First of all, I was utterly disappointed with Singtel not getting its act together in their coordination of the registration process. Their website was inaccessible for most of the registration period and I pretty much gave up. For goodness sake, its not the first time you guys have done this. Time to leave and head for another telco me thinks.
When I finally got my hands (on a friend's) iPhone5 the disappointment deepened. Overall comments from the people who managed to get their iPhone5 was that there was nothing really new in the phone except for the speed increase from the faster processor and 4G support. Nothing new in Apps, except for the much reported buggy Maps application. Nobody really thought that the increased screen size was a big deal since rivals like the Samsung Galaxy and Sony's Xperia already have larger and, I thought, nicer looking screens. The longer screen actually makes the iPhone5 screen look narrower and more "remote control-like" than previous iPhones although this is a bit of an optical illusion.
The big draw of the old iPhones were (to me at least) their designs. I personally thought the iPhone5 was a little bit dull design-wise. There is absolutely no WOW factor. I actually preferred the design of my old iPhone4, with its glass back and aluminum sides. The color choices of only the white and black option show that Apple is unable to break the design protocol defined by Steve Jobs. The white iPhone5 has a really ugly looking two tone back, fussy chrome trim and a weird looking mutated "face" on the top of the phone (see below). I don't think you can find any existing iPhone users who actually prefers the new iPhone5 design over their previous phones.
However, if after my little rant you still want to get one, the black iPhone5 is definitely the one to choose if you really had to have a iPhone5.
So will I buy an iPhone5? Maybe - eventually - when my iPhone4 and/or its accessories die. A big turn-off for me is that the whole world and their grandmother has an iPhone and it has totally lost its cool and uniqueness factor. Apple is a victim of its own success.
I might get one of the Android phones in the meantime as they are significantly cheaper to pickup without a telco contract. The current crop of new Android phones give off a more innovative vibe compared to the iPhone5. Don't confuse me as a Samsung fanboy but anyone who has handled a Samsung Galaxy S2 or S3 will feel like the designers had a brief to be fresh and be bolder with their designs. As I said before in my last post - it really seems that innovation and good design has left Apple, after Steve Jobs left the building.
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