Why the iPhone 5 never arrived • Hacker News Board

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#61

Post by thematt » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:44 PM UTC

_djo_ wrote: post #31

hopeless wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people ever tried using the Voice Control in the iPhone 4? Siri is one of those features (awesome technological achievement notwithstanding) that's great to demo but largely irrelevant (or even unknown) to most users. It's this generation's Carousel view.

The technology (and engineers) behind Voice Control and Siri are completely different.

Not that I necessarily agree, but I think his point is that they have overlapping use cases and that people aren't avoiding Voice Control because it sucks, they're not using it because they don't have a huge need to.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#62

Post by _djo_ » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:45 PM UTC

CamperBob wrote: post #53

_djo_ wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"That's never been an issue before. Other iPhone product cycles have been well under two years and still introduced new features." Not so, the pattern of introducing an entirely new model only every second year and a performance boost of the existing model in between is one that Apple has followed since the iPhone 3G: iPhone 3G -> iPhone 3GS -> iPhone 4 -> iPhone 4S For that reason I was not expecting an iPhone 5 and…

I don't understand why people are so upset that it wasn't changed. IMHO the iPhone 4 is already fast enough. It didn't need a new system board, it just needed a bigger screen, and they needed to get rid of that Radio Shack-style square enclosure. This release was an exercise in fixing things that weren't broken while giving the competition a break.

That's fair enough, but it seems like more of a personal wish list than an analysis of what the iPhone really needs. Does it need a bigger screen and a new enclosure? The sales figures don't seem to suggest that it does.

Assuming for a minute that I'm right and the screen size and enclosure are not market liabilities for the iPhone, then my personal opinion is that the upgrades are sufficient to maintain sales, with the performance boost, new camera (along with the improved processing hardware) and Siri all being enough to keep it competitive at the high-end.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#63

Post by _djo_ » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:49 PM UTC

thematt wrote: post #61

_djo_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technology (and engineers) behind Voice Control and Siri are completely different.

Not that I necessarily agree, but I think his point is that they have overlapping use cases and that people aren't avoiding Voice Control because it sucks, they're not using it because they don't have a huge need to.

I missed that possibility, thanks for alerting me to it.

I still think that it's too early to dismiss it because of what we've seen with Voice Control, but I agree that there's definitely the possibility that the idea won't catch on. I suppose everything depends on the implementation and whether it can be made seamless enough and useful enough that ordinary people use it.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#64

Post by farrel » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:50 PM UTC

Outside of the case this is a brand new phone. A5 CPU, new GPU, better camera, better battery and better software (I believe Siri is 4S exclusive).

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#65

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 5:56 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #4

One of these days I really must create a bunch of alter egos and make them predict different things. Then I can style the remaining ego that predicted the right thing into a prophet and make big money.

[deleted]

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#66

Post by Kylekramer » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:15 PM UTC

ryannielsen wrote: post #34

hopeless wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people ever tried using the Voice Control in the iPhone 4? Siri is one of those features (awesome technological achievement notwithstanding) that's great to demo but largely irrelevant (or even unknown) to most users. It's this generation's Carousel view.

How many people have tried using Siri? Until it's actually in our hands and put to the test in real world situations, it's hard for anyone to make any claims about how well it works. It could be reliable, useful and effective; it could be sometimes useful given the right environments and inputs; it could be a complete flop. No one outside of Apple knows right now.

This is different though. Plenty of people have used Siri. The new version adds a few Apple app based intents, but we have been able to use what was essentially a beta of Siri for years. And the parent comment is right. In its current state, this is Facetime 2. Good demo, fun to play with, but ultimately inconsequential for the majority of people.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#67

Post by azulum » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:18 PM UTC

hemancuso wrote: post #28

I'm surprised nobody is pointing out similarity to Intel's very successful Tick-Tock release cycle - release a new architecture on tick and refine the process on tock The benefits for Apple are manifold, but the two most obvious are: 1. Keep expectations sane - they can't release a radical new industrial design of superbly high quality every year. 2. Give customers on a 2 year contract predictable value rather than l…

@siracusa makes this very point in yesterday's 5by5 special http://5by5.tv/specials/1

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#68

Post by baddox » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:18 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #18

prawn wrote: post #12

Saw the common reaction to the iPhone 5 disappointment summarised loosely as: "If this new product looks like the last one, how will people tell that I'm superior to them?"

If this exact same phone had come out with the name "iPhone 5", and maybe a different case, people would be praising it to the heavens. People are weird.

If the new case didn't have glass on the back, had a larger screen, or was thinner/lighter, then you're right that it would be getting more praise. I don't find that weird. I had an iPhone 4 for a while, and since I had zero performance issues with it, I probably wouldn't upgrade until there's a more significant improvement. Sure, it's frivolous, to the extent that there are people starving to death in the world and I'm discussing cell phones with anonymous people on the internet, but it's fairly reasonable and not just about feeling superior by having a visibly newer phone.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#69

Post by hopeless » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:19 PM UTC

thematt wrote: post #61

_djo_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technology (and engineers) behind Voice Control and Siri are completely different.

Not that I necessarily agree, but I think his point is that they have overlapping use cases and that people aren't avoiding Voice Control because it sucks, they're not using it because they don't have a huge need to.

Thank you! I'm glad someone understood the point I was making.

For all the majority of iPhone 4 users know, Siri could have been in their device all along the they either didn't know or didn't care.

Let's think this through. The use cases for Siri are when a) you can't use the keyboard and b) it a situation where you can talk freely. It sounds awesome for when you're driving. Or if you have a disability. Or... No, I think I'm out of potentially useful situations. And to be honest, Voice Control worked pretty well for me on the one occasion I needed it.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#70

Post by randomdata » Wed, Oct 05, 2011, 6:20 PM UTC

prawn wrote: post #12

Saw the common reaction to the iPhone 5 disappointment summarised loosely as: "If this new product looks like the last one, how will people tell that I'm superior to them?"

I think you are right. Apple delivered on every single other feature people were expecting/asking for, save NFC; and I don't hear anyone talking about the lack of NFC now. It seems like a pretty nice upgrade to me.