“Apple Inc.’s iPhone has been a trendsetter for half a decade. Now the question is whether it can avoid becoming a bore,” Jessica E. Vascellaro reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, packed with new features. The phone is thinner and has a bigger display. Its Siri virtual assistant has grown much more powerful. It has a new mapping and digital coupon service,” Vascellaro reports. “Yet no one heralded the new device as a great leap forward. What’s more, several features that are becoming standard across other smartphones aren’t in the iPhone 5. Many of those features, such as even bigger screens and ways to pay with your phone, are generating strong reviews from consumers and technology reviewers.”
Vascellaro reports, “Whether the missing features matter remains to be seen. Consumers worldwide have eagerly snapped up incrementally different versions of the iPhone in the past. Still, the technology gaps are getting more attention.”
Here’s a sampling of what the iPhone 5 is missing:
• Digital Payments
• Touch to Share
• Dynamic Home Screens
• Face Unlock
• Even Bigger Screens
• Wireless charging
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The screen is the right size and aspect ratio. It’s designed that way after much careful thought, not to get a check mark on a spec sheet shootout.
The iPhone 5 simply does things no other so-called smartphone can do. Things that aren’t goofy, let’s-do-it-just-to-say-we-can-do-it junk that are either not ready for prime time or gimmicky (wireless charging: don’t forget your stupid ass charging pillow which you have to – drumroll – plug in), but useful items that users will use often (and often take for granted): Siri, Passbook, the best smartphone camera and microphone system available, iCloud, Shared Photo Streams, iTunes in the Cloud, in-cell touchscreen, unibody construction, a huge third-party ecosystem, the most apps and the better versions by far overall vs. the ports for which the others settle, FaceTime, etc., etc., etc.
What every spec sheet misses: Apple’s tight integration. Hardware + Software working in conjunction with each other. Not off-the-shelf parts cobbled together by one outfit with a one-size-fits-all OS dumped in from some other company operating outside of its core competency. Apple offers unified seamless quality vs. a fragmented free-for-all.
iPhone 5 will break all smartphone sales records – just like every single iPhone model before it.
Related article:
Apple introduces iPhone 5 – September 12, 2012
