iPhone 5 Reviews

On September 14, I did what I haven't done before. I went to the computer bright and early to pre-order my iPhone 5. Unbeknownst to me (and many other disappointed customers), even the pre-orders would sell out in just a few, short hours. My order made it under the deadline by a whopping 12 minutes in order for it to be delivered on September 21. Low and behold, about 1 p.m., the FedEx truck showed up, rang the bell, and there it was. I even got an email with the tracking information so I could see where it was from the time it was on its way. I didn't wait in line, and I didn't camp out at any store. This isn't something I would normally do, but my current phone, the iPhone 3GS, was on its last leg and I had been really testing my patience by waiting as long as I did for the new iPhone 5. In April, I heard a rumor that the new phone may be coming in early fall. As time went on, the rumor was coming from more places and more often, so I decided to tough it out and wait.

Here's what I like about the iPhone 5 -

It is VERY fast. I read the previews that the new processor and iOS would be much faster and was hoping it would be the case. One of the first things I did was held both phones and launched the same applications at the same time. Hands down, the iPhone 5 was faster. I was in the applications and looking around before it had even launched on my 3GS. This made me really happy. Among other very important things, I can now play Scramble with Friends without my phone being incredibly sluggish and stuttering to the point of stalling.

The battery life is much better. My 3GS was dying so quickly, that I was beginning to carry some kind of charger with me all of the time. Even with regularly closing all open applications and restarting the phone, it had become incredibly slow and was eating through the battery. With the 5, I can plug it into the radio in the car and listen to music all of the way to school and the battery isn't below 98%. The 3GS would have been lucky to still be at 75% once I arrived.

Call quality is improved. Interestingly enough, one of the things I try to avoid most on my phone is talking on it. Part of that is me, but a large part is that the quality of the connection was always poor before and calls were dropped too often. I remember hearing, when I bought my 3GS, that the iPhone was great for everything but making calls...didn't make much sense. I don't think that is the case any longer. The quality on the 5 is as clear as my landline and I've only had one dropped call so far. Frankly, I'm not sure if that was AT&T or me, so I'm not worried about it. The 5 seems to be a phone you can also use as a phone.

The camera and options are much better. I always hated using my 3GS for photos because they were always grainy. And if I tried to use the zoom feature, they were pitiful. The 5 has a much better camera with an added panoramic option. I've been playing with it a lot lately.

Earbuds and headphone jack. A friend reminded me about this one. It is really nice that the headphone jack is now on the bottom of the phone. It may sound silly, but I always carry my phone upside down in my pocket because the speaker is on the bottom and easier to hear alerts/rings. Now that the jack is on the bottom, it is even better. The new shape of the earbuds is also really nice. I would still like to see a softer end, like other earbuds, but the new shape is really great and fits the ear much better.