iPhone 5s vs. Galaxy S 4: How does Apple's new iPhone match up with the Samsung superphone?

At Tuesday’s event in Cupertino, Apple finally introduced the world to its much rumored iPhone 5s, flaunting a great number of spec and feature bumps over the company’s preceding smartphone, the iPhone 5. So, as the iPhone 5s becomes the de factoApple flagship smartphone device, we wondered: Does Apple make the biggest and baddest smartphone on the block? Or does that crown belong to Apple's arch-rival, Samsung, and its Galaxy S 4?

With apologies to the HTC One, Galaxy Note 3 and Nokia Lumia 1020, we compared the specs of the GS4 and 5s head-to-head to see which one reigned supreme. Dig in to see how the two superphones differ, and which one you might consider buying

The Samsung Galaxy S4 (left) and the iPhone S5 (right).

Processing Power and Memory

Apple says its new processor for the iPhone 5s is a 64-bit chip called the A7, and that the iPhone 5s will also run a 64-bit version of Apple’s iOS 7 (For an explanation of what that means, click here). Apple is claiming that this will boost speed and the graphics you can play on games, but some analysts think this will have little to no effect on performance, as it’s unlikely that Apple will equip a smartphone with 4 or more GB of RAM anytime soon (Apple doesn't publicize it, but the iPhone 5s likely uses 2GB of RAM). 

Still, Apple says its new flagship smartphone is over twice as fast as the iPhone 5, and its phones generally feature palpable speed boosts over predecessors.

The Galaxy S 4, meanwhile, is powered by a Qualcomm quad-core Snapdragon 600 clocked at 1.9 GHz and uses 2GB of RAM, a hardware configuration that, as it seems, wouldn’t benefit from being reconfigured for a 64-bit environment.Both of these smartphones come in the standard 16, 32 and 64 GB internal memory variations, but the Galaxy S 4 also has the option to add a microSD card for up to 64 extra GB of storage.

We don't yet have any speed tests for the iPhone 5s, but the Galaxy S 4 generally scores pretty well. Soon, we'll know how it compares to the new iPhone. 

This is Apple's new A7 processor, featured in the iPhone 5S.

Device Build and Display

Apple is producing gold, silver, and “space gray” high-grade aluminum cased versions of the iPhone 5s. Much the same as the design of the iPhone 5, the aluminum build allows for the overall weight of the device to sit at a quarter of a pound, slightly lighter than the plastic-cased Galaxy S 4, which weighs in at .29 pounds. The Galaxy S 4 comes in black and white versions. The iPhone is widely considered to feel nicer, and is still a bit lighter than the GS4.

The iPhone 5s, meanwhile, is also packing the same screen as the iPhone 5, a 4 inch IPS LCD “Retina” display (1136x640 resolution, 326 ppi), while the Galaxy S 4 offers a larger 5 inch full HD (1920x1080, 441 ppi) Super AMOLED display. .

Screen size has certainly been a hot topic in the smartphone space. Apple has decided to stick to the 4 inch screen size for its smartphone, while other manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and Motorola churn out 5 inch display sizes and larger for theirs. Those who prefer a larger screen might opt for the Galaxy.

This is a screen comparison between the Galaxy S4 (right) and the iPhone 5 (left).

Both phones possess physical hardware “home” buttons, but the Galaxy S 4 also features capacitive touch buttons for “back” and “menu” just below the display of the phone. Some find this confusing and messy, while others enjoy the greater control.

Special Features

Both companies have their own "voice assistant" software - Apple with Siri and Samsung with S Voice - each allowing users to make calls, send messages, or even search the Internet for information. Both phones also offer a cloud backup service for photos, apps and other personal data, Apple with iCloud and Samsung with Auto Backup.

But despite all the copycatting, some of the real attention grabbing aspects of these phones are the apps and features that are unique to their brands, and these are sometimes what help users decide which device is more appealing to them.

