iPhone 5被人忽视的杀手级新功能

    在我看来，速度确实是iPhone 5的杀手级应用。许多人都点评称iPhone 5的改进微不足道，更多人则提了些吹毛求疵的意见（我自己就是如此）。不过，绝大部分对iPhone 5的评测都漏掉了一点：从4S到5，苹果iPhone的速度有了质的飞跃。

    那么接下来，我们真正要关心的问题是：iPhone 5的续航时间如何？苹果官方声称，iPhone 5在3G和4G网络中的续航时间为8小时，在WiFi网里更长，可以达到10小时。对于每天偶尔检查下电子邮件、听几首歌、用地图导航几次的普通用户而言，iPhone 5有望撑过一天。不过，对于像我这种几乎和手机结婚的人，时刻保持充电是必须的，当然，买一款iPhone电池盒也是不错的选择。

    我们并不想深入探讨iOS 6，因为这只是一次软件更新，iPhone 4S和iPhone 4也都有份，但要注意，苹果地图的3D显示功能并不支持iPhone 4。不过从目前来看，苹果地图仍值得讨论一下。在新的iOS里，苹果已将谷歌完全踢开，开始采用自家地图系统。此次转变招致很多批评，尤其是针对美国之外的地图，大家批评的重点是地图不够详细、精度也不够。

    经过切身体验，我们发现苹果地图及其3D街景效果非常棒，不过问题也不少。和去年刚刚推出的Siri一样，苹果地图目前仍处于成长期。举例来说，我们用iPhone 5导航至附近的一所建筑，不过苹果地图两次把我们带上了反方向，我们费尽周折，最后才抵达目的地。iPhone 5的定位也经常失效，有时定位误差有几个街区之远。不过，有些时候，苹果地图还是不错的，能为我们标出好几条到目的地的路线。无论如何，苹果地图任重道远，仍有许多要改进的地方。

    This speed, in my opinion, is the iPhone 5's killer feature. Much has been written about the incremental seeming nature of this generation's improvements. And perhaps even more has been written about the quibbles (read on for some of my own). But most of the jaw-wagging about the new iPhone misses the point: Apple has made its iconic gadget radically faster in one single move.

    The real question is, how does battery life fare? Apple says to expect up to 8 hours on 3G or 4G and up to 10 hours with WiFi usage. The average user -- one who checks email occasionally, listens to a few songs, and say, uses Maps for a few minutes through the day -- can expect to all-day battery life. Those, like me, who are basically wedded to their phones, will still want to charge up later on or invest in an extended battery pack when available.

    We won't dive too deeply into iOS 6, since it's a software update also available for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, though it's worth noting the latter won't officially offer features like the 3-D "Flyover" feature in Apple Maps. But at the very least, it's worth diving into Apple Maps itself. With iOS, Apple has basically swapped out Google's mapping efforts for the company's own. The switch has been met with criticism over maps of areas -- mostly abroad -- that lack detail or are simply inaccurate.

    In our test runs, we found Apple Maps and its 3-D cityscapes quite pretty, but actually using the app proved somewhat problematic. Like Siri when it debuted last year, Maps this year doesn't feel complete. When trying to walk to a nearby building, we were twice led in the opposite direction before the kinks seemed to work themselves out. At times, the phone had difficulty pinpointing my location, sometimes placing me three or four blocks away. Still, in other scenarios, Apple Maps performed fine, offering multiple routes to our destination. But the results were hit or miss, and it's clear Apple still has a lot of work to do here.