The iPhone 5s Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 17, 2013 9:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone
- iPhone 5S
Video
Apple’s new H6 ISP brings with it a modernization of the video recording options for the iPhone 5s. The default video record mode is still 1080p at 30 fps, but there’s also a new 720p 120 fps “slo-mo” mode as well. In the latter, video is captured at 120 fps but optionally played back at 30 fps in order to achieve a high speed camera/slow motion effect. The result is pretty cool:
In the camera UI you can select what portions of the video you want to play back at 30 fps and what portions you want to leave at full speed. The .mov file is stored on NAND as a ~27Mbps 720p120 without any customizations, however when you share it the entire video is transcoded into a 30 fps format which preserves the slow motion effect.
The slo-mo mode is separate from the standard video recording mode, it’s the next stop on the dial in the new iOS 7 camera app. Video preview in slo-mo mode also happens at 60 fps compared to 30 fps for the standard video record and still image capture modes.
Camera preview frame rate, toggling between slo-mo and normal modes
Adding high speed camera modes to smartphones is a great step in my opinion and a wonderful use of increases in ISP and SoC performance. I would like to see Apple expose a 1080p60 mode as well. Technically 1080p60 does require slightly more bandwidth than 720p120, but I’d hope that Apple targeted both in the design of H6 and simply chose to expose 720p120 as it’s an easier feature to market.
Standard 1080p30 recording is also available:
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Srinij - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
We need to include the Xiaomi Mi3 when its out, its touted as the fastest.koruki - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Some test show its slower than a Samsung S3Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Who wants to bet that we will see a 10x increase in the number of robberies that involve limb amputation over the next 5 years?dugbug - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
you think its easier to remove a finger from someone than threatening them to unlock their phone (which could be done with any pascode-based phone). Really. Jesus.koruki - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
I'll take that bet."But Apple promises that its reader can sense beyond the top layer of a user’s skin, and includes a “liveness” test that prevents even a severed finger from being used to access a stolen phone."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/...
hasseb64 - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
MEH, Iphone 5x main problems:-Small battery
-Screen to narrow, need 5mm width
Fix this Apple and you maight get a new deal here
nitemareglitch - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Still my number one site for deep dives on hardware. As always, you do NOT disappoint. I am going to upgrade now! You convinced me. I am sold.av13 - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Anand, thanks a lot. Having worked with IBM iSeries systems since 2000 - RS65 III or iStar and now Power systems I was stunned when techies and investors alike were shrugging off Apple's transition to 64 bit. The fact that the A7 is RISC based and 64 bit its performance is going to show in single threaded and multi-threaded apps. It was even funny when some experts quipped that the 5s has to have at least 4 GB for the 64 bit to make sense. I was very encouraged that at least Apple decided on this roadmap.Great analysis by you - as usual - Yawn!
petersterncan - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
I would really like to see how these phones stack up against the Blackberry Z10, Q10 and Z30.Are you considering reviewing those any time soon?
ScottMinnerd - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Please excuse my ignorance, but can someone please explain how a JS-based benchmark is any indication of the quality of a CPU?There's so much abstraction between JS code and the CPU registers that you might as well benchmark the performances of a Ferarri vs. a school bus while they're driving over mattresses and broken glass respectively. On the same browser on the same operating system on the same motherboard using the same RAM and the same bus architecture, yes, JS code could give a relevant basis for comparison of CPUs.
Also, does the included iOS browser have a multi-threaded JS engine? Does the Android's?
If one were to run 4 or 8 instances of the benchmark test simultaneously, how would each instance perform on each device having each CPU? Would the metric be higher on the 4+ core devices?
If Apple is leveraging a multithreaded JS engine, or a 64-bit optimized JS engine (or both), then the quality of the CPUs depends upon a given workload. The workload on a phone in the real world is rarely solely JS-based. Testing the performance of JS and then implying that the iPhone (or its CPU) is superior in general is not only misleading, but toadying.