How is the 'biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone' simply a taller screen and newer processor? What about NFC? Wireless charging? Sorry Apple, but this just isn't that impressive.
You know what? Just like any startup that posts here, Apple is filled with real people who take real pride in what they do, and I can imagine that for any of the thousands of folks who worked really hard on designing this product and manufactured to absurdly low variances, the sentiment you just expressed was deeply hurtful, and, in fact, wrong. There's a lot to be impressed by here. Lots of tiny details that aren't captured on a feature checklist.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Don't sling shit publicly on their announcement day because your pet features weren't included (1).
The implication being that employees who work at corporations that make luxury goods don't have feelings worth considering?
In fact, it seems to be a play on words that the 'biggest change is the fact that it's so thin' and not the 'biggest change is the biggest screen'.
Apple understands that hardware is less important than software in the day to day experience of using the phone, they continue to focus on improving the experience of using the device, not the spec sheet. Thats why major hardware changes tend to be battery, screen, and camera: those are the features that most affect the day-to-day experience of the user.
Consumers outside HN aren't going to base a purchase decision on specs, so shiny toys like NFC or wireless charging end up compromising battery life or size, it's probably a pretty easy call for the company to make given the focus on the core experience.
That part is quite clever and will perfectly communicate to people what's new about the iPhone.
It's marketing, sheesh.
What I think the grandparent was getting to isn't pointing out the silliness of the ad copy, but that the actual device being advertised is an underwhelming incremental improvement. This is less of an improvement on the 4S than the 4S was over the 4, and the 4S was uniformly dinged for being a disappointing (most of the best new stuff was software) iteration.
Really, this isn't even to ding Apple: smartphones are becoming commdities. The years of rapid evolution are behind us. The Android market is seeing similar pressure, as the most recent phones all more or less look and work identically.
Sure, there was some rapid change as things like Android and WinCE dumped their old-style geek-centric interfaces and moved toward a more iPhone-ish consumer-centric approach. But after "the big switch" each one has had a similarly deliberate schedule of updates.
Note that all of those features are required for a modern smartphone, and almost all of them were driven first by an iPhone release.
The iPhone 5 just isn't like that. There's nothing "new" here that we'll expect to see later on in other phones. It's just more of the same, but slightly better.
This collective "meh" has been said over and over again in techie forums about every iteration of the iPhone (including the first one), as Apple's marched from a bit player to the most profitable company in the world on the iPhone's success. Actually, this was pretty much the response to every iPod, too.
I don't know if wireless charging has improved since the Palm Pre days or not but it wasn't really setting the world on fire back then. NFC is pretty neat but my guess is Apple is looking at their own system they can control and profit from. If NFC becomes a big deal before they do their own system it may turn out to be a bad gamble.
A number of chipsets do 802.11ac + NFC/RFID + (wifi,etc) in the same package. I suppose we won't know until teardowns begin appearing...
http://www.marvell.com/company/news/pressDetail.do?releaseID...
As someone working in the 'Internet of Things' space, I wasn't so much disappointed with the lack of NFC - as Zigbee/802.15.4. Again, thanks to integrated radios, NFC and Zigbee can be done on the same chip.
The (mass adopted) future will have to wait for another product/hype cycle.
[1] Feb. 2012 - http://www.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?t...
“As for wireless charging, Schiller notes that the wireless charging systems still have to be plugged into the wall, so it’s not clear how much convenience they add."
It's a comparison to the state of previous iPhones, not a comparison to the state of all phones on the market.
</pedantic>
http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/06/jobs-focus-is-about-saying-...
Jobs/Apple was never about bundling tons of irrelevant features together (wireless charging? Please...), and winning by ticking feature checkboxes.
Jobs used to introduce a new iPod model every year or so. And he also got to introduce 4 iPhone models. Lots of times the changes were incremental (3G -> 3GS for example).
Heck, back in the day, a new color or some more storage was considered a huge improvement over the previous iPod model. People literally went bezerk in the possibility that the next iPod could also play video (imagine that!).
And now you have a mature phone, in it's 6th version, fast as hell, with a GPU that you would have killed for to have in your laptop half a decade ago, camera, gyro, retina, bigger screen, thin, new extremely featured iOS, some 500.000+ apps etc. What exactly do you want with that? Magic sprinkle dust?
I would be satisfied even if Apple had only sticked to making computers/OS. They have far surpassed that. Nobody even asked them to make mp3 players, phones, or tablets in the first place. Since we will be using all of the above for the next 20 years, I think they will be fine, even if they dont pull another market/device out of their hats...
It's trivial for the phone to be better than 5+ year old tech. But that's a completely irrelevant comparison.
IMHO, it's better than any Android phone out there, bar none. From the construction, to the display, to the weight and size, to the cpu/gpu combo, and more importantly to the huge app ecosystem that makes use of standard gizmos inside it, and ties it all together. Plus the media ecosystem. Plus the third-party peripheral ecosystem.
>It's trivial for the phone to be better than 5+ year old tech. But that's a completely irrelevant comparison.
Yes, completely irrelevant, since it's also better than any 1 month old tech, or the previous iPhone itself.
What's the competition? Some Android phone that will be left without an update to the next Android version and which has the subpar Android app ecosystem and subpar construction/design? Or the Lumia that doesn't even have an OS out of beta yet and is "due to arrive later this year"?
As if Apple had invented all of those things. They didn't. Far, far from it.
What matters is who made them popular and got them in our collective hands en masse.
That's when the revolution starts, when people start buying them so you have improvements and cheaper price due to economies of scale, and you also get an ecosystem of apps, etc.
Tablets pre-iPad might as well have been non-existing. Same for smartphones pre iPhone. I had several (Nokia, Sony Erricson etc. After the iPhone you couldn't stand this crap for a moment).
I also had 2-3 mp3 players pre iPod. Including some bizarro Sony's own format players. Not even close to what we expect post-iPod.
And they did the same with the tablet, they created a market that did not exist before - from existing technologies.
Apple stands on the shoulders of giants like Nokia, Palm and Blackberry (aka Crackberry).
There's no doubt that they packaged things very nicely and have been very successful, but it's not as if they created this market out of thin air. They surely did not invent the general concept that they've been so successful implementing.
I imagine AAPL are not worried about turning off the hyper-literal critics amongst the crowd.
Good lord, what am I doing debating/discussing a marketing headline... Anyway.
From an industry point of view, I think it makes small transactions extremely secure - with the secure element in the NFC chip, tapping it to the payment terminal provides complete physical proof of the presence of the card. That's way better than even having a sales person sight the card or magnetic stripe etc. which be easily forged.
Once the transactions themselves are very secure there's no longer a need for things like signatures or PINs or other layers of security. That means you as a consumer can just walk into a store, take some things, tap your card / phone and leave. It's a bit hard to describe, but once you've done this you realize (at least I did) how much anxiety the barrier of payment at the end was detracting from your shopping experience. It's not rational, but my personal experience is that there's a strong level of anxiety about being challenged as to your identity and this removes it and makes the whole experience really easy and pleasant.
NFC and wireless charging? Who promised you that? And who delivers those at the moment?
You might want to see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
This isn't to say it's a bad device, just infinite hype for zero payoff.
- Slightly larger screen - Faster CPU - Improved camera - Added LTE - Faster Wifi - Added NFC - Added a couple of sensors - Better battery life - Heavier
Not a whole lot different from the iPhone changelist, and I bet it's not a whole lot different from any other phone maker's changelist between generations either.
Last time the iPhone had such a changelist was in june 2010. The S2 came out 12 months prior to the S3.
When you only release one phone every 24 months people are right to expect more.
That, or you could compare the S2 with S3 against the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S...
So what is left then? What COULD they have added to floor people? Nuclear reactor? Drones? I cannot think of anything.
> Why does every new phone have to be a fucking revolution?
But Apple has a habit of making it seem like everything they do is revolutionary. It's very good marketing.
> Apple reinvents the phone [1]
> This changes everything. Again.
> The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone
> A magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price
> Resolutionary
[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20070113215301/http://apple.com
Every marketing team ever has created hype. Ever.
I don't understand why so many people blame Apple for this.
> people for some reason buy into it
> I don't understand why so many people blame Apple for this.
LTE
As an android (GS3) user I would have liked the iPhone to get NFC (and NFC based mobile payments) for the simple reason that the more phones capable of NFC payments the more merchants are likely to support it which benefits all of us (or at least all of us interested in paying for things with our phones).
The same argument would hold true for wireless charging, but it would probably be unlikely for Apple to adopt the emerging "Qi" wireless charging standard and instead roll it's own.
I know I'm going to take down votes for this, but for 90% of the population NFC is a solution in search of a problem. For most people cash, credit, or debit work just fine. NFC isn't a 10X better payment solution. Most people have to carry something on them to carry cards, drivers licenses, etc in which they will place their payment card. Instead of fiddling with your wallet, now you're fiddling with your phone.
