Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4

Whenever Apple hits the stage and shows off a new iPhone, the tech world takes a breath in anticipation. What will they produce? Will it be a revolution or simply an evolution? This year, for the first time, we saw two new versions released simultaneously - the iPhone 5c, and the flagship,iPhone 5s. But how does the iPhone 5s stand up against the Samsung Galaxy S4? We're about to find out....

So, how does the iPhone 5s compare to its smartphone rivals - does it have the specs to out-rank the Samsung Galaxy S4? A phone we gave a glowing five star review earlier this year? Read on for full enlightenment.... Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4: Build & features The Apple iPhone used to be the king when it came to smartphone design. Sharp lines, glass, aluminium and a sense of sophistication surrounded Cupertino’s creation. However, no more is Apple the only company going all out for industrial design superiority, both the HTC One and Sony’s Xperia Z1 are marvels to gaze upon. While it may sell in droves, you won’t find many people clamouring to appreciate the plastic driven design and slimy feel of the Samsung Galaxy S4. However, by using these materials, Samsung manages to keep the weight down to 130g and it’s only marginally thicker than the iPhone 5s. Both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s pack a hardware home button, though niftily the iPhone 5s builds in a fingerprint scanner so you can ditch the passwords on native Apple apps. Looking to change the battery and add extra storage through a MicroSD card? You’ve only got one choice, the Galaxy S4. LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS are features available across both devices, while NFC is still an iPhone no go. Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4: Display The first thing you will most likely see when you unpack your newest smartphone from its box is the touchscreen display that covers the front. Obviously, the size of the the display determines how big the phone is going to be, how well it will feel in the hand and sit in your pocket. Apple has only ever used two screen-sizes for its iPhone range – a 3.5-inch version and an ever so slightly taller 4-incher. The iPhone 5s boasts, as we expected, the 4-inch version with a ‘Retina’ resolution of 640x1136 and a PPI of 326. Apple sets itself apart from the crowd by not constantly ramping up the screen sizes, something so common on Android handsets. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 has a Full HD 1080x1920 display, measuring 5-inches - a whole inch bigger than Apple’s offering. At first glance, it may seem like the iPhone 5s is lagging behind the competition with its screen resolution, and in many respects it is. However it’s not all about specs and we always felt the iPhone 5 had a brilliantly bright and vivid display, so we have very few qualms about the version on the 5s.  Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4: Operating System The Samsung Galaxy S4 runs on Google’s Android software, though this has been heavily tweaked and customised. Samsung has overlaid it with the glossy TouchWiz, which adds a load of features that some find useful, but it doesn’t feel as sophisticated as stock Android. If you delve through the menus you’ll find apps for fitness, a useful one for controlling your television and more. The iPhone 5s runs iOS7, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system and it’s the first time we have seen a dramatic overhaul in the design language used. Gone are the glossy icons, fake leather and strange textures, replaced with transparency, pastel shades and a lot of new features. Quick access to the settings menu, something we’ve seen in Android for a while now, is now available through Control Center and all the native Apple apps have been given a new coat of paint. Many have their personal preferences when it comes to their OS of choice, some love the freedom and customisability Android offers, while other prefers the huge amounts of quirky, unique apps and games found on Apple’s App Store. If you’ve never liked iOS before, 7 probably won’t change your mind. Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4: Camera Apple didn’t increase the megapixel count in the iPhone 5s this year, instead deciding to focus on the optics, along with improving the flash and image stabilisation. Megapixels don’t mean everything folks; the 8mp snapper on the iPhone 5 took fantastic shots, even when compared to the 12 megapixel version on the Samsung Galaxy S4. We’re salivating a little at the thought of what the iPhone 5s could now achieve thanks to the ƒ/2.2 aperture, true tone flash and quirky slow-mo video. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a load of added camera features, including the ability to take a photo with both the front and rear cameras at the same time, add sound to your snaps and overlay numerous filters. It did produce great snaps – with great colours and vivid detail, though sometimes the saturation was a little over. Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4: Processor Powering the latest addition to the iPhone family is a brand-new A7 chip, this is built on a completely new 64-bit architecture and paired with a separate M7 chip for all things motion related. As is typical with Apple, they don’t really delve down into the nitty gritty specs, though they do state this is the first 64-bit smartphone in existence.   OpenGL ES version 3.0 is also supported, improving the graphics for gaming. Samsung however, has no problem spouting specs for the Galaxy S4, which are rather impressive indeed. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core chip, 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 graphics processing unit. If power is your thing, the GS4 has swathes of it.  Apple iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4: Price As each of these devices is a top of the line, flagship model with heaps of tech and features, you know they’re not going to come cheap. The iPhone 5s will set you back £549 (for the 16GB model) while The Samsung Galaxy S4 costs £550. So, what do you think? Which one is the flagship to rule them all? Let us know in the comment box below, on Twitter and on Facebook. Want to know more about the specs? Check out the video below

