Iphone 5-Quick First Hand Review
 

So yeah, long story short I bought the Iphone 5, because I always have to have new gadgets or the newest thing that comes out (at least phone wise). :icon17:

SO my quick run down of it says, I like it, its like any other apple product well designed. BUT many of you apple fans I think will be disappointed in the screen size. Although taller, it doesn't make the phone any better to look at imo. (actually looks smaller than the 4, 4s screen that I had) The removal of the glass also gives the exterior of it kind of cheap feeling. Idk, I just had to get one to see if its really that good, the wifi and internet is super fast and the camera is alright, but the S3 is still better. In terms of performance I ran a couple tests of multitasking, I had the internet browser open was texting and sent out some emails. It held up pretty good, Siri, well it doesnt seem like much of an improvement there.

Anyways will be switching back to my S3, I think apple fans will still like it, but is it a improvement over the 4s...well only slightly.

My review rating 7.5/10. :tiphat: (Oh yeah this was a 32G sprint model I tested)


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Nice review! Still happy with my S3!

Nice and Honest review.

I've got the option to upgrade but I'm going to sit it out till the end of the year for plenty of feedback and to see what the next generation Nexus will be.

I'm currently on a Nexus and have been pretty happy up to now

of course you are, you keep flashing the damn thing, it's like a new phone every day!

Ok You got me!!

I did forgot to mention I'm rooted btw :bowrofl:

Nice review! Wish you would had show a picture of side by side comparison with the iPhone 4.

S3 FTW :tup:

what rom you running?
im running aokp jelly bean with the latest air kernel stable release on my nexus

Couldn't have said that better myself, I agree with you 100%. I too will be returning my 5 and sticking to my s3. The phone just seems so boring to me. I'm also used to my jailbroken 4s and using just plain Jane ios6 leaves a lot to be desired.

Hmm...

I'm not running to this device anytime soon. I think your opinions are right ... brief but correct. It's not really anything "new" ... Apple took what was a timeless design on the iPhone 4 and hacked it up. Of course it'll work fine ... it will be relatively fast while it's new.

I'll need to see it in person to truly judge ... but overall it's a pretty uninspiring evolution.

But it has a 5th row of icons!!! Lol. Wow apple congrats on the innovation there.

Same here :tiphat:

The only reason I don't have one, is because they don't have Swype text.

However, the fact that battery life on Android 4G phones is beyond stupid I'm thinking of switching when my contract is up with Verizon, due to the long battery life on the iPhone 5.

I currently have a Thunderbolt, which HTC/Verizon never updates - still waiting for ICS that was promised originally back in Feb.

I've thought about rooting too, but don't quite understand it so I've shied away from it. I don't know what I'm going to do.

I didn't have a 4s so for me it's a nice upgrade. It's so much faster than my 4. I haven't had the best signal strength with this phone though.

Good thing with Android phones is you can buy longer lasting batteries :tup:

The update stuff annoys me too and gets worse the older your phone gets. Though I think the S3 should be getting the Jelly Bean update in like a month or two. Once the updates stopped coming on my old Droid Incredible I just rooted it and installed them myself.

Yeah, but to get the "longer lasting batteries" you have to change the size of your phone on most. Battery technology needs to hurry up and catch up with everything else, damn it!

I may root it though.

Sprint doesn't have LTE coverage in Phoenix and AT&T can only give me 3GB of data for what I'm paying right now with Verizon (I don't use that much at all though, most I've seen is 2GB for a few months).

I'm sure they'll change their stuff by Jan/Feb anyways.

My sister just got her iPhone 5 a few days ago and she let me try it out for a couple of hours. I have the 4S and was seriously thinking about upgrading.

Here's my impressions:

Design:
It feels lighter, but once you put a case on, it doesn't really feel any different from the 4S in your hand. I actually like the 4S design better with the glass back.

Screen:
The larger screen is nice, especially for videos, games or browsing. It also adds another row to the home screen. I honestly wouldn't want a screen bigger than this. I had the S3 for a little while, which had a huge screen, but it felt like I was holding a monitor against my ear. It was great for almost everything else though. The biggest reason I switched to the 4S was because my music library was all in iTunes.

Processing Speed:
It's noticeably faster than the 4S, especially with games, maps or anything that requires a lot of computing power. For 75% of the things I do though, the extra speed is meaningless.

Software (iOS6):
I have this on the 4S and for the most part is nearly identical to the 5. The new Maps 3d modeling and turn by turn is pretty cool. It's based on the TomTom software and it worked pretty well....a lot better than before anyways. A standalone GPS is still better, but this is great in an emergency. You do loose some of the cool stuff from Google maps though, like street view and few other things. The YouTube app is also no longer integrated. I still haven't tried all the new features, but so far so good.

