Is apple lacking innovation for future iPhone?

[Dwalls90]

Apple is falling behind as far as specs. But hardware is the best as far as build quality and the software is buttery smooth. I just want a S4 size screen along with iOS 7

Specs are useless.

iPhones have always had "inferior" hardware, but have been more responsive and better at handling real-life tasks, because iOS is optimized SO well for the iPhone.

2GB is required on Android where 1GB suffices on an iPhone, for example.

 

[Cod3rror]

Not sure why you'd want a desktop OS on your phone, or how that would be revolutionary at all. More likely just a PITA!

Convenience.

Imagine coming home, docking your phone and a desktop OS opens up, all your tabs, etc... that you had open in your phone OS, are now open in the desktop OS.

If you're going out somewhere, just undock the device and the desktop OS gets suspended, while the mobile UI kicks in.

That's where things are headed.

 

[Dented]

That's almost here already, it's just a matter of the cloud linking everything up - no need for the same OS or device to do everything, IMO.

 

[ChrisTX]

Call me crazy, but I actually switched to Android last year, but will be coming back with the release of the iPhone 5S. Android is fun to tinker with, but the overall experience IMO is just lacking. The Nexus 4 offered the best experience, but that phone had so many problems hardware wise I couldn't use it as my daily driver.

 

[Cicatrix]

No, doesn't work like that either. Plenty of people are happy with the screen as it is, and unlike other "specs" bigger is not always better, otherwise we'd all be lugging around 32" phones by now. Like I said, it's about the user experience with apple, and sometimes less is more.

The screen size does not need to grow as exponentially as you refer. Realistically, there's a lot more people who would like a bigger screen. (5 to 6" range.) Why is it that any time a bigger screen on the iphone is brought up people go bananas and bring up the whole 50" display is too big argument. I don't think there has even been a single person on this forum to suggest anything even past 6". I would bet my car that in a years time, Apple WILL make the iphone screen a bit larger.

 

[gnasher729]

The screen size does not need to grow as exponentially as you refer. Realistically, there's a lot more people who would like a bigger screen. (5 to 6" range.) Why is it that any time a bigger screen on the iphone is brought up people go bananas and bring up the whole 50" display is too big argument. I don't think there has even been a single person on this forum to suggest anything even past 6". I would bet my car that in a years time, Apple WILL make the iphone screen a bit larger.

Apple should add phone capability to the iPad Mini (covers up to 7.9") and the iPad (covers up to 9.7"), and if the rumoured big iPad (12.9" screen) comes out, give it phone capability as well.

 

[mizzouxc]

Still better than everything else out there. HTC One is the first non-plastic phone to rival the iPhone. This doesn't matter if you've got your head buried in a spec sheet.

I feel like the 5S won't be that big of a deal except the finger print...
NOW I am very sure the iPhone 2014 will be amazing and everyone will love it. But I believe it might be the last phone that is going to be like how amazing iPhone 4 was when it came out. The only things remaining to make a phone amazing is anti shattered glass and extreme battery life and speed.
But I think phones are almost so matured that it won't be big of a difference in the future...What can the iPhone 10 really have to make it be special?
I believe the iPhone 4 was the last of it's kind. There will never really be a phone as special as the iPhone 4 was when it first came out..

 

[Bahroo]

Apple is falling behind as far as specs. But hardware is the best as far as build quality and the software is buttery smooth. I just want a S4 size screen along with iOS 7

how is the specs falling behind? specs arent the most important thing, espcially when Apple optimizes their OS so much that a iphone 5 feels faster then a galaxy s4... and the camera is still one of the best on the market and build quality is also one of the best in the industry as well

 

[ahfu25]

how is the specs falling behind? specs arent the most important thing, espcially when Apple optimizes their OS so much that a iphone 5 feels faster then a galaxy s4... and the camera is still one of the best on the market and build quality is also one of the best in the industry as well

What I meant to say is that their specs compared to the S4's and HTC one's arent equal but their software as far as stability is by far the best. Hardware as well. Im not a Apple or Android "Fanboy". I can look at it objectively. Lots of people arent capable of that on mac rumors or xda. but many can..its 50/50 lol

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

What I meant to say is that their specs compared to the S4's and HTC one's arent equal but their software as far as stability is by far the best. Hardware as well. Im not a Apple or Android "Fanboy". I can look at it objectively. Lots of people arent capable of that on mac rumors or xda. but many are..its 50/50 lol

I don't think specs matter to the average joe. I couldn't tell you the spec of my iPhone without looking it up because it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is if the product works well and does the tasks it's designed for. I don't have any complaints.

