Review: Apple's iPhone 5 running iOS 6

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 85
    Doesn't anyone find it funny that this article only compares iPhone 5 to previous generation iPhones, but not current generation Android and Windows Phone products? Most revealing in this review is not what it says, but what it doesn't...
  • Reply 22 of 85


    Originally Posted by AZREOSpecialist View Post

    Doesn't anyone find it funny that this article only compares iPhone 5 to previous generation iPhones, but not current generation Android and Windows Phone products? Most revealing in this review is not what it says, but what it doesn't...


     


    No, what's your point? It's faster than any Android phone. The software is beyond compare, because Apple's didn't take four years to scroll smoothly. What would you have them write that they haven't here?

  • Reply 23 of 85
    Doesn't anyone find it funny that this article only compares iPhone 5 to previous generation iPhones, but not current generation Android and Windows Phone products? Most revealing in this review is not what it says, but what it doesn't...

    Why is it funny or AppleInsider to compare to previous iPhones running all running iOS 6?

    If you want performance comparisons to many other devices check out AnandTech.
  • Reply 24 of 85
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SchnellFowVay View Post


     


    This.  This is 100% accurate.


     


    This site is really starting to become unbelievable.  Does anyone who works here even have a journalism degree?


     


    It is VERY, VERY un-Apple-like to release a product (Maps) that is, by all measures, a downgrade in useability from the previous version.  No one is saying that it ruins the iPhone 5.  However, it is a significant newsworthy issue.



    Antenna-gate comes to mind. Hardware and not software but a major failing by every T,D & H Journo and most vocal forum punters out there, alike. And yet, over time the issue fizzled and disappeared. Maps so far is pretty good for me and where it isn't I can work around it. I often have to work around G-maps and especially my Navigon App. I find maps on the iPhone is generally a work in progress with a fair amount of user input required. I am hoping that over time iMap will become a better solution. I am hoping that the slaying Apple has gotten will push them into making a superior product.


     


    Quote:


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post



    Pro: I love the new connector.


    Originally Posted by chadmatic View Post


    +1.  I am amazed at how upset people get over this...  It is a huge improvement.



    People love improvements but hate change. Slowly people will see this change as an improvement. I will have to change my Proclip car bracket but that should be it. I love airplay / Bluetooth streaming. 

  • Reply 25 of 85
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Negafox View Post


    A distasteful and inaccurate defense of the iPhone Maps application. According to James Kim's wife, they were using a paper road map, not Google Maps. There was speculation they used an online mapping service, but this was debunked by the wife.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim



     


    Agreed, this is a new low for Daniel Eran Dilger. Using someone's death to defend the box of wires that he chooses to carry in his pocket.

  • Reply 26 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post



    Typical fanboy review. Examples:

    - "You don't like the new connector? Then why are you spending $700 on a phone in the first place??"

    Um, nobody is spending $700 on the new phone outside of the few people who get it unlocked. Most people are spending $200 or $300 on the phone. Why use the completely unrealistic $700 example? And even if someone was spending $700, why does this automatically mean that they shouldn't have to worry about replacing all their accessories or buying adapters?

    - "Maps isn't broken. It's just a bunch of whiners."

    Oh, really? Maps in iOS 6 can't even find my home and I live on a major street in one of the largest cities in America! In London, 50% of all roads are missing. But yeah, it must just be a bunch of whiners.

    - No mention of how much harder it is for your thumb to touch the top of the screen while holding it one-handed. This is our biggest problem with the iPhone 5, and this issue is not even touched upon in this review.


     


    One can be ignorantly unaware of how much they are paying, but high end smartphones do cost $700, even if you have a dummy subsidy helping you to finance it. Buying a $700 phone and then acting like you can't afford an adapter or cable priced the same as any other smartphone adapter or cable is also an ignorant reach argument. 


     


    Maps isn't getting complaints about not working. It's getting mocked for having place names not in the right spot, in ways that are so obvious that they make good screen shots. This is not a new problem for Apple's Maps, and is pretty common on any GPS system, including Google's. So to act like Maps have never had errors until Apple got into the business is like saying cellular phones never suffered attenuation until Apple released iPhone 4. 


     


    If you're having trouble reaching your thumb to the top of the screen, maybe its because you need a Galaxy Note that you can operate with two troll hands. 

  • Reply 27 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    No, what's your point? It's faster than any Android phone. The software is beyond compare, because Apple's didn't take four years to scroll smoothly. What would you have them write that they haven't here?



