iPhone 5S' Touch ID, camera features make it worth the extra money

Passcodes are a huge pain for anyone who has used a smartphone. Apple’s new iPhone 5S, though, does away with the need to punch in the code often. This is thanks to the the new feature that allows you to bypass the passcode using a fingerprint.

From all accounts, it looks like the convenience that the fingerprint sensor brings may be worth the extra $100 users will have to pay for the 5S over an iPhone 5C. Both phones will come out Friday. The iPhone 5S also comes with a better camera and slow-motion video. The 5C, meanwhile, is largely last year’s iPhone 5 with a plastic casing instead of aluminum and glass. This isn’t cheap plastic, but a type offering the slippery feel of a shiny ceramic tile. It comes in five colors.

Both phones come with iOS 7, the most radical change to Apple’s operating system software for mobile devices since its 2007 debut. Many of the changes are cosmetic, but there are functional improvements such as easier access to frequently used settings and apps.

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Many existing iPhone users won’t need more than the free update, which is available from today. Neither the 5C nor the 5S offers improvements on the screen size, which remains at 4 inches diagonally. But new features and new colors may draw you to one of these new iPhones.

The iPhone 5S may be a better option, despite the extra $100 you need to shell out

While handling the biometric sensor in the 5S, users will have to to tap the home button with a finger several times so the phone can create a mathematical representation of their print. To unlock the phone, users simply tap the home button, and the phone will compare the two taps. Users can tap from any angle, even sideways or upside down. This fingerprint ID also works as a way to authenticate the purchase of apps and content within apps. For security reasons, there are still times that users will need to put in their four-digit passcode, including after 48 hours of inactivity and before adding a new fingerprint. If the phone fails to recognise the print, they can always use the passcode.

Apple says it stores the print data on the user’s phone, in a place that’s inaccessible to other apps or to Apple’s remote servers. The company also says it’s not possible to convert a fingerprint from a police file into something the phone will recognise, as the sensor reads a sub-epidermal layer of the finger. And the finger needs to be live - cutting off a thumb won’t work. It definitely looks like Apple has given a lot of thought to security. If users are still uneasy about the fingerprint scan, they can stick with the passcode as the feature is optional.

Meanwhile, the 5S’s camera should take better night and indoor shots. Although the main camera remains at 8 megapixels, individual pixels are larger and thus better at sensing light. The camera’s shutter also opens wider to let in more light. For flash shots, the camera fires two bursts of light at once, each slightly different in color. The iPhone adjusts the combination of the two colors automatically to match ambient lighting.

The 5S can also shoot slow motion video. Users can choose the parts they want in slow motion and regular speed, and can change their mind later. A burst mode lets users snap 100 shots in 10 seconds, compared to 40 seconds on the 5C. The phone also picks out the best moments and filters out duplicates. The front-facing camera is also better than the one on previous iPhones. It has larger pixels for low-light videoconferencing.

Many of these features are possible because of Apple’s faster A7 processor. A companion chip, the M7, handles motion-related data without draining as much of the battery, something useful for fitness trackers.

Plastic colors aside, the 5C is mostly the same as the iPhone 5 it replaces, with the older A6 chip and a main camera that’s not as good in low light. Because the chip is slower, it couldn’t do slow-motion video or take as many shots per second. But it does have the 5S’s improved front-facing camera. The 5C is for those who really want the bright color. If you can afford the additional $100 and can do with silver, gold or gray, should opt for the 5S instead. The fingerprint sensor should make security less annoying, and the better camera will be more useful in documenting life. A hundred dollars isn’t that much when compared with the full price of the phone.

Associtated Press