Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ iPhone 5s Announced, Knows You by Touch Michael E. Cohen Apple today announced the [1]iPhone 5s, in three colors: gold, silver, and slate. No pre-order availability was announced for the 5s, unlike the simultaneously announced iPhone 5c (see '[2]Apple Announces Low-Cost Plastic iPhone 5c, in Five Colors,' 10 September 2013), but the phone itself will be available on 20 September 2013 in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the UK to start, with 100 countries and over 270 carriers included by December 2013. The iPhone 5s lineup and pricing remain similar to previous models, with a 16 GB model for $199, a 32 GB model for $299, and a 64 GB model for $399 (all with, of course, the obligatory two-year contract). [3][tn_iPhone-5s-colors.jpg] The iPhone 5s is an incremental upgrade over last year's iPhone 5, with an identical casing, but a number of [4]significant internal improvements. It features Apple's new A7 system-on-a-chip, with up to 56 times more graphics performance than the original iPhone. The A7 is also the first, and so far only, 64-bit CPU architecture for mobile phones. iOS 7 and its included apps have been re-engineered for 64-bit support, and Apple's development platform, Xcode, has been updated to enable developers to develop both 32- and 64-bit versions of their apps simultaneously. Also new is Apple's M7 motion coprocessor. The M7 chip takes measurements from the accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope without waking the A7, presumably offering better battery life for motion-sensing apps, like fitness trackers. Along with the M7, Apple is providing a new API for developers, called CoreMotion. Nike is already developing an app, called Nike+ Move, that uses the new API. Speaking of battery life, the iPhone 5s purportedly can provide 10 hours of 3G talk time (up from 8 on the iPhone 5), 10 hours of browsing over Wi-Fi, 40 hours of life when playing music, and 250 hours (up from 225) of charge on standby. The camera system in the iPhone 5s also features significant improvements, including a 15 percent larger sensor with larger pixels to provide better color and less noise, an f/2.2 aperture (the iPhone 5 featured an f/2.4 sensor) for better low-light pictures, and a new five-element Apple-designed lens. Also new is the 'True Tone' flash, which features two LEDs, one cooler, and one warmer, that can be mixed for better skin tones. The camera in the iPhone 5s takes multiple pictures at once, and the A7 combines the sharpest ones. It also features a burst mode at 10 frames-per-second, 28-megapixel panoramas, and 120 frames-per-second slow-motion video at 720p. You can even take a still photo while shooting video. The camera software has also been made smarter: for example, it chooses the best of the burst mode pictures to show you first, adjusts the True Tone flash automatically depending on external conditions, and continually alters the exposure as you turn while taking panorama photos. Perhaps the most drastic outward change to the iPhone 5s is its new Touch ID fingerprint scanner, built into the home button. The capacitive sensor, which is 170 microns thick and has a resolution of 500 pixels-per-inch, can unlock the iPhone or authorize iTunes purchases with just the touch of a finger. The Touch ID scanner can learn multiple fingerprints, and does so automatically, and can capture a fingerprint from an angle. Should you not wish to (or be able to) use the fingerprint scanner, there is an option in iOS 7 to use a password instead of a fingerprint scan. The home button itself can still be pressed for standard behaviors, though gone is the rounded square icon that has been an iPhone standard since day one. In terms of [5]industrial design, Apple has traded the black and white dichotomy for three options: slate, silver, and gold. In each case, the metallic color occupies the edge of the phone and the bulk of the back. For the slate model, the face (apart from the screen, obviously) is black; for the silver and gold models, it's white. We'll be curious to see how the different colors sell ' the gold seems pretty gaudy to our eyes. Also to be released alongside the iPhone 5s is the [6]iPhone 5s Case, a $39 leather case available in five colors: black, brown, beige, yellow, blue, and Product(RED), the latter of which will have proceeds donated to the [7](RED) AIDS charity. Like the iPad Smart Cover, the iPhone 5s Case features a microfiber lining to keep the phone clean. The dye has been infused into the leather, so hopefully we won't see the color rub off like it did with the leather Smart Covers. The iPhone 5s Case is also compatible with the iPhone 5, since the two phones have exactly the same dimensions. That should make accessory manufacturers happy too. [8][tn_iPhone-5s-cases.jpg] Additionally, Apple is getting back into the dock business, with [9]docks for both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. The new iPhone 5s Dock features a Lightning connector, a line-out port to connect your iPhone to powered speakers, and hands-free calling thanks to 'special audio porting.' It costs $29 and is also compatible with the iPhone 5, but unfortunately does not include a Lightning-to-USB cable. References 1. http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/ 2. http://tidbits.com/article/14094 3. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-09/iPhone-5s-colors.png 4. http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/specs/ 5. http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/design/ 6. http://www.apple.com/iphone/accessories/#iphone-5s-cases 7. http://www.red.org/en/ 8. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-09/iPhone-5s-cases.png 9. http://www.apple.com/iphone/accessories/#additional-accessories .