It looks like the worlds richest company is creating yet more whirlpools in the pockets of it's lovers. After creating the big dilemma about the iPad 2 and the 3rd generation, now the question everybody is asking is whether or not they should upgrade to iPhone 5.
In this article I will mainly focus on upgrading from iPhone 4s to 5. If you have anything older than 4 then the decision may be lot easier, go for it! There have been some visible upgrades from earlier generation iPhones to iPhone 4s. However the distance between 4s and 5 may not be compelling enough to push you into shelling out few more hundred bucks and/or signing few more years worth commitment with your mobile carrier.
So let's take a quick look at things that make iPhone 5 the talk of the town. A taller screen is a major physical change. But a taller screen may not necessarily look bigger. so I am really not sure if this change will make any significant difference in the way we look at the iphone. Had there been a proportional increase in the width things might have been different. Some people argue that this change was meant to accommodate the proportions of a wide screen movie and if that is the case then we should not forget that at the end of the day we are only discussing a smart phone and not an HD TV. And how much time does an average iPhone user spend watching movies on iPhone? Well, I am not sure about others, but I barely do. For some people iPhone 5 may just seem to be an abnormally long iphone 4s (Klinefelter's syndrome).
The other talked about upgrade is its processor, A6. However, if you have owned iPhone 4s I am sure you will definitely ask, how faster can it go than this? And people who talk about 'lightening speed' of internet browsing probably forget that lot of this speed is determined by the speed of your internet connection rather than the processor of the phone. But, as far as other offline programs are concerned I think 4s is already doing a spectacular job and making it any faster may hardly make much sense.
Few words about the new type of SIM card that Apple has created for iPhone 5. They call it Nano SIM. Even though Apple has been trying desperately hard to keep the business within the AT&T's circle it's major challenge has been to create a SIM card that could be exclusively used on their networks. But so far their success has only been mild to none. Service commitment haters have always managed to work their way around Apple's stupidly cheap gimmicks. For instance, the answer to their 'micro sim' was simply trimming the regular sim with scissors. And now they have come up with the 'nano sim'. They are claiming that this SIM is not just physically different from the regular SIMS but also functionally. It remains to be seen how successful Apple brains have been this time to avoid the 'misuse' of iphone 5. But what I fail to understand is if Apple does not want buyers to use iphone for anything but the contracted AT&T service then why do they even bother to sell unlocked iPhones. At least they should have made unlocked iPhones compatible with the regular sim cards.
Most of the other features that were highlighted at the launching ceremony of the iPhone 5 were related to the iOS upgrade and all of those who own an iDevise will get it for free. so there really no reason to upgrade for all those features.
To conclude, if you own anything older than iPhone 4 consider upgrading to 5. But if you have iPhone 4s buying 5 may only be a superfluous luxury; waiting for the next model may be the wisest thing to do. For iPhone 4 users the decision may be slightly tougher. But if I personally owned one I would consider an upgrade, at least for the faster processor.
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are solely my own. I am neither a professional product reviewer nor affiliated to any electronic company, whatsoever. Please use your own judgment in deciding what products you want to buy. This material is copyright protected. Please avoid plagiarism)
