If you're disappointed, you're.....

[jrswizzle]

I know this is common place - I hope all those who are crying about being disappointed realize they are part of a group who complains each year about the iPhone release - and in doing so, look like a fool.

Let me explain a little something about the iPhone and Apple.

Apple, is first and foremost, an expert in REFINEMENT, not INNOVATION. The main goal each year for Apple is to release a smartphone with features that WORK as close to 100% of the time as is possible in tech, and are USEFUL.

There is a great distinction to be made here. USEFUL over GIMMICK.

Now the word GIMMICK gets thrown around a lot when talking about Samsung or the fingerprint sensor, and really I think it's overused. BUT, when describing features that are cool and "futuristic" but aren't very reliable or terribly useful, I think the word GIMMICK makes sense.

Apple is not in the business of releasing GIMMICKS. Now, many who are upset, are upset because they want a bigger screen. And instead of rationally voicing this desire, they kick and whine about how Apple is doomed.

A few things about the larger screen.

(1) It's nice. I like it as a whole on my GS4.
(2) It's not all roses and unicorns - a larger screen SHOULD have software to adjust for accidental palm touches. The GS4 doesn't (nor does the HTC One) and in both instances, using the phone one-handed is a pain. Mind you, I can fit my hand around the phone just fine.....but when reaching across, my palm ALWAYS touches the edge and negates any taps my finger makes.
(3) Apple WILL release a larger screened iPhone. See #2 as a possible reason why they haven't yet.

If you look at what Apple presented in the 5S - improved camera, 64-bit processor, fingerprint sensor - they gave iPhone owners 2 things that are EXTREMELY USEFUL. The camera features mentioned look to make taking photos on the iPhone easier than ever and all the software and hardware that went into it will produce better pictures across the board. This being a main use of a smartphone for ME (and I assume, for many), I'm extremely excited to be able to take BETTER pictures in pretty much ANY situation. And I know people mock the fingerprint sensor as a GIMMICK - but (1) it works flawlessly from initial hands-ons and (2) I unlock my iPhone and enter my appleID password dozens of times a day. Being able to simply tap the home button instead of typing AND having the simple tap be more secure than the password (remember, your fingerprint will be stored on the A7 itself and NEVER backed up and NEVER synced to Apple's servers), I find this HUGELY convenient and USEFUL.

As for the 64-bit processor - it's hilarious that many of you who are berating Apple for "more of the same", consistently praise other Android OEMs for forward thinking features like Smart Stay.

The 64-bit processor is coming to mobile. It would've been whether Apple released it or not, and with this release they are actually AHEAD of the game....

Yet, people ask "What's the point?", and say "the iPhone was already fast enough."

The implications of moving smartphones to a 64-bit architecture are actually quite substantial. MORE graphics intensive games, more power applications. And Apple happens to do this FIRST, yet gets even MORE hate for it.

Anyways - hopefully this was somewhat informative. The 5S is actually a great upgrade in my opinion. I look forward to picking mine up on the 20th.

 

[auero]

It's a great update for 4s and below users. I think iPhone 5 owners were looking for something much better.

You should also read up on 64 bit processors. You're making assumptions without a base to your claim. It's a step in the right direction but you shouldn't expect to be blown away so easily.

https://medium.com/tech-talk/fb96c0d7fd4e

 

[=w=]

I am disappointed that the storage options are the same. I think additional storage is very useful.

Also, Apple try to portray themselves as a company who innovates. So it's not really that far off that people expect innovative ideas from their star product line.

 

[AppleMrHan]

Could not agree more.

People fall into Samsung trap of comparing useless specs and highlight useless gimmicks that noone uses.

All those "cool" features are turned off within a week of using the phone. I know people who own S4 and turned that off after a week of excitement as they drain battery like crazy and cause the phone to exert more heat.

Apple focuses on useful feature, avoiding releasing something that little to no value to customer.

 

[Veinticinco]

It's not a "great upgrade" by any stretch of the imagination.

More like a "great exercise in market segmentation and maximising profitability".

 

[Sodner]

Agree OP. The complaining on here is out of control. Apple is damned if they do and damned if the don't.

For heavens sake if your unhappy LEAVE and don't come back.

If Apple released a 8 core "snapdragon" processor people would complain its not 12 cores.

 

[Outrigger]

It's not a "great upgrade" by any stretch of the imagination.

More like a "great exercise in market segmentation and maximising profitability".

yeah, if I was an Apple investor, I'd be sorely disappointed that they're trying to maximize my shareholder value.

 

[TechZeke]

I am disappointed that the storage options are the same. I think additional storage is very useful.

Also, Apple try to portray themselves as a company who innovates. So it's not really that far off that people expect innovative ideas from their star product line.

People are getting rediculous. There is only so much you can do to a rectagular prism with a screen on it. The design is as stylish as it gets. What possibly could Apple do? At this point all they can do is improve the features and internals and make it thinner and lighter.

