Apple iPhone 5c review: The color of magic-saving the best for the late

Introduction

The Apple iPhone 5 is gone for good, abandoned and replaced by the fresh iPhone 5c. Initial rumors erroneously suggested that the lowercase letter stands for cheap, but it turned out that the Cupertino-based giant had color on its mind instead.

For the first time ever Apple broke pattern and released not one, but two new iPhones this year. The successor we all knew was coming - the iPhone 5s - is joined by the "unapologetically plastic" iPhone 5c, meaning that we no longer get last year's flagship as the second best iPhone on tap.

 
The Apple iPhone 5c

On paper, the Apple iPhone 5c stands as basically an iPhone 5 in a shiny new outfit that comes in a number of bright colors. And, if you think about it, that's the most logical thing to do - the colorful iPod lineup has been getting lots of praise on account of looks so it was about time Apple's smartphones got the same treatment. The iPhone 5c is so keen on showing how young and fresh it is, that the traditional black is not among its five paint jobs (white, blue, yellow, green and pink).

There's a catch though. The Apple 5c comes with a glossy plastic body instead of the sleek-looking aluminum chassis of the iPhone 5. The reasons for the switch will probably never be officially revealed, but it could be anything from supply issues to budget, to simply aiming to deliver a fresh new look to match the redesigned iOS 7.

Finding the truth is hardly the point here, though. What we are more interested in is whether the company that repeatedly bashed competitors about cheap plastic phones over the past few years has created a plastic phone that you can be proud to be seen in public with.

Before we continue, here's the Apple iPhone 5c review cheat sheet.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and 3G support with 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• LTE support where carriers support it and CDMA support when sold by CDMA carriers
• 4" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 1136px resolution
• 1.3 GHz dual-core Apple Swift CPU, PowerVR SGX543MP3 GPU, 1GB of LPDDR2 RAM, Apple A6 SoC
• iOS 7 with iCloud integration
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and touch focus
• 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 1.2MP secondary front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE, AirDrop file transfer and sharing between iOS 7-running devices
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
• 16/32 GB storage options
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and a three-axis gyro sensor
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary microphone
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Excellent audio output quality
• Apple Maps with free voice-guided navigation in 56 countries
• Voice recognition, Siri virtual assistant
• Supports HD Voice (with carrier support)
• FaceTime video calls over Wi-Fi and cellular
• Free iWorks office suite
• Free iMovie and iPhoto apps

Main disadvantages

• Slippery glossy plastics prone to scratches and fingerprints
• Thicker and heavier than the iPhone 5
• Proprietary connector
• No FM radio
• No stereo speakers, feeble loudspeaker
• No expandable storage
• Stuck with iTunes for loading content
• Mono audio recording in videos
• Non user-replaceable battery

The 7th iOS iteration brought a long overdue UI overhaul to the iPhone lineup, with Apple keen to demonstrate that the innovation well hasn't dried up. Flat, colorful and with a ton of new features, iOS 7 certainly puts the iPhone 5c in a better position in the smartphone race. Apple is also sweetening the pot even further by giving you the complete iWorks office package, the iMovie video editor and the powerful iPhoto app for free - content that otherwise costs more than $40.

 
Apple iPhone 5c live pictures

Pricing remains the elephant in the room regarding the iPhone 5c, as it slides in just $100/€100 below the iPhone 5s. That's as much as the iPhone 5 would've cost had it not been discontinued and we have yet to see if this is a change for the better or worse. On one hand you are getting a fresh new design instead of one that's been around for almost a year, but on the other, you are losing the premium metal body while still paying the same price.

The high asking price also sends the iPhone 5c right in the way of the current Android and Windows Phone top-dogs, pushing its (now one-year-old) internals to the limit to keep up. It's certainly a curious starting point and we are excited to see how the iPhone 5c race develops. The unboxing and hardware tour is right after the break.

Nokia Lumia 1520 hands-on: First look

Introduction

The Nokia Lumia 1520 brings several firsts for the company. This is the Finns' debut in phablets, the first WP quad-core device and the first one to rock a FullHD screen.

    
The Nokia Lumia 1520 in white, red and yellow

The Nokia Lumia 1520 builds upon the design philosophy of all previous Lumia flagships. It features a solid unibody construction with a colorful polycarbonate casing. The PureView camera on board, complete with optical image stabilization, promises great low-light experience, while the top-notch display should help the 1520 deliver the best Windows Phone experience around. Services and apps like Nokia Camera, Storyteller and Cinemagraph add even more value to the package.

But first let's get the technicalities out of the way.

