Apple's new iPhone 5s, 5c--rumors proved

Is there a letdown for those who have been reading rumors for the past couple of weeks?

Apple introduced their new phones (and nothing else, really) and there wasn't much to say.

The 5s has a new, 64-bit processor, enhanced GPU, an integrated motion co-processor, and a fingerprint sensor.  (Update: naturally, there are problems with this one, due to the new hardware.)

The 5c is mostly a 5 with a polycarbonate body, like the MacBook series.

Both have enhanced LTE support with more (all?) bands included but no 802.11ac (Gigabit WiFi), and a bit more battery capacity.  (Update: Sprint's version supports 2 bands of LTE but not all 3.)

All new iPhones come with free downloads of iPhoto, iMovie, and the iWork apps.  They didn't put them on the phone for a few reasons: it costs them and they don't want to give away anything, they don't want to be accused of Bloatware, and they want the brand new phone to look nice before you cram it full of stuff.  That said, the capacities are 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB--no 128GB at the moment.

The motion co-processor is supposedly more sensitive and less battery intensive than having the main processor handle the location and motion work, so it should increase battery life.  Hopefully, it helps with apps like Waze that really heat up my iPhone 4S.

Oh, and the iPhone 4S continues as the free-on-contract phone.

iOS 7 will be available on 18 September, and supposedly iRadio will be ready.

Oh, and one more thing (no one says that any more!): the typical stock buying binge before the announcement and subsequent sell-off afterwards happened, just like clockwork.

Update: They really are nice in the hand.  Strangely, I prefer the less expensive, polycarbonate version.  Maybe, it's just my conservative streak, which is why I waited for the iPhone 4s, but the white one matches my 2009 MacBook pretty well and it's proven hardware.

Update 2013.11.11: I've got my own iPhone 5c now in an Otterbox Defender case and the phone is quite good, although iOS 7 needs a lot of work, even at version 7.0.3.  I suspect 7.1, as usual, won't be available until January, but a lot of things will be fixed in that release.

I noticed that they wanted me to download all of the free apps before I restored my configuration from iTunes.  Now, it makes me pick and choose to get them separately.

Of course, the phone felt better in the store than in an Otterbox Defender case, but I'd rather not drop my own phone.  I can't really see much of the phone with the case on it, as with my iPhone 4S, but that's life with electronics.  The Defender case is reasonably thinner.  The hard plastic seems thicker and softer and more form-fitting, although the screen protector is a sheet of plastic stretched (too far) above the display.  Since it's not in contact with the display, your finger will make contact with the screen protector, and eventually, it will make contact with the display where your presses will be registered.

Photo surprise: iPhone 4S camera

I've done quite a bit of photography, including high school sports and food photography.  I never thought for once I'd be happy with what a mobile phone camera could do.  Point and shoot cameras barely work for me.

Since February, I've been working on Yelp, adding reviews and photos.  More than half the time, those photos come from the iPhone 4S I keep, instead of my Olympus E-5 or E-1.  After all, it looks a bit strange to pull out a large dSLR to take some interior photos of a restaurant or some photos of food, unless you're paid by the restaurant.

The iPhone 4S has been amazing.  Thankfully, they added an LED flash to the package, a faster (larger aperture) lens, and some intuitive software.  Touch to set a focus point is convenient.  I don't really give a !@#$ about the expanded number of pixels.  The sensor is tiny and it should be noisy, just like a crowded bus, full of uncomfortable passengers.

The photos are quite good and that's a huge surprise.  The exposures are usually good, but bright, bright sunlight is a problem.  I suppose the Camera+ app would help there.  I'm still learning to use it and with iOS 5.1, you can go from the lock screen to the Camera app with a tap, hold, and a slide.  Too bad that they don't let you use other apps with that.

It all works pretty well and you can choose the minimum and just capture a photo quickly or you can change some settings and work a bit more.  As mentioned earlier, the tap to focus functionality is easy.  If anything is not easy, it's positioning the phone to take a close up shot.  The lens is in an odd place (is there a camera on a mobile phone that's positioned well?) so my finger has been in the way.  If it's not that, I'm gripping the phone in such a way that I've pressed the Home button and the Camera app goes away.  The last phone had the camera in a more central location, which always ended up directly under my finger as I removed it from the holster.

I'm wondering what anyone could do to make the camera/software better.  If you're thinking Instagram-like effects, I'm really not thinking that those would be in the better category.  My E-5 has "Art Filters" and I still think they're only good for those who want to get attention.

Who knew that Apple would go from really poor digital photos to very popular (the mostest on flickr) to actually having a good sensor able to take good photos?  It's great to find a positive surprise.

2012.11.11: I'm still constantly amazed that they've done such a good job.  I've used my cheapo studio lighting and people are shocked at the quality.  Mind you, we're not looking at the individual pixels, but a full-sized print might not look bad at all.