The iPhone 5C and iOS 7 are little over three weeks old now and after now having both of them in my possession for this time period, I have had the chance to get to grips with all the new features, had time to see the usefulness and whether the new OS is a step up from the interface people are use to.

iPhone 5c

The iPhone 5c was released on September 20^th alongside the 5s. The 5c is herald as the budget model that is replacing the 5, though the cost of the phone still starts at £469 for the 16GB model.

The handset is exactly the same as the 5 apart from the “beautifully, unapologetically plastic” (in the words of John Ive) exterior that is replacing the glossily, glass and metal casing we are use to with previous iterations. I would recommend the 5c to people that are still alien to the iPhone or currently in possession of an earlier model than the 5 (4s or before). The phone is still pricey seen as though this is supposed to be Apple’s budget model, and being only £80 cheaper than the 5s (that has a new fingerprint scanner to lock and navigate through the phone, a new 16-bit chip that increases the speed of phone and slow-motion camera), it may be worth you paying the extra to be up-to-date with the latest handset and having those extra features. The slow-motion camera alone is enough to get the 5s after having hands on with the feature, but saying this I’m really happy with the 5c (5c is available in white, red, yellow, blue and green), though if you already have the 5 then there is no need for you to even consider the 5C. instead look to the 5S.

iOS 7

The new OS from apple is the biggest change in their interface and despite this being a pain to download on its release, it has now been available for almost a month and overall I feel it’s a step in the right direction. The new slick simplistic design definitely showcases what Apple is all about, to create simple and well designed products. Near enough everything has been overhauled from the icons to the new dynamic backgrounds.

The dynamic backgrounds that turns the backdrop of your phone into a 3D image as you move the phone is a cool feature that has been added and makes the task of choosing what background you should have that whole lot trickery to get the best out of this effect.

By swiping up on the screen, from bottom to top you now call up the Control Centre that gives you quick access to features such as your music, brightness, camera, Bluetooth, Airplane mode and a flashlight. The spotlight search feature was previously available by swiping to the far left of the phone, whereas now is available be swiping down on the home screen (though not from the very top as this still brings down the notification centre).

The improved multitasking feature is again an improvement. Before to close your apps that were running in the background you would have to tap the little red circle on the top of the icon after double tapping the home button, whereas now you are show all your applications in the middle, simply tap on the icon to open or swipe the page up to close the app.

It was about time that the iPhone camera came along with filters to edit your pictures and with this feature added alongside different photo styles, such as a panoramic picture mode. This is yet another app that has been given the Apple style face lift.

There are many new features that could be named such as the Find My iPhone feature, an improved app store, an improved Siri that now adds in Twitter searches into the functionality of the app. The final cool feature that im excited to get my hands on is iTunes Radio that allows you to find new music relevant to what you are listening to, but this feature isn’t yet available in the UK, the UK release date is said to be around early 2014.

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When Apple announces a new product they usually become the most anticipated technology device of the year. Things were no different this year as Apple announced two new phones on Monday.

The iPhone 5s and 5c were first shown at the Apple press conference on the 10^th September, but both products were not as expected.  

The iPhone 5s is the official follow up of last year’s iphone 5. Many people had high expectations of the iPhone 5s as was I, but I personally was let down with the latest Apple Smartphone. The main addition to the 5s is the fingerprint scanner, which allows the user to unlock their phone and even buy products off the app store using their fingerprints. I admit the fingerprint scanner is a nice addition to the device, but is it really necessary? I thought using a pass code to unlock the phone worked fine, and if the fingerprint scanner was to fail I am willing to bet it would be a costly fix.

The iphone 5s also comes in new colours, instead of the usual black and white, the device now comes in grey, silver and gold. All of the colours look really nice and they make the device look sleek and fresh. 

The iPhone 5s also has the new A7 64 bit chip, which is supposed to twice as fast as the A6 chip which is in the iPhone 5. Apart from the fingerprint scanner and the new A7 chip, the phone is pretty much the same as last year’s device.  The camera is still 8mp; the screen still has the same resolution and the battery is still the same. So is the upgrade worth it? You tell me.

Now onto the iPhone 5c. The 5c was promoted as a cheap alternative, the phone is made from plastic instead of the metal casing iphone’s usually have. When it was first announced I thought that a cheap iphone would be a great idea, it would allow people to have an iphone without having to break the bank. I was expecting the device to cost around £250-300, but the actual cost...£469 for a 16GB version. Are you kidding me? £469 for what is essentially a plastic iPhone 5. The only thing different about the devices is that the iPhone 5c comes in a range of colours such as blue and green.

Don’t get me wrong, both of the new phones that Apple have come out with are nice devices, they both have some unique features, but I was just hoping for some more improvements. Only time will tell how they stack up against the other Smart phones on the market, and with Samsung having just announced the Galaxy Note 3, they could have some stiff competition.

Both of the new Apple devices are available for pre-order now, and they are due to be released on September 20^th. 

