iPhone 5 good & bad all at the same time

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Apple iPhone 5
★★★★☆
4.1
81.0% of users recommend this
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diablo944's review of Apple iPhone 5

“iPhone 5 good and bad all at the same time”

★★★★☆

written by diablo944 on 03/11/2012

I should start by saying I like Apple hardware, but I hate the lock downs that Apple put on their devices. I personally feel a non Jailbroken apple device is very restrictive. But thats a personal thing. I have had an iPhone 4 for a couple of years. I skipped the iPhone 4s solely as there were not enough reasons to change handsets (Siri and better camera were the only real advances). If anything, the 4s should have been called the 4.5 as it didnt bring much to the party.
So, moving on, I finally decided the camera on the iphone 4 was well and truly outdated (being truthful, it was outdated when it launched, but the 4 megapixel was just about enough to justify trying the iphone 4, whereas the 3 series just dint cut it at all). Which left me with the 4s or 5 as my next phone.
Long story short, I bought the 5 in black. Opening the box and firing it up for the first time was a bit weird as the longer screen was almost odd to get used to. The thinner body and metal back (with glass at the top and bottom) feels like a quality piece of kit. Say what you like about Apple, but they have the whole tactile feedback aspect nailed down just right. You can instantly feel that the iphone 5 is lighter than the 4 series. I initially found that reaching the lowest and furthest right icon on the screen was a little difficult to get with my thumb when using it one handed. so much so that I have my least used app there now to prevent having to select it. That said, the screen display is as stunning as the iphone 4 retina was when it was released, albeit a little bigger.
Apple were brave to keep the phone so small, especially with competitors upping the ante with ever larger screens. Though some of those competitors have gone too far for me in having phones the size of PDAs of old. In use, anyone coming from an iphone 4 will be right at home. The screen works as well as you expect from an iphone in this day and age with no lag when scrolling through the pages. One huge improvement over the previous models is the fact it no longer needs a PC to set it up. Turn it on from first use and follow the instructions to have it do all its setup without needing to plug a cable in at any time (apart from charging it fully of course).
I never used Google maps on my 4, so I was not affected by the Apple maps debacle. But a quick google for IOS6 maps will tell you all you need to know about the issues others had with the maps. Simply put, apple dropped google maps and added their own maps instead, that hasn't gone too well for them so far.
The camera is something I cannot fault in terms of quality, though I did suffer the issue that others reported of the flash getting itself out of synch. IOS 6.01 is now out as this is written and fixes the issue with the camera flash along with a few other bug fixes. Personally I am surprised that they let the phone out with some of these glaring errors, it isn't as if they haven't had time to bug test the phone. There have been reports of screen light bleed on some handsets, along with other reports about odd colours from the camera when taking pictures into sunlight, but then again, a lot of cameras struggle with the same or similar issues in that particular type of shot, so maybe we are at a point where phone cameras are expected to be perfect, or at least on par with a reasonably priced compact camera. For me, the difference in quality between the Iphone 4 pictures (4mp) and the iphone 5 (8mp) was instantly apparent. Not just in the sharpness of the image, but in the fact it captured the colours infinitely better than the 4. The older camer almost throwing everything into a lighter shade, where black really wasnt black. so the camera gets a huge thumbs up, even though I need to add the caveat that on IOS6.0 it can and does occasionally fluff up the flash. But again, I rarely use the flash as I have never liked led flash units. If it had a xenon flash it would be infinitely preferable, but it doesn't. About the only time I really use the flash is when I use it as a torch with a free torch app.
Siri works. Even with my accent it rarely misses a beat. I even asked it to google chewbcca thinking it would fail, but surprisingly it got it perfectly right. I never thought I would use siri, but since having it I haven't set a single alarm or timer by hand and now find it to be a natural way of using the phone. Launching apps with siri is also becoming a regular thing now. the longer I have it the more I am likely to use it. Always remember though, siri relies on being able to connect to a server somewhere out there on the world wide web, so you are using a bit of data every time you use it.
All is not rosey on the iphone 5 front though. For a start, the new lightning port is both good and bad. Good in that it can be plugged in either way around, so no more checking which way is right before plugging in a 30 pin socket. But bad in terms of how many leads, devices, clocks, docks and assorted accessories you may have that used the old 30 pin connector and are now either reliant on an (expensive) adapter, or which do not work at all with the new phone. I had to buy one of these 25 pound adapters so that I could keep using my Sony speaker alarm clock. Instead of sitting flush in the aperture, my phone now sits an inch higher and looks a little out of place, but at least it works. Staying with the new connector, it is now fully digital, unlike the digital/analog 30 pin, as a result, some devices will never work with the lightning connector adapters. Equally, there is now an apple chip in the adapters, so be careful buying a cheap knock off version as it may not do what it says on the packet. It will fit the phone fine, but this new chip is part of Apples attempt to keep a grip on licensed accessories. No doubt the chip wil be (or has been already) replicated or bypassed, but it is something you need to consider before parting with your money. For those who are still on iphone 4s and the many older ipods that use the 30 pin connector, now is turning into a good time to buy that expensive bang and olufsen speaker system you always fancied. Sellers are shifting the 30 pin devices as they know the market is being pushed towards the newer lightning connector. There are already offers of half price reductions out there on some previously extortionate accessories.
One big change in the new iphone and IOS6 that has almost slipped by unnoticed is that Apple have changed the Bluetooth standard to one of the later standards. For may people this will never be an issue, but equally there are a lot of people upset about this change. The change has affected an awful lot of devices that relied on the older Bluetooth firmware, most notably with in car stereos. Whereas on the Iphone 4/4s using IOS5 the interface via bluetooth was stable and the iphone was controllable from in car controls on the steering wheel, IOS6 has caused a lot of devices to lose that functionality. Most can still stream music via bluetooth as long as you actually start the music from the phone itself, but skipping tracks and the like cannot be done via in car controls. This hasnt affected every head unit, but it has affected a few manufacturers (including Pioneer in that few). As a result of that, if you are planning on buying a new head unit and want to control your iphone from the steering wheel, you need to do your homework before parting with your cash. Apple are aware of it and blame the ICE manufacturers for it, despite IOS6 actually creating the problem IOS 6.01 was released a few days back, it does not address the bluetooth issues with older devices in any way, so apple have obviously decided that once they stepped forward there was no going back. As to any other devices that may fall foul of this, such as bluetooth headphones, only time will tell. Pioneer are promising a BT firmware update to fix the issue, so at least they have some customer loyalty in that respect.
Would I recommend the iPhone 5 to a friend? I am not really 100 percent sure. In many ways I wish I had a 4s on 5.1.1 rather than IOS 6. but is that and the issue mentioned enough to say dont buy one? I like the phone, I have gotten used to the screen and like that, I now love the feel of it without a case, so slim yet so efficient. Siri works and the phone is very good. No jailbreak is probably a deal breaker though as you can't tailor the phone to your own specs.
If the iphone 4s was a slight increase on the iphone 4, then the iphone 5 is a similar increase on the 4s. Nice, but not groundbreaking. If you have a 4s I would stay there and see what comes after the 5. For me? the jump from a 4 to a 5 was not a groundbreaking upgrade, merely a small step up. Overall I am happy with the phone, but the bluetooth issues really drag it down a good way for me. It gets a 4 star rating, but only just, if there was a 3.5 option I would have given it that.
before I forget, despite looking so similar to the iphone 4, there are no issues to report on dropped calls on my handset, but then again, I never suffered any with the iphone 4 either.

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