Apple's new Touch ID fingerprint sensor, for instance, is meant to make it possible for users to simply touch their fingers to the phone’s home button to unlock the screen. No more lock screen PINs or swipe patterns. Apple says Touch ID can also be used to sign in and make iTunes purchases on the iPhone, as well.

Meanwhile, one of the selling points of Samsung's Galaxy S 4 is actually a "no touch" screen control. With Air Gesture, users can answer calls and flip between screen by just waving a hand at the screen.

The Galaxy S 4 also offers NFC (Near Field Communications) technology for sharing content with other Galaxy devices by just tapping them together. On the other hand, the iPhone 5s is obviously compatible with Apple's FaceTime, the much heralded in-call video chat app that most Android users are still envious of.

This is a screenshot from the Touch ID setup on the iPhone 5S.

Camera

The camera on the iPhone 5s is also an improvement from the iPhone 5, a camera that was widely regarded as one of the best on any smartphone. Though still an 8 MegaPixel sensor, Apple claims that its bigger pixels mean better pictures (we’ve heard this before from HTC). The sensor in the camera is also now 15 percent larger, making for greater clarity in captures.

The Galaxy S 4 offers a 13 MegaPixel camera, reportedly at 1.1 microns per pixel. And the S4’s front facing camera is a 2 MegaPixel camera, capable of 1080p video capture, while the iPhone 5s’s front facing camera, or FaceTime camera, is only a 1.2 MegaPixel lens.

As for camera flash, the iPhone 5s has a new True Tone dual LED, with cool white and warm amber flashes that combine to get the best color and contrast for your shot. The Galaxy S 4 packs a standard single LED flash. Apple's camera probably remains superior to Samsung's.

Apart from the specs, Apple’s new iOS 7 squares off against Samsung’s own software advancements on Android Jelly Bean. iOS and Android have long divided people, though most admit that Android has made major leaps in quality and speed over the past several years.

iPhone 5S camera specs: better optics, 'true tone' flash

Battery

As Apple doesn’t often disclose the battery size of its devices, we can only really rely on the company’s given estimates on talk and standby times, of which they say the iPhone 5s should be good for 10 hours and 250 hours, respectively. The Galaxy S 4, however, does have a hefty 2600 mAh battery and, unlike the iPhone, can be replaced if the charge of the battery starts to slip over time. Samsung lists its talk time at 17 hours and its standby time at 300 hours, though obviously that can vary based on your specific usage.

iPhone 5S Rumors: Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C Rumors

In iPhone 5S rumors news, the iPhone 5S will launch on Sept. 10, 2013 amid a number of them. New colors including gold, also called champagne and even a budget iPhone 5C model are expected. All will be known at the launch event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. At 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, Apple will hold an event that according to the company, should “brighten everyone’s day.”

iPhone 5S Rumors: Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C Rumors

iPhone 5S news

In iPhone 5S news, the iPhone 5S will be a major upgrade to the iPhone 5, like when the iPhone 4s was released. Cool new colors including gold are expected and a fingerprint reader on the Home button. When iOS 7 is available you should be able to swipe across to unlock the security on your phone with this hot new feature. No bigger screen this time, we will have to wait for the iPhone 6 “phablet”, rumored to have a 4.5″ to 5″ screen next year. A better camera with dual-led flash and a twice-as-fast processor is rumored to be inside the 5S.

iPhone 5C rumors

The iPhone 5C will be a smartphone for the more budget conscious. It is expected to have a plastic case and come in an array of new colors including blue, green, white, and yellow. It is rumored to be priced at $199.

iOS 7 rumors

An iOS 7 release date is hotly anticipated to be announced tomorrow as well. The sleek new operating system and interface was promised this fall for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

iPhone 5s pictures

Check here for s nice slideshow of some of the best images “iPhone 5S: Apple iPhone 5S rumor roundup (Photos).”