10 new features in Apple's iPhone 5s

Apple unveiled the next-generation iPhone, iPhone 5s along with the new iPhone 5c at a special event on Tuesday. The iPhone 5s is a much improvised version of the iPhone 5 with new internals, although it sports almost the same design. It offers some revolutionary features. Here's a look at 10 new features of the iPhone 5s.

1. New A7 chip with 64-bit architecture
According to Apple, the iPhone 5s is the first smartphone in the world to be powered by a chip with a 64-bit architecture. The iPhone 5s' A7 chip delivers CPU and graphics performance up to 2x faster than the A6 chip that powered the iPhone 5.The phone runs a 64-bit version of iOS 7, designed to take advantage of the A7 chip. The A7 chip supports OpenGL ES version 3.0 to deliver gaming console-level detailed graphics and complex visual effects. The iOS 7 native apps including the Camera app takes advantage of the new A7 processor.

2. Touch ID - the fingerprint scanner
The most talked about feature of the iPhone 5s, the Touch ID is a new fingerprint identity sensor integrated with the phone's Home button. Fingerprint recognition can be used for unlocking the phone and also for approving purchases from iTunes Store, the App Store, and the iBooks Store. The Touch ID feature is capable of 360-degree readability allowing users to enter fingerprints in portrait, landscape, or any other position. It even supports multiple fingerprints. The iPhone 5s Home button is made from sapphire and is scratch resistant.

3. A new M7 coprocessor for efficiency
The iPhone 5s' A7 processor is supported by its M7 coprocessor that takes care of measuring motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass sensors of the phone, sending them to new fitness apps without waking up the A7 processor, leading to improved battery life. It also recognises different types of motion.

4. A new iSight camera
Apple has put a new 8-megapixel camera on the iPhone 5s that has a 15 percent larger sensor, bigger pixels measuring 1.5 microns and an aperture of f/2.2 allowing more light to come in. It comes with a Continuous burst mode which is capable of shooting 10 pictures per second, and offers a real-time analysis suggesting individual shots or a sequence of photos that users might like best.

The camera comes with an accompanying True Tone Flash that feature a white LED and an amber LED which work with software algorithms to adjust flash intensity and colour temperature, with over 1000 unique combinations to light the subject.
The iPhone 5s camera comes with auto-image stabilisation to help reduce noise and motion from shaky hands or moving subjects. The camera also offers a Slo-Mo mode to shoot slow motion video at 120 frames per second at 720p. It also comes with Live video zoom for zooming in up to 3x while shooting a video, in addition to live filters.

5. A new FaceTime HD front-facing camera
The iPhone 5s sports a new 1.2-megapixel front-facing FaceTime Camera that comes with a Backside illumination sensor (BSI sensor) for capturing low-light images and support for 720p HD video recording.

6. Support for a large number of 4G LTE bands
The iPhone 5s has up to 13 LTE bands, more than any other single model of a smartphone. This will allow iPhone 5s users to access high-speed Internet in more countries around the world. The new iPhone even supports Band 40, which is the same frequency band on which Airtel's 4G service has been deployed in India.

7. Two new colour options
The iPhone 5s is based on the iPhone 5's design complete with the chamfered edges. However, Apple has scrapped the Black variant and introduced a new Space Gray colour, in addition to the widely rumoured Gold colour variant.

8. iOS 7
The new iPhone 5s will run iOS 7 that leverages its 64-bit A7 chip, the Touch ID fingerprint identity sensor, and the new iSight camera. It also sports a brand new user interface and brings new features, such as a refreshed multitasking view, AirDrop, and Control Center. It also offers new native apps and a new version of Siri.

9. Better battery life
The iPhone 5s claims to offer up to 10 hours of talk time on 3G and standby time of 250 hours. In contrast, the iPhone 5 claims to deliver 8 hours of talk time on 3G and standby time of 225 hours.

10. Free bundled apps
Apple will also offer its premium iWork and iLife apps including Pages, Keynote, Number, iLife and iMovie, free to customers who buy the new iPhone 5s.