   

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Gadget Show Live 2013

Remember Me, Grid 2 and Bioshock Infinite first takes

Whilst at the Gadget Show live I got a chance to play the new driving game Grid 2. Grid 2, from Code Masters  is out May 31st and my first take was that its looking very impressive  The graphics look stunning with very solid environments  I was playing on a track in the city during the night time. I was in a game mode where you were required to pass through checkpoints in certain amounts of time in order to continue the race. Racing games arnt really the sort of games I honestly go for. I have been a big fan of racing games in the past with my favorite being Burnout Paradise and before that Need For Sped Most Wanted. I still love those games but since then I haven't found a racing game that matches the enjoyment I got out of those two. But I didn't get the chance to play the first GRID but after playing a short demo of the new sequel I'm impressed.

Something I did notice is that there isn't a cockpit view in the new title and it mainly focuses on that third person chase camera. But that wasnt too much of a problem for me as i'm not really a fan of the cockpit view anyway but for more hard core racing fans that could be an issue. There is a impact system and when you hit a car or barrier the damage system seems very accurate with visible damage for those big impacts and little shards that fly up once you hit at lower speeds. 

I also got a chance to play the new Bioshock Infinite and I think this is a game I will be purchasing in the near future alongside Tomb Raider. Bio Shock is set in an alternate 1912 and takes place on the floating city of Columbia. There is a lot going on in this beautiful world. The air is filled with blimps and an iron railing system that acts as a transport to move through Columbia. I dont have to much to talk about other than there dosnt seem to be as much free roaming as you may think as the story slowly pulls you through. You can go exploring but as you go through the story you will find that you cant go back to some previously visited areas and collectibles can be missed. But you can go around and look at this atmosphere as a tourist as you arnt in a constant hostile environment as you are in the previous games set under the sea in Rapture.

I played for a very brief moment Remember Me. The game from Capcom was officially released yesterday in the US and is a third person action adventure. The controls reminded me of Assassins creed and though you cant scale almost a quarter of what you can in Assassins Creed the animation and controls, for instance dropping down to a ledge or jumping to one behind your character, are very similar. But i couldn't really get a good reflection as I only had the chance to play for about 5 mins. I dont know anything about the story and the only thing I can say is that the combat where you can build up combos is very easy to master as well as the very familiar control systems. This is a game I did like and may take a more in depth look at once I find a full review online.

Gadget Show Live 2013:

Defiance Xbox 360 first impressions 

Defiance is a new MMO game for the Xbox 360. It is also available for PlayStation and PC but the version I had a short play through on was for the Xbox  The game co-exist with the new TV series that is out next week and has promised to change and adapt to the series as it progresses. 

Okay so my first impressions weren't that great. But I did only get a short 30 min play through and it wasn't helped by the setup at the Gadget Show. It's set up in a small both with seven playable systems (quite handy as i was with six other friends) and you need to wait until the group prior to you have finished their 30 min play through. Everything was already set-up and we was unable to view the customization and left to play what was already given to use. We all for some strange reason was given the exact powers of invisibility but I would have liked to play around with the others available. There was also not chat function at the Gadget Show either which made it more feel like we was all playing separately due to no chat leads being connected to the Turtle Beach X12 Headsets we used.

I had a cloaking device that made you invisible to the enemies (mutant creatures or soldiers) and as with many games it disappears once shooting. Grenades charge up and once used you have to wait a certain time until you can use it again. The controls are much similar to a 3rd person shooter with the very Gears of Waresc roll. The map is very big and by clicking up on the D-Pad you can summon a little quad bike (i think if you have a different class you may be able to use a different vehicle) to get around much quicker.

It feels more like a shooter such as borderlands than an MMO like Star Wars Old Republic with an exp system that rewards you more for head-shots. 

But the game is riddled with problems and it was shown very poorly at the Gadget show as well due to it being played in 720p. The game was also very buggy and one of my mates games was completely bugged as he couldn't use his power up, summon any vehicle or nothing appeared on his map. Once also in the same location as the rest of us there wasn't any objective to complete and couldn't see any what needed to be completed. 

The graphics looked granny on the Xbox with certain textures glitching out with invisible walls being quite frequent, I heard that the PC graphics are drastically batter though.. There are many random challenges you can come across and we all completed a arc fall event. The one we did was a massive crystal surrounded by spawning enemies and it took over ten mins of all six of us constantly shooting at it to destroy it. Enemies kept glitching by appearing and reappearing out of existence and it got very boring very quickly. I know in the real game there will probably be more people fighting and thus destroying the objective much quicker but once we destroyed it the next challenge we came up against was exactly the same. The performance kept dropping and was near un-playable at times and it wasn't helped by how quickly all of us got bored. 

Overall if I was to play this game I would go for the PC version as this games performance is supposed to be a lot quicker and contain less bug if not non experienced on the console version. The graphics are also a lot better as well. But honestly I don't think this is a game I would like to play again. I got bored within the first 20 mins and with the £40 price tag I cant see its value. I am how ever interested to see what and how the game is going to tie in with the TV show but that still wont change my perception of the game and enough to convince me to play the game again.