The iPhone 5 buyers and owners thread! (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Hi Dave - edited my reply above because the word "Mac" got in there somehow (Apple taking over the world I guess ).
Yeah the GPS is actually uber-sensitive. I started the map routing feature while in my apartment so it would be ready by the time I got to my car. As I walked around my apartment the distance in feet to my first turn kept changing by increments of like 5 or 10 feet.
I've never owned a Garmin but when I visited my parents in NorCal we used their Garmin on the way to San Francisco (and around the city). I was less than impressed with the performance, it got a few streets wrong and it seemed to be slow on updating the routes when you missed a turn (because it told you to turn on a street that was either congested with traffic or under construction). The Apple Maps routing worked fairly well this morning. I even took a couple of "wrong" turns just to see how long it would take to re-route and it was pretty darned fast.

 

[Sam Posten]

Only 5 million not 8 million? What a disappointment!
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/09/24iPhone-5-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Five-Million.html

 

[Steve_Tk]

Don't have mine yet but did walk in the apple store when we were in the mall this weekend. For someone that's been using the 3.5" screen for 4 years, the larger screen looks so much better. Videos, apps, it was nice. And I could not believe how light it was. I don't want to put a case on it, but I will regardless. I use the slim cases by incase.

 

[Carlo_M]

Only 5 million not 8 million? What a disappointment!
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/09/24iPhone-5-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Five-Million.html

Sam - I know that your tongue is planted firmly in cheek
But most analysts are also saying that a million or more iPhone 5s are likely "in transit" to customers and thus Apple did not count those as "sold" since they hadn't reached consumers yet.
Steve - I wholeheartedly agree about the size. Was at an AT&T store yesterday looking for a case and played with the Galaxy S III while in-store. I don't have large hands so it would definitely be a two-handed device for me while I can fully control the 5 with one. And for me, while the larger screen of the S3 did allow for more of a webpage being shown, it didn't improve legibility/functionality enough for me to say that it would be my primary web device. That would still be a laptop (or iPad, when I buy the upcoming new version). The only way I'd go larger on a phone is if it could be my all-in-one primary device (web, email, etc.) and even the larger S3 wouldn't fit that bill. So for now, I'm still going dual solution (laptop or tablet + phone) and as such, I would want my phone to be smaller than the S3.

 

[Nelson Au]

From Macrumors

Earlier today, Apple officially announced sales of over five million iPhone 5 units during its launch weekend, easily topping the iPhone 4S debut from last year but falling short of many analysts' expectations.
ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall theorizes that the apparent shortfall compared to expectations may stem from Apple's rapid sellout of its own launch day pre-orders, which occurred in just about an hour. Apple announced two million pre-orders for the iPhone 5 in the first 24 hours of availability, a figure that was used by analysts to predict blockbuster opening weekend sales of 6-10 million units.
Marshall notes that many of those first-day pre-orders, as well as ones made after that date, have yet to be delivered, and thus Apple can not yet count them as sold. A brief "clarification" from Marshall reads:
[R]ecall the 5mil+ iPhone 5 reported sales only takes into consideration: 1) what was sold into partners (e.g., retail outlets, carriers, etc.), 2) sold in AAPL retail stores, and 3) direct to customers only if they signed for the device. Importantly, this doesn't take into consideration units in delivery direct to customers (i.e., AAPL must have signature of acceptance by customer before it is counted as a sale) and we estimate units in transit could be in the millions currently.
Some of those "late" iPhone 5 pre-orders through Apple that had been quoted delivery in early October have already begun shipping with estimated delivery dates of September 27. Those units will not, however, be counted as sales by Apple until they are delivered.
Update 7:13 AM: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who was responsible for the widely cited 6-10 million unit estimate, has released his own note expressing similar sentiments. He believes that up to a million iPhone 5 pre-orders remain in transit and notes that in-store supply was tighter for the iPhone 5 than for the iPhone 4S, holding back iPhone 5 sales numbers.
We believe there are two factors that negatively impacted the number. First, our sales expectation assumed that Apple would include all phones pre-ordered online. We believe that this may have been up to 1 million additional units as units pre-ordered after the middle of the first day were projected to be available in October. Second, we noted 1.25 days of Apple Retail inventory compared to 2.5 days during the 4S launch. Our 8 million estimate assumed full weekend availability and the counting of all online pre-orders. We believe that if supply were not a constraint and Apple included all pre-orders, the launch weekend number would have been closer to 7-8 million, assuming ~1 million October pre-order sales and an additional 1-2 million units at retail.

