The unPhone 5 or the iPhone 5? You Decide

IN what has become an annual international event the iPhone 5 was announced in San Francisco, California yesterday and rather than rapturous praise for the new device the discerning consumer has been left thinking… and what else?

Why though? The new iPhone 5 for all extensive purposes is a big step up from the 4s. It’s slimmer, faster, bigger and includes some fantastic new technological features. The problem is that we knew exactly what all of these features would be months before the launch.

Since the first iPhone was announced the charismatic Steve Job’s has kept us guessing, leaving us in suspense, slowly telling us the new phones features, waiting for the fanfare to reach hysteria and then, almost as a post note, just before exiting stage right,he would reveal a feature that revolutionized the industry.

Now, like glutinous children whose parents have spoilt us every Christmas with tons of gifts we (like smartphone technology) have hit a certain age and rather than that huge bag of little gifts we get one expensive present. The problem is we’ve already snuck into their closet and seen this big present. We love it, but because we’ve already ruined the surprise we don’t understand why we didn’t get more, and we expect more, and whether its fair or not – we expect more from Apple. They haven’t revolutionized the smartphone industry with the iPhone 5, what they have done is caught up with the competition, the same competition that has pilfered their technology and innovation. Apple has created a new stylish, functional and excellent product, but is it good enough? Below we look at the new features of the iPhone 5, we tell you what we like, what the people are saying, and what leaves us wanting more.

Let the people eat cake

Apple loyalist, of whom I am one, were desperate, no starving for the iPhone 5 to be the greatest revelation the smartphone market has ever seen. And like the starving French peasants of the 18th century we made it perfectly clear to Apple that we were starving, that the 4s underwhelmed us, and that we needed a revolution. Did Apple (in this very loose analogy) like Marie Antoinette, tell us(the starving public) to eat cake? I’ll leave it to the discerning world of Twitter to fill in the blanks, because the closest thing we get to social revolution or evolution in the 21st century western world takes place in the space of a 140-character rant.

What does this tell us? Nothing really, some people love it, some people hate it, but in a completely unbiased fashion what you see above are the most popular tweets regarding the iPhone 5 at this current moment.

What we don’t like about the iPhone 5

Apple is the biggest brand in the world and if you have spared the minute and a half to watch the video above you will see the defining reason that we are disappointed with the new iPhone 5 is because the Apple cult is now capable of carrying a product rather than defining it. Apple has provided a superior product for decades but since the genius 1997 Think Different campaign Apple has slowly become a name with a marketing force that has the power to exceed its product – a brand withthe ability to create a product where style exceeds substance. The fact that the product was announced by CEO Tim Cook (the man responsible for increasing Apples margins via closing factories) and the official iPhone 5 video opens with the iconic designer Jonathan Ive backed by an aspirational soundtrack which is now bordering on the clichéd will be fuel to the fire for Apple antagonist who have always argued that the company is a brand that defines style and profit over substance. In fact, the biggest attribute to the iPhone 5 is the new design. The bigger screen (4 inches) thinner design (18%) lighter body (20%), billed by Apple as, “The lightest smartphone in the world” and the two toned defining and excluding back plate are all fantastic, but they are boring. What frustrates us the most is the fact that the Apple has lauded (or justified) the fact that their new 8-pin connector was necessary for all of their new added features. The problem is the thousands upon thousands of iPhone accessories that rely on the previous 30-pin connector have been rendered immediately obsolete without the $30-$40 adapter – not included with the new iPhone, a device that probably has been developed by the company for under $1 per unit. We also don’t like the fact that Apple, with the capability of revolutionizing and defining NFC technology avoided it, and that that while the new iPhone 5 was expected to exceed and render their closet competitor the Samsung Galaxy S III obsolete the two devices are almost identical spec wise.

What we like about the iPhone 5

We like the design

Despite tearing the design apart as a defining feature in the previous argument, we like it – no we love it. The iPhone 5 is a sexy, slim, sleek and stylish design. As usual Jony Ives and co have created the best-looking smartphone on the market.

The Speed

The A6 chip has been released and it promises to offer twice the operating speed of the iPhone 4s, and lets not get it twisted, this is fast, lightening fast. Gone are the days you’ll have to wait more than a second for anything to load on your iPhone and the new graphic capabilities will be a huge development for the app market for all the gamers out there.

4G LTE, GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA+

Yeah, they had to do it and yeah some of their leading competitors have been doing it for nearly a year, but Apple taking the plunge into the world of 4G is huge. Their move into the 4G market has forced this innovative technology to adapt to the huge consumer market that will soon be behind it. Your phone will now have the potential of being faster than your Wi-Fi.

Battery Life

It’s better, 8 hours of talk time and 3G browsing, 8 hours of 4G and LTE browsing, an impressive 10 hours of video playback and a fantastic 40 hours of music playback.

The Camera – It’s better than we expected

We don’t care that its 25% smaller and that it only offers the same 8MB sensor used in the iPhone 4s, but what we do like is the new features that are now included: a dynamic low light mode, precision lens alignment (improves focus), spatial noise reduction, smart filtering, faster photo capture, a sapphire crystal lens cover and what Apple appears to be most excited about a panoramic shooting mode. More importantly the front-facing camera has been upgraded to 720p for a better FaceTime experience and three new built-in microphones have been added to improve the audio output. It would be redundant to not mention at this point that FaceTime will now be available across the 3G and 4G networks for the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5 which will allow those who don’t use Skype to revolutionize how they communicate…

The Maps

As trite as it seems to include it here I love Apple Map’s. The new GPS system is well designed and far more stylish than the predecessor that Google offered iPhone users. The flyover feature is amazing, but unless you are a helicopter pilot, it’s probably not that useful. Still credit where credit is due, in an inflated GPS market Apple has exceeded expectations with their new offering.

In Closing

Apple is the undisputed creator and king of the smartphone industry and with the iPhone 5 they have delivered a fantastic new product. However, in the 21st century the “King’s” powers do not extend to the preordained divine right of kings of past. The tech industry is fast moving and constantly adapting and to keep that crown even the most loyal of Apple fans demand superiority. Has the iPhone 5 delivered this? Yes, in a way, but we still expected more. Did we have a right to? No, not really, but that’s the message Apple has sold and promised to deliver on for over 20 years and because of this, we demand Apple products to be superior, otherwise the worlds biggest brand becomes nothing more than just that, a brand with a phenomenal marketing team.

What do you think of the iPhone 5? Let us know what you think in the comments box below