5 ms·

I'm not really impressed with the new phone. It seems like Apple will need to come up with more cool features if they want people to keep buying iphones. I'm no

I'm not really impressed with the new phone. It seems like Apple will need to come up with more cool features if they want people to keep buying iphones. I'm not sure if I'm going to get the Galaxy SIII or the iphone 5 at this point. I need a new phone and was expecting to go with the iphone. But, I'm sort of underwhelmed at this point.

deveac 14y ago
>I'm not really impressed with the new phone. It seems like Apple will need to come up with more cool features if they want people to keep buying iphones. I think they need more cool features for people to say that they are really impressed with the new phone. But they don't need to iterate more than they have been to keep people buying them. Apple had its paradigm shift with the phone. You can't just have those every year. Outside of the initial introduction of the iPhone, and then allowing apps, it's really just iterating, and I don't see how one could expect much different. Their competitors certainly aren't shifting any paradigms with their competing offerings. I think the biggest splash Apple (or others) will be able to get for a bit will have to come from a stylistic redesign (Lumina got many nods for this). Outside of that, it's just the march of the features, apps, and ecosystem.
- sbochins 14y ago
  I guess I'm not really talking about a paradigm shift. I'm just talking about cool features. For instance, I would consider Siri a cool feature. Even though it isn't really anything new and on Ice Cream Sandwich you're basically getting the same functionality sans some nice cute NLP stuff. A parad would be if you could plug your iphone into a monitor and use a bluetooth keyboard and have a partially functioning desktop. I think this probably where we're heading. It would be nice if Apple or someone made a convincing product that did this. I think there is going to be a Ubuntu version that runs on android phones and basically does this if I remember correctly.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
ryannielsen 14y ago
Out of curiosity, what makes the Galaxy S III more compelling than the iPhone 5? Or, to turn the question around, what is the iPhone 5 missing that makes it so underwhelming? On paper, the S III has a larger screen, NFC, a slightly higher MP front-facing camera, a barometer, and access to more Google services, like Maps, Play Store and Now (assuming the majority of Galaxy S III owners ever upgrade to Android 4.1). For me, personally, none of those are remotely compelling. But then I'm heavily tied to Apple's services and love the App Store, so I'm quite biased. Regarding hardware, aside from new enclosures, I don't expect any major changes in the near term. I doubt they'll add NFC any time soon, if ever. Why bother? The 4S and 5 support Bluetooth 4, which offers many NFC like features, and there's no compelling reason to add explicit NFC support now or anytime soon. Likewise, I bet it'll be a while before induction charging makes an appearance – again, if it ever does. Induction charging just adds bulk and isn't a huge step forward for most users; placing your phone on a charging pad is effectively equivalent to docking it. The "cool new features" will probably continue coming from software, just as has been happening with Macs. Most Macs are only evolutionary improvements over their predecessors, with the occasional enclosure redesign. That hasn't harmed Mac sales in the least.
- cageface 14y ago
  The problem with Apple's approach is that all innovations in iOS software and hardware have to come from Apple and Apple alone. So it's not enough to just keep releasing incremental and obvious improvements. In order for Apple to maintain its unprecedented brand recognition and profit margins it's not good enough to match the competition. They have to be unambiguously better than the Android alternatives and they just aren't right now.
  - ryannielsen 14y ago
    In order for Apple to maintain its unprecedented brand recognition and profit margins it's not good enough to match the competition. They have to be unambiguously better than the Android alternatives and they just aren't right now. I disagree… are Macs unambiguously better than the alternatives? I'd say they aren't, but they still give Apple unprecedented brand recognition and profit margins. Ditto for iPods. For years, Macs and iPods often only saw incremental and obvious improvement. Innovations don't always need to come from Apple; as is eagerly pointed out here, Apple's quite happy to let others pioneer tech (like, say, NFC) and only adopt it when it makes sense for Apple's product story. Apple creates a superior story, a superior experience. That's it. Macs, iTunes, iPods, Apple Stores, and iOS devices all play together to offer clear and obvious benefits to consumers. Apple only needs to innovate when nothing currently on the market meets their product goals. Otherwise, they're focused on improving and refining the tech they're already shipping.