 

[maxosx]

Apple only became relevant when the iPhone came out. Before that, they were irrelevant.

Your distinct lack of knowledge about Apple Inc. has been revealed

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That's a nice rant. It's just missing that one little thing we call facts.

You've failed in the facts department.

 

[Jimmy James]

There's a rapidly growing distance between Apple and innovation, where once they existed hand in hand. Once Apple became wildly successful, the demon known as addiction kicked in. Having fallen in love with the almighty dollar, while identifying exactly how little they could do and get away with, Apple manipulated their way to their present position.

Now having rested on their laurels for awhile, they've refined their profit taking practices even more. With hoards of their followers making excuses and standing up for them, Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. Naive and unable to see how the Apple apologists are enabling Apples behavior, all but guarantees that this pattern will continue. Why spend the time and money in R&D, when you've got a huge cadre of people that keep the bar of accomplishment as low as possible.

And your post is completely lacking in imagination. Vague criticism and no detail.

The 5 was everything I wanted in phone hardware. And it was completely new. The rest has become frivolous. It would be like complaining that a car only has 4 cup holders while the competition has 8. Then the competition claims double the specs. Meaningless.

I was inclined to agree with you about their computer hardware. Their laptops haven't changed much. But I have yet to find a better design. No one is pushing battery technology more or condensing their package as much as Apple. The Mac Pro is a whole other thing yet again.

See. I provided some specifics.

 

[Wrathwitch]

I just wish people would stop mixing up the term "innovation" with that dreaded word "specs". Apple have never been about raw specs - specs are how the other guys differentiate. Apple is about the experience, and what the device can actually do for you - that's where they excel, and why often their phones with "lower" specs on paper work better, and even faster, than the latest Android with twice the memory, three times as many processor cores etc

Crucially, there's nothing "innovative" about putting in a faster processor or a bigger screen, that's just basic evolution. True innovation shouldn't just improve, it should completely change something for the better; Apple have done that a few times and they'll do it again, it just may not come with every iteration of the iPhone. I don't believe it's something the competition have ever done, by themselves.

FWIW, I think Apple should have come up with the command center in iOS 7 AGES ago, a better notification system to trump what Android came out with and ideas such as Smart Stay from Samsung. These are NOT spec related, but are ways that make using your phone easier and more pleasurable. Not to mention how long it took them to finally get panoramic photo ability, or the Do Not Disturb feature, or the ability to easily have to drag and drop files rather than going through third party apps and several steps. Oh and the ability to easily create and configure ringtones etc. Apple should have come up with this YEARS ago. Some they still haven't managed.

Is all of those features mentioned above not more reflective of innovation vs specs?

 

[Solomani]

Unfortunately, Apple's become rather predictable in their upgrade product cycle. This has given competitors the ability to trump Apple spec-wise.

One big reason Apple is "predictable" is because it has the most leaks and rumors in the entire tech industry. Months before Apple can announce any new products or features for upcoming products, those products have already been discussed and debated to death, the "secret features" have already been outed by the rumor-mongering community.

No other company on the planet gets this same scrutiny.

 

[cynics]

I don't think specs matter to the average joe. I couldn't tell you the spec of my iPhone without looking it up because it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is if the product works well and does the tasks it's designed for. I don't have any complaints.

I agree however because the average joe doesn't know any better.

RAM for example. The average Joe may not know that when you are returning to an app and it reloads that is because available RAM to keep the app in a suspended state was used by another app. This has always been obvious on the 4/4S and now with iOS 7 becoming more noticeable on the iPhone 5.

CPU/GPU, well I think Apple still does a good job with that. However some of the competition CPU/GPU's are gaining massive power while also making advancements in battery usage/consumption.

