While some readers persist in disproving me, the general reaction to the iPhone 5 remains the same. Just like the iPhone 4S before it, the iPhone 5 has mostly been received as a disappointment, although personal reasons may vary.
Some have said it's upsetting that Apple didn't bring anything new to the table. Others are flustered because the iPhone 5 won't come with NFC or wireless charging like the Lumia 920. And other complaints stretch from Apple having hardly updated the iOS user interface over the lifetime of the iPhone to the new dock connector, named Lightning. Oh, and some CDMA buyers aren't too happy about not being able to use simultaneous voice and data.
Personally, I can't seem to take the aspect ratio seriously in conjunction with the phone's design. With minimal bezel on the left and right edges of the display, half-inch trim on the top and bottom of the face and a display that touts a true widescreen ratio (16:9), the phone looks disproportionate – much taller than it is wide. Unlike other smartphones that have grown both in width and height, Apple simply stretched the height and added vertical pixels while keeping the same width and number of horizontal pixels. That is a stretch from 3:2 (960 by 640 pixels) to 16:9 (1,136 by 640 pixels).
My only other qualm with the iPhone 5 is how thin Apple made it. Why? What is the purpose of having a phone 7.6mm thick? Few will argue that the thickness of the iPhone 4 and 4S (9.3mm) was too thick or bulky. Why not keep it the same thickness and fill its insides with a larger battery? Does shaving 1.7mm off its thickness really make that much of a difference to consumers? Not likely. They're just going to throw it in an extra durable case – or possibly one that adds an external battery – anyway.
Last week, however, I wrote a piece in reflection to the barrage of press events last Wednesday. Both Nokia and Motorola took the stage in New York to announce a total of five new phones: Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 820, DROID RAZR M, DROID RAZR HD and DROID RAZR MAXX HD. Of those five devices, the DROID RAZR M was the only one given a price and a launch date. But the other four were not given final contracted pricing and can only be expected here in the States before the end of the year.
Samsung also announced the Galaxy Note II in August. The Galaxy Note II announcement also came devoid of a hard launch date or price point. Internationally, the Note II will arrive before the end of the year. But if the original Note is any indication, it could be 2013 before we are graced with the second-generation Samsung phablet stateside.
There are also quite a few rumored devices that we're to expect before the year's end, like the HTC One X+, 8X and a possible HTC phablet. There is also a Nokia-made Windows Phone handset slated for Verizon at some point. And there is at least one Nexus phone – possibly up to five – sometime before the end of the year. We've seen a ton of phones in August and September already, and there are certainly going to be more in the months ahead.
Despite being such a letdown, though, Apple claims pre-orders "have been incredible." Just hours after pre-orders opened at 3:01 AM Eastern, iPhones pre-ordered from specific carriers or directly from Apple will not arrive before a week (and up to three weeks) after the hard launch date. As if we expected less … these things practically sell themselves.
No less, this gets me to my point. I argued last week that Nokia's and Motorola's press events were futile, that they would do little to stave iPhone 5 sales over their own considering no one knows when they'll be able to buy one of the next-gen Lumias or DROID RAZRs.
So now I'm curious how many of those pre-orders were placed by people who were interested in other, upcoming devices but decided they couldn't wait an undisclosed amount of time. How many fell victim to the powers of Apple instead? What kind of effect – if any – did rushing press events and announcements have against Apple's impossibly popular "disappointing" phone?
I stayed up late last night and pre-ordered an iPhone 5 (for my own reasons). But I still have my sights set on the Lumia 920 and Note II. Considering I'm an AT&T and Verizon customer, though, if one of those doesn't make its way to Verizon (I'm not betting on finding a Lumia on Verizon any time soon), I may consider the DROID RAZR MAXX HD for its giant battery. That's the configuration I absolutely want, and I can only hope the Note II will not be an AT&T exclusive this time around. (Can I get an amen?)
For me, the iPhone 5 is only a means to another end. But I'll enjoy it while I have it.
What about you, ladies and gents? Did you stay up late and pre-order an iPhone 5 instead of waiting it out for one of the upcoming phones that was recently announced? Or did you fight the urge? Was there any urge at all? Or do you feel the iPhone 5 will be better than any other Android or Windows Phone offering to come?