NFC is as silly as using bump for payments.
Phones worked just fine for most people in 2006. Phones' screens were just fine in 2009...
Paypass and Paywave are a considerable improvement over chip and PIN or singing a slip of paper. Faster, less fumbling. Necessary, no; an improvement, yes.
The iPhone was a 10X improvement over what was out there, if you upgraded your whole phone experience got better.
Retina was a 4X improvement (4X as many pixels) after looking at retina the 3GS looked ugly, if you upgraded your entire phone experience got better.
Now lets take a look at what happens if you get an NFC phone, you still have to take your wallet, and then you have to ask everyone whether their payment system supports NFC. 95% of the time you're going to be taking out your wallet. It's not a 10X improvement therefore adoption will be slow.
And it still doesn't work when the power is out unlike cash. I'm actually starting to go away from any payment system that isn't cash, because cash is universally accepted, even the Olympics takes cash.
If NFC was on par with the aforementioned features it would be in the new phone.
Have you ever used Paypass? The readers are pretty conspicuous, large pad above the chip card reader, no need to ask just like you don't need to ask if someone takes cards when you see the reader.
> And it still doesn't work when the power is out unlike cash.
Sure, and phones don't work when the cellular network is down, unlike shouting. But the last time I was unable to pay with a card because power or network were down was in 2010 and that's the only instance I can actually remember since, like, 2005.
Let's not get into the parts where POSes will probably go down too if power goes out...
I'm sure any day now Apple will come out with NFC in the iPhone 5S as they realize they've missed out on a huge opportunity.
Please pay no attention to the ticketing app of which they will probably take a 30% cut. NFC is where the money's at which is why people have stopped buying iPhones and are instead only buying phones with NFC.
I just tossed my wallet, 4S, debit/credit cards, and cash into the garbage, now I just carry around my Galaxy Nexus looking for someone who wants to me to beam them bitcoins. I'm looking forward to walking 5 KM to get to a grocery store to buy food now that I can't drive (my drivers license just got revoked because the police won't accept a picture of it) and theres no where to sell me food in < 5KM (they don't support NFC).
NFC really does change everything, it's a whole new way of living.
As a point of interest I can buy food with NFC within a 12 minute walk, and I don't even have an NFC phone.
The reason why the iPhone was revolutionary wasn't because it had a touch screen it was because it didn't suck. When NFC stops sucking I'll stop saying it sucks.
I thought bump was awesome too, then I realized how inconvenient it was. I could hand you a business card, or I could fiddle with my phone, show you how to download the app, etc. NFC is bump with out the bumping. It's still too fiddly.
The iPaq, Newtown, Palm Pilot, and the Android G1 were solutions in search of a problem just like the current incantation of NFC is.
Have you used a mainstream credit card NFC payment system such as Paypass or Paywave? What did you think sucked about it?
Have you used a mobile device NFC payment system such as Google Wallet? What did you think sucked about it?
I think their decision to go with PassBook will backfire (like Thunderbolt did - It's even more niche than Mac itself!) and they'll add NFC in iPhone 6 like they added USB3 support.
That said, I'm not in a market that either of these technologies are likely to be used in the foreseeable future (5-10 years), so I personally don't care one way or another :) NFC/PassBook catching on just make me more jealous!
OK, then NFC is just a slightly improved Wifi+Bonjour.
That's not to say incremental improvements to existing features, such as LTE, can't be reason enough to sell a device (note that wasn't the question, though). As others have pointed out, though, Edge to 3G felt like a more significant step than 3G to LTE, though, just as 56k to 1 Mbit DSL felt like a more significant step than 1 MBit to 16 Mbit or 16 Mbit to 50 Mbit.
If you look at the changes between previous models it really is. Just about every single component has been upgraded. There have never been this many changes at once in an iPhone. The 3GS->4 upgrade comes close but when you get into the sort of second tier of features the 4S->5 list is quite a bit longer. If you're judging it by significance of the upgrades that may be a little different. I think the 3GS->4 still wins out there. On the raw numbers though the 4S->5 simply has more changes.
Navigation App
If you want to see "infinite hype", check the Microsoft Courier and other hypeware, in which videos were made, the press touted it for months, it was announced to be "the future" and nothing came of it.
"Zero payoff"? Really? It's an amazing device to upgrade to, after your 2-year contract ends, even if it doesn't have magic unicorn powers. It's the best iPhone YET made, period, I don't think someone can argue against that (and no, it's not a guarantee with any product update to be better than the last one).