Nokia Lumia 1520 at a glance

• Dimensions: 162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7 mm, 209g
• Display: 6" ClearBlack IPS display with 1080p resolution, Gorilla Glass 2 protection, 367ppi
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800; quad-core Krait 400 at 2.2GHz, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM
• OS: Windows Phone 8 GDR3 with Nokia Black
• Camera: 20 MP, Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash, PureView technology
• Video camera: 1080p @ 30fps video capture with main camera
• Storage: 32GB built-in, microSD card slot with support of up to 64GB, 7GB SkyDrive cloud storage
• Connectivity: NFC, A-GPS+GLONASS, WLAN (2.4/5Ghz) a/b/g/n/ac, microUSB 2.0, BT 4.0 LE
• Battery: 3,400 mAh with built-in wireless charging (Qi compatible)
• Misc: Nokia Camera app, FM Radio, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor

The 6-inch diagonal and has FullHD (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution, which allows for a ppi of around 368 ppi, meaning no pixels will be visible. The bigger screen estate and higher resolution result in a third column of Live Tiles being present on the Lumia 1520 start screen.

The 6" ClearBlack IPS display offers low reflectivity and very wide viewing angles. It's covered with Gorilla Glass 2 for scratch resistance and can be used not only with bare fingers but also with gloves, thanks to the Super sensitive touch.

Moving onto the back where one of the most interesting assets of the device lies. The 20 MP camera with OS makes great use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset and provides shot to shot times far shorter than those of the Lumia 1020.

Stay tuned - more live photos and hands-on videos of the Nokia Lumia 1520 will be coming to the following pages very shortly.

Apple iPad Air review: Sun and heir

Introduction

It's been tempting lately to conclude that Apple doesn't have it anymore, and tablets in particular is where Cupertino does need to silence the prophets of doom and gloom after an iPad 4 that was more like a 3.1 and a mini that should've had a retina display.

To begin with, they could've done a lot worse than borrow a line from macbooks but the Air signature isn't just a PR stunt. It would be hard to believe it's the first time an iPad Air crossed anyone's mind as a cool name for a tablet but, by the looks of it, the iPad Air is very well the first that actually warrants it.

Just sounds right, doesn't it? And the iPad Air will definitely need all that crowd-pleaser ring when the fresh iPad mini with Retina display finally starts hitting the shelves. With Nexus tablets around, usual suspects Samsung, the new Surface, and now even Nokia on the list, an iPad has never arrived to such an unfriendly welcome. Yet, if Apple has done its job right, the Retina-flaunting mini will likely be the biggest threat.

Apple iPad Air

But let's not get ahead of ourselves and give the iPad Air a proper introduction. Easily one of the hottest pieces of hardware we've seen deserves it. Honestly, to say that a diet was all the iPad needed would be a massive understatement - after the iPad 4, which deservedly gets retired. But the way the iPad Air looks is a start made in heaven. The Air is almost 2mm thinner, and has unbelievably lost near a centimeter on each side - it's mostly screen bezel that's gone. The weight difference is the whopping 183 grams. The screen - the same gorgeous 9.7" canvas with 2048 x 1536px resolution.

Key features

• 9.7" LED-backlit IPS LCD touchscreen, pixels, ~ 264 ppi; scratch-resistant, oleophobic coating
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity with MIMO dual antennas
• LTE connectivity (data only)
• GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS support (for the Cellular model only)
• Dual-core A7 64-bit 1.3 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based) chip with M7 motion coprocessor
• PowerVR G6430 quad-core GPU
• 1GB of RAM
• iOS 7.0.3 with iCloud support and activation
• 16/32/64/128GB of inbuilt storage
• Lighter at 469 grams (478 grams for the Cellular version)
• Thinner than ever at 7.5 mm
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Lightning USB port
• Stereo speakers
• Accelerometer, compass and three-axis gyro-sensor
• 5MP auto-focus camera
• 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 1.2MP 720p secondary camera capable of FaceTime HVGA calls
• Four and five-finger gestures
• Comes with premium set of free Apple apps - Pages, Garage Band, etc.

Main disadvantages

• Non expandable memory
• Price of storage climbs steeply, and storage is largely overpriced
• Tied into iTunes for uploading most of the content
• iOS 7 could've made better use of the bigger screen
• No standard USB port
• No GPS receiver in the Wi-Fi-only version

Along with the impressive loss of weight, the iPad Air has really stepped on the optimizations. There is a smaller battery powering the tablet but Apple promises the same 10 hours of battery life as before. The brains behind the tablet are the same as on the iPhone 5s - a class-leading 64-bit dual-core A7 chip that should be twice as fast as the predecessor's. The GPU is even a little more capable than on the iPhone, in keeping with the bigger display and higher resolution.

Apple took a big step in the right direction with this year's iPad lineup by equaling the mini and the Air's specs, so the only thing you need to choose is the screen size that works best for you. This puts the iPad Air in a sticky position, as the mini's handling and portability could be the big decider. The iPad Air, by the way, is now much more comfortable to hold and the narrower casing does wonders for single-handed operation but there's no avoiding the fact that the iPad mini is the friendlier form factor.

Last season's bigger iPad at least had the luxury of being more powerful but those days are gone.