Apple just wrapped up a successful press conference for the iPhone 5. The presser lacked major surprises since most of the information was revealed through supply-chain leaks. Many Apple fans knew what was coming: four-inch screen, LTE radio, new aluminum-and-glass design, new connection dock, touch layer integrated on screen, EarPods, etc. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that the iPhone 5 will be a fantastic phone and I’m sure that millions of people will buy it, but were any of you amazed by the reveal? I want to hear your reactions to the iPhone 5 announcement. Please let me know what you think and if you plan on picking one up.
As for me, I love the construction and I’m looking forward to checking out the camera quality. It looks like Apple has raised the bar (again) for cameras on mobile phones. Aside from that, a lot of the features are underwhelming. The larger screen is too small for my liking and I’ve been accustomed to LTE speeds for well over a year. In a lot of ways, Apple was pushing 2011 features in 2012. Due to its rabid fan base and unsurpassed marketing, loads of Apple fans on Twitter were treating every feature announcement like it was the best thing ever.
I plan on picking up a white one for work purposes, but aside from the camera, I’m not really wowed by the iPhone 5. Again, I think it will be a great phone and the build quality will be top notch, but the competition has closed what was once an enormous gap in both hardware (love what HTC is doing) and software (Android Jelly Bean still works best for me). I suspect it’ll be great, but not amazing.
Now it’s your turn! Kindly share your thoughts on Apple’s iPhone 5 presser. Are you buying one? Black or white?
I want a white 32gb. Or should I get a white 820? Hmm. I feel that the Nexus is too big and would hope that the 5 isn’t as cumbersome.
iOS 6 looks meh and I can’t see why Passbook will be useful with the absence of NFC. Looks to be another app like Newsstand that I won’t be able to hide.
The A6 and hopefully ample amount of ram should make this device quite snappy.
High on some hardware and I’m down on nearly all of the software with the exception of the camera software.
RAM has allegedly doubled according to some leaks. Let’s see what the teardowns reveal.
I dont see anything that wows me but the only thing that has caught my eye is the galaxy s3. What do u think guys. Iphone 5 or S3?
I’d wait for the next batch of Nexus phones. Allegedly multiple models from multiple vendors in November.
Hmmmm. I think if were to be able to use an android phone for a week id be able to make up my mind. Do u know if it’s still using a micro-sim or did get a nano sim
It’s nano-SIM. The SIII is a pretty sweet phone, but I don’t like the materials/construction Samsung uses and really don’t like its Android skin.
So what Android skin do you like? I can only think of the ones you have mentioned you don’t like.
The only one I like is HTC Sense, but even version 3 of that bothered me a bit. 4 is pretty sweet though. That said, I greatly prefer stock Android for numerous reasons.
Are Nexus devices the only ones that run stock Android then? I’ve seen HTC Sense the most, and everyone I know who has it likes it; but it didn’t appeal to me. Would have gotten used to it for the Thunderbolt if that’s what I would have gotten a while ago, but I don’t have any complaints with Motorola’s skin.
There are very few outside of the Nexus and none that I know of that are using stock Jelly Bean. Additionally, some phones that used stock Android (original Motorola Droid, LG G2X) had carrier-installed programs that couldn’t be deleted. I’m not a fan of that garbage.
Yeah i really cant make a judgement on what phone id like more without testing especially since ive never owned an android phone. I can return a phone back to the carrier if it’s within 30 days right?
Depends on the state. California is 30 days. I know some states are only 14.
I think it’s 14 days without restocking fees and 30 with a re-stocking fee but i cant renew mine and apple using a nano sim trumps me using my sister’s upgrade cuz i cant cut a micro to a nano
ATT will just give you a sim to fit in whatever compatible device you bring to the store. Also contracts typically only have a 72 hour window to be cancelled so be mindful of that. The device can be returned to say BestBuy but (at least here) after 3 days the contract is affirmed. Granted the carriers aren’t as strict about that but it is something to be aware of. I’d wager the merchant plays more into that.
If you have $359 buy a Nexus and use it until you can renew a contract. I did that and it has actually pushed me back to iOS.
Sammy S3 for me.
Question: Is the A6 a dual core or quad core? I know it makes little difference in reality, but I can’t seem to find the answer except in one place it says it is a Dual core Processor with a Quad core GPU.
And my next phone is the Note 2
The only thing I was impressed with is the thinness of the iPhone 5(6)
Supposedly a dual core but each core is based upon A15 cores. Outclasses all devices right now. Exynos x4 core might have a legit competitor.
Yeah I heard it was going to be damn fast. I’m hoping Samsung stays competitive with them here and actually ships a phone here with the new Exynos chips
Yeah unless Samsung has a new trick you will be buying an unlocked one off of amazon haha.
