What is innovative about a spec bump?
This was an evolutionary step, nothing more. Akin to the 4s update, but at least that had a brand new version of iOS that came with it (ios 5 was a major update).
Did you actually watch the presentation? Not make fun of the skits, but see what they were trying to show you as in how the phone can work in real life situations? It has a lot of innovative features...yes they were a bit corney, but that was the point, it was an event, skits to show the use of the phone in silly real world situations. Far better than Tim Cook saying "Amazing, revolutionary, cool" over and over in an awkward voice....or just watching some dude on the stage with a Keynote presentaiton showing bullet points and a few videos. It was fun, entertaining, silly and stupid at times, but none the less, fun.
But to say the phone is an evolution, is ignoring some if its best new features such as:
No touch swipe or call answer - Can't tell you how many times I am working on my car or bike, or just have dirty hands and do not want to touch the phone to answer a call.
Photo app - Are you kidding me? No one has come close to the features Samsung is offering her. Pic narration, 100 pics in seconds to capture the best one in a fluid situation, removing unwanted elements from a pic on the fly, picture in picture, all freaking great.
Translation - Go to another country and try to read a menu to order lunch or dinner or ask a question, if it works as advertised, the ability for the camera to read and translate and voice translation is great. I live in Japan, the other day a couple came to me who only spoke Russion, not Japanese and not English, they needed help, I could not help them, I felt horrible, with that feature I could have.
Fitness App - Goes above and beyond Nike fit, period.
Screen - Bigger, higher res screen, more memory, more processor, removable battery, SD card slot in a smaller, thinner and lighter phone....WHO HAS DONE THAT?
The SPECS are an evolution, but the apps and the way the phone really integrates into your life and improves how you use it is beyond what any other company has done recently. This is what makes me laugh about posts like yours, people read the spec sheet and say "meh" but it is so much more than just specs.
As for iOS 5, eh hem, that was over a year ago...what has Apple done recently? Nothing major with iOS other than buying Siri and nothing with the iPhone design other than stretching it a bit, but essentially doing the same things the 4s does save for what, panoramic pictures, something the S3 has had for far longer.
