iPhone 5 is Here… Are You Getting One?

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The much anticipated iPhone 5 hit stores on Friday.  Did you buy one?  Are you going to?  If you are still on the fence, here’s what you need to know about the iPhone 5.

Operating System

So, what’s new with iPhone 5 and how does it compare to its predecessor iPhone 4S?  Well, for starters, iPhone 5 runs on iOS 6 instead of iOS 5.  A few days before iPhone 5 was released, iOS 6 was released as an upgrade for your other applicable devices.  This new OS offers more than 200 new features, according to Apple.  Some of the more noteworthy changes include shared Photo Streams, Siri enhancements, and turn-by-turn directions for navigation.  Unfortunately, the Maps app has been a major disaster.  Since its release, there have been quite a few negative reviews as well as blog posts poking fun at the apps poor map design and many mistakes.  Check it out here.

Display

The display on the iPhone 5 has increased to 4 inches from the 3.5 inch display of the iPhone 4S.  And that’s about it!  There were no other changes to the display.  While the larger widescreen will make for better viewing of media, no other improvements were made.

Battery

The battery is essentially the same at about 1430mAh.  However, so far it has been rated as having about the same battery life as iPhone 4S.  Not sure how that could be considering iPhone 5 features a larger display, improved processor (see below), an updated OS, and other new features that consume power.  Either way, no improvements have been made in this category.

Processor / System Memory /Storage

Some improvements were made here.  The iPhone 5s A6 processor is still Dual-Core like its predecessor the A5 processor.  Although, it is a bit faster at 1000 MHz vs 800 MHz in the iPhone 4S.

iPhone 5 comes packed with twice as much RAM (1 GB).  This is a significant improvement that should allow the phone to store and read data much faster than iPhone 4S.

Storage remains the same with iPhone 5.  It is available with 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB of storage space, the same as it has always been with iPhone.  There is still no option for storage expansion via SD cards.

Camera
The rear-facing camera remains at 8 megapixels, but is now capable of panoramic shots.  The front-facing camera has been improved to 1.2 megapixels from 0.3.

Data

One of the biggest improvements made to iPhone 5 is that it now supports the LTE network.  This means data speeds will increase significantly over this network.  Improved upload and download speeds means less time waiting for web pages to load, apps to download, and media to stream.  Considering this is what we use smartphones for the most, it makes for a happier end-user.

Connector

The biggest problem with iPhones (and all of Apple’s other mobile devices) has always been the proprietary connector.  Well, this time the connector has changed…. to a DIFFERENT PROPRIETARY CONNECTOR!  I truly do not understand this.  Not long ago, every other manufacturer switched to an industry standard connector; micro USB.  Apple decided not to join the others.  This means your choices for chargers and other connections are limited.  Now, if you own any chargers, docking stations, or adapters for your other iDevices, they will not work with iPhone 5.

How Does it Stack Up Against the Competition?

iPhone 5s biggest rival right now is the Samsung Galaxy S III.  Let’s see how they compare: