As many of my closest know, I’m a pretty big Apple fanboy. From my getting an Intel-based Macbook six years ago (and it’s still alive and kickin’), I have converted my entire family (including my tech-challenged mother, who now can’t stop using her iPad2). But I’ll be reasonable when I have to be: the iPhone 5 is not worth upgrading from the iPhone 4 (at least for AT&T users). In light of the images of the iPhone 5 found recently and distributed across the web, it looks like it won’t be an entrant cataclysmic to other smartphones.
Apart from some possible design changes, a slightly improved camera, and perhaps a faster processor, there is no huge difference. I know many will argue that it’s the same type of upgrade from the iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 4, but it isn’t. In the latter upgrade, the design was entirely overhauled, with no rounding out at the bottom of the phone, a significantly smaller size, and a high-resolution Retina display. I think that upgrade was worth it because it substantially increased the user experience (I think this upgrade is more like 3G to 3GS.)
iPhone 5 on AT&T will not have monumental changes. The next big iteration in the phone will be having a chip to support LTE communication. Across the board, LTE will revolutionize the way we use our smartphones. Data rates will be so much faster, given that the LTE protocol uses frequency and time much more efficiently. There have been rumors that LTE may show up in the Verizon iPhone, since Verizon’s LTE infrastructure deployment is further ahead than any other provider’s right now.
AT&T is only now beginning their LTE implementation across the nation, with the hope of a reasonably-scaled deployment by mid-2012 (optimistic). Given that, the iPhone 5 released for AT&T in September will probably not have an LTE chip installed. Even if it were, the company’s scale of LTE is so minimal at this point that no phone will be able to take advantage of all of the benefits of LTE until mid to late next year.
If you have Verizon, keep on the lookout. You may find iPhone 5 extremely useful. But if you’re with AT&T, do yourself a favor and develop some willpower. Next year’s iteration will be much more significant.
