Come on Apple… Amaze Me
So you might have heard about a new phone that’s out now. They call it the iPhone 5 and it is apparently the best phone Apple has ever created.
I don’t disagree. I like that they’ve gone back to a non-glass back. I like even more that it’s smaller, lighter, more powerful and let’s be honest — it has an improved, albeit still proprietary, plug. No more trying to plug it in the wrong way? Yes please. Still, these are evolutionary in nature and really only mildly so. It’s going to sell like hotcakes, I’m sure. Though why people would want to use hotcakes as a cellphone is outside the scope of this post. And if I weren’t already happy with my iPhone 4 (not even a 4S), I would upgrade. I’ll take a pass for now and wait awhile. Still, there are some things I would have liked to have seen.
As I said, I like the new non-glass backing. But perhaps they could go further? With the cash reserves Apple has on hand, they could buy Nokia and make an iPhone capable of surviving a gunshot. At point blank range. With a .50 cal. Seriously, have you seen those things? The Nokias, not the .50 cals. The point being anything Apple can do to ruggedize the iPhone (while still maintaining that famous iPhone design aesthetic) would be much appreciated.
Speaking of an iPhone surviving catastrophes, what about water? I’ve reviewed the Otterbox case for iPhone 4 but have since quit using it because the rubber shell was beginning to tear near the headphone flap and I decided I was going to try using my iPhone au naturale. So far I haven’t had any disasters and I’m doing alright with transporting my iPhone in my pocket but while I would dislike dropping it, I don’t think it would cause the same amount of panic as dipping it in liquid would. To that end, would it be possible to use some sort of liquid repelling construction or substance to at least provide a little peace of mind? It would be nice to know my iPhone could be used in the rain, or on a train, and on a bus, with a friend named Gus… ok, I’ll stop now.
Moving down the wishlist, I’m going to add something that I suspect could be just an iOS feature as opposed to a hardware update. Wi-fi only network mode. Currently iOS presents you the option to either disable all networking (Airplane Mode), only use cell networking (by turning off Wi-Fi) or to use Wi-Fi/cell networking (using Wi-Fi when available and falling back to cell otherwise). But what if I don’t want to use cell networking at all, and just want to make use of Wi-Fi? Apple, can you give me some of that, please? (Look, I just said please. That means you have to now, right? Tim?) Okay, those of you in the know are aware of my failure here. Head over to the Settings app, go to General->Cellular, turn off the cellular data option. Grats, you are now WiFi only. *sigh*
Right now, you might be wondering about the dock connector. There’s been a number of comments about Apple missed a chance to win some points by switching to the ubiquitous micro-USB connector rather than their new proprietary Lightning connector (seriously guys? Thunderbolt and Lightning? really?). If this article is to be believed, there are some solid reasons not to use micro-USB and in fact I think it would be reasonable to offer it as a new standard and to start switching phones to support it. That said, others have commented that while Apple might be justified in using their new connector, they should have offered adapters. That I also disagree with. If you’re buying a new iPhone 5, you’re getting a new Lightning adapter. If you have devices which work with the old Apple dock connector, in many cases an adapter won’t work purely because of the physical layout, not to mention the iPhone 5’s new dimensions. So in this case, my request is simple… Apple, offer your new connector up as a new standard, available for the industry to move to. It does seem to have some keen advantages and it would be nice to have everyone on the same page, widening the availability of third party add-ons that work with any phone, as opposed to having to pick one ecosystem or the other.
That’s all for me. There are other things that could be mentioned (NFC anyone?) but for me personally, this much and I’d be a very happy camper. That’s not to say the iPhone 5 isn’t a nice phone as is. Sure it is. But it could just be that much nicer. Tim? Are you taking requests?
September 20th, 2012 at 4:59 PM
You can get WiFi-only by first entering airplane mode—this turns WiFi off—and then turning WiFi back on. This is how you use WiFi on an airplane for instance; it’s also the only way I dare to use the iPhone when traveling abroad, where any use of cell data will authorize AT&T to ransack my home and run away with all my belongings. You know…it’s like…expensive.
September 20th, 2012 at 5:07 PM
*sigh* Funny thing… just this morning I happened to be sifting through the Settings app (still on iOS 5) when I noticed that under General->Cellular, there was a way to turn off the cellular data… which in combination with leaving WiFi enabled gives you (taadaaaaa) WiFi-only mode. No airplane mode needed. Then I realized I really ought to update the article. Then I saw your post when I got home and realized it is now too late. 🙂
So I’ll alter the post here in a moment to reflect my newfound knowledge and reveal my everlasting embarrassment. 😉