OK here's my take on this thing:
- It lacks NFC. Most smartphones seem to have it nowadays and I was honestly expecting Apple to pull off something remarkable here like Lumia 920's wireless charging/music sreaming but it failed. Props to Nokia!
- It has a 4" display as was rumored but lacks the 720p resolution. Again, most current-gen. devices have it although it may not be really required for such a small screen. Not increasing the width of the display so one can hold it with one hand and type is just plain bullshit! I am not sure how many users would actually type using one hand (and do what with the other one?).
- The anodized Alu. back is a good addition. Something I really like about Apple devices - their build quality always speak for themselves and have stood out among the crowd. When you spend close to 40k for a device, you expect it to have a good build quality. Case in question - the Galaxy devices (barring the GNex). Somehow all the Samsung Galaxy devices (no offense to SG users!) launched till date were simply sucky in terms of build quality - thin or unbreakable they may be but definitely plasticky. OTOH, the very same company brought out the Omnia W with a brushed Alu. battery cover and that phone somehow impressed me with the build quality.
- The new 'Lightning' connector is an unwanted and a useless addition to the device (and the other new devices announced) and another way of milking the unwary customers by Apple and other third-party manufacturers for docks, adapters, converters and cables. Dealextreme/Focalprice may come up with cheaper alternatives though. They say the connector is reversible which they could have implemented with the previous cable/connector itself. Instead they chose to introduce a new smaller connector and cable and move the 3.5 mm TRS jack to the bottom to compensate for the extra space! For folks who use any previous gen Apple device like the iPods, iPads (I have an iPad 2), there will be an extra cable on the desk and they will have to lug around an extra cable with the charger. What a pain!
- Battery life - impressive as always. Apple outsmarts other players quite easily in this aspect.
- Innards - the A6 (dual core Cortex A15?) chip which seem to have improved the overall performance of the device as claimed by Anand and other folks who've had some hands-on with the device on the launch day. The 4S was incredibly smooth and there were no lags when using applications and games, and the web pages loaded faster. This is another aspect I love about Apple - the OOTB experience is remarkably good and wouldn't want the user to fiddle around with ROMs, kernels and other things to make certain apps. work properly. The Windows Phone is also an equally good contender in this aspect. When my colleague got hold of a HTC HD 7 last year from Thailand, I was taken aback by the device with the GUI, features and other aspects. That was the first time I used a WP phone after all the hoopla that WP had amassed and on that day I decided, my next phone is going to be a WP phone or the next iPhone.
- Nanosim slot - this is another pain in the posterior especially for us Indian consumers. Not all the telecom. operators may be willing to issue nano-sims. Besides, micro-sims (or mini-sims) cannot be cut into nano-sims because they are thinner although the effective dimensions of the contacts are the same. There may be Chinese nano-sim cutters available in the market in a few days' time (may be out by now!), I doubt if it would work on the new device. This was an unwarranted move. As such, I presume the revenue from Indian markets is fairly low compared to other markets so I guess Apple wouldn't pay much heed here nor to launch the device on time. For one, their business proposition wouldn't work in a country like ours where sastha sundar tikau plans are available for the masses.
- Camera - not many improvements from the previous device barring the front cam which is 720p (which is meh when most high-end devices have at least a 1MP front cam). And the sapphire crystal cam surface at the back. I assume it was plain glass before.
- Bundled earpods - Apple has reinvented the wheel once again! And looks like they have put in quite a lot of efforts to come up with the current design like testing several ear designs with prototypes! What they could have done instead is to bundle a nice pair of IEMs from an OEM such as Fostex and a bunch of pads and cushions to go along with it. FWIW, the previous earphones were manufactured by Fostex.
So looks like the event wasn't all that impressive. With Steve Jobs gone, looks like innovation and improvements have taken a backseat. I am in two minds now. My 3 year old iPhone 3G died a week back and I am currently using a Nokia 101 as the backup. For a device worth 1500 Rs., the features are impressive. It is a dual SIM phone, has a mSD slot that supports upto 16GB (I've put a Sandisk 8GB card into the slot) with a basic music player that supports shuffle and repeat but no SQ tweaks, a torch, a 3.5 mm TRS jack and a 1020 mAh battery that lasts me at least 4 days before the charge dies out! The new iPhone is a definitive upgrade for someone like me who has been on an age old device since the last 3 years. OTOH, Nokia 920 is another device which might be worth considering but I am not sure where Nokia is headed. It is going to be either the iPhone 5 or the Lumia 920 for me and my intention would be to purchase the device locally. Apple has an added advantage with the customer support and the Apple Care+ plan which would extend the warranty for the next 2 years. Only time will tell.
