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

[Carlo_M]

Not to excuse the beta Maps that we all got with iOS6, but I guess not all news is bad re: the new Maps vs. Google Maps.
Apple Maps uses between 50-80% less data than Google Maps. Good news for those who have to leave their grandfathered unlimited data plans:
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/apple-maps-uses-80-less-data-than-google-maps-1101501
Also, Google may have been withholding turn-by-turn (which was available on Android but not iOS) so that alone may have been the proverbial straw that broke Apple's back in deciding to roll out an imperfect app vs. staying with Google. I have GPS in my car so it wasn't a big deal, but I know of at least two directionally-challenged friends who wouldn't buy an iPhone solely because it didn't have turn-by-turn and their current smartphone did.
http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/12/09/26/control.branding.of.data.created.flashpoints/
http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/12/10/03/apple.co.founder.became.vehemently.anti.google/
Now on that second article, can you imagine the backlash if Apple removed Google as the default search from iOS?

 

[DaveF]

It's noticeably faster. It's actually useable on Edge.
My wife still swears against it though.

 

[Sam Posten]

They are doing some interesting things with the offline arena:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/05/apples-new-ios-6-maps-support-automatic-offline-use-for-a-wide-area

 

[DaveF]

Got to Apple tonight today.
My wife wants one yesterday
The problem is the iPhone 4 is so awesome. For me, it was the best phone on market, and represents the start of perfection. Excellent pocket camera, a screen rivaling print quality, very fast, and brilliant OS.
So two years later, the iPhone 5 looks and feels very similar. It's better, much faster and lighter, and has Siri and Panrama. And I'd get it over a GS3, without hesitation. But the iPhone e 4 in my pocket is so awesome, I don't mind not upgrading post haste to the 5.
But budget allowing, ill upgrade after the new year.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina /t/323729/the-iphone-5-buyers-and-owners-thread/90#post_3984073
Not to excuse the beta Maps that we all got with iOS6, but I guess not all news is bad re: the new Maps vs. Google Maps.
Apple Maps uses between 50-80% less data than Google Maps. Good news for those who have to leave their grandfathered unlimited data plans:
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/apple-maps-uses-80-less-data-than-google-maps-1101501
Also, Google may have been withholding turn-by-turn (which was available on Android but not iOS) so that alone may have been the proverbial straw that broke Apple's back in deciding to roll out an imperfect app vs. staying with Google. I have GPS in my car so it wasn't a big deal, but I know of at least two directionally-challenged friends who wouldn't buy an iPhone solely because it didn't have turn-by-turn and their current smartphone did.
http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/12/09/26/control.branding.of.data.created.flashpoints/
http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/12/10/03/apple.co.founder.became.vehemently.anti.google/
Now on that second article, can you imagine the backlash if Apple removed Google as the default search from iOS?

I find turn by turn on a phone to be totally worthless. I want my phone connected to my car stereo, pumping bluetooth music. I have a GPS dash mounted with a beautiful display for GPS functions.. just my opinion.. but a phone doing turn by turn just doesn't work for me at all.

 

[DaveF]

It does both. My iPhone connects to the cat stereo and plays music and does voice nav, together. That's the big benefit or me: no more missing an exit because the tinny GPS wasn't heard over the car stereo. And with auto ducking, no more juggling the music volume to hear the GPS.

 

[Sam Posten]

What a fan boy =p

in all other ways, the iPhone 5 is the best phone ever to grace the earth. It beats every single rival on just about every metric you can think of, including speed, battery life, and especially beauty and workmanship.
I’ll go even further: When I pick up the iPhone 5 and examine it closely, I find it difficult to believe that this device actually exists. The iPhone 5 does not feel like a product that was mass produced. In a strange way, it doesn’t feel like it was built at all. This is a gadget that seems as if it fell into the box fully formed. If you run your hands around its face, you scarcely feel any seams or other points of connection; there’s little evidence that this thing is a highly complex device made from lots of smaller things. Instead it just feels like a single, solid, exquisitely crafted piece of machinery, and once you pick it up you never want to put it down.

But now I understand what Gruber means. With the iPhone, Apple is building products at a level of quality that may be unprecedented in the history of mass manufacturing. But the only way to know what that means for you, a user of the phone, is to pick it up and feel it, because objectively it does not sound like a big deal. If I tell you the greatest thing about the iPhone 5 is how it “feels,” you’ll accuse me of being a superficial aesthete who cares more for form than function. You don’t care how a phone was built or how it looks; you just want it to work. But I think that argument misses something important about what it means for a phone to “work well”: When you’re holding a device all the time, how it feels affects its functionality. Or, as Steve Jobs might say, how it feels is how it works.

In addition to being beautiful on the outside, it’s also great on the inside. It’s the fastest phone you can buy. Its camera is fantastic. It’s got more apps than you’ll ever need. Its display is unbeatable. And so on and so on—on “function” alone, the iPhone is no slouch. But where it really kills is form.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/10/iphone_5_review_marveling_at_the_existence_of_the_greatest_phone_ever_made_.single.html

 

[Sam Posten]

Also, on my strobe lighting iPhive issue: I took it in its blinking state to the Tyson's corner mall and they were AMAZED with it It bummed them out to have to wipe it out when giving me a new one, but they did no questions asked.
I tried restoring the new one from iCloud and strangely it did not work.
When I got back to MD a few days later I restored from my Mac Pro, done the same day as my last iCloud backup....
And it immediately sent the phone into strobe mode again!
/facepalm
So I did a factory restore and made it a new phone, had to load some data and choose all my apps again, no big wow.
They had told me it wasn't a great idea taking a restore that started on a 3GS then to a 4 to the 5, but still, no idea what I had on there that was freaking it out. But it's solved now. I could actually make Apple a restore with the symptoms if they wanted one to test now tho, I will ask them about it next time I head to Tysons...

 

[Carlo_M]

I agree with a lot of that Slate article. I went from the iPhone 3 to the 3GS to the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 5. Yes with each one there was that initial "wow factor" where you just played with the device for no reason other than you could (especially with the first iPhone you ever buy, if you're coming from either an old Blackberry or a flip-phone like I did). But with each successive upgrade the "wow factor" dissipated rather quickly. Yes each one is faster. Yes it's shinier. Etc.
But with the 5, it's the first time since my first iPhone that I've actually marveled at the engineering. The only flaw I find is the black anodized surface tends to scratch off. Otherwise it really does feel, as the article says, like it fell fully formed into the box (or your hands) and doesn't feel like it's made up of smaller parts. As a PC builder, I know all about the little pieces that make up the whole of a computer. I've seen the iFixit teardown of the 5 (along with the 4, 3, etc.). And yes intuitively I know all of the little components inside the 5. But it just feels like one solid piece of engineering. No other way for me to say it. I've found myself picking it up and using it "just because" and that hasn't happened for me since the original iPhone.
My girlfriend's brother owns a 4 and was sick of my fanboyism over the 5 and his buddies got two new Droids (I think one was an S3) a couple of months back. He swore he was ditching Apple for it. Well after playing around with mine, he's now in FLA visiting a friend (where the sales tax is less) and he's picking one up...an iPhone 5 that is.

 

[Carlo_M]

Oh and one more thing
The article says "But the only way to appreciate how much more solid the iPhone 5 feels is to use it for a few days—and, crucially, to use it without stuffing it into a case. (Really, you should never use a case: The phone is made of aluminum, so it’s less likely to break than the old, all-glass models. If you’re going to get a case for the iPhone 5, you’re ruining its best feature—it’d be like losing a bunch of weight and celebrating by donning a fat suit.)"
I agree, and I've always bought cases for my iPhones. For the first one I bought one of those Otter Boxes so I could literally throw it against the ground and it would survive. For the second one I went with a silicone case. Less bulky than the Otter but still padded. For the 4 I bought an Incase Snap Case, by far the thinnest case I could find that still afforded some protection. But with the new 5, and the demonstration of the Corning Gorilla Glass 2 that is on it, I'm taking my chances.
No, it's not "naked". But I'm using the thinnest of protection: Spigen's Incredible Shield, Ultra Coat option. For the front it uses their Ultra Crystal LCD film which literally is so clear and thin it makes it hard to tell that a film is even on the device. The back film Ultra Coat option (also available in Transparency and Ultra Matte) feels like a clearer, smoother version of the Zagg Invisible Shield that I have on my iPod Classic. There are also thin strips that I could put on the aluminum border but I haven't bothered to install those. Now I feel like I have good scratch protection (no drop protection) except for the aluminum border, but haven't added a full ounce of weight to it, nor increased it's total thickness by anything even close to a millimeter. It literally feels like the naked phone but you won't worry about putting it in your pocket with your keys or change.