 

[Carlo_M]

For those who still use the iPhones for...gasp!...music, I could swear the DACs are better on this than on the 4 (which in turn was better than the DACs on most iPods). And now iLounge apparently agrees. See page three of their review: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/apple-iphone-5-16gb-32gb-64gb/P2
I spend more than half the time using the iPhone listening to music, so this is not a small deal to me.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina /t/323729/the-iphone-5-buyers-and-owners-thread/60#post_3979219
Hi Dave - edited my reply above because the word "Mac" got in there somehow (Apple taking over the world I guess ).
Yeah the GPS is actually uber-sensitive. I started the map routing feature while in my apartment so it would be ready by the time I got to my car. As I walked around my apartment the distance in feet to my first turn kept changing by increments of like 5 or 10 feet.
I've never owned a Garmin but when I visited my parents in NorCal we used their Garmin on the way to San Francisco (and around the city). I was less than impressed with the performance, it got a few streets wrong and it seemed to be slow on updating the routes when you missed a turn (because it told you to turn on a street that was either congested with traffic or under construction). The Apple Maps routing worked fairly well this morning. I even took a couple of "wrong" turns just to see how long it would take to re-route and it was pretty darned fast.

I still put high value in having maps on my phone. But TomTom and their ilk are under increasing threat, and TomTom has an increasingly poor experience. It's like Google offering faster online search of the Web than I get of my local computers drive? How is it that an online map is faster than showing maps already on the phone? I don't know, but TomTom needs to steal some map-geeks from Google or Apple and get their programming out of low-end dedicated devices.

 

[Carlo_M]

I don't know, but TomTom needs to steal some map-geeks from Google or Apple and get their programming out of low-end dedicated devices.

Kind of like how Apple is trying to hire some former Google Maps employees?
I will say that a side bonus to the iPhone 5 and its LTE speed, it's now going to save me money. My 3 month complimentary Sirius XM subscription is set to expire. I'm not going to miss the radio at all (don't listen to it) but I will also lose the traffic for my Acura TL's nav. Now the traffic was never great, it only reported major freeways, and it took a while to load the data from the satellite. Living 3 blocks away from the freeway entrance, I kind of need to know before I commit to the freeway how good/bad conditions are. Now with LTE and either the built in Maps or Sigalert app, I can replace the traffic I'll soon lose by not subscribing to XM radio.

 

[Sam Posten]

I suspect these complaints are what those who claim to be bored with iOS are afocusing on:
http://www.cultofmac.com/192496/the-iphone-5-is-incredible-but-ios-6-is-holding-it-back-opinion/?utm_medium=twit&utm_campaign=spread-us
If you want widgets and more ways to make your phone look worse and more blingy, Apple is not going to give you what you want. As The Wire says "You want it one way, but it's the other"....

 

[DaveF]

I realized the pink shading in Reminders is to indicate overdue items. I don't remember it being quite that way before, but I don't use that app much, so maybe I forgot that detail. Or didn't notice it on the iPhone, compared to the larger iPad screen.
I notice that per-account email signatures are available. Seemed like that's a big deal to some, including Matt. Does it work for the way they need?

 

[Carlo_M]

I've been reading a lot of reports how battery life is shorter on the 5. I admit I only had a 4 not a 4S but I'm getting significantly longer battery life on the 5 than the 4 (even accounting for the likely shortened battery life that occurs with a nearly 2 year old phone).
I wonder if these battery benchmarks are constantly loading and re-loading pages, which of course would make sense about why battery life would compare unfavorably. With more data throughput I'm sure the 5 takes more juice to constantly load page after page.
However for *normal" use, i.e. load a page, read it for a minute two, load another page, read it, etc. I think the fact that LTE and the new iPhone 5 hardware loads and renders the page so quickly leads to a longer battery life, because the phone is not working as hard to load and render pages. I find my 5 loads and renders pages faster on LTE, even with only 2 bars, than the 4 ever did on wi-fi, especially complex pages with many images and scripts.
When the 4 was new, I usually ended the day with 40-50% battery life. As it got older and the battery drained more quickly, I'd end the day at maybe 30%. With the 5 I'm ending with 60-65% battery left!

