Apple iPhone 5 16GB (White)

Updated on 31/05/2013 with more sample shots from the camera

There's a very simple way to describe the Apple iPhone 5: thinner, lighter and a bit taller than the iPhone 4S. While that gets across the general look of the phone, it rather underestimates what's gone into the design to achieve this.

SIZE AND WEIGHT

For starters, Apple has managed to shave 1.4mm of the thickness of its previous phone. When you compare them side-by-side, what Apple has done is immediately obvious. While the iPhone 4S' screen and back bulged out from the side, the iPhone 5 has a flush back, while the screen is barely raised at all.

There's no denying that the iPhone 5 is impressively thin

It's easy to tell the difference is size from photos, but weight's an altogether harder thing to describe. In pure stats, the iPhone 4S weighed 140g, while the iPhone 5 is 28g lighter at just 112g. Trust us, this is a big difference and it's immediately noticeable when you pick the iPhone 5 up: you get the feeling that it simply should weigh more, it's that light.

While the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 are clearly related, there are some cosmetic changes to the new model, which give it a different look and help keep the weight down. Gone is the all-glass rear, replaced instead with an aluminium panel that covers most of back of the phone, bar two glass panels at the top and bottom. We've been told that during manufacturing the rear of the phone is photographed with the aluminium panel in place, so that the best-fitting glass panels can be found. Our review model was certainly well put together, with a flush fitting rear.

A new aluminium back panel gives the iPhone 5 a different look and feel

SCREEN

One of the biggest reasons for the change in size of the iPhone 5 is because it has a larger 4in screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, rather than the 3:2 aspect ratio used on the iPhone 4S. What this means in practice is that both screens are the same width, but the iPhone 5's is slightly taller, with a resolution of 1,136x640 (the iPhone 4S had a resolution of 960x640), maintaining the same high 326ppi. That's still a Retina display, which Apple defines as a screen where you can't see the individual pixels.

A 16:9 screen means the iPhone 5 is taller than its predecessor

Extra resolution is useful, as you can now fit five rows of icons on the homescreen, up from four on the iPhone 4S. It also makes sense when you use a lot of the applications: you can view more calendar appointments and emails in a list, for example.

SAMSUMG GALAXY S3

With the Samsung Galaxy S3 continuing to dominate the smartphone market, lining up as a true Android based rival to the iPhone 5 (check out our iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 piece), Samsung has looked to capitalise on the handsets success with the more accessible Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

Sharing a number of design characteristics with its full-sized sibling, the 4-inch Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini features a reduced spec and lower price point than its predecessor, whilst maintaining some of the desirability and pleasingly curved aesthetics of the full sized model. 

Despite the handset featuring a similar design to the high-end Samsung Galaxy S3, that is where the similarities between the two devices end. Tasked with bringing the S3 brand to a wider audience, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini is designed to appeal to younger markets, with its heavily reduced specs sheet, and lower price point testament to this.

Playing host to a 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini ticks all the boxes necessary to appease mid-market expectations, without ever standing out from the crowd. Available in Ceramic White and Pebble Blue colour options, the Mini adds 1GB of RAM, a 1500mAh battery and a 5-megapixel rear-mounted camera to the fray.

What’s more, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini price tag does not help the handset separate itself from the competition either, with the not inconsiderable £269.99 fee, when snapped up on a Pay-As-You-Go basis, seeing the device have the same impact on the wallet as the specs superior Google Nexus 4 and the Sony Xperia S.

Unlike the Google Nexus 4 and Sony Xperia S, however, the S3 Mini does not have the same level of stand-out specs and performance capabilities that, on paper at least, offer reassurance in the handset’s potential. We take a closer look at how the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini stands up to the competition. 

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini Design

Piggybacking on the success of its illustrious sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini plays host to a number of design characteristics found on its big brother, whilst a smaller 4-inch screen makes the handset a more viable mid-market offering and one that will appeal to younger markets.

Appearing as a shrunken rendition of its iPhone 5 rivalling counterpart, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini features the now recognisable pebble-esque curved edge design of the original Samsung Galaxy S3. Although a slightly curved, removable rear plate ensures the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini sits relatively comfortably within the hand, the device feels slightly undersized by modern standards. Working in the handset’s favour, the S3 Mini, despite a predominately plastic construction, feels well pieced together for the most part, offering up little unwanted flex on unnerving creaking when put under stress.

Lining up at just 9.9mm thick and 111.5g in weight, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini is compact and well-balanced, with the modest weight distributed evenly throughout the handset. Despite these largely pleasing aesthetics, however, the heavily rounded, almost bulbous base of the handset and its slick, glossed plastic finish mean the device can prove slightly difficult to grip on occasion.

Shy on the physical buttons, the smooth edged finish of the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini is largely untainted, with just a trio of physical controls (power, volume and home), and a microUSB charger port, located centrally on the handset’s base, detracting from the pleasing finish.

Whilst the handset does not suffer from poorly placed controls, ensuring accidental presses of the power/sleep button are not performance depleting issues; the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini home button is not without its user aggrieving problems.

With the physical home button proving a squat, squashed affair, the integral control option offers no height but plenty of width meaning that, during testing and general use, the button was overshadowed by our thumbs, an issue that caused the handset to become slightly troublesome and far natural to use. Further detracting from a natural user experience, the sub-sized nature of this home button gives the feeling that the button has been broken and only a fragment of its intended form remains, hardly the most comfortable of offerings.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini Screen

Where the Samsung Galaxy S3 display is a 4.8-inch expansive of high quality visual enjoyment, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini screen falls dramatically short of the mark, with the 4-inch AMOLED offering providing a disappointingly low grade 800 x 480p resolution.

Although we have come to expect a lot of Samsung’s displays, the low res offering fitted to the Samsung Galaxy S3 is significantly below par when compared with its similarly priced rivals, such as the 1280 x 768p Google Nexus 4 screen, and one which fails to appease itself to continued video playback or app-based game playing.

With the handset’s inbuilt light sensor proving effective at offering the optimal screen brightness to the surrounding settings, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini screen also handles its own when in use in bright outdoor environments of direct sunlight, suffering only minor levels of performance depleting, eye-straining glare.