Her Pick: iPhone 5 (updated)

I have heard that Droids are great but my Motorola Droid Bionic has been nothing but a headache. For the past month the microphone hasn’t worked, rendering it almost completely useless in its primary function as a phone. This is the second Bionic I’ve had in the past 10 months, as the first one had technical difficulties about 4 months ago.

Panoramic photos on the iPhone 5.

So, it is with bated breath that I have been awaiting the announcement and release of the iPhone 5. You can watch the September 12 Keynote address if you’re interested. I want a phone that fullfils its duties and whether you’ve been sipping the Apple kool-aid or not, you can’t deny that Apple products just work.

I pre-ordered my black iPhone 5 yesterday and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival sometime after September 21.

Update: September 26, 2012

I received my iPhone 5 on Friday, September 21. It was delivered right to my desk at 9AM, to my excitement. The AT&T down the street had a line around the block-why didn’t people pre-order?

The phone is as sleek and sexy as promised. The screen is crystal clear and beautiful. The 4G is zippy (even more-so than the 4G on my Droid Bionic) and the camera is very impressive. I love the photos it takes.

My room at the B&B in Williamsburg, using the awesome panorama feature on the iPhone 5.

The cons, however, are leading Dennis to strongly consider a Droid when he upgrades his phone in January. I don’t know what Google and Apple fought about recently but apparently it culminated in Google disallowing (or Apple rejecting) use of Google Maps on the iPhone. The map feature that Apple provides is TERRIBLE. I am not one to capitalize and bold words willy nilly. It really is TERRIBLE. And since GPS navigation is one of the primary uses I have for a smartphone, this is quite irritating. The 3D feature is hysterical. Apple was bragging about it at the big reveal but unless I’m missing something, tapping the 3D button doesn’t do anything except slightly shift the viewing angle.

The map app also has no clue where anything is, which means Siri has no clue where anything is. I was in Philly this morning and I asked Siri to point me towards the nearest Starbucks. I was literally 1 block from a Starbucks but Siri could only find one about a mile away. The closer Starbucks wasn’t new and Google Maps could find it just fine (I checked). I also attempted to use the map app to drive from Philly to Williamsburg, VA, but there aren’t any options and it isn’t user friendly. I ended up using my 4 year old Garmin GPS, Henry, instead. Henry tends to be clueless as well, but amazingly he was more in the know than Siri, who has supposedly been improved.

I also miss the Swype feature available on most Droid phones-something I was prepared to live without, but miss all the same.

Overall, I’m happy with my phone. It is, after all, just a phone, and it serves well as such. I’m thrilled with the camera and lots of the apps (Errands is one of my new favorites), and people can hear me now when they call.