Why I'm disappointed but will still buy a 5S

[Kurso]

Apple delivered exactly what I expected them to today. Catch up features and incremental improvements.

I'm disappointed because I know Apple is capable of so much more. They have bound themselves to a silly, innovation stifling, release schedule of one revolution every two years in a market where the competition has caught up and surpassed them in features. Where dozens of new phones are released every quarter it only takes two unique features a year from any one of the 20 companies cranking phones out to make Apple look old and slow.

We have been seeing the effects of that for some time now.

Here is what I wanted to see in no particular order:

802.11ac - I just purchased a new Airport Time Capsule with 802.11ac a few months ago. Why is the only device I have that can connect via .ac a non-Apple device?

NFC - Apple is the only phone manufacturer that has the clout and cache to build a real NFC ecosystem. Oddly enough this is probably why we didn't get it. They want to own it from top to bottom I'm sure.

Wireless charging - Come on... this plays right into Apples style. Sell me a phone for $299 and then sell me a $129 accessory to charge it. Apple, take my f@$&ing money already...

12-15MP Camera - Yes, pixel size matters. And I'm excited to see what the new camera can deliver. In fact I'm more excited about the camera in the 5S than I am with anything else. But 8MP?

1080P Screen - I knew there was a better chance of Martians landing today than a bigger screen showing up on the 5S. In fact I don't want a bigger phone but an edge to edge screen would be nice.

Fingerprint sensor - I was looking forward to the fingerprint sensor but without NFC I'm far less excited about it. Cool, I can unlock my phone with a single touch. I do this already because I don't lock my phone right now.

I'm very underwhelmed.

Having said all that, I must say that the 5S was a forgone conclusion for me. I'm still sitting on a iPhone 4 - 16GB with a recent (two week old) chip in the back glass. There is no way I can avoid buying a new phone. In fact there because my digital entertainment is built around an Apple ecosystem there is no way I can avoid buying a new Apple phone.

The iPhone 5S is a big upgrade for me but not the one I was hoping for. Oh well, there is always next year!

 

[Tsuchiya]

So (I mean this in the nicest way possible), the 5S is the "lazy" option for you? You don't want to face change so will accept whatever Apple has produced despite it not meeting your expectations?

I can understand that, I mean there's a reason why I had the 4S instead of something else. But still, as a consumer you aren't a slave to Apple...

(Also you know that it isn't too difficult to just replace the iPhone 4 back glass right?)

 

[tbayrgs]

Apple delivered exactly what I expected them to today. Catch up features and incremental improvements.

I'm disappointed because I know Apple is capable of so much more. They have bound themselves to a silly, innovation stifling, release schedule of one revolution every two years in a market where the competition has caught up and surpassed them in features. Where dozens of new phones are released every quarter it only takes two unique features a year from any one of the 20 companies cranking phones out to make Apple look old and slow.

We have been seeing the effects of that for some time now.

Here is what I wanted to see in no particular order:

802.11ac - I just purchased a new Airport Time Capsule with 802.11ac a few months ago. Why is the only device I have that can connect via .ac a non-Apple device?

NFC - Apple is the only phone manufacturer that has the clout and cache to build a real NFC ecosystem. Oddly enough this is probably why we didn't get it. They want to own it from top to bottom I'm sure.

Wireless charging - Come on... this plays right into Apples style. Sell me a phone for $299 and then sell me a $129 accessory to charge it. Apple, take my f@$&ing money already...

12-15MP Camera - Yes, pixel size matters. And I'm excited to see what the new camera can deliver. In fact I'm more excited about the camera in the 5S than I am with anything else. But 8MP?

1080P Screen - I knew there was a better chance of Martians landing today than a bigger screen showing up on the 5S. In fact I don't want a bigger phone but an edge to edge screen would be nice.

Fingerprint sensor - I was looking forward to the fingerprint sensor but without NFC I'm far less excited about it. Cool, I can unlock my phone with a single touch. I do this already because I don't lock my phone right now.

I'm very underwhelmed.

Having said all that, I must say that the 5S was a forgone conclusion for me. I'm still sitting on a iPhone 4 - 16GB with a recent (two week old) chip in the back glass. There is no way I can avoid buying a new phone. In fact there because my digital entertainment is built around an Apple ecosystem there is no way I can avoid buying a new Apple phone.

The iPhone 5S is a big upgrade for me but not the one I was hoping for. Oh well, there is always next year!

You do realize that, short of the fingerprint sensor, there are many devices available on the market right now (or very soon) that meet most or all of your wants? Does using iOS mean that much more than everything else?

And I'm not trying to troll your thread, was a longtime iPhone user but like you saw other devices were offering more and switched to a 'non-iPhone' . If you're concerned about integration with Apple's ecosystem, I have a house full of Apple gear and it interacts nicely with all of them. Don't be afraid to try something new--you can always return to the iPhone if it doesn't suit your tastes.