Your response amounts to the proverbial: "No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame".
>Name for me one brand new feature
"Brand new" is used here to preempt any mention of the tons of incremental improvements?
But what really irks me is the way Apple marketing team is hyping it up - "This is the best <insert iDevice> we have ever made!", "This is revolutionary!", "This will change everything you were doing before!"... A slathering of these so often during the entire event and then on with their advertisements makes me cringe and shake my head with disappointment. This iPhone and the iPod[x] are pretty much an iteration and minor upgrade, not what the actual 'revolutionary' things were - iTouch, iPhone, iPad, retina display, etc.
I don't expect 'revolutionary' every year or any time, I just expect some sincerity announcing.
Did they say this?
Are you an idiot?
And it is the best iPhone they've ever made. And the iPhone is arguably the best phone out there, so they sort of have a fair bit of credibility when they say that stuff.
"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
A few years ago, yes the iPhone was the best in specs and had the most innovative and unique features. I don't think it holds true any more.
But as to why I think it's the best phone? The Eco system, it looks good and it's works seamlessly with all my other stuff.
Yeah, some people will always wait for the next iPhone. But for others, who have a more "neutral" point of view, this iPhone might look very bad in 10 months.
1) Construction (machining, materials, fitting them inside the case, industrial design). Unparalleled.
2) Screen. Top notch (high dpi, improved saturation).
3) Camera. One of the best in the business. Tons of apps for it, even photo books and indie movies videos done with it.
4) Apps ecosystem. Unparalleled in number and quality.
5) OS. Mature, not laggy, full featured, designed with far more coherence than Android and far more functionality in mind than just modernist design compared to Metro.
6) OS Upgrades. You do not even get any with most Android phones. And don't happen to the new Windows mobile os version.
7) Peripherals ecosystem: from health tracking devices, to tripods, to MIDI, unparalleled.
8) No carrier branded bullshit (apps, look etc): priceless.
9) Support ecosystem: Applestores etc. Top notch.
10) Resale value: high.
Unless they're going the linux kernel route and changing their version numbering ;)
I think what is pissing most people off is that up until iphone 4 (not 4s), the iphone was arguably the best smart phone around. 4s and 5 have been improvements to the iphone but have not added anything over its competitors. Most of the competitors can do what the iphone 5 does and more (such as NFC and / or wireless charging).
Bottom line: There is no reason to stick with the iphone 5 other than "I am stuck in the eco system", or "I love apple" or "It is good enough". The "better than the others" argument doesn't fly anymore.
Looking at the construction, the 3G was never something to write home about. The technology forced Apple's hand and they had to make that plastic monster. Acceptable, not great. Like the 5, the 3G improved every aspect of its predecessor and it added 3G.
The 5 is just like the 3G – only that this time around the construction is at least on par or better (likely, looking at first hand ons, still, only speculation at this point) than that of the predecessor. It’s also, quite obviously, less fragile. So Apple has done much more on the construction front, but the jump from 3G to LTE is also arguably not as important than the jump from Edge to 3G.
Looking at the specs and comparing them with other phones you get the same picture you always got. It’s a wash. Those kinds of comparisons never mattered.
In conclusion: no 3GS to 4 jump, but certainly a 1 to 3G jump.
Also a familiar sight since the 3G, geeks are disappointed, the phone sells faster than Apple can make it.
This phone is no surprise. It’s Apple doing what they have always done.
The 5 seems like a solid step. I don't see the need to upgrade every year but if you compare back to the 4 rather than the 4S the performance should be a massive jump. Support for 5GHz wifi could mean a real speed boost too and the bigger screen should be nice.
Other then that copy and paste and enough memory to keep more then 2 tabs open in safari were what I remember.
I don't understand all the negative reactions - name one brand new and truly "wowing" feature the new Galaxy brought to the table? Pretty much all modern smartphones are at the technological cutting-edge and I cannot think of much they could possible squeeze into those things. You already have all sorts of sensors and pretty much all connectivity options you could possibly want and it can do frakking 3D games in the palm of your hand too and play music and videos and etc.
NFC could be interesting but I am happy enough with paying with my CCs or directly playing with my ATM card in a LOT of stores here in Europe. I don't see what paying-over-NFC could do for me. And wireless charging? Sounds incredible and very "sexy" for the average user but really, very "meh" for me. You still going to have to plug something in somewhere... I could not care less.
