With the "new iPhone" launch happening today i thought i'd dive in here and start a discussion thread for it. Starting with this blog on the BBC:

Apple playing it safe

Hopefully this should then keep the 'discussion' in this single thread.

I am genuinely interested to see what the new iPhone will look like and do, but like the author of the blog, i'm not expecting a whole lot. If i can borrow a line from Tron Legacy:

"what improvements have been made...?"

"this year we put a "12" on the box."

Personally i think next year will be the first year for some time when most people I know looking for a new phone wont simply walk out and buy the latest iPhone.

I smell Bingo...

I'm still using my iPhone 4 and 18 months on its been very reliable and does everything I need. The only bitch about it is the necessity of iTunes, the most prolific virus in the world. Nevertheless, I shall be treating myself to a 5 next month, stocks allowing.

My wife has the Galaxy 3 and the camera puts my dedicated camera to shame, I simply don't know how they get such quality from such a small apperture

I don't really care if the Iphone 5 is not that much better than the 4, I'll still be getting one. I hate android phones as the wife has one and I could never get on with it.

I had a 3GS, but moved to a Galaxy S2 based purely on the fact it was pretty well half the monthly cost.

It would have to be something pretty spectacular to make m go back to Apple if the relative cost stays the same.

I wouldnt get your hopes up then, so far current speculation is that it has:

Larger screen to keep up with the Samsungs.
Finger print scanner on the menu button, (ala the Mototrola Atrix)
A new settings menu
A new dock, so devices that use the old style may need an adaptor (waiting to be confirmed).

+1


I'm due for an upgrade, but I'm going to stick with my Galaxy S (it hasn't stopped doing what it did last week...) and cut the cost of my contract from £30 to £10.
Ironically, Apple have stuffed smartphones for me with the ipad.

Anyone else snigger at this, I laughed out loud in my office

Ironically, given Brewster's reply, I think the iPhone is like the 911 - they're frightened of messing with a winning formula - as dull as that might be.

Yes me too, but of course the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field/focus.

And they have an accountant running the company. This was the same strategy that Sainsburys used in the 80s that dropped it from top supermarket to a stuggling number 3. When i jouned Sainsburys in 2002 head office did not have email

Apple have a history of this too. After the Mac they went all profit, linking with IBM and the dreadful PowerPC and got rid of Jobs (who went on to form NeXT and Pixar) and Jobs came back to a company on it's knees and shoock it up with the iMac.

Yup - I don't think they are innovating fast enough - they need some disruptive technology or do something others are doing but much better - currently they are being caught and overtaken by the competition

Too busy in court over patents?

There is some interesting "reporting" in that link. Pity.

To be fair he states it as his viewpoint and not reporting as such, in a similar vein to his sartarical blog. There is plenty of evidence that Apple are concentrating more time and money on exploitation of their current wares and patents than they did when they were in a more inovative phase. Doubtless the iPhone 5 is old news within Apple and hopefully they are working on the 6 and 7.

Nicrosoft did the same with Windows Vista and previously with Windows ME, they just churned out another Windows version with little inovation and expected the public to cough up the dosh. There becomes a point though where public lose interest and the cash cow starts to die.

Yes, indeed he does but several statements to back his viewpoint are either erroneous or misleading. It seems more like a rant rather than any insightful assessment.

Well it's never a good idea to let an element of truth ruin a good story

Too true

Anyway as others say I don't expect any great revelation but then have any other manufacturers provided one recently? I can't think on any specific game changing phones - not that I follow that closely as I keep my phones longer than many.

Could you elaborate? I agree it's not exactly a piece of neutral reporting, but for those of us not in the Apple inner sanctum (?!), it's frustrating just to be told "That's rubbish" without specifics.

Well I'm not an Apple fanboy (even if I do have an iPhone and a company iPad), but two things that jumped out at me in that article are:

1. Comparing the R&D spend of multiple companies in terms of percentage of revenue isn't a fair basis for comparison.

2. Similarly comparing the iPhone's market share to that of every Android phone combined isn't fair, especially not without contextual data about the changing size and composition of the market.

