*** iPhone 5S/5C - September 10th ***

[Robbo]

Well, what a disappointment. It just shows that since Jobs died Apple have lost direction and the ability to innovate. I've had many Apple products over the years, the classic iPod, iPod touch, iPod shuffle, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad mini so it's not like I'm some Apple hater but I can't see myself buying anything more from them. The Iphone 5S doesn't even match up to the current Android phones so if it's going to be another 12 months before the iPhone 6 comes out then I think Apple will be miles behind Android by that point.

All Apple had to do was to make a slightly bigger screen, add wireless charging and I'd have been happy but instead they release a phone which is almost identical to the one they released 12 months ago.

/goes off to investigate the HTC One Max...

Apple see a bigger screen as a negative as well as a positive. It's not a case of bigger is better when it comes to screens. If you want a 4.8" screen or whatever, then obviously the iPhone isn't for you. I was using the Galaxy S4 I bought alongside my iPhone 5 for a bit and aside from watching video, I don't think the larger screen brought many real benefits (to me). The way the iPhone formulates text and responds to input means it's more than satisfactory at the current screen size. I think they could perhaps make better use of the bezel though, and increase the size a little bit more.

It really is just a consideration at the minute My contract isn't up until November, so I'll look more into specific handsets then. I just feel Apple are slowly slipping behind consumer needs and their competition.

Quite a few people are throwing Samsung's name around as if they are the kings of innovation, when really they aren't doing much different. They've gone down a larger screen route, and bumped up the megapixels (but the GS4 camera is still very poor in low light, the 5S should be better, and has a better flash). Then again, the responses in the Galaxy S4 launch thread were pretty much the same as in here.

It's swings and roundabouts really, the S4 is good and it is jam packed with all sorts of functionality, most of which you'd never use, and it actually destabilises the phone and out of the box, it's a lot slower than the iPhone 5 loaded with stuff. Quite poor (but not hard to fix, if you know what you are doing - most people don't).

I haven't seen anything that I'd consider to be "exciting" on a phone for a while now, really.

 

[Skyboat]

I just feel Apple are slowly slipping behind consumer needs and their competition.

That's subjective though surely? Everyone has different needs. I can respect people's decisions whatever they choose, I just like seeing how they justify them.

For example, a bigger screen. Fair enough, won't see that for a while on an iPhone. I just don't like some people's comments of "Samsung are better/innovative" and don't actually go on to state what it is that makes their phones stand out from the competition.

I personally don't sit around all day reading every news article about the latest tech as it's too hard to keep up, and there's bound to be some things I'll miss, so I like to hear from actual buyers what it is they consider is a must in a device...

 

[muon]

And a very valid question it is too. All I see these days are people moaning that Apple can't innovate.

Well what have other manufacturers done that's truly innovative? A new screen technology, a bigger screen... Is that really innovative? I'll concede that Nokia did well with their 48MP camera, but that's the only stand out for me.

But that said, is that innovation? It's not a new innovation, it's the improvement of an existing technology.

Now, a fingerprint reader that can be used for security as well as payment authentication... sounds innovative. Anyone done that yet...? Nope.

Hmm, looks like Apple can still innovate.

Fingerprint scanner can certainly be classed as innovation, and Apple is the first to market. However, the HTC One Max will also have a similar feature.

NFC is something Apple refuses to implement which seems a bit unusual. Wireless charging is also something that I would have thought would have gone well with Apple's designs.

 

[Nexus]

I think its also difficult to truly innovate with where things are at the moment. Everyone expects Apple to come out with something incredibly innovative, which was possible in the past with some of the products they have bought to market. People have naturally come to expect that, but it stopped happening sometime ago now.

The other thing is that with recent releases everything is now being revealed beforehand, which takes off some of the shine the reveals used to have.

 

[Spit]

The 5c price is just ridiculous, whats the point. should have been a £299 phone.

 

[LiGhTfasT]

Small screen and stupid finger print gimmick. Massive price tag for no innovation. My Ipad1 and misses iphone4 look like the first and last apple hardware in this house.

Cant justify the money for it when the nexus devices are much less hassle and dont need jailbreaking.

 

[Fallen god]

and Apple is the first to market.

No there not, there just the first with a decent solution, its been on laptops forever and phones too. Even the Moto atrix had one, they all just sucked before where as this one actual works well.

 

[Raymond Lin]

They should make a phone that is 1mm thin, dual sides, can fold up and then opens with no crease.

That's innovation ! We'll get there, but not in the space of 12 months ! but look how far the phone has come in the past 10 years. Can anyone imagine using something like the iPhone 5 or galaxy 10 years ago when they were playing Snake on their Nokia 3510?

 

[Fallen god]

Cant justify the money for it when the nexus devices are much less hassle and dont need jailbreaking.

This is a big thing for me too, I think the 5s is an amazing phone and does almost everything I need, the Nexus will surly do everything I need and will be much cheaper, but the 5s will look much nicer and just do everything smoother. If the Nexus devices weren't so stupid cheap I would probably get the iPhone 5s.

 

[Skyboat]

Apple haven't given devs long to get their apps submitted! There's going to be a lot of apps that aren't fully iOS 7 compatible come the 18th.

The betas have given developers plenty of time to make their apps compatible. In fact, it helps them test the current builds of their apps on iOS 7, see if anything causes them to crash, and fix it in the iOS 6 build and submit it to the App Store now, instead of when iOS 7 is released.

