News - Apple iPhone 5 unveiled today, so what's new?

[kopite]

Thing is, it should have NFC for paring, and wireless charging, not a new connector.

Surely it would be more innovative, and a refinement to not have to worry about plugging in the damned cable, rather than worrying about which way round the cable goes! With todays technology we already have the devices streaming video/audio and everything else one does with the cable wirelessly (okay, not major firmware updates). So including a 'new' port is batcrap dumb, even if you can do it backwards.

I was reading an article about the new iphone last night.

THey said that wireless charging is pointless as you cant use your phone when charging :S

I cant wait for the Wireless charging kit for the galaxy s3 to come out as I Hate having to plug it in at night. the idea of just dumping it on the charging pad and it doing things automagically appeals to me.

Apple are more than likely keeping that for either the 5s or the 6 when they will release it and talk about how they came up with the idea.

I make no bones about my hatred for Apple but I was really hoping that the Iphone5 was going to be something really special. IF they did something that blew everyone away then it would mean other companies would then innovate even more again to take over. Instead this looks like Apple have given up trying to compete with the opposition on features and instead are concentrating on the court side of things.

[Biscuit]

I was reading an article about the new iphone last night.

THey said that wireless charging is pointless as you cant use your phone when charging :S

I cant wait for the Wireless charging kit for the galaxy s3 to come out as I Hate having to plug it in at night. the idea of just dumping it on the charging pad and it doing things automagically appeals to me.

Apple are more than likely keeping that for either the 5s or the 6 when they will release it and talk about how they came up with the idea.

I make no bones about my hatred for Apple but I was really hoping that the Iphone5 was going to be something really special. IF they did something that blew everyone away then it would mean other companies would then innovate even more again to take over. Instead this looks like Apple have given up trying to compete with the opposition on features and instead are concentrating on the court side of things.

The iPhone has never competed with features and has always been behind the competition in this regard.

[Kevsta]

"•Display: The new 4-inch 1136x640 pixels IPS display has the same density as the iPhone 4S at 326 ppi but the length gives it a wider aspect allowing you to “watch widescreen HD video in all its glory - without letterboxing"

Watch HD video in all it's glory? Think they have missed the mark there, HD being 720 vertical lines and not 640.

Still nice try, wonder if they'll get spanked by the ASA?

[scaryjim]

4" is "just right", so does that mean all previous iPhones were all just wrong?

Quite possibly in the same way that

... you have a system thats <snip> very neerly flawless n every way ...

could mean you actually have a system that's slightly flawed in nearly every way

Pretty underwhelming stuff from Apple - again - adding features that have been relatively common for the last 6 months and sufffering from the closed and tightly controlled nature of their ecosystem (only realistic explanation for the choice of screen res, I'd've thought). And tbh I was never that impressed with the original iPhone, since I'd been using a smartphone for over a year when it came out!

Certainly apple were innovative in seeing a smartphone as a consumer device rather than a business device, and they were very successful in initially exploiting that market. Since then they haven't really pushed on with that innovation and taken the market anywhere new - and now all their competitors have caught up and are creating phones that are as good as, or better than, the iPhone they've moved to squash the opposition in court rather than work out how to take the iPhone to the next level. Sad stuff, really. New iPhone releases always seem to be attempts to keep up with the Joneses - and this one isn't even that successful. It's got to be a fantastic opportunity for Nokia now, with the Microsoft ecosystem behind them, to carve out some share in the market ...

[watercooled]

Even I was expecting more TBH, but I don't doubt a ton of people will still see that magical increased number after 'iPhone' and need to buy it, despite not really improving on what they already had.

Oh and before Apple 'invent' wireless charging with the 5W, electric toothbrushes have had something similar for decades...

Just noticed this on Hexus: http://hexus.net/mobile/news/apple/4...ce=twitterfeed

Edit: Seems I pasted that link without reading it properly, instead of being forced to use a standard connector, the EU have just given them an excuse to charge £15 for yet another laughably overpriced adapter.

[crossy]

I was reading an article about the new iphone last night. THey said that wireless charging is pointless as you cant use your phone when charging :S

Hmm, I know a few Palm pre folks who'd disagree with that. And my kids quite happily use their Touchpad tablets when they're on the charger.

And I can't believe for a microsecond that Apple couldn't design a charging system that would allow them to do that too.

New iPhone releases always seem to be attempts to keep up with the Joneses - and this one isn't even that successful. It's got to be a fantastic opportunity for Nokia now, with the Microsoft ecosystem behind them, to carve out some share in the market ...

Totally agree - the new Lumia's look pretty technically good, and the design is appealing - here's hoping that they finally get the breakthrough they deserve. As you say, Apple's "fumble" with the '5 might just be that opening...

[dangel]

It's a decent phone but really not very interesting

The hardware at least has changed but the software is still stuck in time for me.

[TheAnimus]

http://imgur.com/a/NAeNN

Oh I love the internets

[AlexKitch]

Well, my upgrade in December is decided.

