Apple’s iPhone 5 Draws Rave Reviews

Apple’s iPhone 5 has received positive reviews from gadget critics, with many of them describing the device as being extremely “beautiful.”

Apple launched the new iPhone on September 17 amidst much hype and claimed it received more than two million orders in the first 24 hours. That’s more than double the amount of orders when it launched the iPhone 4S last year.

The massive demand for the iPhone 5 even pushed up Apple’s market value to over $700 per share for the first time. The company’s stock has increased more than 70 per cent so far this year.

Technology writers who got a chance to review the phone have all extensively praised its design, additional features and faster speeds.

The iPhone 5 is taller, 18 per cent thinner and 20 per cent lighter than its predecessor the iPhone 4s. The added height allows an extra row of application icons on its home screen.

The latest iPhone also includes a new Apple-design chip named the A6, which is supposedly twice as powerful as the chips used in previous models.

“The iPhone 5 is a winner that should keep Apple at the front of the smartphone pack,” writes Edward Baig in USA Today.

“People have always had lofty expectations for the iPhone 5, especially as the competition stiffens. In delivering a fast, attractive, LTE-capable and larger-screen handset, Apple has met those expectations with a gem.”

Shane Richmond from The Telegraph is particularly smitten with the phone’s design.

He begins his review with: “The iPhone 5 is a marvellous piece of design, arguably the most beautiful object Apple has ever produced.”

After applauding the phone’s taller but not wider size, its brighter and more colourful screen and its quicker speed, he heralds it as “fast, lightweight and backed by the largest application store for any device. It’s also probably the most beautiful smartphone anyone has ever made.”

The word “beautiful” is also used by The New York’s David Pogue to describe the smartphone. “The new phone, in all black or white, is beautiful.”

And again by Slash Gear’s Vincent Nguyen: “It’s a beautiful piece of engineering and design, and something you really have to hold in your hand to appreciate: neither photos nor words can quite do the accuracy of the construction and precise tolerances justice.”

However, the main gripe that Pogue and the others have against the phone is Apple’s decision to change the charging connector. The iPhone 5 will not work with the old adaptor, and the new smaller one costs around $30 to $40 – an additional expense.

Apple will begin selling the phone on September 21 with prices varying between $199 and $399 depending on storage space. The phone comes with a two-year contract.