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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solipsism - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
Across different browsers and/or OSes it's not when comparing the same OS and same browser on that OS the tests can be use to gauge HW improvements, as shown with the iOS7 and Safari on the iPhone 5 v. iOS7 and Safari on the iPhone 5S.solipsism - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
Overall you're reading too much into it. It's just to gauge how something nearly everyone uses on a daily basis may have improved YoY between devices and OS updates. You can't deny the results are much improved even if you don't think the tests in and of themselves are viable measures of the browser's overall performance.HisDivineOrder - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
Reminds me of the 3GS or the iPad 2. Its CPU and GPU are far overpowered compared to the underlying requirements of the display provided. In this way, they are set up for a future, higher resolution, better display where a more minor leap will progress them forward into a new product number (ie., iPhone 6).I imagine it will last as long as the 3GS and iPad 2, too. Those who bought an iPad 2 got an impressive lifespan for their product. Too bad Apple looks to make the iPhone 5 and iPad 3rd gen go bust far more quickly or people might think Apple products had a good long lifespan.
Also, kinda sad that Android is still so far ahead of iOS in all the ways that really matter in the here and now.
systemsonchip4 - Saturday, September 21, 2013 - link
Android is only ahead in marketshare, because Android is cheap, not that its great. iOS has Android and its manufacturers beat in just about almost every metric(customer satisfaction rating, most durable products, most loyal user base, etc...)Abhip30 - Tuesday, September 24, 2013 - link
lol. Its like saying a corolla has more marketshare then a mercedes. :Pnedjinski - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
and then there are the realities that nobody seems to care about -http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/ifixit-teardo...
iannoisrk - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
Question on the geekbenchmark. Was it 32 bit code running on 64 bit isa or 64 bit code running? Most apps will probably run 32 bit code. Wonder what the numbers will look like for them.ka27orl - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
can you do a review on BB10 devices please, e.g. Z30. I heard it beaten all quad core android phones in browsermark and performance tests.Harry_Wild - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
I was very tempted to get the 5S but I knew Apple would not go all out on the A7 chip from previous iPhones. And now I am proven right! It only has 1GB RAM.I will wait patiently for the iPhone 6 and re-evaluate the phone market in mid-summer! I really like the gold color too!
systemsonchip4 - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
So the iPhone 5S has 2 Cortex ARM-A57 cores clocked at 1.3 ghz roughly ... Amazing, thats why its able to beat out the S800 SoC