If you must have iOS, then by all means stick with an iPhone. It just sounds like you're making an awful lot of compromises to do so.

 

[Kurso]

So (I mean this in the nicest way possible), the 5S is the "lazy" option for you? You don't want to face change so will accept whatever Apple has produced despite it not meeting your expectations?

I can understand that, I mean there's a reason why I had the 4S instead of something else. But still, as a consumer you aren't a slave to Apple...

(Also you know that it isn't too difficult to just replace the iPhone 4 back glass right?)

Yes, yes, and yes. I'm a slave to the Apple eco-system. They have me by the bits and bytes!

I've come to realize there is a price to pay for disjointed technology. That price is usually the time it takes to make everything seamlessly work together. Apple eliminated that for me at an additional cost of more money and being a generation or two behind in terms of technology on certain things.

If I had to stack rank the resources at my disposal (money, food, energy, etc...) time would be at the bottom of the list. So buying the 'lazy' solution fits my current situation best.

Silly I know.

The last two phones 5 and 5S have been disappointments to me. Buying the 5S gives me two years to migrate my content to a neutral system. Which, given the limited amount of time I have, is probably how long it will take me to get ready ;-)

 

[Tsuchiya]

Yes, yes, and yes. I'm a slave to the Apple eco-system. They have me by the bits and bytes!

I've come to realize there is a price to pay for disjointed technology. That price is usually the time it takes to make everything seamlessly work together. Apple eliminated that for me at an additional cost of more money and being a generation or two behind in terms of technology on certain things.

If I had to stack rank the resources at my disposal (money, food, energy, etc...) time would be at the bottom of the list. So buying the 'lazy' solution fits my current situation best.

Silly I know.

The last two phones 5 and 5S have been disappointments to me. Buying the 5S gives me two years to migrate my content to a neutral system. Which, given the limited amount of time I have, is probably how long it will take me to get ready ;-)

It's not silly, I can appreciate that.

 

[mellofello]

Its really not that bad having android in a apple eco system. There are apps that let you control apple tv/let you sync to itunes. Just try a android, tou have a two week return period most places. Chances are those two weeks will come, and go.

 

[yeah]

Well honestly I don't see a reason to have 802.11 AC on a phone because I'm sure N is already fast enough.

 

[Apple Fan 21]

Well honestly I don't see a reason to have 802.11 AC on a phone because I'm sure N is already fast enough.

How so??

 

[Kurso]

Well honestly I don't see a reason to have 802.11 AC on a phone because I'm sure N is already fast enough.

Two reasons. The speed of wireless sync and battery life.

Although the battery life is hard to quantify it is simple math if you think of it in terms of power per second of transmit/receive. If I can finish a transfer in a shorter period of time I use less power. This is one of the big selling point of AC beyond raw speed. Any improvement of battery life in the phone helps.

 

[Mrbobb]

802.11ac

Has anybody done a real-life measurement of the iPhone's 802.11n performance? I will bet, BET, it doesn't even push the boundary of the theoretical max speed of the "n."

NFC

They say IOS7 has device-to-device file sharing capability? So OK, it's via BT/WIFI, but if you have no mixed device, you admit you are slaved to Apple's eco, so what's the problem?

Wireless charging

Makes the phone fatter, that would be like allowing catholic priests to marry. And THEN, have you seen those wireless chargers for other devices, toothbrush etc? They are kinda huge. I want wireless charging too but don't feel it's ready for prime time.

 

[Kurso]

Has anybody done a real-life measurement of the iPhone's 802.11n performance? I will bet, BET, it doesn't even push the boundary of the theoretical max speed of the "n."



They say IOS7 has device-to-device file sharing capability? So OK, it's via BT/WIFI, but if you have no mixed device, you admit you are slaved to Apple's eco, so what's the problem?



Makes the phone fatter, that would be like allowing catholic priests to marry. And THEN, have you seen those wireless chargers for other devices, toothbrush etc? They are kinda huge. I want wireless charging too but don't feel it's ready for prime time.

I can't speak to the max performance of N on the iPhone 5 but if you look at mid-range performance of typical wi-fi 15MB for N would be great. The iPhone 5 is capable of file transfers much faster than that (look at some of the Lightning speed tests) so N is nowhere near maxing the capabilities of the IO system of the phone. So AC will improve performance and increase battery life.

I don't want to bump my phone, nor do I really care what protocol it uses for file transfer but NFC is superior to BT/WiFi for transaction oriented services such as mobile payment, secure entry, etc...

As for charging the Nexus 4 wasn't some hog of a phone and it had wireless charging (and the charger was pretty cool looking). Poor excuse for exclusion.

 

[CAWjr]

Here is what I wanted to see in no particular order:

802.11ac - I just purchased a new Airport Time Capsule with 802.11ac a few months ago. Why is the only device I have that can connect via .ac a non-Apple device?