I can understand people feel a little disappointed but really, what was everyone expecting??? ALL current smartphones were just relatively small updates to existing models. Everyone is doing the "xx% slimmer/lighter/longer/bigger" increments and has been for some time now. There was no "paradigm shift" in ANY one of them. What were people hoping Apple would do... add a nuclear reactor or some drones or what?
Larger screen. It's a BFD for some people, for they have been tearing their hearts out at forums for ages how Android has that and the iPhone doesn't.
And 3G -> 3GS didn't bring anything to the table. Or 4 to 4S for that matter, considering that Siri was already available as an app.
Sorry, false dilemma and totally disingenuous. Just because no one promised it doesn't mean that one couldn't hope for it or be disappointed at its absence. Similarly, having big deal features like those are reasonable expectations for comparison to the original Iphone for "bigness" which I interpret as "important new features that will change how most people use phones in a radical way".
It would in fact be a really big deal if Apple included those - NFC is a fantastic idea that the Iphone could really launch into big-time use. It would in fact be a really big deal if they had wireless charging. Both those would more or less require all the other phones did it too, drastically changing the landscape for a lot of things.
And I'm disappointed that Apple isn't giving everyone a pony. They never promised it, but I'm disappointed that it's not there. I was going to call mine Bob.
I fail to see how being disappointed when features that were never promised aren't delivered is valid disappointment. Apple never promised it because they aren't doing it for this device. It could be coming in the future, or it might not. If, for example, Apple had made official statements about including NFC or wireless charging(not the "rumors" that seem to be the replacement for actual journalism in tech), then disappointment would be warranted. But Apple hasn't done that at all. Would it be nice if they included it? Sure. But they didn't.
This happens just about every time a new piece of tech is announced by everyone, and, quite frankly, it's getting annoying. People complaining about how Samsung isn't doing retina-style displays on their midrange tablets. Or complaining that Nokia is making Windows phones. Or that Apple hasn't included everything that everyone has ever wanted in a phone. With a cherry on top.
There are valid complaints about the new phone and news today: I'm skeptical of the reported battery life, considering all the new tech in the device, and that they made it that much smaller. Or that the majority of the iOS6 features won't be available to the pre-4S iPhones. Or that iTunes is still going to be a resource hog. Or that there's a new connector.
You know what is equally tiring, companies saying "you want existing tech in the products we build? Too bad, you will take what we give you and like it", instead of you know, building things people want to spend money on.
What I think is stupid is people(mostly tech "journalists") that go "I'm disappointed that this device doesn't have this thing that isn't on the spec sheet and was never announced by the company that makes it as a feature". That's the rough equivalent of being disappointed that you don't get everything you wanted for Christmas as a kid. It's silly.
Seriously, it's appalling that you are having trouble understanding this, and are strawmanning it down to "wanting a pony."
On the weekends, I go fly fishing. Full waders and everything. And I take my phone with me. In a plastic sandwich bag, which has kept the phone completely dry even after I accidentally submerged my bag. I could invest in a case if my phone spent more time in the water, but I don't feel the need to.
So yes, I understand your entire point, and yes, it IS pretty much down to wanting a pony.
It is hard, but Apple has $117 billion in cash. They could make an elegant and waterproof smartphone if they wanted.
If you seriously thought that was even a miniscule possibility with the iPhone 5, then you are in for a lot of disappointment.
Further, you are comparing someone who hoped to see NFC and wireless recharge in his phone to a kid not getting everything he wanted. It could very well be that the kid asked for a dog, got an ant farm was disappointed. You're the father shouting "it's a pet dammit" when sure, it is, but missed the point that the features really wanted aren't fulfilled by the ants.
The iPhone 5 is 3.9oz and is 7.6mm thick.
The iPhone 5 is around 18% lighter and 12% thinner than the S3.
I often see people fumble with the S3, especially one-handed, so I'm not sure the size is a good thing.
The iP5 is clearly thinner and lighter, but does it matter? I don't know, not really to me. Maybe to women and kids.
I think confirmation bias may be affecting your anecdotal evidence.
I'm not going to "leave the cult" if you're going to use the exact same kind of logic. From an objective (i.e. comparing sizes and weights) standpoint, the Galaxy is bulkier. From a "features important to wahsd / unit area" standpoint, it's much more space efficient. Neither of those points make his argument invalid.
It does take a little more circuitry to detect orientation, but it seems like it would be worth it for a connector that gets used a lot.
