iPhone 5C review

It's a cheaper iPhone, not a cheap iPhone

iPhone 5C review
Some of the glitz, less of the glam

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With the iPhone 5C being pretty much a carbon copy of the iPhone 5 you won't be surprised to learn that it sports the same 8MP iSight camera on its rear, complete with single LED flash.

The front facing snapper has been given a bit of an upgrade though, with a 1.2MP offering capable of HD (720p) recording - but it's the one on the back which you'll be using most of the time.

You can access the camera application from the lockscreen, just place your finger on the camera icon and slide your finger up, plus you can easily access it from pretty much anywhere on the iPhone 5C by pulling up the Control Center and hitting the correct icon.

iPhone 5C review

Fire it up and you'll be greeted with a totally redesigned camera interface thanks to iOS 7, with a larger shutter at the bottom of the screen flanked by a link to your gallery and the effects menu.

Slide sideways over the shutter key and you'll be able to skip between three different camera settings; portrait, square and pano (that's short for panorama, in case you were wondering).

We're not overly sure why Apple has bothered to provide us with a square frame option on iOS 7, but it'll probably please the Instagram generation nevertheless.

iPhone 5C review

At the top of the screen (when holding the iPhone 5C in portrait) you have three toggles for the flash, HDR mode and switching between front and rear cameras. It's all very straight forward and there's no confusing jargon or icons.

We found that the iPhone 5C is far better suited to shooting photos when held in portrait, with icons easier to reach and the volume keys which double as shutter buttons perfectly placed for our fingers.

Rotate the iPhone 5C 90 degrees and things aren't so clear cut - all the icons turn with you, except for the text above the shutter key which spoils the look of the app slightly.

The bigger issue here though is with your stray fingers getting in the way of the camera lens. If the camera had been centralised - like it is on the Lumia 1020, Galaxy S4 and HTC One - this wouldn't be an issue, but seeing as the lens is plonked right in the corner we did have some pink splodges in the corner of a few of our shots.

iPhone 5C review

There aren't a lot of effects in the camera menu to play with, and that's because Apple wants to keep things simple for photographers. There's the effect menu which gives you eight filters to apply for some arty shots, and the way the iPhone 5C previews all the options at the same times means you'll be able to pick the best one for your situation.

However if you're looking to tweak the white balance, tinker with the exposure or turn down the brightness you'll be sorely disappointed. Not even the grid overlay which returned on the iPhone 5 makes the leap to iOS 7.

We've seen the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 turn up with a multitude of shooting modes from burst to beauty face - but once again there's nothing like this on the iPhone 5C, bar HDR, which is, again, indicative of the simplicity Apple is trying to portray.

Apple has spent time tinkering behind the scenes with its camera software and that has resulted is a surprisingly strong performance with the iPhone 5C able to adapt to various settings. It doesn't sport the same upgraded specs and performance of the iPhone 5S, but don't let that put you off.

You can provide some assistance by tapping what you want the 5C to focus on, plus pinch your fingers together and you'll be able to zoom in. The zoom is purely digital which means picture quality will suffer, so use it sparingly.

We were able to turn out some impressive shots with the iPhone 5C, with it managing to deal with expansive landscapes and depth of field just as easily as up close macro shots.

Flip into panorama mode, and while iOS still forces you to capture in portrait which is bizarre, the technology behind it which stitches it all together is nothing short of miraculous.

We did find that some of our images did look a little washed out at times and there was a general lack of vibrancy if we're being really picky.

Better images can be had with the more expensive iPhone 5S, or the more camera centric Nokia Lumia 1020, but for the common person in the street the 5C will more than suffice - oh and that new sharper front facing camera? It's got selfies written all over it.

iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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iPhone 5C review

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Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.