iPhone 5

Someone should do a drop test.

Live from Hong Kong.

  On 9/24/2012 at 8:55 PM, BCM said:

  On 9/24/2012 at 8:41 PM, Richy said:

There's nothing really interesting about it that would make me want to buy one. The OS seems pretty tired and dated now.

 

Also, fuck itunes.

 

good arguments. you've certainly convinced me...

There's a few things about the iOS interface that do seem dated to me - like not being able to arrange your icons how you like. It's a grid or nothing, right? You can't have any blank spaces. At least that's how it is on my iPad. Just a bit untidy and badly organised. And there are certain icons you can't get rid of. Hell, you should be able to have NO ICONS AT ALL on your homescreen if you'd rather just enjoy some wack wallpaper you've downloaded.

Homescreen widgets would be sweet too - one of the things I use most on my phone is my calendar, and it's great to have a little scrollable window with all my upcoming appointments right there on my homescreen rather than having to open the app.

Those things just seem like they should be givens in the year 2012, and that's why I think stock Android - at least since Jelly Bean - is better than iOS. The problem with Android is ugly, nasty, slow manufacturer themes and skinning. I'd choose iOS over that in a heartbeat. But the stock experience is slick and tight.

Also, I'm not convinced the Apple brand is a status symbol any more. The laptops sure, but not the iPhone. It's just a bit too ubiquitous for that - even the blue rinse brigade on the tube all have them now. If they are a status symbol, it's for middle-aged/older people who feel like they're into something young and hip.

  On 9/24/2012 at 10:44 PM, Richy said:

  On 9/24/2012 at 8:55 PM, BCM said:

  On 9/24/2012 at 8:41 PM, Richy said:

There's nothing really interesting about it that would make me want to buy one. The OS seems pretty tired and dated now.

 

Also, fuck itunes.

 

good arguments. you've certainly convinced me...

Convinced you what now? You've totally lost me there sonny jim.

I was trying to establish that you are clearly an idiot. obviously I needn't have bothered as you seem to have trouble understanding your own posts.

  On 9/25/2012 at 11:42 AM, Iain C said:

If they are a status symbol, it's for middle-aged/older people who feel like they're into something young and hip.

What phone goes best with a midlife crisis and lilac chinos? I had two one-to-ones with early twenties women this morning, who both got into the conversation they had boyfriends as soon as possible. I simply reek of thirty something desperation, is the iphone 5 for me?

  On 9/25/2012 at 7:37 PM, kakapo said:

  On 9/25/2012 at 11:42 AM, Iain C said:

If they are a status symbol, it's for middle-aged/older people who feel like they're into something young and hip.

 

What phone goes best with a midlife crisis and lilac chinos? I had two one-to-ones with early twenties women this morning, who both got into the conversation they had boyfriends as soon as possible. I simply reek of thirty something desperation, is the iphone 5 for me?

every woman will think you have a tiny dick unless you get a 4.6" samsung screen and a corvette

meanwhile, in Blackberry land:

[youtubehd]WlsahuZ_4oM[/youtubehd]

our tech guy at work had his in here yesterday and i thought it actually felt too thin. screen looked real nice though.

"The anodized aluminum seems to scratch more easily than the stainless steel in the 4S"

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381462/iphone-5-scuff-damage-aluminum

According to tech review.

Apple's New iPhones Cost $207-$238 to Make

  Quote

Apple's latest iPhone costs between $207 and $238 to manufacture, depending on how much memory is included, according to a physical teardown report released Tuesday by market researcher IHS iSuppli that takes into consideration both the cost of materials and manufacturing of the smartphones. With a wireless contract, they cost between $199 and $399, (or between $649 and $849 without).

The costs varies mainly due to cheaper NAND flash memory--which was supplied by SanDisk, rather than Samsung as on the iPhone 4S-- and the use of a more expensive radio chip needed to use 4G LTE wireless networks.

Each 16-gigabyte iPhone 5 cost $207 in parts and labor to build, iSuppli says, up $11 from the $196 that the market researcher estimated for the iPhone 4, due mainly to that 4G LTE chipset and a more expensive touch-screen display. The price of NAND flash memory on the phone dropped to $10.40 from $19.20.

On the high end, iSuppli believes the 64-gigabyte iPhone 5 cost $238 to build, down from $253 to make the previous version. The decline stems almost entirely from less expensive flash memory--it cost $41.60 on the iPhone 5 compared with $76.80 on the iPhone 4S.

Despite their recent legal skirmish and dropping use of its memory chips, it appears that Apple still relies on its competing smartphone maker Samsung for a key part of the iPhone: The A6 processor, which iSuppli believes cost $17.50 to make. iSuppli's estimates, which include an $8 manufacturing cost but exclude things like software, licensing, and royalties, confirm what the market researcher had predicted in a virtual teardown last week.

Honestly i'm quite surprised and even dubious about the claim of such a markup. I'd have thought the margins would have been lower, even for apple notorious for it's brand premium. But it is posted on tech review, and no one has countered in the comments.

  On 9/26/2012 at 7:15 AM, jefferoo said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M5q5TRuAsY

This comment sums up what i was thinking as i viewed the video.

  Quote

 

This is not a good judgement honestly the phones where dropped completely differently. the samsung was tossed face down most of the times as opposed to sliding on the bottom with the iphone.