deveac 14y ago

>I'm not really impressed with the new phone. It seems like Apple will need to come up with more cool features if they want people to keep buying iphones. I think they need more cool features for people to say that they are really impressed with the new phone. But they don't need to iterate more than they have been to keep people buying them. Apple had its paradigm shift with the phone. You can't just have those every year. Outside of the initial introduction of the iPhone, and then allowing apps, it's really just iterating, and I don't see how one could expect much different. Their competitors certainly aren't shifting any paradigms with their competing offerings. I think the biggest splash Apple (or others) will be able to get for a bit will have to come from a stylistic redesign (Lumina got many nods for this). Outside of that, it's just the march of the features, apps, and ecosystem.

sbochins 14y ago
I guess I'm not really talking about a paradigm shift. I'm just talking about cool features. For instance, I would consider Siri a cool feature. Even though it isn't really anything new and on Ice Cream Sandwich you're basically getting the same functionality sans some nice cute NLP stuff. A parad would be if you could plug your iphone into a monitor and use a bluetooth keyboard and have a partially functioning desktop. I think this probably where we're heading. It would be nice if Apple or someone made a convincing product that did this. I think there is going to be a Ubuntu version that runs on android phones and basically does this if I remember correctly.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

ryannielsen 14y ago

Out of curiosity, what makes the Galaxy S III more compelling than the iPhone 5? Or, to turn the question around, what is the iPhone 5 missing that makes it so underwhelming? On paper, the S III has a larger screen, NFC, a slightly higher MP front-facing camera, a barometer, and access to more Google services, like Maps, Play Store and Now (assuming the majority of Galaxy S III owners ever upgrade to Android 4.1). For me, personally, none of those are remotely compelling. But then I'm heavily tied to Apple's services and love the App Store, so I'm quite biased. Regarding hardware, aside from new enclosures, I don't expect any major changes in the near term. I doubt they'll add NFC any time soon, if ever. Why bother? The 4S and 5 support Bluetooth 4, which offers many NFC like features, and there's no compelling reason to add explicit NFC support now or anytime soon. Likewise, I bet it'll be a while before induction charging makes an appearance – again, if it ever does. Induction charging just adds bulk and isn't a huge step forward for most users; placing your phone on a charging pad is effectively equivalent to docking it. The "cool new features" will probably continue coming from software, just as has been happening with Macs. Most Macs are only evolutionary improvements over their predecessors, with the occasional enclosure redesign. That hasn't harmed Mac sales in the least.

cageface 14y ago
The problem with Apple's approach is that all innovations in iOS software and hardware have to come from Apple and Apple alone. So it's not enough to just keep releasing incremental and obvious improvements. In order for Apple to maintain its unprecedented brand recognition and profit margins it's not good enough to match the competition. They have to be unambiguously better than the Android alternatives and they just aren't right now.
- ryannielsen 14y ago
  In order for Apple to maintain its unprecedented brand recognition and profit margins it's not good enough to match the competition. They have to be unambiguously better than the Android alternatives and they just aren't right now. I disagree… are Macs unambiguously better than the alternatives? I'd say they aren't, but they still give Apple unprecedented brand recognition and profit margins. Ditto for iPods. For years, Macs and iPods often only saw incremental and obvious improvement. Innovations don't always need to come from Apple; as is eagerly pointed out here, Apple's quite happy to let others pioneer tech (like, say, NFC) and only adopt it when it makes sense for Apple's product story. Apple creates a superior story, a superior experience. That's it. Macs, iTunes, iPods, Apple Stores, and iOS devices all play together to offer clear and obvious benefits to consumers. Apple only needs to innovate when nothing currently on the market meets their product goals. Otherwise, they're focused on improving and refining the tech they're already shipping.