...but there doesn't seem to be that much of a change with the models, at least for now. Camera surely, but I think I'll rather upgrade my actual camera first.
Had there been a form-factor change, I think people would be singing a different song. I really believe that the detractors are being very superficial, and since the phone
looks the same, the notion is that there wasn't much change (when, in fact, this is arguably one of the biggest round of upgrades the iPhone has ever seen).
Siri voice recognition is absolutely enormous. It changes the way that we interact with our phones on many levels, and allows people to speak naturally and quickly, while maintaining almost 100% accuracy. If you so desire,
you never have to type nor read a single thing on the phone, ever again. Compose and have read back to you 100% accurate emails, text messages, phone dialing, calendar appointments, weather reports, stock options... the integration with Wolfram-Alpha is mind-blowing. It puts the world of information at your voice command, just like
freaking Star Trek.
The new, switching antenna design allowed the iPhone to not only double its speed, septuple its graphics capabilities, but also
increase battery life across the board.
Also changed is the fact that this is a "world phone" -- GSM and CDMA, all-in-one. No more model dichotomy, as MisterMe said. Buy it in Hong Kong and use it in the USA.
We now have 1080p, stabilized video. 8 megapixels of f2.4, ultra-fast photo shooting (replacing many point-and-shoot cameras outright).
It's simply superficial judgement -- since it looks the same, all of the other amazing upgrades get swept under the rug. Had Apple added a beveled, aluminum body and incremented the model number by one (both insignificant, superficial, and useless "upgrades"), or even just called it the iPhone "5", people would be lining up for pre-orders now.
Not that much of a change? That tells me that someone didn't actually watch the whole presentation and tuned out once they saw there was no form-factor change.
I reiterate: go back and calculate the changes from iPhone model to iPhone model. It is ridiculous to think that this round of updates was NOT the most major, most groundbreaking, and most important round of updates to the iPhone yet.
What did the 3G add over the original iPhone? Form-factor, 3G and GPS. That's it. No speed bump, no better screen, no nothing (GPS is big, though, gotta give credit where credit is due).
What did the 3GS add over the 3G? Speed, storage/RAM, and a slightly better camera with video capabilities.
What did the 4 add over the 3GS? New form factor, CDMA, much better camera, gyroscope, noise suppression, retina display, and a different SIM card.
What did the 4S add over the 4? Radically improved, faster camera with 1080p video and image stabilization. 4G-like 3G speeds. Support for all three major carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint). Single- to dual-core CPU. Siri natural voice recognition (can't extoll the virtues of this enough). 7x better graphics capabilities. Improved battery life while still increasing specs across the board.
The 4S had as many and as important improvements to it over the 4 than the 4 had over the 3GS, yet people still complain that it doesn't look any different.
Yikes. If this is the state of consumers today, I think I'll go ahead and make millions by putting Honda engines and transmissions under Porsche bodies -- because, you know, unless it
looks different, well, all the other crap is just that: crap.
(Gia: this is in no way an attack on your logic, it was just one small fragment of a sentence of yours that got me thinking about it)
I ask this of those who do not think this was a big update to the iPhone: What, then, specifically, would have made you go, "Oh, snap! That is INCREDIBLE and this is a major upgrade!"