MrReichennek 6 minutes ago

Apple marketing team at work ?

  On 9/25/2012 at 7:37 PM, kakapo said:

  On 9/25/2012 at 11:42 AM, Iain C said:

If they are a status symbol, it's for middle-aged/older people who feel like they're into something young and hip.

 

What phone goes best with a midlife crisis and lilac chinos? I had two one-to-ones with early twenties women this morning, who both got into the conversation they had boyfriends as soon as possible. I simply reek of thirty something desperation, is the iphone 5 for me?

I'd say this should meet your needs:

  On 9/25/2012 at 11:37 AM, Iain C said:

 

Homescreen widgets would be sweet too - one of the things I use most on my phone is my calendar, and it's great to have a little scrollable window with all my upcoming appointments right there on my homescreen rather than having to open the app.

 

.

you know if you swipe down from the top bar you can view upcoming calendar appointments with out having to open the calendar app, right?

I didn't know that, but then I don't use Apple's calendars on my iPad anyway - I'm too wired into Google's ecosystem for that. They basically know everything about me, my schedule, my tastes, what I had for dinner etc.

"In short, Maps is an appalling first release. It may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed." - nytimes

I personally have not had a bad experience with the new Maps app - I am really impressed with the turn-by-turn directions, and how accurate the GPS tracking is - it was literally in sync with cross-streets as we crossed them. The intelligent re-routing was fast and accurate as well.

If I had any complaint, when I clicked the "Get Directions" link in Yelp!, it brought up the map, but did not engage the turn-by-turn mode (there might be some trick to doing so vs. asking Siri for directions), which is ironic since a lot of the map data about nearby emenities comes from Yelp!.

  On 9/27/2012 at 5:30 PM, Joyrex said:

I personally have not had a bad experience with the new Maps app - I am really impressed with the turn-by-turn directions, and how accurate the GPS tracking is - it was literally in sync with cross-streets as we crossed them. The intelligent re-routing was fast and accurate as well.

 

If I had any complaint, when I clicked the "Get Directions" link in Yelp!, it brought up the map, but did not engage the turn-by-turn mode (there might be some trick to doing so vs. asking Siri for directions), which is ironic since a lot of the map data about nearby emenities comes from Yelp!.

I feel like Yelp's directions are always screwy with Maps. In the prior versions, the directions would sometimes leave you near, but not at your destination. Also, it was always difficult to get Maps to recalculate the directions if your current location had changed. The entry fields for the start and destinations would always be a series of random numbers. It was often easier to copy the address from yelp, leave the app, then paste the address in Maps.

I just tried out the iPhone 5 in an AT&T store yesterday and the maps showed me facing south-east when I was standing facing north. It had me in the right spot tho.

I think I'll definitely be holding out to update my os or buy the new phone until I hear Maps has made improvements. I depend on it too much.

Can you download a traditional Google Maps app for the iPhone 5?

Google is currently working on a stand-alone version of their Maps app, but it may not be out until January at latest update. One shortcut you can do is browse to Google Maps on Safari on your phone (which should direct you to the mobile version of the site) and then create a bookmark shortcut on your phone's desktop to it.

Also, the compass thing I believe you have to click the arrow in the corner to orient itself if you're wanting to know what direction you're facing in - otherwise if you were walking around with the maps on, it would go all screwy (constantly re-orienting the map based on which way you're turning the phone towards) when you may not want it to...

I bitched about Maps in the FWP thread, and there are serious issues with the data, but I did an hour long trip into unknown territory (Orange County) yesterday, and the turn by turn navigation and UI are pretty solid.

I hope they work out the data soon. The major error I'm having is Apple doesn't think my apartment address exists, and tries to find the next closest match-- which is in a different zipcode and 20 miles away.

I'm at 818, Apple thinks I'm at 816. Apple will find my location correctly and show me a nice image of my building, but it marks it as 816. I've sent a couple error reports. For now, the workaround on navigation has been to bookmark the 816 as "Home," and enter requests accordingly. If I fuck up and try to navigate to/from my real address, Apple reverts to placing me 20 miles away.

That really should not be an issue in Downtown Los Angeles.

But I was suitably impressed with the navigation.

has anyone noticed any purple hazing issues with the iphone 5 camera? not sure if it is a widespread issue or people just blowing things out of proportion.

i am hesitant to get the 5 and i am trying to decide between the 5 and 4s. i need to upgrade but i am not sure which to do. the 4s is $100 less but the 5 has a better camera and video which use all the time with my son.

  On 9/27/2012 at 10:12 PM, jules said:

has anyone noticed any purple hazing issues with the iphone 5 camera? not sure if it is a widespread issue or people just blowing things out of proportion.

 

i am hesitant to get the 5 and i am trying to decide between the 5 and 4s. i need to upgrade but i am not sure which to do. the 4s is $100 less but the 5 has a better camera and video which use all the time with my son.

Go for the 5 - I've not heard of any reports of camera hazing - even it it does exist, a software update (assuming it's not a manufacturing defect) will fix that.

I really like my 4S, but if you're getting a 2 year contract, you might as well get the latest model. The $100 savings really aren't much once you're locked into using a device.

Not to mention the (inevitable) that the next iPhone will probably support features the 4S cannot, and only the 5 will (hopefully) be able to also offer them.