New iPhone 5 is here. Should you upgrade from 4S?

The latest iPhone, the iPhone 5 was introduced yesterday that saw the still 'new' 4S being relegated to the mid-tier of iPhone devices. Announced on September 12, it will be up for pre-orders (in the USA and selected countries) on the 14th. Shipment starts on September 21st.

It will be available first in 9 countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, then in other country world wide.

First impression: It looks exactly like the 4S and 4

The slab is made entirely of aluminum and glass. At 7.6mm, many online commentary - including some well known websites - wrongly quoted the new iPhone as the "world's thinnest smartphone". Instead, that should read "thinnest iPhone ever".

Vital stats of the iPhone 5:

Display       : 4-inch
Resolution  : 1136 x 640 pixel
Thickness   : 7.6 mm
Weight       : 112 g
Camera      : 8MP, front-facing: 1.2MP

Prices of the iphone 5 are similar to the iPhone 4S when it was first launched. In the US, the iPhone 4S now available in single variant (16GB) only, sold at $99 while the iPhone 5 will be offered in 16, 32, and 64GB iterations for $199, $299, and $399 respectively. The retail price without string to telcos starts at $649 (USA).


Closer home: Singapore, one of the earliest wave

In Singapore, the iPhone 5 will be available without contract (unlocked) for a recommended retail price of:-

16GB model: S$948    (US$772)    - approx. RM2,399
32GB model: S$1,088 (US$886)    - approx. RM2,799
64GB model: S$1,238 (US$1,008) - approx. RM3,099

Second look: iPhone 5 does look tall, probably disproportionate.
A little bit of effort needed to get use to it.

The narrow but tall design reminds me of the long gone Nokia 9500, a premium Nokia product during its days. Of course iPhone 5 looks much better, but I can't help thinking about Apple's innovation in terms of look, or the lack of it.



They shrunk the 30-pin connector into a digital type called Thunderbolt (Lightning). This new connector made the old one completely obsolete! There goes my docking station, my charger and data cable. They are completely useless without adaptor (additional un-necessary purchase).



My previous iPhones have all been of black finishes. I must admit though that this White & Silver variant of the iPhone 5 is appealing.


Dimensions comparison with its rival's flagship, the S3:

Height x Width x Thick
Galaxy S3  : 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm
iPhone 5    : 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm



The new iPhone 5 compared to the latest offering from Samsung (Galaxy S3): There are a lot of websites offering information on technical & specifications of the two, but you have to feel the slab in your hand to appreciate the uniqueness of both.

Don't discount the iPhone 5 just yet until you touch and feel it. For me, I will stick to my 4S for the time being. With the gradual rather than radical changes in specifications of the latest device, I don't feel that the need to upgrade is sufficiently justified.

The new iPhone (iPhone 5) is almost here

That's September 12.

And the Cupertino electronic giant is suggesting it will finally be a "5". Many expected the 4S to be a much redefined iteration when it was announced late last year, only to be (disappointed, are you?) with the same '4' with dual-core processor, a Siri and a better camera (8MP) as additional features to the squarish slab.

Today is September 11, so, That's tomorrow!

☺ UPDATES, UPDATES: ☺ 
1) Now that the iPhone 5 is here. Should you upgrade from iPhone 4S?
2) iPhone 5 prices in Malaysia?


No doubt the new iPhone 5 would catapult Apple sales but for now let's see some statistics for crunch. In the tablet market the iPad is still the king. But in the smartphone business, Samsung mobile phones remained the most popular in the US with 25.6% of the market (as at the end of July):

Samsung    - 25.6%
LG             - 18.4%
Apple         - 16.3%

Smartphones powered by Google's Android software continued to dominate the US market and elsewhere in the world. This is a case of 'open-source' Android versus propriety iOS system:

Android     - 52.2% (US market)
iOS           - 33.4%
Others      - 14.4% (Windows, Syambian, etc)

The iPhone progression: Nothing much has changed.

In order to achieve the much-talked 4" display, the iPhone 5 is said to become longer but no change in the width. How ugly could that be? But wait. The iPhone is always full of surprises. Let's see tomorrow if it is a pleasant one.

For now I am a happy user of the 4S.

New Galaxy S3 launched and Compared with 4S, S2 and One X

The new Galaxy S3 that many have been waiting for is finally here.

All questions and rumours of specifications of the new Samsung Galaxy S3 has now been answered with its official announcement on 3rd May 2012. In case you were wondering if all the speculated specs materialised, head on to All New Samsung Galaxy S3, published back in March 2012.

First impression is that, the S3 resembles the iPhone 3GS, minus the excessive curved corners when front-viewed. Not that it looks bad; it is something I personally wanted done on the iPhone 4S.

Comparison with its predecessor Galaxy S2, rivals One X and iPhone 4S

The comparison is purely on specifications and not based on practical test on each gadget as at the time of compiling this article, the Galaxy S3 is not yet available to the public. There are two main aspect that consumers tend to pit a particular smart phone against another namely ease of use and 'on-paper' performance. On-paper performance refers to technical data sheet providing details of manufacturer's measured parameters. 

Many instances of tests done in the past tell us that higher specced smart phone does not necessarily perform better when bench-marked hands on with another that is slightly falls below it. The likely winner would be one that could combine the better specifications with ease of use.

 

From L-to-R: Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3, iPhone 4S and HTC One X

Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S are included in this table to give you an idea of what kind of improvements the manufacturers of S3 and One X have included in the newer gadgets.

If you ask me, I would say the S3 look nicely built and is is only fair that Android should match that with a more stable OS and improved intuitiveness. Will just have to wait for it to be launched in Malaysia to get to feel the metal.