Several years and generations of phone ago for a lot of people.

The Nokia Pureview had potential as it is a true compact camaera replacement, unfortunately they stick Symbian on it which has long since past it's best, so the smart phone features suffer. Nokia had potential with Maemo and Meego but Microsoft and Elop have snaffled that

The game changers are some of the apps, Strava for example, has changed the way i ride my bike and re-vitalised our group rides. IMHO smart phones are reaching their design limits. The screen can't get much clearer, they don't need to get much faster and they do far more than you ever need. Now if only the battery would last longer than a day!

Biggest problem imo.....

What has the world come to when so many people are getting a boner about a fancy phone? I mean, take a step back and analyse this.

We have become quite a materialistic nation; not that I myself am completely innocent of it.

Nothing like a good post from Dan Lyons.



Don't let facts get in the way of a man trying to say something controversial.

Dan has one job. Attract hits. Nothing attracts more hits than an anti Apple technology page or one trotting out the new favourite line that Apple is boring and must change this or that or this or that or this or that. Obviously Apple doesn't know what they are doing.

A phone running Android is pretty much anything from a device given away for free to an actual competitive device such as the latest and greatest Android XYZ. It doesn't even have to have a touch screen to be counted in the Android numbers. Great wheeze that Dan.



That doesn't really fit here though John. The use of the PowerPC (primarily Motorola until the later and final IBM 970 chip onwards) This was a decision based on previous judgements made by SJ way before the 90's.

There was nothing per say wrong with the PowerPC arm, Motorola and IBM's lack of development and focus on other things let the momentum dry up.

TC is categorised as an accountant but that is not strictly true, nor are the claims of lessening R&D etc. The figures of actual Apple R&D are there to be found if you look and paint the exact opposite picture in terms of investment.

A lot of RD and innovation goes into making certain products. The phone's cellular capability and antenna is the product of extreme RD.

But this is all boring information that doesn't get links or attention from the mass public.

Battery life is one of the biggest area's of competition in the mobile market Steve. It will stay that way for a long time. Hence the constant recycle while energy efficiency is factored into every and I mean every single piece of mobile devices, down to the spacings in the fan blades on portable machines currently.

I'd argue that point.

Surely the biggest area of competition is persuading the punter to by the newer[tm] and better[tm] version six months down the line?

Well if the rumours are right, there might just be a "one more thing" moment. It might just concern music. Though Bluetooth 4 and a wristwatch that connects is also doing rounds.

The fingerprint scanner is thought not to be coming.
The display will probably be 4 inches.
The new iCloud on iOS6 is pretty damn good. Ties in very well with Mountain Lion and for those of us with other iOS devices.
Siri is much improved on iOS6. I now use it all the time.
Rumours about a better Sony sensor for camera.

I decided to invest in 2 Nexus 7 Tablets for the kids, thinking that they were cost effective. Bought them Friday evening and took them back (by popular demand) on Tuesday. What a pile of !!!!! the Kids and even the wife hated them, said iPads are better and I would have to agree. Cheap though. So iPad Mini's it is then!

For me what makes the iPhone so good isn't the specs or the camera etc etc.
It's the integration with other devices.

I can play a game on my TV via iPhone/iPad and AppleTV.

I can write a document on my Mac and know it will be there on my iPhone/iPad.

I can watch TV on it via EYETV, and record a program that will be on later.

I can set a Geo based reminder on my Mac and the iPhone will remind me to get milk when I call into the convenience store.

If I take a photo on iPhone, it will be on my Mac and iPad, Hell I can even take a photo on my camera and transfer it to my iPhone via my Eye-Fi SD Card and it will be on my Mac without any wires or anything.

The iPhone backs up all it's information to the Cloud every time I plug it into it's charger.

Oh and I can't remember who mentioned iTunes, but that was the bad old days, these days you don't need it. All is done via the iCloud. Although there will allegedly be a new smaller/lighter/faster iTunes 11 announced today.

So for me, the iPhone 5 will be interesting.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/09/last-minute-apple-rumors-iphone-5-lightning-new-ipod-touches/ Latest news and rumours...