After about a year of waiting, Apple iPhone 5 was unveiled today and we hate to say it, but it was quite a big disappointment.
Instead of getting something revolutionary, it was a ho-hum evolutionary product. And listening to the well-scripted video presentation when Jony Ive, Senior Vice-President of Design, was talking about the new iPhone 5, he was trying desperately to keep a straight face when talking about the new iPhone 5 as it seems he knows that it is an evolutionary product himself.
However despite the lack of wow factor, let’s breakdown what’s new with the iPhone 5: thinner design at 7.6mm, made with aluminum and glass body, 4-inch retina display, LTE wireless speed, A6 chip which is twice as fast as A5, new earpods headphones and a smaller connector called Lighting which replaces the 30-pin connector.
Besides that everything else is just incremental improvements including Siri which we will not pass judgment on until we get our hands on the new iPhone 5. Software improvements to iOS 6 are okay, but replacing Google’s map with their own was not a good idea as their Flyover mode is no match for Google’s Street View.
Should you upgrade if you have an older model, yes if you are using the 3G or 3GS or possibly 4, but if you have 4S, don’t bother until something better comes out. In addition, you might want to consider the competitors from Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, HTC and Sony, they all offer as good or even better models than the new iPhone 5. It’s hard to believe, but true. Take a look at Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with its quad-core processor and 2GB of ram.
We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if Apple continues to offer incremental improvements with longer product cycle to market and while its competitors offer shorter cycles with greater assortments, then it’s only a matter of time before they become irrelevant.
And no matter how much hype from CNN as a lot of their articles are about Apple or another ridiculous comment from JP Morgan that asks “Can iPhone 5 save US economy?” are nothing, but a shameless promotion of Apple’s products.
Now we know exactly what Apple iPhone 5 has to offer and while it is still compelling, but no longer the must-have smartphone, buyers should compare other smartphones out there that fit their personal lifestyles. Maybe we expected too much from Apple?