What is your favorite of the iPhone 5S rumors?
Leave a comment and tell us more.

iPhone 5S Leaks That You Are Going To Love

With the eventual iPhone 5 launch date coming closer, Apple is in crisis mode. Leaks about the iPhone 5S keep filtering out of their company. Nobody knows why Apple is being so lax, or whether they’re doing this intentionally. We have seen lots of leaks, some of which you might not understand, but you’ll definitely love the end results.

Here are some of the main leaks we’ve seen.

iPhone 5S Leaks That You Are Going To Love

Gold and Graphite

Apple has come up with two new colours. How you feel about the new gold and graphite shell cases depends on who you are. The addition of these sleek and classic colours is undoubtedly Apple’s attempt to hit its high-end market once again. It wants to make the iPhone 5S an object of desire to confront the rising challenge from Samsung. NDTV released a video revealing the two new colors.

More Power and Speed

In what has been credited to 9to5Mac, the iPhone 5S seems to be addressing many of the concerns brought about with its previous incarnations. In the video provided by 9to5Mac, they took apart a copy of the phone and looked at the rear shell casing. The innards of the phone reveal a much less cluttered space.

The battery space has increased, whereas the logic board is smaller, and the same applies to the chip set. What this means is the phone will have a bigger battery to further enhance the phone’s battery life, which has been the subject of much criticism previously.

It’s also thought the space for graphics cards and processors has been increased. This would enable better graphics and a faster processing time, which will help people who prefer to have lots of apps open at the same time.

Better Camera

Like with practically every new iPhone, we see a new camera. This time, it was CNET which drew attention to it. The latest leaks say it will have a dual LED flash with a larger f/2.0 aperture. In plain English, this means the camera will produce better images because more light will be able to get through. Inadvertently, Apple also improves the phone’s low-light picture taking capabilities.

Fingerprint Scanner

Ever get tired of your idiotic friends trying to sneak onto your phone to mess around with everything? Now you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Leaks strongly indicate AuthenTec is working with Apple to bring fingerprint scanners to the iPhone. AuthenTec was acquired by Apple in a major takeover back in 2012.

This is the most exciting prospect. Biometric technology as a way to boost security has been on the cards for a long time. The iPhone’s greatest legacy could be bringing this technology into the mainstream world. We could soon see it with other phones, online purchasing, and cloud technology.

Judging from images released unofficially, the fingerprint system will replace the Home button.

These are just some of the leaks ahead of the iPhone 5 launch date. With less than a month to go, the Apple community is ready and waiting to go!

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The Star of Apple’s New iPhone May Not Be the Phone

The rumored "iPhone 5S" may have a faster processor and better camera but it will also be running Apple’s new iOS 7 software. And the software can be installed on the last three iPhones, going back to 2010's iPhone 4, along with every iPad but the original.

That means a lot more people can share in the improvements. Instead of just the 10 million or 20 million people who buy the iPhone 5S in its opening weeks, hundreds of millions of owners of older iPhones and iPads will also be able to use iOS 7.

It also means many more companies – not just phone makers such as Samsung (005930.KS) and Nokia (NOK) – could be hurt by competition from Apple. Online music service Pandora Media (P) will suffer if users defect en mass to Apple’s new iTunes Radio. Facebook’s (FB) Instagram could be hit as competitor (and Yahoo-owned service) Flickr gets deeply integrated in the iPhone operating system. And Google could suffer if an improved Siri search service reduces the need for Google searches.

The strength of iOS 7 also poses dangers for Apple. To the extent that owners of older phones feel they've gotten a free upgrade from the many software improvements, they may be less likely to buy a new iPhone. And even new phone buyers may opt for older, cheaper models or the rumored lower-priced, plastic "iPhone 5C." Apple's vast iOS ecosystem, encompassing apps, music, ebooks and movies, makes customers less likely to defect to Android but bestows its benefits on users of old or new hardware nearly the same.

Overhauled visual design

Many of the new features will be obvious up front, starting with a radical overhaul of the basic design scheme. From the icon-filled home screen through all of Apple’s own iPhone apps, colors are brighter but designs are less ornamented, with a flatter, simpler appearance. Gone are faux textures meant to look like leather or felt.