I'll probably get flamed for this but I think iOS is lacking in the way it handles internal storage space.

There is no option to clear an apps cache manually so apps like tapatalk and Facebook can get over 500mb with a way to clear data without deleting and reinstalling the app.

Want more iCloud space? Just delete your backup and re-backup your iDevice. iOS collects junk and won't automatically clean itself.

Then you have "other" in iTunes. I get it but either handle it better or give me the option to handle it by deleting things. Doing a restore from new will get me 2-3 gb back from "other" with no noticeable difference in usage on the phone aside from it being obviously faster.

 

[Dented]

FWIW, I think Apple should have come up with the command center in iOS 7 AGES ago, a better notification system to trump what Android came out with and ideas such as Smart Stay from Samsung. These are NOT spec related, but are ways that make using your phone easier and more pleasurable. Not to mention how long it took them to finally get panoramic photo ability, or the Do Not Disturb feature, or the ability to easily have to drag and drop files rather than going through third party apps and several steps. Oh and the ability to easily create and configure ringtones etc. Apple should have come up with this YEARS ago. Some they still haven't managed.

Is all of those features mentioned above not more reflective of innovation vs specs?

Honestly, of those, I think you could make a case for "smart stay" as an innovation, although from what I hear it doesn't actually work that well, either in concept or execution. The rest is a mix of unsurprising software development that occurs over time, and subjective *choices* about how certain things work that differ from one platform to the next. IE, Android didn't "innovate" when they allowed people to drag and drop stuff - there's absolutely nothing new or surprising about that feature - they just made a different UI choice to Apple who kept all that within iTunes. Both approaches have pros and cons and it's not like one nullifies the other, even though some may consider one or the other "better".

 

[Rian Gray]

I'll probably get flamed for this but I think iOS is lacking in the way it handles internal storage space.

There is no option to clear an apps cache manually so apps like tapatalk and Facebook can get over 500mb with a way to clear data without deleting and reinstalling the app.

Want more iCloud space? Just delete your backup and re-backup your iDevice. iOS collects junk and won't automatically clean itself.

Then you have "other" in iTunes. I get it but either handle it better or give me the option to handle it by deleting things. Doing a restore from new will get me 2-3 gb back from "other" with no noticeable difference in usage on the phone aside from it being obviously faster.

I totally agree. I mean, storages both iTunes and iDevices taking up these days are simply nonsense. I had to use 3TB external HDD for iTunes library, which ended up finding out that half of its storage was filled with meaning less outdated datas.

As for iPhone and iPad, I don't expect Apple to put HDD in iDevice again like they did with iPod Classic models, but they need to realize iDevice requires more internal storage then ever with this weird idea of storage management in iOS philosophy. That comes quite hefty especially with newsstands and magazines/newspaper apps. I have a 32GB Retina iPad, and 32GB isn't big enough anymore like they did years back. So did Apple decided to launch or increase the storage for newest iPads? The answer was no. –although they did launch 128GB models, but it's simply not worth the price IMO–

I honestly think the biggest and newest innovation Apple could do with new iPads and iPhones are double the damn storages and keep the price as it is. iCloud is surely something interesting, but not always working. It isn't as if all the carriers in US are willing to give up free data plans.

 

[cynics]

I totally agree. I mean, storages both iTunes and iDevices taking up these days are simply nonsense. I had to use 3TB external HDD for iTunes library, which ended up finding out that half of its storage was filled with meaning less outdated datas.

As for iPhone and iPad, I don't expect Apple to put HDD in iDevice again like they did with iPod Classic models, but they need to realize iDevice requires more internal storage then ever with this weird idea of storage management in iOS philosophy. That comes quite hefty especially with newsstands and magazines/newspaper apps. I have a 32GB Retina iPad, and 32GB isn't big enough anymore like they did years back. So did Apple decided to launch or increase the storage for newest iPads? The answer was no. –although they did launch 128GB models, but it's simply not worth the price IMO–

I honestly think the biggest and newest innovation Apple could do with new iPads and iPhones are double the damn storages and keep the price as it is. iCloud is surely something interesting, but not always working. It isn't as if all the carriers in US are willing to give up free data plans.

