iPhone 5: Thoughts and Observations
The iPhone 5 is pretty much exactly as rumored. There is nothing too surprising about it. Still, it looks incredible. I for one will definitely be pre-ordering one. Probably the 32 GB, black, on Verizon.
Apple is sticking with what works. The general shape and design of the iPhone has made it the best smartphone available. So they are only making small changes here.
Still, it’s a much wanted incremental step of evolution. It’s thinner, lighter, sturdier, has a higher density screen, better graphics performance, better phone quality, a better camera, a better iOS, better apps, and will get updates over-the-air for years. What more could you really want?
Apps will definitely take advantage of the larger screen. I’m excited to see all the mobile apps, gaming and otherwise, that will utilize the larger screen to their advantage. All the more room for killing zombies!
EarPods are a huge improvement. Apple’s white earbuds have long been iconic. But they haven’t ever been great for sound and music. It looks like Apple spent lots of time getting these new EarPods right. They started over 3 years ago and tested over 124 different prototypes to arrive with these. First reviews from the floor seem to be much improved, especially with bass-heavy music.
The hype and expectations for Apple are now through the roof. Good analysis from Wired that the iPhone 5 is at the same time completely amazing yet still utterly boring. This speaks to the expectations Apple now has. As Chris Dixon said well: “Apple: solid incremental improvements. Big question is when/if there will be huge leaps again without Jobs.” All eyes are on Apple for their next big leap (hopefully the living room).
Apple’s next quarter will be huge. Apple did everything they needed to do with this release. Gene Munster has already boosted his iPhone sales estimates for this quarter on the news. Lots of people didn’t upgrade to the iPhone 4S because they were waiting for 4G/LTE. Apple brought that to the iPhone 5 with many more bells and whistles. As I wrote before, Apple’s next quarter will be an absolute monster.
