"LTE fragmentation means that AT&T customers using an iPhone 5 in Europe, for example, won’t be able to take advantage of LTE speeds while abroad and will instead get kicked down to the 3G network."
How spoiled are people that they can carry a thing in their pocket that will let them access all the world's information, from a large portion of the world, and call it "crippled" because it's slower in some places?
That's just the HN title though. The article is a pretty good breakdown of what you get from each version of the phone, and doesn't use the word "crippled" anywhere. Nor does it editorialize much at all.
So the iPhone 5 on AT&T can't use LTE outside of the US because AT&T uses some LTE band nobody else uses. Bit of a bummer, but I wouldn't call it crippled since you can still use 3G voice and data pretty much anywhere in the world. International roaming is actually one of AT&T's few strengths. I'd be more upset if International data wasn't so expensive. At $300 / GB, turning LTE on overseas would just scare me. Hopefully they'll come out with a unified chipset in the future and prices for international data will go down.
Yeah. No matter what, you're screwed this time around.
Verizon's version doesn't support simultaneous data and calling. PITA.
AT&T doesn't support LTE when roaming except in Canada. PITA.
International GSM versions can't get AT&T LTE in the US. PITA.
The only plus side to anything is that if you switch to Verizon you can use some international LTE and get an international unlock after 60 days. However, in my case, switching to Verizon just for international LTE support is frivilous since I'd be paying more for less data on a Data Share plan versus keeping my "unlimited" plan + other grandfathered options.
TL;DR — everyone is getting fucked by the iPhone 5 if you plan on using it in a different country at some point, or like simultaneous calling and data.
I've got a thunderbolt on Verizon and I do 3G and voice as well as 4G and voice at the same time. Some googling seems to show that it uses two antennae to do this, but to me as an end user it works great.
Yea I'm pretty sure with LTE that's possible. It's definitely not with 3G or below though.
But overall, I've never been happy with any smartphone. I pay $80/month for unlimited data, 350 minutes, unlimited texts.
After time, it always slows down, becomes buggy, bluetooth link cuts out, or the entire phone crashes. I don't know if it's designed to do this or it happens through the process of apps being updated and the phone becoming obsolete. This could probably be tested... if a phone was never updated, ever but that could probably lead to some security/privacy issues due to app bugs, os bugs, etc. Just seems like $80 is a lot to have this thing constantly bug up.
And no one in the US supports the wide-band audio. According to some coverage it's likely no one will support it, because they are focusing on using audio over LTE for their wideband instead of the different codec on 3G that Apple supports (if I remember right).
Too bad. I'd really love the better audio.
I'll be upgrading, but I'm sticking with AT&T. The fact I can keep my old unlimited plan (from when I bought my 3G) and the simultaneous voice and data (which is really nice) means it's not worth switching.
My verizon iphone 4s works CDMA on verizon, and GSM everywhere outside the US (you can ask verizon to unlock it for use outside the us 60 days into your contract. you should, if you haven't yet)
First, you have to be in good payment standing on your plan, and a customer for at least 60 days. Assuming that's already the case:
Call them up on 611, and say you're going to go abroad soon, and you would like to unlock your phone for non-US use. They will ask you to confirm a bunch of things, some sillier than others (That you know this does NOT give you a way out of your contract; that you may NOT use the phone to do anything that's illegal in the US, wherever you do it; I don't remember the whole thing). Then they say they're processing it, and will tell you that in a couple of hours, you should either log in to the itunes store on the phone, or do a sync with itunes to receive the new profile. After you do that, you restart your phone, and it will accept non-US sim cards.
Things might have changed about the process since I've done it; I heard from some people that they had to log in to itunes with the new sim inside in order for it to be approved. The verizon person will guide you through the current requirements.
Minor point: not too many people switch mid year but for those that want to, instead of giving up and staying locked with one carrier you can...
Break your plan early, switch carriers, and ebay the old phone. Assuming good condition you'll be out $100 max but you'll also have a brand new phone and warranty.
I expected a lot more interoperability between LTE devices and networks, something more akin to WiFi. Is there even a good technical reason why an LTE phone that supports AT&T's two channels cannot also support Verizon's five?
Yes, the networks use different frequency bands. Ostensibly, nobody has yet developed a chip that works on both LTE bands. The iPhone 4S shipped with a chipset that worked with both Verizon and AT&T's 3G bands, so I'm sure somebody is working on the same for LTE. This is just an effect of the technology being newer.
iPhone 5: The biggest thing to ever happen to iPhone since iPhone.
No, the biggest thing would have been stuff like swappable RF modules so I can keep the computer portion of the phone and get the RF module my carrier requires.
The biggest thing would have been support for external memory cards (microSD would have been great).
The biggest thing would have been ditching the 30 pin connector for a mini/micro USB connector.
The biggest thing would have been allowing some access to the file system.
The biggest thing would have been adding "guest" mode to the OS so you don't have to worry about access to your stuff when you hand the phone to someone else.
There are a lot of "biggest things" that would have made iPhone 5 truly a revolutionary step in the history of iPhone. Longer, thinner and blah, blah, blah doesn't, in my not-so-humble opinion qualify. Most people I talk to have said "not interested". As a developer I'll have to buy one. No real choice there. We'll see what the average consumer does.
The real question: Is the iPhone 5 enough of an improvement for the average person to ditch their 4S? I don't know. My rather limited sample came out on the side of "no".
I'm a pretty big fan of my iPhone, but I would never think of shelling out the extra dough required to do an early upgrade. For people like me, the market for the iPhone 5 is not for someone who already owns an iPhone 4S, but rather for someone who owns an iPhone 4.
As an upgrade to the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5 looks pretty sweet. At this point, I don't really need any extra features, other than improved specs, which are always nice, and I don't need any of the things that you seem to want. Personally, I think that this feature race with Android is harmful. I'd actually prefer an iPhone that went back to the iPhone basics: a phone that is as small, light, and thin as possible, has a very long battery life, has zero lag for any typical use, and is utterly reliable and stable.
In my mind, the feature race with Android has been in a number of regards detrimental to the iPhone. Although the iPhone fares much better in terms of stability than the Android phones my friends have bought, all the extra features have come with a bit of a decrease in battery life and in responsiveness.
Historically, the answer will be yes. Apple launches a new model ever year the conversion rates from last years model holders to the new model are really high. This is even higher then conversions from consumers who bought two models ago to the new model. It's ridiculous (not that I think it is dumb, just that they have a consumer base/behavior like that).
Additionally, I don't know if the general population would be on board with your feature list.
For example, why would my mom, sister, wife, or grandma want a sd card? They all by the 64 gig device and that is more than enough. They access their photos on their iPad through photo stream, email, etc. I'm not even sure if they know what an SD card is.
I hear you on the pin connector. But again, people will fork over the money to buy an adapter if need be. Most people aren't going to throw their phone out the window of a moving car because they have to buy an adapter .... Most.
No idea why I need access to the file system. I can store any type of file I want and access it without any problems. It takes an app, but even my grandma knows how to do this. SO maybe if you elaborate on the problem the context of an average consumer might have regarding the file system, I would better understand.
Who the hell are you share your phone with? Additionally, how often is that happening? Even if I had this I would never use it. So much damn work. Additionally, I'm usually standing right there when someone borrows my phone. I never hand it to a stranger and then wander off.
Anywho. I can't argue that the changes are as revolutionary as the iPhone 1. However, the device got thinner, screen got bigger, physical design looks sweet, camera got better, software is getting better, and the device got faster. It's not curing cancer, but that is a damn good phone.
I'm upgrading my 4S tonight. Given how much I use my phone I find it worth the couple hundred bucks. Especially since I can sell my 4S and drastically bring down my net out of pocket.
I think what he wants is a handheld general purpose computer. That's not an unreasonable thing to want given what's possible these days. There is a general purpose computer inside the iPhone and it's running a decent UNIX-like OS. But Apple has crippled it. Sure you can use a computer as phone or a camera. You can also use it for other things.
So-called average consumers will never want a handheld general purpose computer, unless advertising tells them to want it. They will only want what advertising tells them to want.
This does not mean that no one should want a handheld general purpose computer. Nor does it mean the average consumer could not benefit from one, if they were shown how to use it. I am perplexed by those who would argue against anyone who asks for a more than what Apple is giving; some people want more than just a phone/camera. Are we all supposed to play dumb like this is not possible or not worthwhile to produce?
> I am perplexed by those who would argue against anyone who asks for a more than what Apple is giving
I am perplexed by people who criticize a great product because it is not the particular great product that they want. Other companies can and do make those products. Support the products that you like, rather than trying to tear down the ones that don't match your personal preferences.
> They will only want what advertising tells them to want.
No one who bought a 4S since launch day is eligible for an upgrade on most plans at this point. They are not the target market. It's the 3GS/4 owners. They are in for a huge upgrade going to the iPhone 5.
How spoiled are people that they can carry a thing in their pocket that will let them access all the world's information, from a large portion of the world, and call it "crippled" because it's slower in some places?
That's just the HN title though. The article is a pretty good breakdown of what you get from each version of the phone, and doesn't use the word "crippled" anywhere. Nor does it editorialize much at all.