I was wary about having a larger screen than with an older iPhone, which I considered, as I thought it would be too big. I couldn't be more wrong; I think the screen is a perfect size and in no way unmanageable. It is not actually much larger than the iPhone 4 screen but easily manages to fit in an extra row of apps, meaning that you will have less pages to scroll through, and can have more important apps on the first page than you used to be able to.
With the larger screen, it can be said that apps look a lot more impressive, and that iOS 7 works and looks better. The software in general has been given more space to work with, and therefore does not look in any way overwhelming. The swipe up menu available through iOS does not reach the top of the screen, as I have noticed it does on the 4S, which I find preferable since you can still see the time and the top row of apps.
At 8.97mm it is slightly thinner than the 4S, which means that it also feels a bit lighter to hold in your hand. Also, it is noteworthy that the phone with no case on feels sturdier than the likes of a 4S: this is possibly due to the fact that the back of the phone is made using plastic. I would say that this is beneficial due to the tendency people have to drop iPhones: the plastic back feels more durable and less slippy.
The phone is available in 5 pastel-like colours. I chose the white one as I am not a huge fan of the shades of the other phones: I feel like the white one has a more classic feel to it. There is criticism to say that the phone, due to the pastel shades it is available in, it more aimed at women, but I would say that the white one in particular doesn't have any sort of 'feminine' feel to it - the like pink one does. The coloured backs of the phones is far removed from Apple's tendency to go for more classic colours such as black, white and grey - and possibly due to the fact that many phones on the market have gone for more colourful designs.
As previously mentioned, the phone uses a lightning charger, which is familiar to people who are owners of iPads. I remember this annoyed people when the phone came out due to the fact that every previous iPhone used the same charger but since I haven't had that annoyance I can review this without bias. I think the smaller charger socket on the phone looks neater, and it also allows for the headphone socket to fit on the bottom of the phone. This makes the top of the phone look sleeker and less cluttered in my opinion. Also, the charger can be inserted into the phone either way, which many chargers cannot.
I would say that the design of the phone is a considerable departure from the classic iPhone design that we have grown accustomed to: it is not for everyone as there is criticism to say it looks cheap and tacky. I would not agree, as especially in the white colour, it looks classy and refreshingly different to the old design. It feels durable, light and I trust the build of the phone more than I have with previous phones. People have also said that the 5C is basically the cheap version of the 5S, and I really don't see that that is a bad thing! A 5S on contract is hugely expensive per month, and I really don't see that it has enough extra features above the 5C to justify the price tag.
I basically have fallen in love with this phone and with Apple in general. I doubt I'll look further than Apple in the future when my contract for this phone expires!