I just don't know how one could possibly think a company needs to reinvent the phone every year. People have very unrealistic expectations.

It makes me wonder if people would be happy just by changing the external design every year(even if its not thinner) just for the sake of making it look different.

It also makes me wonder if people think Samsungs gimmicky features and large screens are what people consider innovative.

 

[cynics]

Could not agree more.

People fall into Samsung trap of comparing useless specs and highlight useless gimmicks that noone uses.

All those "cool" features are turned off within a week of using the phone. I know people who own S4 and turned that off after a week of excitement as they drain battery like crazy and cause the phone to exert more heat.

Apple focuses on useful feature, avoiding releasing something that little to no value to customer.

Turned what off? I don't know the features the S4 has. Is it features like Siri, Maps, Passbook, Newstand, Game Center, Compass, etc? If so I'd turn junk like that off too. Or by no one do you mean just some?

What's all this A7 64 bit non sense specs everyone's bragging about too? Isn't that Apple pushing specs? Can someone explain to me how 64 bit is better then quad core on these spec sheets?

Just seems like everyone's doing the same thing to me.

 

[user-name-here]

For heavens sake if your unhappy LEAVE and don't come back.

God I wish this would come true, sadly though it seems the whiners are here to stay

 

[Veinticinco]

yeah, if I was an Apple investor, I'd be sorely disappointed that they're trying to maximize my shareholder value.

Not sure what your point is unless is that Apple looks more towards their shareholders (who won't exactly be popping open the Moët this morning regardless) rather than you know, actual customers (outside of China at least).

For the record, I dont disagree. I was merely stating a fact.

 

[AppleMrHan]

Turned what off? I don't know the features the S4 has. Is it features like Siri, Maps, Passbook, Newstand, Game Center, Compass, etc? If so I'd turn junk like that off too. Or by no one do you mean just some?

What's all this A7 64 bit non sense specs everyone's bragging about too? Isn't that Apple pushing specs? Can someone explain to me how 64 bit is better then quad core on these spec sheets?

Just seems like everyone's doing the same thing to me.

Features such as Air gestures, etc, all of those "useful" according to commercials features that make S4 standout.

Siri is not useless. I do not know about you, but where I live, driving and holding a phone is illegal, carrying a hefty fine, so I use it a lot when I'm commuting to answer calls, play music etc.

Maps is the most useful applications I have ever seen on the phone. As an avid traveler, my wife and I always take trips using our car, and I can not tell you how many times it saved us.

Gamecenter is useful if you game, I do play a few games on the phone, not sure why you see it as useless.

Being objective, I do agree, 64-bit architecture is yet to find its full purpose, but I expect software to be more and more developed for it. Apple is not as guilty as Samsung with its specs pushing, which is Samsung's biggest argument as to why its better than Apple. Samsung packs quad-core, 4gb of ram, 1080p screen, all are useless.

 

[=w=]

People are getting rediculous. There is only so much you can do to a rectagular prism with a screen on it. The design is as stylish as it gets. What possibly could Apple do? At this point all they can do is improve the features and internals and make it thinner and lighter.

I just don't know how one could possibly think a company needs to reinvent the phone every year. People have very unrealistic expectations.

It makes me wonder if people would be happy just by changing the external design every year(even if its not thinner) just for the sake of making it look different.

It also makes me wonder if people think Samsungs gimmicky features and large screens are what people consider innovative.

I should have been more forthcoming with my own opinion in my original post, but I feel like my responses are way too verbose, so i've been trying to trim them up. I suppose I shouldn't.

Anyway, I agree with the premise of the original post. I do think that some people expect way too much at this point. But leaving those outlandish folks aside and talking to the level headed people, I don't think many expectations are that far off. None of it would even be considered innovative.

Personally, I don't care for NFC, but why isn't it there?

Up until iOS7 (which the general public doesn't even have yet), asking for some basic functionality was like trying to get blood from a stone.

Paying $200 (subsidized obviously) for a 16gb phone and adding $100 on top of that for an additional 16gb of storage is ridiculous and the low end storage on an iPhone should start at 32gb at this point.

There are other things that should have been there/should be there and just aren't, but i'll stop there.

So, while I agree that people who are whining about it not being innovative are whining for no good reason, because I don't know of much more i'd like my phone to do. BUT.. as I said previously.. if Apple wants to keep calling themselves an innovative company, they're going to need to keep doing innovative things.

 

[cynics]

Features such as Air gestures, etc, all of those "useful" according to commercials features that make S4 standout.

Siri is not useless. I do not know about you, but where I live, driving and holding a phone is illegal, carrying a hefty fine, so I use it a lot when I'm commuting to answer calls, play music etc.

Maps is the most useful applications I have ever seen on the phone. As an avid traveler, my wife and I always take trips using our car, and I can not tell you how many times it saved us.

Gamecenter is useful if you game, I do play a few games on the phone, not sure why you see it as useless.

