Who's ordering an iPhone 5?

[audiophile]

<p>

The spoken turn-by-turn directions alone make it worth it for me!

</p>

<p>There are several inexpensive GPS apps available that do that on the iphone and ipad right now…but if you’re looking for an excuse to buy a 5, go right ahead.</p>

[razorsharp]

<p>

A few years ago the iPad didn’t exist and within 1 year it was a bigger business than all of Dell. Now it dwarfs nearly all other tech companies in any field and it is dwarfed by the iPhone.

</p>

<p>I am still surprised that the iPad has gained so much popularity. Microsoft produced a tablet in the early 2000s and it was a big fat nothing. Microsoft is not known for innovation but it was ahead of Apple on this one. Maybe the difference is the “cool factor”. Stuff MS produces is boring but if a similar item is produced by Apple it becomes cool.</p>

[overseas]

<p>

Not me. I have the original iPhone 3g and it works fine for what I need. If the iPhone 4 drops in price to free as a result of this iPhone 5 then I might buy one of those since it’d be in my price range.

Okay but you’re still paying probably over $60/month for your data plan, regardless of how old your phone is. Over a two year period that adds up to $1440. For $1640 you could have a super fast phone with an amazing camera, Siri, etc. What are you really saving?
-overseas’ son</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>This article says that Microsoft is coming out with their first tablets this fall.
[Microsoft</a> Surface -Xbox or Zune?](<a href=“Page Not Found (404) - CNET”>Page Not Found (404) - CNET)</p>

<p>& BB, I always heard that Bill liked 7-11 coffee?</p>

[MyLB]

<p>I’ve read some of the earlier and most recent posts (not everything in between), and I know this is probably not an answerable question, but does anybody have any idea how long the wait time might be? I am only planning on getting one because I’ve been planning for > a year to upgrade this October (that’s when I get the big discount from Sprint). Just happens to be shortly after the 5’s release. DS said yesterday that if I don’t order on Friday, I’ll probably have to wait until Christmas. If I were to wait until early October, any guesses as to whether it’d be more like immediate/several weeks/several months?</p>

[razorsharp]

<p>

In 2002, original equipment manufacturers released the first tablet PCs designed to the Microsoft Tablet PC specification. This generation of Microsoft Tablet PCs were designed to run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the Tablet PC version of Windows XP.[3] This version of Microsoft Windows superseded Microsoft’s earlier pen computing operating environment, Windows for Pen Computing 2.0. After releasing Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Microsoft designed the successive desktop computer versions of Windows, Windows Vista and Windows 7, to support pen computing intrinsically.

</p>

<p>[Microsoft</a> Tablet PC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tablet_PC]Microsoft”>Microsoft Tablet PC - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>I had forgotten that the MS tablet let you write with a pen. I don’t think Apple or anyone else lets you do that now.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>I thought I remembered something.so they just didn’t support it or what happened?</p>

<p>There are lots of third party styluses available.
<a href=“On Touch Screens, Rest Your Finger by Using a Stylus - State of the Art - The New York Times”>On Touch Screens, Rest Your Finger by Using a Stylus - State of the Art - The New York Times;

[razorsharp]

<p>I the early 2000s, I think the Palm Pilot still ruled the day and information could be entered with a stylus. It was a pretty handy feature. It looks like Jobs didn’t agree.</p>

[lizard]

<p>My friend is getting an iPhone 5 and giving me her ‘old’ 4s which has a crack on front which I can get fixed for under $50. </p>

<p>Don’t forget too that Apple is releasing Sept. 19 for free downloading the updated version of its operating system (iOS 6) for iPhones 4s, 4, 3gs. Everyone can get a fix for their existing iPhone addictions without having to buy an iPhone 5! The new iPhone 5’s will ship with iOS 6 already installed. The new iOS 6 is supposed to have over 200 new features including the new Maps system and Siri. For many folks just getting the new free operating system for their present iPhone may be a better choice than popping for the iPhone 5 right away.</p>

[blueiguana]

<p>Yes, I won’t have the bigger screen, or the new camera (but all the iphone camera’s stink so…), but my 4s will get a lot of upgrades with the new ios6. Plenty to keep me occupied for a while.</p>

[BCEagle91]

<br>

<p>Most people pay extra for the perceived prestige of owning a
Mac. It’s just natural you see them at Starbucks paying extra to
order a coffee with 10+ syllables in its name.</p>

<br>

<p>Macs are great if you have to develop for multiple operating systems,
Linux, Windows and Mac OSX as they can run all three. They’re also
required to develop iOS Applications.</p>

<p>I work in a mainly Unix environment and Mac OS X integrates nicely
into this environment and I don’t have the maintenance issues of
Linux.</p>

<br>

<p>There are several inexpensive GPS apps available that do that on the
iphone and ipad right now…but if you’re looking for an excuse to
buy a 5, go right ahead.</p>

