Apple iPhone 5C review- ‘C’ for Color

When Apple decided to change its dynamics by introducing a cheaper looking iPhone 5C for the same cost as an iPhone 5 (priced upwards of Rs 40,000), the market questioned the sense of offering two models out of which the 5S was recognised as an upgrade while 5C was a mere substitute. According to me, the iPhones have always come in a silver-black color combo and a full-metal body. 5C onwards is possibly a strategy to break this monotony by offering the iPhone in different colors and material.

Features

The phone sports a 4-inch 1136x640 pixels display and runs on the latest iOS7 operating system. The 5C comes with same 1.3 GHz dual-core CPU and 1 GB that powered the iPhone 5 as well. Available in 16 GB and 32 GB variants, the phone is fitted with an 8 MP rear camera with a lot of zippy imaging features and a 1.2 MP front camera for FaceTime or video calling in simple terms. The phone supports nano-SIM card which can be slotted in on the right by plucking out the tray. The 5C has a 1510 mAh battery, which is 70 mAh more than its sibling. Whether this creates a huge difference to battery life or not is something we've explained in the performance section of this review.

Performance

With iPhone you are rest assured to get high quality graphics, performance and product life. But for anyone who is spending or planning to spend Rs 40,000 or upwards, he/she needs full-proof assurance and given a thorough value-for-money detailing. The 5C's display offers similar resolution and performance as iPhone 5, but it's not Corning Gorilla glass. That makes the 5C screen more fragile and less durable. The phone's overall build quality is better than we expected as Apple may have used plastics but they are top quality ones.

The size of phone seems to have broadened and this has resulted in increased device weight at 132 grams (112 grams for iPhone 5). The audio and gaming capability of the 5C is right amongst the top devices and nothing to complain about. The 5C and 5 both have the same camera (front and rear), which is why there is really not much to talk about in detail about its output.

In terms of raw performance, iPhone 5C scored 3288 on 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme while iPhone 5 had 3301, again not much of a difference. The GFXBench and PassMark scores were almost the same as well. To check out the battery, we played two movies from YouTube over WiFi with full brightness. The 5C managed to last this torture for 6 hours. This implies that the phone will easily last 8-9 hours of normal usage, which according to us comprises of 2 hours each of calling, WiFi and 3G usage, 1 hour each of gaming and music. The battery performance is nearly similar to that of iPhone 5.