I've been pretty solidly in the camp of 'it'll be a great phone/we don't need a complete redesign/it's not ugly' camp up til now but post announcement, well, I'm having doubts about this phone.
First, I think this is the phone that should have been launched last year, which has lead to 2 years running of slightly underwhelming releases: the 4S was a stop gap, the 5 was last years phone. Both ok in their own right, but I don't think we were unreasonable to expect a little more.
Now it's here and I know I'm not looking at a prototype - again, it's not ugly, it's just a little taller, but there are things that grate. For me, the bands on the back and position of the camera which is no longer centered on the radiused corner of the phone and sits too close to the edge of the band, is just clumsy and looks almost arbitrary. The 4 and 4S were pretty much aesthetically perfect. This just isn't.
My brother asked me what was new and I said it's a little taller, a little thinner, a little lighter, a little faster... a little disappointing? I wasn't expecting fireworks, but when that's all I could say about it, it doesn't sound like I'm describing the most hotly anticipated product of the year does it?
And there just aren't ANY new features. NONE. I live in Europe and I wanted NFC. That would have been new, useful and for the iPhone at least, revolutionary. NFC is a mature and widely used standard whatever Schiller and the deniers claim.
And 4G? Now I knew the UK was lagging behind, and we'd probably have to wait til next year, but now I read that the 4G frequencies being auctioned off aren't supported by the iPhone 5. What??? Is it possible that next year if I do want to take advantage of 4G I'll have to upgrade my phone again? Apple and the UK carriers sure are keeping that one quiet huh?
I only have a 3G and am desperate for an upgrade now but I'm seriously considering a 4S. It's nearly £80 cheaper than a 5, does literally everything the 5 does and in my opinion - it's probably the pinnacle of the Job's era apple products, while the 5 might well be the phone he wouldn't let them release last time because it just wasn't right.