     


    The hardware is gorgeous (this time it's *really* elegant), it outperforms the competition while requiring less power to do so (leaving the spec-whores in a daze), it runs iOS 6 (about as perfect as a mobile OS can get), and it's a gateway to Apple's ecosystem. 


     


    It doesn't get much better than that. The hardware is *perfection*. Period. But when you do end-to-end integration and are committed to perfecting it, and you maintain a lean hardware lineup, you've got the time and energy to really nail all the little details. And it's all the little details that really add up. 


     


    Only issue seems to be Maps. And frankly, I'm pretty much over it. On the upside, iOS users now have turn-by-turn, and what's more, is that Apple now has *full control* over the iOS Maps experience as well. 

  • Reply 27 of 85
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member


    another interesting and insightful piece by DED (including as usual a few tangents any good editor would have cut, like the apocryphal tragic story of mr kim).


     


    but i find the final ratings hard to understand. for the iPhone 5 hardware, he awards just 4 stars. when it clearly, overall, is the most perfected design and innovative state of the art hardware out there (you can find a bit better camera, but that is about all). how can it not be 5 stars?


     


    on the other hand, he awards 5 stars to iOS 6 (which i assume includes the new stock Apple apps, Maps, Passbook, and the rest). how can that be? aside from Maps' early issues, there are useful software features that Android, and now Windows 8, are adding that iOS still lacks. widgets of course. user auto-detect lock screens. a variety of other conveniences. and most of all, the improvements to Siri are modest - the real breakthrough will be enabling third party apps to use it. i can see awarding 4 stars for all the good things in iOS, but at least 1 star has to be deducted for what's missing that Android has proven by now to be useful, or is not yet fully realized.

  • Reply 29 of 85
    How has it been 3 hours since AI posted this article and they still haven't corrected something a simple as their own rating images?
  • Reply 30 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wakefinance View Post


    You've sunk to a new low by implying that Apple's maps are above criticism since it was rumored that someone died using Google maps.  And the link that you used as a reference is someone's personal blog.  Are you serious?  Please do journalism a favor and stop writing.



     


    What an artful response! The hypocrisy is not in Google suggesting that people are dying from getting iLost, but in the fact that the Mitt Romney style campaign is being reported. 


     


    Naturally the solution is to stop spades from being called spades! Perhaps you can get a job at Fox News and sit like the Supreme Soviet in determining what news shall be reported and how it shall be spun. Sounds like you already have two troll disciples (if they are not actually your sub-accounts).

  • Reply 31 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Alfiejr View Post


    another interesting and insightful piece by DED (including as usual a few tangents any good editor would have cut, like the apocryphal tragic story of mr kim).


     


    but i find the final ratings hard to understand. for the iPhone 5 hardware, he awards just 4 stars. when it clearly, overall, is the most perfected design and innovative state of the art hardware out there (you can find a bit better camera, but that is about all). how can it not be 5 stars?


     


    on the other hand, he awards 5 stars to iOS 6 (which i assume includes the new stock Apple apps, Maps, Passbook, and the rest). how can that be? aside from Maps' early issues, there are useful software features that Android, and now Windows 8, are adding that iOS still lacks. widgets of course. user auto-detect lock screens. a variety of other conveniences. and most of all, the improvements to Siri are modest - the real breakthrough will be enabling third party apps to use it. i can see awarding 4 stars for all the good things in iOS, but at least 1 star has to be deducted for what's missing that Android has proven by now to be useful, or not yet fully realized.



     


    It isn't about a feature list. If it were, we wouldn't be seeing *this* every year:


     


    http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/152810/apple-seeks-another-707-million-in-damages-from-samsung/40#post_2196338

  • Reply 32 of 85
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AZREOSpecialist View Post



    Doesn't anyone find it funny that this article only compares iPhone 5 to previous generation iPhones, but not current generation Android and Windows Phone products? Most revealing in this review is not what it says, but what it doesn't...


    maybe for once DED didn't want to start another fanboy flame war in the AI comments section ... thank god.

  • Reply 33 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dm3 View Post



    Some clear inaccuracies.

    6.5% of "active" android users use phones larger than 4"?

    Where is the source for this statement? It is very hard to even find an Android phone less than 4" today. This number doesn't pass the sniff test.

    Interesting photo of the new dock connector, while not mentioning the scratch on the phone which was carefully highlighted in the reflection.

    The Apple Maps app DOES have a button to report incorrect locations. Search for a location, tap the > button for the location found. One of the options is "Report a problem". It allows you to tell them where the proper location is.