 

[DaveF]

The stories are that Kodak made a point and shoot camera 20 some years ago, maybe the Disc. But it was too light, and people felt it was "cheap" (and lightweight doesn't help photography much). So, the stories go, they added lead weights to the inside, so it would feel better.


So it's curious that a phone as lightweight as the iPhone 5 feels, today is a good thing.

And I was struck by the apparent difference between the 5 and the 4. Both being lighter and larger gave it a very un-dense feel in hand. I found the dual-tone back a bit weird to first impression; I like the glass of the 4.

 

[Carlo_M]

So true Dave. I think our taste in what constitutes "solid" has changed over the last couple of decades. And even though the 5 is light, it still feels solid. I mean if Apple had churned out a plastic-encased phone that was 20% lighter than the 5, then I think people would have called it cheap. But it's lighter without feeling cheaper. And yes when I first picked it up I thought that maybe it was a toy but that's because I had my 4 in my hand and was comparing the two. Judged by its own merits, having owned it for several weeks now, the 5 is anything but cheap feeling.
And hey, as someone who lugs around 7+ pounds of camera for weddings around his neck (Canon 7D, rented 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM, Speedlight 530ex ii) I am so ready for a lighter solution. If I could get the same quality of pictures at half the weight I'd be all over it!

 

[Johnny Angell]

That lightening to 30 pin adapter looks kike it could physically stress connections. Are there any adapters that are cables to reduce the stress?

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, I ordered my iPhone 5 on the day they were first available for preorder, but missed by a few hours and got mine a week after the first wave of phones were sold out.
Due to many factors, my iPhone 5 wasn't activated till last week. And I got two emails from Apple threatening to activate the iPhone for me if I didn't activate it. The first one 2 and a half weeks ago, then another email that said it would activated in two days last week if I didn't do it! Kinda surprised! But I can see their point in case they thought I was going to Seel it or something.
I was waiting to Power Support finally released their crystal film to protect the screen. It came in time last Monday and now it's activated. Sad to put the trusty iPhone 4 out to pasture, but I'll use it as an iPod Touch now. Carlo, I read with interest your post about the Spigan shield. I'll look into that to protect the back and sides. I'm torn about cases. I prefer to not cover up the beautiful design and it's nice to leave it thin as it is. So for now, I use an Element Case travel case that was designed for the iPhone 4 with the Element Case bumpers installed. The case fits the longer iPhone 5, so I carry my iPhone 5 that way in my pocket.
Waterfield design also makes a very nice pouch or sock like case thats a nice option too.
I'm also interested in a bumper. I started using the Apple Bumper on my iPhone 4 recently even though I got it back before the antenna issue surfaceed on the iPhone 4 and Apple gave out free bumpers. it was interesting to see the bumper from Spigan's site. Still torn about adding to the width and length with one.
I used the navigation feature in the Map app the other evening. It works great. It gave me directions that were spot on and gave plenty of warning to upcoming exits and turns. And I'm loving using Siri for the first time on it and the iPad mini!
Two issues came up, upon activation and set-up, I could not get the email app to link with my email account. It kept saying the password wasn't working or accepted. I called Apple support and they said to restore it to factory settings and not do the back-up restore that I had done. It still didn't work. I gave up that evening and tried again in the morning. It worked the next day! I think that my provider was doing maintenance at the same time I was trying to set up my mail. That's the only logical reason. The next issue was I got a call the other day and I missed it. So I expected to see voicemail. Instead, I kept seeing a window pop up that I needed to enter my voicemail password. What the heck is that, I don't recall doing that for the iPhone 4. Apparently after I did a search, this is a common issue after an iOS upgrade or phone upgrade. So I called 611 and they resent me a new password and I found I had a voicemail message!
Well, I think I might try to restore some apps that had files, but the iPhone 5 is working great. Maybe I'll leave it for now and try to transfer those files another way rather then restore from back-up.

 

[Sam Posten]

Amazing. http://kottke.org/13/01/how-blind-people-use-instagram

 

[Sam Posten]

This might just get me to actually carry my headphones with me: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dotan/smarter-stand-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch