Are you thinking of buying Apple‘s latest smartphone, iPhone 5S and 5C?

Apple iPhone 5S and 5C was released in the Philippines on Friday, November 15, 2013. It was made available through Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications and Power Mac Centers all over the country.

The release date is a very good marketing strategy for the two giant telecoms and the top Apple store in the Philippines. November 15 is salary day for many employees and several even received their Christmas bonus.

Ahead of the latest iPhone release, Globe and Smart already accommodated online reservations. Avid Apple fans trooped to the stores early to get a hand to the much coveted classy iPhone 5S and the colorful iPhone 5C.

The quantity of gold iPhone 5S, however, was very limited. Gold colored iPhones were mostly for those who made their reservations online. What is available is the white and space gray colored iPhones.

When I entered the Globe store and grabbed one of the iPhone 5S, the first thing I noticed is its lighter (7.6 millimeters) and thinner (112 grams) design compared with my almost one-year-old old iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S.

The next thing that I tried was the Touch ID. I had a hard time configuring my fingerprint, may be due to my excitement of using it right away. After saving my fingerprint, it turned out to be very easy to use when unlocking your phone. Instead of typing at least a four digit PIN to open the iPhone, you just need to touch the Home button with your registered fingerprint.

Snapping the iSight camera was fast and photos taken from it were very clear. Though I may have to test it somewhere else to have a good photo for posting on social networking sites.

Opening several apps made me feel the difference between the latest A7 chip and the old A6 chip.

Since there is no LTE yet in Batangas City, I was not able to test iPhone 5S’ reported amazing speed using cellular data. Maybe LTE testing can wait when I visit the Makati area next week.

These are the initial features I tested while inside the SM Batangas Globe store.

My conclusion on Apple’s iPhone 5S, is that it is truly a worthy smartphone to desire. If you currently have an iPhone 4 or 4S and thinking of upgrading, then iPhone 5S is a worthy replacement. However, if you own an iPhone 5, you have to think twice on your necessity before buying the latest iPhone model.