AnandTech says that it’s not A15, but a custom core design by Apple. That’s super interesting. Qualcomm is the only major chip vendor I can think of that makes major modifications to ARM designs. The others use ARM cores straight up.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6292/iphone-5-a6-not-a15-custom-core
… and preordered! I got one for me and my brother on our company’s Sprint account and I’ll be getting one for my dad under his AT&Crap account next Friday.
Wow. My first new phone in four years. I’m actually kind of a little bit excited… maybe.
-M
Lucky dog! Guess I will be up late to preorder if possible. Next week is looking good for me. Off a few days, new iPhone, and Torchlight 2.
And Baldur’s Gate HD!
Will that run on the original iPad? I haven’t felt the need to upgrade still.
I haven’t seen any minimum requirements yet. I’m leaning towards playing OS X first. You don’t have to pay for the new character (in-app purchase on iOS) and the graphics/sound aren’t as compressed.
O.K., after a couple of weeks with my brand, new, shiny iPhone 5, I have to say that it’s definitely a step up from my iPhone 3G. While I’m no fancy phone guru like some people here, I do have my layman’s impressions of the phone:
– The bigger screen is the first noticeable improvement. Instead of having five pages of apps, I can fit everything in three with space to spare. Even though the screen is not as big as some other smart phones out there, the widescreen format suits movies better and the added real estate is great for games that utilize virtual buttons.
-The phone is light and feels comfortable when you hold it to your head. I actually prefer the slim, long screen better than the Samsung Galaxy or the EVO because the added width of those phones makes me feel like I’m holding an iPad to my skull. Because of the extra length, you don’t have to do that stupid move where you move the handset from you ear to your mouth to talk straight into the microphone just to make sure that the person on the other line heard you loud enough. Well, maybe normal people don’t do that, but I’ve seen it enough of that out there that I had to point it out.
– The bluetooth on the phone is just amazing. With my old 3G, the bluetooth was spotty as hell and would only work when it was super close to the source. For example, with my 3G, the only way I could wirelessly stream music from my phone to my car (Ford SYNC) was to physically hold the phone right up to the audio hub, and even then it still dropped in and out randomly. With the iPhone 5, even with the phone in my back pocket, the audio is streamed perfectly without any hiccups. The best part is that everything is voice controlled.
– Speaking of voice control, Siri is very “hit or miss”. I’ve experimented a lot with it and sometimes she misinterprets your words which actually leads to some unintentional comedy. Aside from that, when I’ve asked her a few questions, she’ll sometimes respond with the right answer, but then later I ask her the same question and she doesn’t understand the question or keeps insisting that I “search the web” for it. Also, sometimes she takes forever to process a voice command or “is not working at the moment.”
– Like the bluetooth, wi-fi is also much improved over the 3G. I had a hard time picking up a decent signal from my router at home when I was more than ten feet away from it (especially through the walls). With the iPhone 5, I get a full signal everywhere but the other fringes of the house, and even then I have a pretty strong signal.
– The still camera and video camera are also really good. I dare say that it is better than my Olympus when it comes to capturing images both static and moving images. My only complaint would be the mediocre audio when recoding. I wish someone would invent a remote wireless microphone that is compatible with the iPhone.
– The retina display is beautiful. I don’t know about the whole “producing more colors than the human eye can see” thing, but it really does feel like having a high-def LED TV in the palm of my hands.
Overall, everything runs a lot faster and smoother … and I can finally run apps without having them crash on me all the time. (No joke: the QR scanner I had on my 3G said that it couldn’t function because my camera was so shitty and the app quickly shut down shortly after). Whatever processor they’ve shoved into that little case is pretty swanky. Hopefully, I can get at least five years out of this phone before they decide to switch over to 56-GHz holographic processors with a minimum of 32 TB of data storage.
It’s a good phone, but it’s a great mini-computer. Somebody is going to have to recommend to me some “must-have” apps. I only have Angry Birds, and I can imagine that I have a lot of catching up to do.
-M
I’d recommend Apps but the new store layout is so shitty you wouldn’t find them anyway. Gratz.
You noticed that too, huh? Yeah, it changed a bit since I was last there. In Apple’s defense, the app store has always been horrible to navigate once they had over 100 apps. I never really browse for apps anymore. I almost always use the search function to find apps I’ve heard about or think exist.
-M
Sometimes I just want to browse and with the new layout of tiles actually typing a sub genre isn’t effective.
Yeah so now I wait for recommendations haha
I asked Siri what the meaning of life was. To my delight, she responded “42”.
I had to explain the joke to about 3 people in the room.
In defense of those three people, not everyone is familiar with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
… and between me, you, and your XBL tag; even less people know about the show Red Dwarf.
-M