This month we have Apple’s latest flagship phone the iPhone 5s on show. Some may argue that Apple products aren’t business devices but you only have to look around the city at what people are using and you will see the iPhone everywhere. Our second device is from the ‘phablet’ sector of the market. Sony have already impressed with their Z1 offering, but will that translate into their big screen proposition?

iPhone 5s

If you haven’t heard about the new iPhone 5s launch then something has gone very wrong. As always the device was met with high levels of anticipation but this time the journalist community was almost ready and poised to slam the new device. As expected the device came in the same shell as the 5 and Apple did their usual trick of putting a faster processor and a better camera in the device.

The new A7 chip is blisteringly quick which makes using things like the camera and the new security ID very speedy. Speaking of the new security ID, you may have heard that the 5s comes with finger print recognition…and you would be right! This marks a significant step into mobile security which has been tried before but it was always temperamental and cumbersome to work. Apple have ironed out the kinks and this is my new favourite way of unlocking my device. There was a brief worry when a hack emerged for the finger print ID but Apple say they are working on a fix. Phew!

Under the hood this is possibly the most cutting edge phone you can get right now and it comes with the new and improved iOS7 which has coincided with the release. With the complete re-haul of the iOS it makes this phone seem more of an evolution than previous s models. iOS is sleek but it will take a bit of getting used to, even for the most staunch Apple fans.

Price wise this is the most expensive phone on the planet and unfortunately there are just a few things letting it down. Screen resolution hasn’t changed since the iPhone 4S which was released two years ago. The HD rivals out there have far more impressive screens, especially some of the larger screen phones out there. Battery life was also a little disappointing and in a world that are all using their mobiles for more and more tasks this needs to be considered for future upgrades.

Pros – Super quick, finger print security, all round great phone

Cons – Screen not as good as others on market, expensive, battery life.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

I was so excited to unwrap this device as I was impressed by Sony’s latest model, the Z1, and thought this could be a real game changer. Lets not beat around the bush, this device is a whopper! The screen is 6.44 inches and it comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 chip, a quad-core processor clocked to 2.2GHz. In English…that’s some serious muscle, and it shows when in use.

The device feels premium in hand and comes with several rubber doors that seal all the ports and connections making this device waterproof. So if you like watching movies in the shower…this is your device!

The Screen is fantastic on the Z Ultra although Sony have created so much hype around the quality that it was a little disappointing to see it had some of the failings of the Xperia Z with a slightly washed out tint. Although only the very top echelon of geeks will notice this negative point and in most people’s eyes the screen will blow them away.

This device will be seen as great in the eyes of its beholders and as a business device it sits neatly between a phone and a tablet in terms of size. The advantages this brings to the business man are going to be centred around the fact emails will be easier to work on, NFC makes it simple to pay for goods, and then aside from the vastly improved battery life everything is just better when it’s bigger. It will probably do well in America!

Pros – Powerful, large screen, NFC enabled, waterproof

Cons – Big in the hand, camera not as good as other devices on the market.

Published on 04/11/2013 in Devices (commsbusiness)