Apple is innovative. At least that is what apple will make us believe and they launched the iPhone 5 last Wednesday to wow the public. The company also announced some cool new features and shared the specs of the Phone with over 200 new features. Were you impressed?
Initially, I told myself that I am not going to do a write-up on the new iPhone 5 launch. This is not because it is not news-worthy but main because there is really nothing to shout about. I personally wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t very expectant. So, I am not disappointed. @Mister Mobility feels iPhone 5 is playing a catch-up. I would have loved to see a redesign of the icons, introduction of widgets, the virtual keypad undergoing a revamp and becoming smarter; and a more feature rich mail app, better than what Sparrow Mail App for iPhone delivers. None of those was thrown into the mix.
Apple is known to be able to guard its product and prevent leaks until the day of unveiling. In this case, Apple couldn’t prevent leakages. I had initially told myself that, if all the leaks were what Apple is delivering, the iPhone 5 would not deliver so much.
From the press material made available by Apple, the iPhone 5 is 4” diagonal, spotting an A6 ship that will make the phone render videos and applications faster, including the Apple map and some HD games. Despite the increased size, you can still hold the phone with a single hand with ease. There is also Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center; Passbook, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place; and some 200 features that are under the hood.
Apple has lots of loyal fans and they are all going to queue up and pre-order the new phone. Many of them have been conditioned to like the Apple way of doing things and what iPhone 5 is offering is better than what is available on the previous iPhones [4 and 4s].
On a lighter note, iPhone faithfuls can get what Android users have been enjoying for a while. They can enjoy a bigger screen real estate—Good for playing games and watching movies—and a super slim phone that’s incredibly light, like it is available of Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC One S and some other slimmer Android phones.
The iPhone 5 is getting iOS 6. That is not much of a big deal as it was announced that iPhone 3Gs, 4 and 4s are also getting iOS 6 by 19th September.
Apple has vowed that this is going to be their fastest roll out of their device so far. iPhone 5 will be available from the Apple Online Store (apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 5 will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 21, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5 beginning Friday, September 14. iPhone 4S will also be available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 4 will be available for free with a two-year contract.
The fact that they make the device, they showcase it and they can give a precise day and time to make it available in stores is one of the advantages that Apple has over its competitors. Samsung is however catching up with them now. Nokia needs to learn how to do this. We are yet to have a precise day for the Nokia Lumia 920.
One other interesting thing is the Apple App Store which got a redesign. LTE is also coming to the iPhone 5, but NFC is missing.
Before you fork out between $600 to $800 USD for the iPhone 5—for international unlocked version—as a user outside the region where the iPhone 5 will be available officially, it is good to note the following:
Unlike the iPhone 4 & 4s that use microSIM, the iPhone 5 is spotting a nanoSIM. Apple only failed to mention it during the presentation. Techradar however confirmed this. There are mobile network operators that are already set to make nanoSIM available to its prospective iPhone 5 customers. If you want to go for iPhone 5, it’ll be good to ask your provider if they are going to provide a nanoSIM for you. Would there be a SIM cutter to cut SIMs to nanoSIM? I don’t know and I’m not sure if that’s even possible.
That’s not all. With the LTE capacity, you can have access to Internet that is even faster than the Wi-FI. But this will not be available in all countries. The LTE that the new iPhone spot is only going to work in a few countries (where the providers have deployed LTE technology).
Once again, are you impressed?