NFC - Apple is the only phone manufacturer that has the clout and cache to build a real NFC ecosystem. Oddly enough this is probably why we didn't get it. They want to own it from top to bottom I'm sure.

Wireless charging - Come on... this plays right into Apples style. Sell me a phone for $299 and then sell me a $129 accessory to charge it. Apple, take my f@$&ing money already...

12-15MP Camera - Yes, pixel size matters. And I'm excited to see what the new camera can deliver. In fact I'm more excited about the camera in the 5S than I am with anything else. But 8MP?

1080P Screen - I knew there was a better chance of Martians landing today than a bigger screen showing up on the 5S. In fact I don't want a bigger phone but an edge to edge screen would be nice.

Fingerprint sensor - I was looking forward to the fingerprint sensor but without NFC I'm far less excited about it. Cool, I can unlock my phone with a single touch. I do this already because I don't lock my phone right now.

I'm very underwhelmed.

I'm with you on the AC, wireless charging, and better camera. To me, the lack of a 128GB version is a bigger miss than the other three. I have no use for NFC, fingerprint sensor, or resolution better than the current retina screen on such a tiny size.

 

[ActionableMango]

Here is what I wanted to see in no particular order:

Hi Kurso,

802.11ac is new enough that I bet the mobile chips are still large and power hungry. Apple has been a little bit late to the game before on TX/RX type applications, and that's been the reason in the past. I would like to see this too, as I'm getting an Almond+ 802.11ac router soon, but not at the cost of reduced battery life.

The fingerprint reader should be much more, and I expect it to be. Right now it's not just unlock, it's also Apple ID authentication for purchases, so there's at least that. But the real promise is the future. I bet it will eventually tie into the new iOS7 password management app and can be used to authenticate for other apps, and eventually websites. This way you can have strong and unique passwords like lYX5de,zj}N}Lh<k4yc=F'1 for every website. Just press your finger and iOS authenticates you by sending the right password to Safari. This is what fingerprint readers on laptops do and it would be a shame if Apple doesn't bring this to iOS. I suspect they were too busy with the upgrade to iOS7 and 64-bit to get this done right in time for launch.

Wireless charging - Hells yeah! I love HP Touchstone wireless charging. Especially for a tablet in a dock which might be portrait or horizontal, but for the iPhone also. Apple's obsession with thinness, which I do appreciate, is preventing this. I'm not speculating this; I recall an interview where an Apple exec said wireless charging would make the iOS devices too thick. This tells me, unfortunately, that either we will never see it, or we won't see it until someone invents a very thin way to do it.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I'm with you on the AC, wireless charging, and better camera. To me, the lack of a 128GB version is a bigger miss than the other three. I have no use for NFC, fingerprint sensor, or resolution better than the current retina screen on such a tiny size.

128GB is big. I have a friend that isn't upgrading from his 4S because the storage just isn't there. He has filled his 64GB and requires more space. Apps are just getting big now and 64GB doesn't cut it like it used to. Heck, I'm on 32GB and it's still hard to prune the photos, videos, and apps even though I'm streaming all my Music from iTunes Match.

I don't want to bump my phone, nor do I really care what protocol it uses for file transfer but NFC is superior to BT/WiFi for transaction oriented services such as mobile payment, secure entry, etc...

I only want Apple to include NFC when you can tap one of your credit cards and have it learn the card and NFC protocol (Visa vs MasterCard, etc). Once I can use it AS any of my NFC enabled credit cards (paywave, etc) I'm sold. Sold Jerry!

As for charging the Nexus 4 wasn't some hog of a phone and it had wireless charging (and the charger was pretty cool looking). Poor excuse for exclusion.

Wireless charging is a gimmick until I don't have to set it on some pad. I want to enter my house or room, at the very least, and have it start charging. If I have to set it on a desk or night stand I may as well just plug it in and have it charge faster.

 

[Kurso]

Hi Kurso,

802.11ac is new enough that I bet the mobile chips are still large and power hungry. Apple has been a little bit late to the game before on TX/RX type applications, and that's been the reason in the past. I would like to see this too, as I'm getting an Almond+ 802.11ac router soon, but not at the cost of reduced battery life.

The fingerprint reader should be much more, and I expect it to be. Right now it's not just unlock, it's also Apple ID authentication for purchases, so there's at least that. But the real promise is the future. I bet it will eventually tie into the new iOS7 password management app and can be used to authenticate for other apps, and eventually websites. This way you can have strong and unique passwords like lYX5de,zj}N}Lh<k4yc=F'1 for every website. Just press your finger and iOS authenticates you by sending the right password to Safari. This is what fingerprint readers on laptops do and it would be a shame if Apple doesn't bring this to iOS. I suspect they were too busy with the upgrade to iOS7 and 64-bit to get this done right in time for launch.