Lumia 920. Sorry, iPhone 4, you served me well but it's time for us to move on.

[mark22]

Hands up iPhone users who said any screen size bigger than the iPhone 4 was stupid and you would never buy one. I argued with a lot of you but I guess something changed, maybe you saw everyone else being able to use the internet. Another marvellous bit of Apple innovation there.

[Biscuit]

http://imgur.com/a/NAeNN

Oh I love the internets

Haha brilliant

[Champman99]

The strangest thing to me (suffice to say I am not an apple fan), is the change of the docking connector. I would have thought the only thing this had going for it is that existing apple customers would buy it, it certainly wouldnt seem to attract new customers over the competition. With that in mind, why make existing customers doubt upgrading because all their accessories stop working. Truly strange - then again I'll probably be proved wrong and all those apple customers will happily buy exact copies of all their existing accessories all the while raving about how awesome the new connector is.

[kopite]

[kingpotnoodle]

Im glad to see a company sticking by their morals

Companies, particularly Apple don't have morals... instead they have shareholders.

We'll see you in your "I love saint Steve" T Shirt whooping with joy outside your local Store for 2 days to get to the head of the queue then?

iPhone 5 is just a bump over the last one, the hardware is OK but not quite good enough to be considered top of the pile... it's the OS that sucks though, seriously the home screen is a grid of icons... that's rather... 2003 ish. Can't stand the mono-buttoned simplistic idiocy, the Mrs' iPad infuriates me whenever she needs tech support.

[TooNice]

I wonder if current iPhone users are beginning to get bored of the same old OS? Apple haven't made any significant changes to their OS since the first ever iPhone and there are clearly better phones on the market in terms of hardware and software.

I can't speak for other iPhone users, but I am not. Seriously, I was only looking for a phone that does what my relic does, but faster, with 3G (yes, 3), GPS, with better camera and crap load of capacity more capacity. Aside from the last point, the 3GS (I now regret not buying it on release as given my requirements, it probably would've lasted until the iPhone 8 lol) fully meet my requirements.

One reason that puts me off switching is because I can not be bothered "re-learning" how to use the phone (that goes from the routine all the way to the jailbreak/rooting procedures). I'd like to think that I have the capacity to do so, but I rather spend my time doing other things. So I am quite fine with incremental polishing than something "revolutionary" that requires me to start from scratch. It might be worth it in the long run, but due to my schedule, the convenience of short-term familiarity matters more.

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The strangest thing to me (suffice to say I am not an apple fan), is the change of the docking connector. I would have thought the only thing this had going for it is that existing apple customers would buy it, it certainly wouldnt seem to attract new customers over the competition. With that in mind, why make existing customers doubt upgrading because all their accessories stop working. Truly strange - then again I'll probably be proved wrong and all those apple customers will happily buy exact copies of all their existing accessories all the while raving about how awesome the new connector is.

I have a charger, external battery and a data connector. The charger costed me about £3, the external battery £7 while the data connector costed £1. Not exactly heart breaking losses. Replacing them would likely cost a lot more than what I paid for the old ones, but there is still the option of getting the adapter for £25. An annoyance, but not a deal breaker. I suspect that a bigger issue for many Apple customers, the cost of replacing their applications is just as severe if not more so.

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In terms of hardware "upgrade", the real deal breaker for me is the darn nano-sim. I've already mentioned how Japanese operators are likely to squeeze the customers for far more than whatever price difference in hardware there is between the iPhone and, say the Galaxy S (a one off cost of £100 doesn't bother me, but a cost of £25-30 each month is). But that is not all. I travel a lot, and where possible, I try to use local PAYG SIM to avoid rip-off roaming charges (usually it's worth it if you plan to be in the country for a week or so). I have no less than 5 SIMs right now. None of them came in micro-SIM format, but I do own a cutter. By the sound of it, the nano-SIM is thinner, so I'll have to be ready to sand the darn SIMs. Even if that work (untested), I question if I could fit it back on an old phone for whatever reason (e.g. lose/break the phone). In a few years it will be a non-issue (assuming the format becomes standard and smartphone continues replacing old phones worldwide), but in the short term this is the *one* thing I was hoping the rumours were wrong on.

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Re: Lumia 920: Are there any samples of pictures taken from the camera, or is the hype based on specification only? If the camera can match up to the hype, then it would be very interesting. I also like the idea that it can be used with gloves. What is however a pity is the 32GB capacity. If the camera is decent, I'll probably use it quite often and I want my phone to hold quite a lot of music too. The OS is also a bit unproven, and I worry about the availability of applications to replace what I use most. It's also on the heavier side.

As it is, the S3 is looking appealing. Will have to play with it and check how it fits on my hand and pocket though. May have to hunt a used 3GS or Touch (whichever is cheaper) just to run the applications I need without equal on Android though :/

[dontpanic]

Interesting, I was looking to buy this, but I think I'm going to brave the Galaxy Note 2 instead. My pockets are large enough!!