Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Impressions of the iPhone 5
Published on September 12, 2012 By Draginol In Mobile Tech

So the iPhone 5 is out and naturally the fans and detractors have lined up.

For me, the iPhone 5 is a no-brainer upgrade. LTE.  I have LTE on my iPad and it makes a huge difference when I'm traveling.  If the only thing the iPhone 5 had was LTE, I'd still upgrade from my 4S to it.

Of course, that's not the only thing in the iPhone 5 delivers.

Here are a few of the things I care about to varying degrees:

  1. It's about 20% lighter than the 4S.  I kind of care about that.  
  2. It's about twice as fast as the 4S.  I don't care about that at all. The 4S is already plenty fast.
  3. It has a slightly larger screen in the sense that it's now 16x9 so it's a bit longer. I don't care about that, if anything it's a negative.
  4. The video camera now has dynamic low lighting support. I kind of care about this.
  5. The WiFi is now dual-band. This means better performance and range. I kind of care about this.
  6. It has a new connector. This means it's not compatible, without an adapter, with all the various iPhone/iPod connectors.  This doesn't bother me as the old one was clunky and dated.
That's pretty much it.  But like I said, the LTE support is the big thing for me.  LTE means cable modem speeds pretty much in every major city. And for me, that's a big deal.

Comments (Page 1)
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on Sep 12, 2012

Yeah, no doubt it is a nice phone. I think it'll just be person to person thing what the specific upgrades are worth. For me, kinda meh, but I may still upgrade to that. I really want to see a Lumia 920 in person and fiddle with it a bit.

on Sep 13, 2012

what does your phone plan cost per month? We have regular cell phones and have no idea what a smart phone plan runs now a days.

on Sep 13, 2012

If you wanted LTE you could have switched to android phones a long time ago. I got an S3 and it is better then iPhone in every way.

on Sep 13, 2012

According to various comments on yahoo7 [Aus Yahoo] the iPhone 5 isn't being very well received by the public here.  There were a couple of comments from Apple fanbois, but for the most part the comments were somewhat negative. 

Me, I don't care one way or the other...  I don't use mobile phones enough for it to matter.  I have a simple Nokia thing that makes/receives calls, sends/receives text, and I haven't needed to use it in close to a year or more.

on Sep 13, 2012

While the new iPhone is definitely nice, it's a shame that the bean counter effect is creeping into their product line.

on Sep 13, 2012

Apple makes great products and it sounds like they have made a few improvements to the new iPhone.

Yet some things remain the same. 

  • Still way too expensive for us poor folk
  • Very expensive to use, most cell phone provider plans for the iPhone are too expensive
  • The iPhone OS is locked in, jailbreaking the device voids the warranty

 

on Sep 13, 2012

Looks like HTC and Samsung are suing Apple over the iPhone 5 using LTE: http://androidandme.com/2012/09/smartphones-2/samsung-htc-to-block-us-eu-sales-of-iphone-5-using-lte-patents/

After Apple won that suit against Samsung, I'm not surprised they're firing back.

on Sep 13, 2012

SpardaSon21
Looks like HTC and Samsung are suing Apple over the iPhone 5 using LTE: http://androidandme.com/2012/09/smartphones-2/samsung-htc-to-block-us-eu-sales-of-iphone-5-using-lte-patents/

After Apple won that suit against Samsung, I'm not surprised they're firing back.

Jafo does a 'happy dance'....yay...

on Sep 14, 2012

kona0197
Apple makes great products and it sounds like they have made a few improvements to the new iPhone.

Yet some things remain the same. 


Still way too expensive for us poor folk
Very expensive to use, most cell phone provider plans for the iPhone are too expensive
The iPhone OS is locked in, jailbreaking the device voids the warranty

 

The iPhone is priced the same as pretty much every other smart phone out there.  To be honest, if someone is "poor" they really have no need having a smart phone and the expenses that go with it.

on Sep 14, 2012

on Sep 14, 2012

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/14/iphone-5-pre-order-sells-out-20x-faster-than-4-and-4s-further-highlighting-apples-dominance/

"Preoders for the iPhone 5 went live at midnight tonight and, true to form, they went like hotcakes. You may remember that it took 22 hours for the iPhone 4S and about 20 hours for the iPhone 4 to sell out of its pre-order, launch-day stock.

The iPhone 5 took just about 60 minutes. Yep. One hour after pre-orders went live tonight, Apple.com shifted shipping expectations from one to two weeks due to the overwhelming demand"

on Sep 14, 2012

Island Dog you missed the whole point of my previous post. 

on Sep 14, 2012

SpardaSon21
Looks like HTC and Samsung are suing Apple over the iPhone 5 using LTE: http://androidandme.com/2012/09/smartphones-2/samsung-htc-to-block-us-eu-sales-of-iphone-5-using-lte-patents/

After Apple won that suit against Samsung, I'm not surprised they're firing back.

Apple just won another BS patent case in Germany for rubber-banding on list scrolls.  I hope the LTE holders sue the iPhone into oblivion. 

All this crap is bad for the consumers, but if we're going to be screwed by bullshit patents Apple at least deserves a chance to slapped around like the rest.  

Maybe Apple will emerge from this a little more willing to negotiate away all this nonsense and actually compete on the merits of their devices.  

on Sep 14, 2012

kona0197
Island Dog you missed the whole point of my previous post. 

Can you explain your point better?  I took your post to say exactly what Island Dog did.  In the US at least companies don't charge any more for an iPhone data plan than they do any other smartphone.  And the iPhone prices are roughly in line with any other super-phone at release.  

on Sep 14, 2012

Island Dog
To be honest, if someone is "poor" they really have no need having a smart phone and the expenses that go with it.

Which is why I have a Safelink Tracfone. If I could afford a "smartphone" I doubt it would be an Apple product.

MS has it's faults, but I would prefer a Windows based phone over an iPhone.

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