     


    If you want to look up the source of the statement, find the underlined blue text and click on it. It's a URL to Google's store stats. You could also spend 5 seconds doing a search.


     


    The problem with the "report a problem" button is that its hidden in the Yelp information, so it seems like it relates to Yelp's local data, or perhaps the business itself, rather than being a way to report mapping issues. It needs the Safari bug icon on the front page of maps

  • Reply 34 of 85


    Anyone else really, really dislike the two tone back with the aluminum and glass? I actually didn't think the leaked parts from earlier in the summer were real, just because I thought the back was too ugly.  Nonetheless, it wont affect my buying decision I'm a Lumia 920 guy myself(sorry folks :D).

  • Reply 34 of 85


    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    …Apple now has *full control* over the iOS Maps experience…



     


    This should scare Google the most, going forward.

  • Reply 36 of 85

    Quote:


    If you can't afford to buy some new $20 Lightning cables, you probably shouldn't be blowing $700 on a new smartphone. Wait around a year and buy somebody's old iPhone 5 at a pawn shop when iPhone 6 comes out. 



     


    I'm not complaining about the new cables. I understand that this was a necessary change going forward 10 years into the future of iDevices and their ecosystem. That's fine.


     


    But this kind of smartass comment, the typical smugness, self-righteous complacency of Daniel Dilger makes me want to puke. "Yeah, so you poor folks who don't have enough money to eat should not dare to LOOK at this phone. Just go on and continue working at the Pay Booth on the Interstate. Next year, when I donate my iPhone 5 to goodwill, maybe you can snatch it... if you can beat the other hobos. I know, it's a small price to pay but at least you'll get this year's iPhone... next year."


     


    AS F..CKING IF. Like nobody can afford an iphone and its cables. Supporting a child is more expensive than any phone and there are probably still more kids being born than iPhones 5 activated, so let's get real. And if you so wanted to wait a year to buy iPhone 5, chances are you can get it new. The poor beggar hobos of the tech world don't have to but it second hand. It's not that pricey, considering you still need a cell phone and to pay for your wireless bill in this day and age.


     


    What an ass. 


     


    edit: spelling

  • Reply 37 of 85


    A comment on SIRI.  It is clear that Beta no longer applies to SIRI with the iPhone 5 and or iOS6.  I have tested SIRI against the older version and found that it performs way better than it's beta predecessor.

  • Reply 38 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post




     

    If you can't afford to buy some new $20 Lightning cables, you probably shouldn't be blowing $700 on a new smartphone. Wait around a year and buy somebody's old iPhone 5 at a pawn shop when iPhone 6 comes out.


     


     


    Perfectly stated. 


     


    Apple has had the *same connector* for a little over a decade now. Finally they decide to change it to something better moving forward, and they get all this grief? Over a connector that has *finally* been improved?


     


    Come on.

  • Reply 39 of 85

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by kpluck View Post


     


    From the other reviews I have read, some people seem to be having a problem with one-handed operation of the iPhone 5. It seems it is too big for comfortable one handed operation but too small for those, like myself, that really want/need a larger screen.




     


    I call bullshit on that, the longer screen doesn't really affect one handed usage except in limited situations where the top and the bottom of the screen need to be reached alternately - with many apps you either need to reach the top of the screen or the bottom, it is less likely that you'd need to go back and forth between the top and bottom frequently.  On the other hand, increasing the width of the phone would pretty much make one-handed operation impossible as a whole side of the screen would be unreachable.  The longer screen is a much, much smaller issue for one handed operation than a wider screen would have been, it only affects a very small percentage of users.


     


     


     


    Quote:


    LOL..meaningless stat. How about you look at the size of the screens for Android phones that people are currently buying ($99). I am guessing the percentage that have a screen larger than 4" is somewhere between 70%-100%.




     


    So you counter a "meaningless stat" derived from Google's data with an even more meaningless stat based on your own "guessing"?  LOL indeed.  But even an accurate stat on the sizes of Android phones that are selling is pretty meaningless too, a more meaningful stat would be the sizes of phones that people are actually using, not just merely buying - and yes it can be a huge difference.  

  • Reply 40 of 85
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tylerk36 View Post


    A comment on SIRI.  It is clear that Beta no longer applies to SIRI with the iPhone 5 and or iOS6.  I have tested SIRI against the older version and found that it performs way better than it's beta predecessor.



    very interesting. how, for example?

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