Wireless charging - Hells yeah! I love HP Touchstone wireless charging. Especially for a tablet in a dock which might be portrait or horizontal, but for the iPhone also. Apple's obsession with thinness, which I do appreciate, is preventing this. I'm not speculating this; I recall an interview where an Apple exec said wireless charging would make the iOS devices too thick. This tells me, unfortunately, that either we will never see it, or we won't see it until someone invents a very thin way to do it.

I don't buy the Apple line on wireless charging making the phone too think. The Nexus 4 has it and it's thinner than the iPhone 4.

I understand the value of the fingerprint sensor, I use one every day (whole hand but same concept), but I would give up the fingerprint sensor (because it doesn't have NFC to go with it) to make room for Qi hardware.

I can't speak to the power consumption of current .11ac chips but S4 and HTC One have .11ac so someone has done the analysis and thought it worth wild.

 

[watchthisspace]

Going iPhone 4 to 5s, you'll be very happy.

 

[Kurso]

128GB is big. I have a friend that isn't upgrading from his 4S because the storage just isn't there. He has filled his 64GB and requires more space. Apps are just getting big now and 64GB doesn't cut it like it used to. Heck, I'm on 32GB and it's still hard to prune the photos, videos, and apps even though I'm streaming all my Music from iTunes Match.



I only want Apple to include NFC when you can tap one of your credit cards and have it learn the card and NFC protocol (Visa vs MasterCard, etc). Once I can use it AS any of my NFC enabled credit cards (paywave, etc) I'm sold. Sold Jerry!


Wireless charging is a gimmick until I don't have to set it on some pad. I want to enter my house or room, at the very least, and have it start charging. If I have to set it on a desk or night stand I may as well just plug it in and have it charge faster.

Induction power covering the whole house. Please don't invite me over for dinner. My cufflinks would get so hot my shirt might catch on fire ;-)

 

[QCassidy352]

The last two phones 5 and 5S have been disappointments to me. Buying the 5S gives me two years to migrate my content to a neutral system. Which, given the limited amount of time I have, is probably how long it will take me to get ready ;-)

The 5s I can understand - I'm disappointed too. But the 5? As compared to the 4s it has an upgraded processor, gpu, and RAM; got a new form factor (bigger screen); got an HD FaceTime camera, an improved rear camera, and LTE. And on top of all that it was thinner, lighter, and had better battery life. It was arguably the biggest leap forward in the history of the iphone (3GS --> 4 is the other contender), and it's hard to imagine what more they could have upgraded.

 

[QuarterSwede]

The 5s I can understand - I'm disappointed too. But the 5? As compared to the 4s it has an upgraded processor, gpu, and RAM; got a new form factor (bigger screen); got an HD FaceTime camera, an improved rear camera, and LTE. And on top of all that it was thinner, lighter, and had better battery life. It was arguably the biggest leap forward in the history of the iphone (3GS --> 4 is the other contender), and it's hard to imagine what more they could have upgraded.

Agreed. I've had the original, 3G, 4, 4S and 5 and going from the 4S to the 5 was the biggest leap forward, the 3G to 4 was second.

 

[zedzded]

I may still buy a 5S, due to the Apple ecosystem thing, but I want to test out the camera first. I've never been particularly impressed by the Iphones camera, hopefully this one is significantly better than previous models and close to the Z1.

 

[CAWjr]

128GB is big. I have a friend that isn't upgrading from his 4S because the storage just isn't there. He has filled his 64GB and requires more space. Apps are just getting big now and 64GB doesn't cut it like it used to. Heck, I'm on 32GB and it's still hard to prune the photos, videos, and apps even though I'm streaming all my Music from iTunes Match.

I'm on a 64GB 4S now & the lack of a 128 GB version has me hesitating to upgrade. Every last bit of my 4S is full & I guarantee that I could fill a phone if they made a 500 GB version.

I will still upgrade despite the lack of storage, simply on the upgraded internals alone, but I was hoping for more in this version.

 

[Kurso]

The 5s I can understand - I'm disappointed too. But the 5? As compared to the 4s it has an upgraded processor, gpu, and RAM; got a new form factor (bigger screen); got an HD FaceTime camera, an improved rear camera, and LTE. And on top of all that it was thinner, lighter, and had better battery life. It was arguably the biggest leap forward in the history of the iphone (3GS --> 4 is the other contender), and it's hard to imagine what more they could have upgraded.

I was less than impressed with the screen size boost. I thought it should be edge to edge (sides), which might have given us proper 720P at least. I know its not the Apple way but a guy can dream.

I also wanted to hold out for NFC, which was already in other phones at the time of the iPhone 5 release. When Apple enables NFC it will change the way we use our phones. Since it didn't come in the 5 I honestly expected it in the 5S above all other rumored features.