iPhone 5 - Breakthrough Device Or Boring Do Over?

IPHONE 5 PROMISES TO KEEP ME YAWNING

So we are on the cusp of another grandioso Apple announcement as we near what could be the release of the iPhone 5... would someone wake me up when it's over? Sure, this might be a great device. But I'm seriously doubting that Apple gets me excited like the days of old.

The former iPhone fanboy has lost his love for the sacred fruit of Cuppertino. I miss the "magicness" of the next-iPhone rampups. That magic has faded since I bought my iPhone 4 in 2010. Now that we are about to see what the iPhone 5 will entail, I have no excitement left whatsoever.

Many of my iPhone fan friends are super excited about the 6th generation of the Apple flagship smartphone. They say it will be a breakthrough device that further seperates itself from the Android competition. But looking at the comparison of the rumored digitizer in the photo, I'm disappointed.

The new iPhone, if this happens to be the real McCoy, will look a lot like the current iPhone 4S but only stretched taller. The diagonal on the display will be 4". That's bummer number one. To me, the standard minimum size for a smartphone is 4.3".

They seem to have stretched the limits of the display to the edges, which is kind of nice. But the display is still too narrow, and too small. The home button looks like it will be slightly smaller, and there is a bit of rearranging going on the top of the face.

There are lots of rumors flying about what the iPhone 5 will be packing on the inside. We can fully expect a 4G LTE radio, 1Gb of RAM, and possibly more storage space than previous models. There might be NFC (near-field communication) and a couple of other tricks, but that's about it.

The data connector/charger cable will be different. They are going to have a plug that looks similar to the Micro USB connector, but it will be a proprietary Apple connector.

Rumors are aslo swirling around to the tune of an improved digitizer glass that is less succeptible to scratching and cracking. As fragile as iPhones are, this would be a humongous improvement. But that wouldn't make me want to run out and get one.

From what I gather, the new iOS6 environment will only get Apple caught up to what Google has already accomplished with Anroid 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich". I'm not expecting to see anything relatively new with mobile operating systems with this device.

So while this might be a great device for Apple fans, it just doesn't excite me. I might end up buying one just to have an Apple phone to test out the apps my company develops, but it wouldn't be my primary phone. My Android device will still reign as my main gadget.

One interesting fact is that each new iPhone has outsold all previous models combined. They are predicting the same for the iPhone 5. That being the case, it really doesn't matter how boring the new iPhone is. They are serving their customer base fine enough, and they are gathering new fans to boot.

My prediction is that the iPhone 5 will continue the tradition and break records for smartphone releases, and the loyal following will happy. Some of the sensible fans will complain that it isn't on the bleeding edge, but they will be happy by the end of announcement day.

As for me, I think I'll sleep through this one until we get the news on the next Samsung Galaxy Note!

Carlton Flowers
Bored iPhone Reporter