Making it something completely new and unstandard and charge 30$ for an adaptor to everything up to your car that supported the old connector does not seem to be that much of an improvement. I see a lot of trouble in adopting the new iPhone and not many gains other than its faster lighter and lasts longer.
Which increases the price of small peripherals by a considerable amount.
Where was the innovation in the S2, S3 or the Nokia 920? And no, nfc nor wireless-charging don't really floor me. These are pretty small.
How is "new connector" a good thing? It's still not USB.
Looks like iPhone is playing catchup. How times change!
Well, it's smaller enabling the phone to be thinner, more durable design, can go in either side up, and it's faster.
>Looks like iPhone is playing catchup. How times change!
Catchup to what? Phones with USB chargers?
The Nokia 920 announced last week has all of that too, plus wireless charging, and a genuine leap forward in camera technology for phones.
Apple is under no obligation to match anyone feature for feature, but for people who follow phones of various types, it seems bizarre and somewhat frustrating the way new iPhones get vastly outsized publicity for devices that are increasingly becoming trailing indicators of where the mobile industry is going.
They are however very good implementations of where the industry currently is.
There are several the S3 has that aren't there on an iPhone.
Even just counting hardware, a giant battery and a much better processor enable a lot of use cases. Does the S3 have three mics, equivalent WIFI speed, as good a camera?
I like to keep it simple. Larger screen, faster processor, expandable storage, Flash, Google Navigation, freedom to from Apple's draconian grip...take my money Samsung!
It's no wonder Apple is suing. They know they're playing catch-up.
And I'm far from alone. Over a half million people downloaded it from Google's app store and I'm sure that just as many have put it onto their phone without going through the store. - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.flas...
1) iOS apps vs. Android apps is subjective
2) My Android has seamless integration to my Samsung TV and home media as well as laptop and PC via OSS apps and software. Again, we're debating branding at this point whether you want to say your AppleTV is better than my media solution, subjective.
Objectively your points about speed and camera are true though. I'm wont deny its a quick phone but I have to agree with others saying it didn't bring anything innovative or new.
True but saying The Dark Knight is better then Clooney Batman is also a subjective judgement. Despite being a subjective judgement, if an overwhelming number of reasonable people agree with something you can comfortably assert it.
"didn't bring anything innovative or new"
Well console quality graphics will certainly be new if they deliver on this.
Wideband audio + beamforming promises superior telephone performance which the iphone has always been sort of meh at. I'm only aware of one phone each that brings either of those (latest evo has HD audio and HTC one has beamforming) and none that have both
So you're saying even if the majority is wrong, they're always right?
"always right" =/= "comfortably assert"
Nice demonstration of how to construct a straw man though.
It's all subjective. Even if you have an objective, measurable difference (processor speed), that only matters if I value the difference (subjective) -- which I don't. The iPhone 4S is fast enough for me -- I can't make use of an improvement in speed.
I can make use of new iOS apps (and do on almost a daily basis). If there were apps I wanted that needed the iPhone 5 to run, that might persuade me. If a Samsung phone could run iOS apps, then I would choose based on price (probably).
If you don't agree, then of course, the iPhone isn't interesting. It's just a glass box with components without the apps. I wouldn't even have a smart phone at all without the App Store.
I believe the new Lumia 920 by Nokia has both NFC and wireless charging. Not that those alone make one better than the other but just pointing out that they do exist.
All the webOS devices had wireless charging (although with the earlier ones you had to buy a replacement back cover)
But no NFC
So that's not such a great set of features for me. In fact, it's actually worse.
NFC is set to permeate many aspects of our lives, including payments, access control, transportation ticketing. It also enables some neat new marketing possibilities.
Right now the industry is solving the much talked about 'chicken and egg' situation by getting NFC handsets out there. High end phones shipping without NFC are now a rarity (which is why I'm disappointed tonight) and things are getting into position for the technology being revealed with a splash and folks finding that their existing handsets already have the right hardware that allows them to be part of the big new thing.
In short, you should be looking for NFC in your next handset not because it will be useful today or tomorrow, but because you'll be wanting it during the 18-24 month lifetime of the phone.
There is a huge amount of work going on all over the world on putting NFC into place. It's not very visible yet, but it is happening. Notably, hardware is being quietly rolled out on both the user and merchant side. It's always possible something else might 'win' in the end, but I'd say it is increasingly unlikely...
If anything, it makes more sense to have NFC in a card. I'm not sure how convenient it is to have a method of payment that can run out of battery.