space on the sides, which took some getting used to.

(Credit: CNET)

I preferred portrait typing because the keyboard size and width remains the same, while the extra length allows more visible text above the virtual keys.
The screen difference isn't always dramatic, especially compared with some ultra-expansive Android devices: the Samsung Galaxy S3 beats it both on overall screen size (4.8 inches) and pixel resolution (1,280x720). In the iOS 6 Mail app, with one line of preview text, I fit six and a half messages on the screen at the same time on the iPhone 5 versus five and a third on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Other apps toy with the layout more; I fit eight tasks on one screen in the new iOS 6 version of Reminders, versus five on the iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1.1.

Infinity Blade II, before iPhone 5 optimization. Note the black bars.

(Credit: CNET)

Of course, you'll need new apps to take advantage of the longer screen, and at the time I tested the iPhone 5, those weren't available because iOS 6 hadn't formally launched. Older apps run in a letterboxed type of mode at the same size as existing phones, with little black bars on the top and bottom. Apps work perfectly fine this way, especially in portrait mode, but you definitely notice the difference. App-makers will be scrambling to make their apps take advantage of the extra screen space, and my guess is it won't take long at all for most to be iPhone 5 (and iPod Touch) ready.

(Credit: CNET)

I tried iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, iCards, and all of the iPhone 5's built-in apps (Maps, Reminders, Messages, Photos, Camera, Videos, Weather, Passbook, Notes, Stocks, Newsstand, iTunes, the App Store, Game Center, Contacts, Calculator, Compass, Voice Memos, Mail, Safari, Music, and, of course, Phone), and they all take advantage of the extra space in a variety of useful ways. How others will adopt the extra real estate remains to be seen.

(Credit: CNET)

I'm looking forward to killer apps that will take advantage of the larger screen. So far, I haven't found any that do it in surprising ways. My guess is that games will benefit the most, along with video and photo apps, and, to some degree, reading/news apps.

(Credit: CNET)

Video playback, of course, has a lot more punch because the new 16:9 aspect ratio reduces or removes letterboxing across the board in landscape mode. An HD episode of "Planet Earth" filled the entire screen, while the available viewing space shrank down even more on the iPhone 4S because of letterboxing. YouTube videos looked great. Some movies, of course, like Pixar's "Wall-E," still have letterboxing because they're shot in the superwide CinemaScope aspect ratio (21:9), but they look a lot larger than before -- and you can still zoom in with a tap on the screen.
I think that, much like the Retina Display, you'll miss the iPhone 5's new screen more when you try to go back to an older phone. The new display feels like a natural, so much so that to the casual eye, the iPhone 5 doesn't look entirely different with the screen turned off. The iPhone 4 and 4S screens feel small and hemmed-in by comparison.

iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S video playback of the same 1080p nature video.

(Credit: CNET)

The new iPhone 5's display also has a layer removed from the screen, creating a display that acts as its own capacitive surface. I didn't notice that difference using it; it feels as crisp and fast-responding as before. Apple promises 44 percent extra color saturation on this new display, much like the third-gen iPad's improved color saturation. The difference wasn't as dramatic in a side-by-side playback of a 1080p episode of "Planet Earth," but the iPhone 5 seemed to have a slight edge. It was a little too close to call in game-playing, photo-viewing, and everyday experience with the phone, even held side-by-side with the iPhone 4S. The real difference, again, is the size. Autobrightness adjustments have also been tweaked a little, and I found on average that the iPhone 5 found more-appropriate brightness levels for the room I was in.

(Credit: CNET)

This seems like a good time to discuss thumbs. As in, your thumb size and the iPhone 5. Going back to the iPhone 4S, I realized that the phone's design has been perfectly aligned to allow a comfortable bridge between thumbing the Home button and stretching all the way to the top icon on the iPhone's 3.5-inch display. That's not entirely the case, now. I could, with some positioning, still thumb the Home button and make my way around the taller screen, but the iPhone 5's a little more of a two-hander. It might encourage more people and app developers to switch to landscape orientation, where the extra length and pixel space provide finger room on both sides without cramming the middle.

(Credit: CNET)

Game developers are likely to lean toward the landscape 16:9 orientation, because it more closely matches a standard HDTV's dimensions, and most console games. The extra width allows useful virtual button space, too.
4G LTE: Faster, at last
Last year's iPhone 4S had a subtle network bump to 3.5G (listed as "4G" on the iPhone 4S following iOS 5.1), offering faster data speeds on AT&T. The iPhone 5 finally adopts faster LTE, joining most other smartphones on the market and even the third-gen iPad, with the leap to LTE back in March. (On the top corner of the iPhone, the service indicator reads "LTE" when it's up and running.) However, the presence of LTE doesn't mean a world LTE phone; currently, LTE roaming between carriers overseas is impossible.