 

[Sam Posten]

It also helps if you have a solid LTE signal. If you don't it is constantly in acquisition mode. You might actually get a lot better battery life locking it in 3G until those times you actually need LTE speeds.
Anyway, I am enjoying pano mode. I have used a dozen pano apps and the ones in my NEX cameras. None are as accurate, easy to use, low noise, strong dynamic range as the one built right into iPhive.

 

[Carlo_M]

Sam - the two places I spend the most time in (work and home) are terrible AT&T service spots, often getting 1-2 bars of LTE and 3G (for my 4) and dropping to slower speeds. Of course, they're also two places where my iPhones have always been connected to wi-fi as well.
And yes, panorama mode is sweet. I've never been a huge fan of the software that tried to do it in years past, but the iPhone 5 just "gets it right" most of the time, and is super-easy to use in comparison to the older software.
I also edited by previous post to make it clear that despite the warnings about less battery life out of the 5, I'm actually getting more battery life out of it in comparison to my 4.

 

[Sam Posten]

Interesting. Keep an eye on it, maybe try sticking with 3g for a day to see if it helps:
http://www.cultofmac.com/193169/watch-your-network-signal-it-will-hurt-your-iphone-5s-battery-life/?utm_medium=twit&utm_campaign=spread-us
I am getting a full days charge no issue, but I like to have 2 days at all times, so I'm gonna get the new Mophie when they are ready...
http://www.mophie.com/Articles.asp?ID=346
I am carrying my 5 bare for now, I am not concerned about scratches or drops, but the protection the mophie will provide is nice gravy

 

[ErichH]

Hey guys - Thought I'd add
Set up a Black/Slate today. A full price model this time around. Sure enough, during setup 'Congrats Your iPhone is Unlocked'
Perhaps it's just me, but one item I hoped for was better telephone audio. The small improvement on the speaker is just enough to make speakerphone useable in the office. What goes over the line is still up to Ma-Bell, but voice sounds better on the handset. Same reaction as everyone on the reduced depth and weight. What's not discussed is the reduction of girth, I.E. I can reach further with my thumb. This doesn't make up for the new height vs muscle memory from using 3 other models, but I noticed it right away while typing for the first time. One or two common letters were easier to reach. Smart design from Apple. Keep it right where it is for small hands. They reduced the width from my prospective.
It will be a shame to cover this model. The slate looks amazing, but as per Apple SOP it's just as slippery as the others IMO. Hurry up and deliver my skinny matte case. Hurry up and deliver my overpriced adapter for the car charger. Good thing I never bought a single desk device with the 30 pin. A SCSI Cable looks big these days..right?
Great Device
Best
Eric

 

[Sam Posten]

There's a carrier update this morning:
http://9to5mac.com/2012/09/30/verizon-iphone-5-carrier-update-to-eliminate-data-usage-while-connected-to-a-wifi-network/
I recommend you hold off for now, it seems to have bricked my phone.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Still have not received mine, still not in stock it seems.

 

[Sam Posten]

The carrier update seems to have resolved itself on my phone....
But, all my images taken in the last week are now gone. WTF.

 

[Carlo_M]

Sam - give it time. I think there's something buggy about iOS6 updates. Before I bought my iPhone 5, I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS6 after dutifully backing it up to my iTunes.
When I restarted all of my 300+ photos were gone! Slowly, over the course of the day, they all came back. I could tell they were somewhere on the phone (when I went to About it showed that I had some photos and that number increased as time went on) but it took a while for all of my photos to show up.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yay!

We've tested your Apple iPhone 4 32GB (AT&T or Unlocked) and everything checked out.
What Happens Next?
We should email you the $200.55 Amazon.com® Gift Card in 3 to 5 days.