iPhone 5C Unboxing and Hands-on: Truly Unapologetically Plastic

iPhone 5C Unboxing and Hands-on: Truly Unapologetically Plastic

It's the iPhone 5C!
It’s the iPhone 5C!

Our Unboxing of the Unapologetically Plastic iPhone 5C!

The iPhone 5C was announced alongside the iPhone 5S a few weeks ago in the US. Fast forward two weeks later we already have units here in the Philippines courtesy of online stores like Kimstore! We were able to get ourselves the iPhone 5C and we’re on a wait list to get the iPhone 5S in gold (hopefully we can get it next week). We only had a few hours with the 5C so far but we’d like to quickly share with you guys our unboxing and initial impressions.

Before we go to the unboxing, let’s rundown the specs. As you’ll see in the spec sheet below the iPhone 5C has almost the same internals as the iPhone 5. The main differences that we’ve been able to spot are the HD front-facing camera and the slightly better battery. Other than that it looks exactly the same.

iPhone 5C Spec Sheet

  • 1.3GHz Dual-core Apple A6 Chip
  • PowerVR SGX 54MP3 (Triple-core Graphics)
  • 1GB RAM
  • 16GB or 32GB Internal Storage
  • 4.0-inches LED Backlit IPS LCD Capacitive Touchscreen
  • Retina Display, 326 pixels per inch
  • 8.0-megapixels primary camera, LED Flash, Autofocus, 1/3.2″ Sensor Size
  • 1.2-megapixels secondary camera, records video 720p@30fps
  • 3G, HSPA+, LTE, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/aGPS
  • 1510mAH Battery
  • iOS 7

Packaging is like an iPod Touch

It looks a whole lot like an iPod Touch if it didn't have the big iPhone 5C text
It looks a whole lot like an iPod Touch if it didn’t have the big iPhone 5C text

Unlike previous iPhones which came in compact carton boxes, the iPhone 5C comes in a transparent plastic box which is the same packaging Apple uses for their iPods. If it weren’t for the big “iPhone 5C” text plastered on the side of the box, most people will probably think that this is more of an iPod Touch than an iPhone. While we can only guess why Apple decided to take this route, we’re assuming that they did this because they really wanted to show off the variety of colors the new iPhone 5C came in.

Just like the iPod boxes we proceeded to peel off the tape and kept the lid on. After taking the tape out we pulled the lid off and started peeling off the plastic screen protector (with the printed icons) off the iPhone 5C. After that we picked it up and held it in our hands for the first time. We’ll share with you later in a bit our hardware impressions but it’s definitely different than previous iPhones that we’ve used in the past.

It's officially UNBOXED!
It’s officially UNBOXED!

Other than the iPhone 5C, we found the usual peripherals and accessories in the compartment below the phone. This included a bunch of manuals, Apple logo stickers, the pin key, EarBuds, Lightning Cable, and the three-pronged wall charger.

Tada! Who still puts the Apple logo sticker on their cars? Umamin!
Tada! Who still puts the Apple logo sticker on their cars? Umamin!
EarBuds and Wall Charger. The Lightning Cable is below the EarBuds.
EarBuds and Wall Charger. The Lightning Cable is below the EarBuds.

Now that we have that out of the way let’s dive into our initial impressions!

iPhone 5C: Initial Impressions

Unapologetically plastic!
Unapologetically plastic!

Just like what Johnny Ive said in the iPhone 5C introduction video, the iPhone 5C is unapologetically plastic. However no amount of glorifying adjectives or a slick british accent can make it feel more premium that it really is. The iPhone 5C is PLASTIC. It feels plastic. And they used a glossy kind of plastic for it too. Truth be told, we’re not sure if this will appeal to die-hard Apple fans who’ve come to love the high quality of materials that Apple has used for their previous iDevices.

Another weird thing that we observed is that even though it’s made from plastic, the iPhone 5C is slightly heavier than the iPhone 5. Holding both phones in our hands we could feel the weight difference. We checked the specifications and we confirmed that this is indeed a fact. The iPhone 5C weights in at 132g while the iPhone 5 tips the scales at 112g. Mind-boggling right? Hehe.

Gloriously plastic.
Gloriously plastic.

If there’s one good thing about Apple’s take on plastic though it’s how comfortable and natural the iPhone 5C feels in your hands. Unlike the iPhone 5 or 5S which had sharp edges, the iPhone 5C has curved sides which lets it rest easily in your palm. This is definitely the right way to take advantage of the material. We hate to admit it but the iPhone 5C is easier to hold than a lot of other premium flagships out there today.

Colorful.
Colorful.

The main draw perhaps is really the variety of colors that you can pick from to express yourself through your phone. We ended up picking the blue model since the other colors weren’t really up our alley. Just to refresh your memories the colors are white, yellow, red, green, and blue. We were actually thinking of going for the yellow one but we held off because people might think we’re pro-Noynoy or it looks too much like a Nokia Lumia, hehe.

Just like previous iPhones setting up was painless, quick, and easy. Note though that you have to insert the nano-SIM card before you use it because it won’t activate without it. Yep, this one uses the nano-SIM just like the 5. Get the micro-SIM replaced or cut!

Hello to you too!
Hello to you too!

On the software side, the iPhone 5C runs iOS 7 out of the box. We’ve only started tinkering with it but it definitely feels like our iPhone 5 encased in a plastic body… or our iPhone 5 in a blue plastic case, hehe.

Full Review Coming Soon

We’ll put the iPhone 5C through the paces in the next few days but expect several mini-updates prior to the full review. We’re definitely keen on testing the battery life and check the LTE compatibility of the device. We also want to see if it has the same “heating up” problems of the iPhone 5.

If you wanna get one you might want to check out Kimstore. They’re selling the 16GB variant for Php28,180. That’s a pretty competitive price already. The US SRP is $549 USD which with the usual taxes locally will probably hit Php25,000-Php26,000 when we finally see it here officially sometime in December.

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