If you’ve been following the various iPhone 5s reviews, you’ll see that the iPhone 5s is a real winner with the critics… I mean, it makes sense, right? An incrementally better iPhone that iterates on the already amazing iPhone 5? Of course everyone is going to love it. Well, after an epic night spent in line and as of this writing, well over 24 hours of being awake, I’m here with some first impressions of my just-unboxed iPhone 5s.
I’ve fiddled with a ton of games on the iPhone 5s, and you can sum up the experience in all of them with “It’s just like playing on the iPhone 5, but with higher frame rates." 3D games scream, although without taking advantage of the brand new Open GL ES 3.0 support, all of them seem to look the same, even though they might be running a little better. The only game we really have to go off of to see any kind of improvement between devices is Infinity Blade III ($6.99), which as far as I can tell is the only game that’s even vaguely optimized for the new device.
…And, like everything else, it runs better but you’ve really got to look hard to see any significant difference in the graphics department. Here are some screenshot comparisons to scrutinize, iPhone 5 screens are on top, iPhone 5s screens are on the bottom:
iPhone 5:
iPhone 5s:
iPhone 5:
iPhone 5s:
iPhone 5:
iPhone 5s:
iPhone 5:
iPhone 5s:
Aaaand finally, here’s a quick video capture of some Infinity Blade III on the iPhone 5s, essentially starting exactly where those screenshots left off:
We’re really going to need to dig into upcoming games to see which take advantage of the new features and functionality of the iPhone 5s, but right now I need to sleep with my fingers crossed that Jared comes home with more energy than me. Let me tell you, I vastly prefer the preordering process to this whole (at least in the Chicago area) stand outside for 12 hours in the rain thing!
Fingers crossed the next iOS device release isn’t another line to stand in…
UPDATE: Well, in just my haven’t slept in 28 hours and counting luck it’d seem that Chair released an update that apparently enables all sorts of iPhone 5s stuff… So, the reason these screens don’t look that different is because all the extra effects weren’t actually enabled until a few minutes ago. I’ll redo the screenshots and video as soon as I get the update downloaded, which, of course, is taking forever.
UPDATE 2: OK, screenshots have been replaced with screens from the new updated version. For a look at the differences in antialiasing, check out the cloth canopies full size in both images.
UPDATE 3: Alright guys, I re-shot the whole video with the exact same fights with the new updated version of Infinity Blade III. If you want to get super-scientific, you can compare the old non-updated version of the game with the new version, as I’m keeping both videos on our YouTube channel for the sake of analysis.