(Credit: CNET)

There's also support, depending on the iPhone 5 version you buy, for slower GSM (including EDGE and UMTS/HSPA) and CDMA/EV-DO networks. The iPhone 5's LTE uses a single chip for voice and data, a single radio chip, and a "dynamic antenna" that will switch connections between different networks automatically.
In the United States, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless will carry the iPhone 5. T-Mobile loses out. In Canada, it's Rogers, Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin, and Koodo. In Asia, the providers will be SoftBank, SmarTone, SingTel, and SK Telecom. For Australia there's Telstra, Optus, and Virgin Mobile, and in Europe it will go to Deutsche Telekom and EE. On carriers without LTE, the iPhone 5 will run on dual-band 3.5G HDPA+. I didn't notice any problems when switching between LTE and 4G, but I tended to find myself stationary in a place that had LTE service or a place that didn't, without much time to test the transition midcall.
There's a catch, though: there are now two versions of iPhone 5 in the U.S., one GSM model and another version for the CDMA carriers. You may not have your dream of a universal LTE phone, but international roaming is possible between 2G and 3G. Also, get ready to accept that Verizon and Sprint iPhone 5s still won't be able to make calls and access data simultaneously, even though many other Verizon/Sprint LTE phones can pull this off. That's because those other phones use a two-antenna system for LTE/voice (voice doesn't run over LTE yet), while the iPhone 5 only uses one plus a dynamic antenna for what Apple says is more connection stability.
Nevertheless, data access via 4G LTE is stunningly fast. This is no gentle upgrade. In my home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I tested both my AT&T iPhone 4S and the AT&T iPhone 5 at the same time. The iPhone 4S averaged a 2.4Mbps download speeds over "4G," whereas the iPhone 5 averaged 20.31Mbps. In comparison, my home wireless Internet via Time Warner averaged 9.02Mbps at the hour I tested (1:30 a.m.).
For a more formal rundown, CNET editors Brian Bennett and Kent German tested both the Verizon and AT&T iPhone 5 models in San Francisco and New York, and compared against both the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S3.

Phones tested	Download (average)	Upload (average)
iPhone 5 (AT&T)	20.44	9.39
iPhone 4S (AT&T)	6.77	1.66
Samsung Galaxy S3 (AT&T)	19.37	9.12
iPhone 5 (Verizon)	9.78	7.47
iPhone 4S (Verizon)	1.71	0.91
Samsung Galaxy S3 (Verizon)	8.87	13.55

The iPhone 5, in both instances, edged the Samsung Galaxy S3 in download speeds, but the Galaxy S3 was faster in upload speeds on Verizon.

(Credit: CNET)

The difference can be felt loading Web pages: the mobile version of CNET took 5.3 seconds over LTE, versus 8.5 seconds on the iPhone 4S. A graphically intensive Web site like the desktop version of Huffington Post took 16 seconds to load via LTE, versus 23.3 seconds on the iPhone 4S in 4G.
Those who already use 4G LTE may simply be nodding their heads, but to iPhone owners looking to upgrade, this is major news. For many people, LTE will be faster than their own home broadband.
Of course, that's a dangerous seduction: with fast LTE comes expensive rates and data caps. AT&T also requires a specific plan to even enable FaceTime over cellular. Make sure you don't fall down the rabbit hole of overusing your LTE, because believe me, you're going to want to. I tried setting it up a wireless hot spot for my MacBook Air, and the result was generally excellent.
Outside major cities, it's not quite as exciting if you don't have LTE coverage. Using the AT&T iPhone 5 out in East Setauket, Long Island, data download speed was merely 3.5Mbps because of a lack of AT&T LTE service. Verizon's LTE coverage map is larger, but Sprint's LTE network is small as well. My experience with AT&T and LTE may not necessarily be yours.
Wi-Fi has also gotten a bit of a boost via dual-band 802.11n support over both 2.5GHz and 5GHz. It should help in the event of interference with other Wi-Fi devices, although I never encountered that problem before, even with tons of Wi-Fi gadgets scattered about my apartment.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

The camera
Something on the iPhone 5 has to not be new, right? Well, even the rear iSight camera's been tweaked, but not quite as much as other features. It's still an 8-megapixel camera, but there's a new sapphire-crystal lens, and improved hardware enabling features like dynamic low-lighting adjustment, image stabilization on the 1080p video camera, and the capability to take still shots while shooting video.

(Credit: CNET)

The camera takes excellent pictures, a bit more so now than before. The iPhone 5 takes far clearer low-light pictures, but the result, while more coherent, is grainier and lower resolution than the wonderfully detailed images taken in bright, direct light. I ran around in semi-darkness in my son's room taking pictures of his toys, and found that the iPhone 5 was able to make things out in places where the iPhone 4S couldn't. Read Josh Goldman's detailed, extensive testing of the iPhone 5's camera versus the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X.

Indoor shot with the iPhone 5.

(Credit: CNET)

I settled for some indoor house shots instead to show off how the camera works in dimmer conditions. Of course, you'll probably use flash in those instances, but it can't hurt to have it as a backup.

iPhone 5 camera, outdoors.

(Credit: CNET)

I took pictures outdoors and in, and the biggest differences I could appreciate were the awesome new panorama mode and the even faster picture-taking. One of these two features can be acquired on the iPhone 4S via an iOS 6 update. The other amounts to a bump up from the iPhone 4S camera.