Computerworld: Apple’s iPhone 5s surprisingly faster; Touch ID is a game-changer

13 years ago

“Like countless others on Friday morning, I braved long lines and lack of sleep to be among the first wave of buyers to get the latest iPhone from Apple,” Michael deAgonia writes for Computerworld. “I’ve always loved the minimalist appearance of the iPhone, especially the aluminum-and-glass design of the iPhones 4 and 5: a single button adorning the front, a minimal set of hardware buttons, and the sleek glass face framed by black (or white) trim housed in an aluminum frame with chamfered edges. I thought this was a slick design when it was first unveiled, and it remains so.”

“Though initially unconvinced that Touch ID represented a major technology advance, I’ve already decided this will be a game-changer. In concert with new Activation Lock features in iOS 7 — GPS tracking can’t be deactivated and access to the iPhone is blocked without entering your iCloud username and password, even after a device wipe! — it’s hard to see this as anything but a major win for security. Considering all of the data stored on a smartphone these days, it’s hard to argue about Apple’s decision to implement a new security feature that will be embraced by everyday users and enterprise IT departments alike,” deAgonia writes. “There are already reports that the Touch ID security feature can be defeated, but the hoops someone would have to jump through to hack into the phone — lifting fingerprints, making a fake print using latex — are complicated, if they even work at all. For me, this doesn’t change its usefulness; it’s just a reminder that no security function is 100% foolproof.”

“While I was wrong to initially dismiss the potential for a fingerprint reader, I did and do think that the iPhone 5S’s move to a 64-bit processor (and iOS 7’s ability to work in tandem with the new hardware) is a big deal. It does deliver a performance boost, but most of those improvements will come from software updated to take advantage of it,” deAgonia writes. “I found the iPhone 5S to be surprisingly faster than its predecessor.”

Read more in the full article here.