While the software is still being tested, some details could change. But Apple has already begun promoting many of the new features.

The visual changes are substantial but developers who have been testing the software say they had no troubles getting used to the more colorful, less ornate design. David Barnard, who runs App Cubby, says he was initially concerned the new visual style would be too jarring. But after using iOS 7 for several weeks, he feels “surprisingly at home.”

The new iTunes Radio service, free with occasional ads, has its own flat app icon harkening back to an old-style boombox radio. Listeners choose themed stations, which stream music wirelessly to the phone. Station themes will range from music similar to a famous artist (“If you like Bruce Springsteen…”) to more common genre-based selections (“'80s dance party”).

Apple customers who pay $25 a year for the iTunes Match service, which stores their music collections on the Internet for access on multiple devices, won’t even hear the ads.

Pandora, Spotify and other online music services will continue to benefit from their large pools of existing customers and well-developed features to help users discover new songs, says Ben Bajarin, Director of Consumer Technology at Creative Strategies. Still, “If iTunes Radio can deliver a better experience plus a more integrated buying experience, then I anticipate it to be a home run with consumers,” Bajarin says.

Some analysts argue that Pandora, with over 71 million active listeners, is already big enough to withstand the coming Apple onslaught. And while iTunes Radio will seek to personalize the songs it selects based on user preferences, it won’t have Pandora’s so-called genome system, which analyzes music along many attributes to improve suggestions.

“The iTunes Radio shadow may linger, but it doesn’t seem to leapfrog Pandora’s music discovery and its genome engine,” Wedge Partners analyst Martin Pyykkonen wrote in a report this week. And users don’t typically rely on just one service, he added. “Multiple radio and on-demand streaming services are the norm for music enthusiasts.”

More subtle improvements

Some iOS 7 features are incredibly simple but extremely helpful, such as a new control pane that appears with a finger dragged up from the bottom of the screen. The pane gives quick access to frequently needed controls, such as turning Bluetooth and Wifi on and off, which used to be buried layers deep in the settings app.

Developer Marcus Zarra, running a pre-release version of iOS 7, says he uses the control center constantly. “Easy access to music, alarms and other control features is a great time saver,” says Zarra, who writes for the “Cocoa is My Girlfriend” blog and co-founded app maker Empirical Development.

Flickr’s addition will be obvious to users as soon as they hit the iOS share button on a photograph. The current share button supports posting to only two non-Apple services, Facebook (FB) and Twitter. But the revamped sharing pane adds Flickr for photos and Vimeo for videos.

As always, iPhone users can post pictures to competing services such as Instagram directly from inside of those services’ apps. But it’s not as quick and convenient. Apple is also building into iOS 7 the photo effects filters Instagram pioneered.

Other new features will work behind the scenes to improve the iPhone software. Apple is adding a background feature to let apps grab updates, like new Twitter posts or updated news articles, even when they aren’t running on a user’s phone.

Apple has previously banned third-party apps from operating in the background in that manner, saying such operations can drain battery life too quickly. But the company says it has optimized the background feature to run for a limited amount of time and during “power efficient times,” such as when an iPhone is connected to Wifi.

None of that will matter much to users, who will just see their Twitter app filling with new posts more quickly, for example.

“This is a subtle improvement that most people will never notice directly,” says Steve Streza, an iOS developer who worked on Pocket, an app that downloads Web articles onto a phone for a user to read later. “But it will make any app that talks to the cloud feel much more responsive and snappy.”

Another hidden addition could be popular with gamers. Apple is adding code to let iPhones work with separate game controllers – those multi-button handhelds that typically go with an Xbox or Playstation.

“Touch controls are great, but some games are just better with a d-pad and a few buttons,” says Jeremy Olson, founder of app maker Tapity. “Now users will have the best of both worlds.”

And that’s not just users who buy the newest iPhone.