While I agree more storage would be nice I however feel there is an inherent problem with the file system. Like you mentioned with the 3tb harddrive.

What urks me is I bought extra iCloud space because I was exceeding the free 5gb limit. So I was at 6gb, then one day I was adding up my data and the math just didn't work. I only really save photos too iCloud and I had 2.5gb in photos.

So I deleted the back up, the backupped again and my total was 4gb. Didn't change any settings, just deleted and re back up. So I was paying apple my money for what? Poor programming?

This makes me question the entire OS. I don't know anything about programming and stuff so maybe its justified.

I highly recommend everyone try it if they are using iCloud.

 

[Jimmy James]

Specs are useless.

iPhones have always had "inferior" hardware, but have been more responsive and better at handling real-life tasks, because iOS is optimized SO well for the iPhone.

2GB is required on Android where 1GB suffices on an iPhone, for example.

I see your point, but specs are not useless. Ask any iPhone 3G user.

----------

Convenience.

Imagine coming home, docking your phone and a desktop OS opens up, all your tabs, etc... that you had open in your phone OS, are now open in the desktop OS.

If you're going out somewhere, just undock the device and the desktop OS gets suspended, while the mobile UI kicks in.

That's where things are headed.

Image

This is perfection.

 

[Smartass]

Apple is not lacking in innovation when it comes to hardware - it's all top class quality and yes, the screen could be bigger but what can you do. Where apple is REALLY lacking in innovation and falling behind competition pretty fast is the software side. iOS 7 only brought things that competition already had more than 2 years ago and still there's tons of limitations for users in comparison to android.

 

[satchmo]

True, but the average Joe can notice usability benefits.
As you say, it's about just working and a larger display simply has more flexibility for the app-centric ecosystem that is Apple.

As others have noted, a smaller size is better suited if you simply want to do calls and some texting. And heaven forbid, I'm not suggesting anything like a 5" screen. But try holding an HTC One (4.7") in your hands, and you'll see how nice a 4.5" iPhone would be.

I don't think specs matter to the average joe. I couldn't tell you the spec of my iPhone without looking it up because it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is if the product works well and does the tasks it's designed for. I don't have any complaints.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

True, but the average Joe can notice usability benefits.
As you say, it's about just working and a larger display simply has more flexibility for the app-centric ecosystem that is Apple.

As others have noted, a smaller size is better suited if you simply want to do calls and some texting. And heaven forbid, I'm not suggesting anything like a 5" screen. But try holding an HTC One (4.7") in your hands, and you'll see how nice a 4.5" iPhone would be.

My last phone was a Samsung Galaxy S3. At my last upgrade I chose the iPhone 5. I have owned a phone with a bigger screen.

 

[Mgiuly]

Innovation is not only bigger screens or better specs, but also user experience and design of products. Two aspects in which Apple was able to excel in the past. I owned every Iphone since the beginning, and recently i felt a little bored... At the end this could be called lack of innovation: the difficulty to thought-provoking. Hoping for something really new and surprising

 

[Ivabign]

One big reason Apple is "predictable" is because it has the most leaks and rumors in the entire tech industry. Months before Apple can announce any new products or features for upcoming products, those products have already been discussed and debated to death, the "secret features" have already been outed by the rumor-mongering community.

No other company on the planet gets this same scrutiny.

I can't find the Samsung rumor website......

I also punched in Samsunginsider and got nothing...

Then I typed Samsungbitch and got an image of Steve Jobs...

** damn spellchecker changed my keystrokes to "Samsung is my bitch"

 

[Motherload0211]

True, but the average Joe can notice usability benefits.
As you say, it's about just working and a larger display simply has more flexibility for the app-centric ecosystem that is Apple.

As others have noted, a smaller size is better suited if you simply want to do calls and some texting. And heaven forbid, I'm not suggesting anything like a 5" screen. But try holding an HTC One (4.7") in your hands, and you'll see how nice a 4.5" iPhone would be.

A 4.3 would be real nice as shown below between the iphone 4 and the HTC 4.3 inch display. But a HTC 4.7 inch is way to big > also shown.