Siri:
I thought the updates to Siri where pretty cool, but it still has some issues that really need to be addressed for it to be usefull. The big one being how it communicates with the servers/what wireless connection it uses. I have wi-fi hot spots around me from my cable service company, which means the phone is set to automatically connect to that hot spot or not at all. It's fine if you're stationary, but if you're in a car, the phone automatically want's to connect to wi-fi. Because of this, the wi-fi signal will cuts in & out. When you ask Siri something, it freezes, doesn't connect and you're left with the spinning circle. It's fine if you leave the wi-fi off, but it would be nice to set Siri to always use 3G/4G connection instead. When there isn't 3G/Wi-fi, it's useless. It actually works pretty well when you want to play a song/album using voice recognition....when it works. It's still a gimmick at this point, but I do think it's the best AI interface I've had a chance to use. The S3 had S-Voice, but the AI personality, if there is such a thing, was like talking to stephen hawking.

Bottom Line:
It's a great upgrade from the iPhone 4 or earlier. It's still one of the best looking smartphones out there, but don't expect anyone to notice the difference. Like I said, once you buy a case for it, it look identical to the 4/4S. If like me, you have a 4S , it's definitely not worth the upgrade considering you can install iOS 6. I was kind of disappointed at some of missing items you would have expected the iPhone to have by now. The camera is pretty good for a smartphone, but it could be better. I would have also liked them to introduce a NFC system that is actually usable. Maybe a virtual wallet system where you can load up credit similar to iTunes but isn't wired to a bank account. I have yet to find a use for the passbook app. The battery is bigger on the 5, but with the bigger screen, the battery life is about the same as the 4S. I do like the new connector, but a universal one like a mini-USB would have been prefered. They also need to have expandable memory or at least make have it start a 32gb standard. The apps, games, etc....have gotten a lot larger with every generation and the price difference for extra storage is flat out robbery. Paying $100/16gb is an insane amount with all the improvements in storage capacity these days.

It has been said here (kinda) but I have a 4s and after upgrading to the new iOS, my 4s now has the new Siri, passport, ability to take panorama photos etc. I'm other words the software all works on my older (smaller, better looking) phone.

For like 60 bucks you can put on a mophie juice pack and double your battery which for me is just as good as a big internal battery and is a pretty good protective case to boot.

So.... And I too am a gadget guy.

No upgrade for me. It's just not very different and functionally no better (in my use) than my 4s.

Great discussion, cool thread.

I saw this commercial last night...

You designed the size of the display for your thumb reach? Really? What a load of horse ****!

I saw it too.

Though, I like the thinner design (X-axis, not Z) as I have smaller hands.

My buddy preordered and got his while others were waiting in line and it's pretty neat. The battery life (compared to his 4S) is ridiculously long thus far. His 4S would last only a little longer than some Android batteries, but this 5 battery took over twenty-four hours to die, and this was with web surfing, music, games, and YouTube streaming.

I was in awe. We'll see if that continues though.

Memory access and gfx performance are insane.

http://hothardware.com/newsimages/It...-SunSpider.png


gl is telling


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But, in four months the iPhone 5S will be out.

I wish they'd put themselves on two year contracts to which they cannot come out with newer, better phones for two years. Makes me feel like I've wasted money when I buy that new and exciting phone, then it's outdone in a month and a half or so with their next one.

But... but maps /thread








:roflpuke2:

Who cares? What do you gain from a new phone?

I generally prefer to have older tech for my usual phone. I just love the min bending performance because I can hack them to run all sorts of crazy stuff.

Checkmate, apple fans.

:icon18::roflpuke2::roflpuke2:

Yes, but did you know apple users are statically better looking and get laid more. It's true, I read it on the Internet :p

I'm sold. :inoutroflpuke:

I received mine on Friday as well. I had the 4 the day it came out, so I was out of contract and ready for an upgrade... my 4's home button worked intermittently, which was really annoying. The power button also required a lot of force for it to work.

The 5 is noticeably lighter in my opinion. The screen size difference is negligible, but I don't want anything too bulky anyways. The LTE is much faster than 3G and the screens seem to load quicker comparered to the 4. I really haven't a chance to mess with Siri much, so I cannot comment on that.

Since I'm selling my iPhone 4 for what I paid for the 5, it's a wash and I'm happy I upgraded. Had I had to "pay" money for the 5, I wouldn't have upgraded.

You also had done a really good detail review. Thanks! I'm going to get my 5 in a couple of weeks. Upgrading it from the 4. I think if anyone who has the 4s may as well wait for the 5s come out. My friend has the S3 and it is just too big for me who likes to put my phone in my pocket. And the S3 felt cheap me as far as material wise. ANd I heard the battery don't last pretty long. With normal usage you will have to charge it daily. Since I'm so use to iphone and ipad... gonna stick with iphone.