<br>

<p>I prefer a separate GPS device as they have the maps preloaded -
there’s no need to chew up a lot of data and it still works when you
don’t have a data signal. You can also use your phone as a phone
(or hand it to a passanger) while the GPS is running.</p>

<br>

<p>I am still surprised that the iPad has gained so much
popularity. Microsoft produced a tablet in the early 2000s and it
was a big fat nothing. Microsoft is not known for innovation but it
was ahead of Apple on this one. Maybe the difference is the “cool
factor”. Stuff MS produces is boring but if a similar item is
produced by Apple it becomes cool.</p>

<br>

<p>It’s the Apps. There are some 225K iPad specific Apps. I’m finding out
that the Android App ecosystem stinks on tablets compared to the iPad.</p>

<br>

<p>I the early 2000s, I think the Palm Pilot still ruled the day and
information could be entered with a stylus. It was a pretty handy
feature. It looks like Jobs didn’t agree.</p>

<br>

<p>Handwriting recognition wasn’t all that good in the PDA era (I used
a Garmin iQue 3600 until only three years ago). A stylus can be useful
for some operations. The same can be said for the mouse, touchscreen
and touchpad. They all have their uses.</p>

[audiophile]

<p>[iphone</a> 5 vs. 4S](<a href=“First Look: iPhone 5 - YouTube”>First Look: iPhone 5 - YouTube)</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>I’m hoping the new earbuds work.</p>

[Lergnom]

<p>BC, you can get a completely preloaded maps GPS. I have, for example, CoPilot GPS and it comes with some maps for free. They take up space, of course, but you could get N.America or the east coast or some other area for free. </p>

<p>The stylus thing is hilarious. The market has rejected them. I have a few because I like to draw. They are worse than your finger for almost everything. It’s silly watching a commercial showing a person clicking on a button when a finger definitely does that better or selecting a graph with a stylus and moving it when the finger does that at least as well. The people who do the touch interfaces have examined the target size area for the kinds of touches people make. The iPad and iPhone excel at identifying touches and translating them into what the user intends given that particular app. </p>

<p>There are a number of reasons to upgrade to a 5 but the biggest may be for gamers because games always push the limits of a system. The A6 is faster and it appears the subsystems within the 5 are also faster. The screen’s specific 16x9 design is also exactly what gaming wants.</p>

<p>The iPhone is a timeless design. Up there with Loewy’s stuff and, of course, Dieter Rams at Braun. Apple’s aesthetic owes a lot to both.</p>

[Krlilies]

<p>

… I use Macs because they excel at what I need for work (lots of audio/visual projects); because they are way less subject to viruses; because they are reliable.

</p>

<p>I agree.</p>

<p>

I get weary of the reverse-snobbery of windows-vs-mac users. It’s just what works for me.

I avoid taking sides by just having both a PC and MacBook . That way I can appreciate each device’s pros and grumble about their cons.</p>

<p>About the stylus being hilarious. I actually liked it and can still remember lining up on Black Friday early am for the cheap Palm Pilot.</p>

<p>

The iPhone is a timeless design.

Ditto with the Imac G4. It died on me a couple of years ago but it’s still sitting on one of the desks as some sort of table sculpture.</p>

[razorsharp]

<p>The design I really liked but no one else liked was when Apple made a computer that looked like a cube. I thought it would make a good foot stool as well as computer. :)</p>

[Krlilies]

<p>^^ or a huge tissue paper holder. The G4 I had was the iMac G4 Sunflower not the Power Mac G4 Cube.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>My G4 was a laptop. Before that I had a clone.</p>

[GladGradDad]

<p>

Okay but you’re still paying probably over $60/month for your data plan, regardless of how old your phone is. Over a two year period that adds up to $1440. For $1640 you could have a super fast phone with an amazing camera, Siri, etc. What are you really saving?

Overseas:</p>

<p>That’s an easy one: $1640 - $1440 = $200 therefore I’m saving $200!</p>

<p>My phone is plenty fast - I haven’t noticed anyone talking any slower on it. ;)</p>

<p>The camera is adequate for the novelty pictures I use it for. If I want to take really good pictures I’ll do it with my Canon T3i digital SLR. </p>

<p>I don’t care about Siri.</p>

<p>It looks like the iPhone 4 may be free now so I might upgrade to that.</p>

[blueiguana]

<p>Question, really, really dumb one I realize, but anyway…if you have a data plan there is no use for a texting plan, correct? The reason I ask is many moons ago I added unlimited family texting due to three teenagers. Slowly smartphones were added but still teens texting. With this release we will now have 4 of 5 ppl with smartphones and data plans. It seems silly to pay $30/mo for unlimited family texting for one person IF everyone on data plans is getting unlimited texting anyway. With the $30/mo I could get my youngest son the i4 free and pay for a $25 data plan.</p>

<p>Can someone tell me if I’m missing something here?</p>