Being objective, I do agree, 64-bit architecture is yet to find its full purpose, but I expect software to be more and more developed for it. Apple is not as guilty as Samsung with its specs pushing, which is Samsung's biggest argument as to why its better than Apple. Samsung packs quad-core, 4gb of ram, 1080p screen, all are useless.

I just said that to prove a point and show the double standard.

Features I find useless in an iPhone confuse you and you point out how I'm doing it wrong.

Features on a Samsung device that you find useless are useless to everyone and everyone turns them off.

I wear gloves daily, after looking into air gestures that is something that can certain benefit me. Hell, they make gloves you can pull your finger tips out just for smartphone operation.

 

[Rocko1]

I just don't know how one could possibly think a company needs to reinvent the phone every year. People have very unrealistic expectations.

.

This is the major issue with the complainers. They love to armchair CEO and tell us what they Should have done, etc. yet have zero skill set or experience themselves to be apart of a team trying to produce a product of the iPhone's caliber in the smartphone market. It's useless dribble from their mouths.

 

[=w=]

This is the major issue with the complainers. They love to armchair CEO and tell us what they Should have done, etc. yet have zero skill set or experience themselves to be apart of a team trying to produce a product of the iPhone's caliber in the smartphone market. It's useless dribble from their mouths.

I guess the consumer should just shut up and take whatever options they're given and not voice their wants/needs/concerns?

 

[BJonson]

I guess the consumer should just shut up and take whatever options they're given and not voice their wants/needs/concerns?

Welcome to MacRumors.

 

[joecartoon22]

we can sit here and complain/defend all we want. the big investment firms already accepted what a lot of us don't really want to admit. apple is in cruise mode. they all downgraded apple from "outperform" to "neutral". this might change depending on sales or a new product but as of now. it is what it is.

 

[user-name-here]

This is the major issue with the complainers. They love to armchair CEO and tell us what they Should have done, etc. yet have zero skill set or experience themselves to be apart of a team trying to produce a product of the iPhone's caliber in the smartphone market. It's useless dribble from their mouths.

It's easy to criticize at home behind your laptop screen when no one can call you out on things if you are wrong.

People do this all the time with other subjects (sports, politics, investing) to feel like their opinion is important.

 

[jrswizzle]

It's a great update for 4s and below users. I think iPhone 5 owners were looking for something much better.

You should also read up on 64 bit processors. You're making assumptions without a base to your claim. It's a step in the right direction but you shouldn't expect to be blown away so easily.

https://medium.com/tech-talk/fb96c0d7fd4e

I'm not saying I'm "blown away".

Simply pointing out some hypocrisy in the negative comments toward Apple, when the 64-bit processor is a genuinely useful forward-thinking feature. More powerful apps = better experience.

 

[JaySoul]

The iPhone 5S was a really solid improvement, all round.

The iPhone 5C was an intelligent move, too.

The problem is the pricing on both. The flagship model has now increased year on year, and the 5C is just plain overpriced from the start.

If Apple had sucked it up and translated the cost savings of now making the 5C with plastic, I'm convinced they could keep/add far more customers who are simply priced out - and sometimes forced to Android.

 

[jrswizzle]

I am disappointed that the storage options are the same. I think additional storage is very useful.

Also, Apple try to portray themselves as a company who innovates. So it's not really that far off that people expect innovative ideas from their star product line.

I agree, but really only because I was hoping my 32GB iPhone would be $100 cheaper.....I don't need any more than that.

I think it will happen, but there still aren't too many smartphone lines out there that start with 32GB as the base storage.

 

[Rocko1]

It's easy to criticize at home behind your laptop screen when no one can call you out on things if you are wrong.

People do this all the time with other subjects (sports, politics, investing) to feel like their opinion is important.

Yep, they like to give themselves self importance. 95% of the time they know very little to nothing about what it takes to make something work right-from coaching a professional sports team to making a grande vanilla latte.

 

[jrswizzle]

we can sit here and complain/defend all we want. the big investment firms already accepted what a lot of us don't really want to admit. apple is in cruise mode. they all downgraded apple from "outperform" to "neutral". this might change depending on sales or a new product but as of now. it is what it is.

From a shareholder perspective, I would think the deal with China Mobile alone is cause enough to expect a nice boom in sales/profitability.

But really, what Wall Street thinks and what Consumers think are two COMPLETELY different things.

 

[=w=]

Yep, they like to give themselves self importance. 95% of the time they know very little to nothing about what it takes to make something work right-from coaching a professional sports team to making a grande vanilla latte.

I admit, when I go to Starbucks and they try to make me add my own cream and sugar to my iced coffee, I ask them to do it for me.

I'm terrible at making coffee

I agree, but really only because I was hoping my 32GB iPhone would be $100 cheaper.....I don't need any more than that.

I think it will happen, but there still aren't too many smartphone lines out there that start with 32GB as the base storage.

I'm honestly clueless about most other smartphones. I don't compare the iPhone with other phones, I just know what I want out of the phone i'm getting.. but don't most other phones have upgradeable storage with micro SD cards?