Any apps compiled against the iOS 6 SDK will look and feel like an iOS <= 6 app, it's when adding support for iOS 7 using the newer SDK do things become difficult, as far as my own personal experiments go the layout of your app can completely change due to the new location and appearances of fundamental elements of the UI.

For developers it's definitely been one of the more challenging iOS version transitions

 

[muon]

No there not, there just the first with a decent solution, its been on laptops forever and phones too. Even the Moto atrix had one, they all just sucked before where as this one actual works well.

Well I'm not saying they invented fingerprint scanning technology.

I did forget about the Atrix though.

The HTC One Max implementation should be a decent enough.

 

[dparksinger]

Small screen and stupid finger print gimmick. Massive price tag for no innovation. My Ipad1 and misses iphone4 look like the first and last apple hardware in this house.

Cant justify the money for it when the nexus devices are much less hassle and dont need jailbreaking.

Amen.

I think apple now think that the majority of its users are thick and don't know what they are getting.. Just because its the "iPhone" people think its the greatest where as the nexus line is less known and not hyped about like the iPhone its automatically not as good etc.. When in fact its the complete opposite.. Apple have slowed down since the 4s and others have caught up to speed and overtook them in reality now.

 

[randal]

Fingerprint scanner can certainly be classed as innovation, and Apple is the first to market. However, the HTC One Max will also have a similar feature.

And when they do, people will soon forget it was an Apple first and return to the bashing. I feel cynical saying that, but I'm sure it'll happen.

NFC is something Apple refuses to implement which seems a bit unusual. Wireless charging is also something that I would have thought would have gone well with Apple's designs.

Yeah is a bit of a weird one, but I presume they have their strategy. Everyone bemoaned the original iPhone's lack of 3G, but they still flew off the shelves. The 3G then rolled around when 3G had penetrated the market well... and wouldn't you know it, the phone had free marketing in a catchy applicable name. They are masters of their own domain, which they created so I expect there is a very valid reason for not implementing the things you mention just yet.

 

[Raymond Lin]

They probably think it is too soon for NFC to be implemented, and adding the tech will just be wasting money for something that isn't widely used.

At least fingerprint scanning can be used by everyone, everywhere.

 

[muon]

Amen.

I think apple now think that the majority of its users are thick and don't know what they are getting.. Just because its the "iPhone" people think its the greatest where as the nexus line is less known and not hyped about like the iPhone its automatically not as good etc.. When in fact its the complete opposite.. Apple have slowed down since the 4s and others have caught up to speed and overtook them in reality now.

I think it's possible there's the belief that the product is as good as it can be with a bit of resistance in producing different bezel designs. With the 5C though maybe they'll start producing different designs.

They've already had to increase the screen size once. Will probably again next time around.

 

[Kohaashi]

Amen.

I think apple now think that the majority of its users are thick and don't know what they are getting.. Just because its the "iPhone" people think its the greatest where as the nexus line is less known and not hyped about like the iPhone its automatically not as good etc.. When in fact its the complete opposite.. Apple have slowed down since the 4s and others have caught up to speed and overtook them in reality now.

The Nexus 4 is a great value phone, but it doesn't quite compare to an iPhone. I have used both and the Nexus feels cheap compared to an iPhone. It's not surprising then that it is cheaper.

Coming from an iPhone 4 I can't wait to upgrade to the 5S.

 

[muon]

And when they do, people will soon forget it was an Apple first and return to the bashing. I feel cynical saying that, but I'm sure it'll happen.

Well it does turn out the Atrix has had it. Besides the HTC One Max like I mentioned has been designed to have it and will just be slightly later than Apple to market.

Like Siri and Google Voice though, I don't think it is something which will be that important. Also it now makes the home button even more integral and so Apple will be even more resistant to changing the bezel design which is bad in the long run imo.

Google Now on the hand is very useful after it has learnt your habits, and is expanding to become a genuinely useful tool.

Yeah is a bit of a weird one, but I presume they have their strategy. Everyone bemoaned the original iPhone's lack of 3G, but they still flew off the shelves. The 3G then rolled around when 3G had penetrated the market well... and wouldn't you know it, the phone had free marketing in a catchy applicable name. They are masters of their own domain, which they created so I expect there is a very valid reason for not implementing the things you mention just yet.

Well if the NFC market (something more important than other gimmickey features people have produced) is created by other manufacturers, just like 3G then you can see how Apple aren't the most innovative in actual useful technologies.

 

[photoshop]

Why are people comparing the Nexus 4 to the iPhones....? One is a cheap phone and one is a high end phone.

 

[Kohaashi]

Why are people comparing the Nexus 4 to the iPhones....? One is a cheap phone and one is a high end phone.

I was responding to dparksinger who keeps trying to argue that a Nexus is better when it clearly isn't.

 

[muon]

Why are people comparing the Nexus 4 to the iPhones....? One is a cheap phone and one is a high end phone.

They seem to be comparable in specifications. Just because the Nexus 4 is cheap doesn't mean it isn't a phone to be compared.

Normally yes a much cheaper phone is in a different league, but that isn't the case for the Nexus 4.

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5048&idPhone2=5685

The Nexus 4 lacks LTE but at £200 a lot of people can live without that.