All New Samsung Galaxy S3

Let's take a time out on the smoking issues of Rare Earth and Lynas, and take a look at updates on New Gadgets.

Ok, you've been deceived, well just a little. The new Samsung Galaxy S3 is not yet out. But here is an interesting possibility of its imminent launch. By the way the S3 is of particular interest as my better half is currently using Galaxy S2 and she may want to check this one out.

Work of the rumour millers.

Galaxy S3 Announcement?

With Mobile World Congress (MWC) over now and nothing happened, the rumour mill will probably be shifting to higher gears once more. It was understood that Samsung performed very well during the recent MWC with some great devices.

In Korea, check out what ZDNet said and the S3 would probably be launched in April, with London and the UK one of the initial launch markets. This would be best timed for this year's Olympic Games. Note that Samsung is an official partner of the games.

Speculated Galaxy S3 Specifications

The Galaxy S3 would be powered by a 1.5-GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos CPU, with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available out of the box. A possible full edge-to-edge HD screen measuring 4.8 inches ans the option to choose from 32 GB or 64 GB internal storage. A big 2 GB of internal memory and an 8MP camera.

Comparing the S2 and S3, but no promise, just hope. Lets see if Galaxy S3 fans would be sorely disappointed as did iPhone fans with the eventual release of the 4S instead of 5.

For the hopefuls' reading pleasure.

Form Factor

Samsung is going to set the bar very high with a thinner phone making it further competitive compared to iPhone 4S. The 4S is currently thicker than the S2. As for dimensions and weight, no single rumour miller has provided any information so far, or at least I haven't seen any on the Internet yet.

Verdict

The Galaxy S3 is going to attract a lot of iPhone fans and it will come in no surprise if the rumoured features become reality. Moreover, iPhone 5 (or whatever they may call it) is still many months away from possible launch.

iPhone 4S Uptrend Pricing

My wife and I were passing by City Mall, Kota Kinabalu a couple of days ago and came across the same retail shop she had a first glance of her current Galaxy S2 earlier this year. This retailer seem to have the upper hand in terms of getting new smart phones early in their product lines.

While we were able to fiddle with the S2 for considerable amount of time last time around, the white iPhone 4S set was out of touch (not literally), it was nicely wrapped in plastic and the salesperson did not allow us to unwrap or switch it on to have a better idea. It was understandable considering at that time not a single premise has this set yet.

I'm fine with the no-fiddling house rule. What irked me was the price tag of RM3,399 for a 16GB variant. That is roughly USD1,085 compared to an unlocked set in the United States of USD649 (RM2033). In Singapore, unlocked set is retailed at SGD948 (RM2,316).

I suppose this is all about brand and people's perception and acceptance of certain products coupled with shortage of supply. But at RM3,399 I just think one should wait for the dust to settle and then decide if that amount of money is well spent.

A more likely pricing scenario (I believe still few more weeks away) is as follow:

*iPhone 4S prices are derived from Unlocked iPhone 4S retailed prices, Singapore

So, there you go. Don't pay un-necessary money unless you are a person who wants everything on the dot, or you are buying this for a very, very special occasion and hence money is not an issue in your equation.

Every time this company comes out with a new iPhone, for a similarly specced unit there will be a drop in recommended retail price. This is a common trend for electronic gadgets and iPhone should not be an exception. The above table shows the summary of their previous launchings, and taking 16GB variant as an example the price was lowered on every subsequent release. Expect the same for the 4S.

For a more street-priced feel of iPhone 4S in Singapore, visit here.

For an insight of the overpriced sets in Malaysia, visit here. By the way, this reseller offers iPhone 4S, 16GB here at RM3,099. Still exorbitant.

Siri - Old tech., New makeover

Remember Lieutenant Commander Data in the fictional Star Trek? He is the talking robot, an android they called him but that was all in the imagination of the film makers. He is a very capable 'assistant' that surpass human in many aspects of life.

Later on in the IT era there is this 'lady' called LiNa who answers all your questions on job related matters at JobStreet.com. She doesn't talk to you much like Android (Commander Data) but she sends you e-mails every other day without fail.

Fast forward to 2011.

Meet Siri, your Personal Assistant who will practicably be there with you everywhere you go. Talking gadget or robot and android (pun intended), is a very old technology but in iPhone 4S you are presented with a whole new approach - and hopefully new experience - to getting virtual assistance from your smart phone.

For a formal introduction of how Siri will be of help to you, watch this clip:

Can't play it here, go to the video link.

If you grow tired of formality and would like to have a laugh or two, check this one out. Perhaps you can also ask her if she'd like to go to a movie with you.

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Assistant or nuisance?

I wonder if it would work across the board. Given that in Asia you will come across a wide variety of accents such as Singapore, India, Malaysia , the Philippines where English is widely spoken, I think Siri would struggle in my hands. Someone, some Apps developers need to come up with some decent Apps to help Siri understand the locals.

In any case, the phone will be available in a couple of days time in the US and few other countries while 22 more will follow shortly. Singapore, our nearest neighbour is getting them at the end of the month so Maxis should have them for Malaysians not too far away.

Passing of an enormous talent

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I was contemplating posting my disappointment over the 4^th October 2011 release of the not-so-impressive 5^th generation iPhone 4S in Cupertino, California when I read first thing today on MarketWatch of the passing of Steve Jobs. Little did we know that the day the 5^th iPhone was launched was the very day that this great man last breathed air.

Steve Jobs was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, and the board of directors offered a statement acknowledging his passing on Wednesday:

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

“His greatest love was his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”

Image from MarketWatch

Goodbye, and rest in peace Steve. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for improving the quality of so many lives. You will be deeply missed.

Let's dedicate the S in the new iPhone 4S to Steve.