My iPhone 5 review!

Photo taken from CNET

I waited with bated breath three days ago to finally receive the box of my favourite toy- the highly anticipated iPhone 5. Nothing gets me more excited than new gadget days and obviously a toy like this which is a hot commodity worldwide, is one to be especially excited for, and I was no exception. I've put the phone through it's paces and instead of just giving it a rave review based on its looks and the fact that I'm the epitome of an Apple fangirl, I wanted to really test it out to give it a fair assessment.

Difference in size between the 4S and the 5 (photo taken from CNET)

There are a few things that I love, and a few things I am not particularly thrilled about on the iPhone 5. Let me get into the obvious ones that people have been raving after- it's light (noticeably so! in fact shockingly so!) and the extra screen space is a most welcome addition. The camera is supposed to be better but honestly I haven't used it enough to see the difference. However, I recently tweeted some links to articles (this is one of them) that shows the camera in action and it really looks amazing. The body of the iPhone as well is absolutely gorgeous, especially in black. I must advice those who are looking to get it in white before they have a look at the device- I had a white 4S and ordered a white iPhone 5 and when I held it, it didn't look or feel "new" enough for me. The black with it's brushed metal back and black sides looks much sleeker and different and hence I swapped my phone in for that one, and I'm so glad I did.

Now here come the bits I'm not really liking- There is no LTE on Etisalat at the moment. I have the phone and hence can confirm I'm still surfing on old 3G speeds. Speed on the phone is one of the key selling points of it worldwide and unfortunately we are as of yet unable to take advantage of that. I was also not thrilled to have to experiment and cut up my nano SIM card for it. I understand that it takes up space and was a necessary move for the phone, but for someone who swaps out phones constantly, it is an inconvenience to say the least. I still carry in my wallet an outer shell cover to turn a micro SIM into a regular one, just in case I have an urge to swap phones somewhere. You can then understand my frustration. One more thing I didn't realize till I actually cut my SIM and had the phone functioning properly- despite having a factory unlocked device from the UK, I was unable to activate FaceTime on it at all. So while OS6 allows for FaceTime over 3G as well as WiFi, Apple/TRA have figured out a way so that even devices not sold here have a block put on them. If you're one of those like me, who had a factory unlocked unit from elsewhere and had FaceTime on your 4S, please note: As of now, I have not figured out a way to activate it on my iPhone 5! Big bummer. Huge. Don't even get my started about the new adapter. In these 2 days already I've had two situations where I needed to charge my iPhone and realized, neither my office nor my friend's home (places I was) had a charger for the new iPhone. Painful and inconvenient and unnecessarily so. Another huge gripe I have with the new phone is it's headset placement at the bottom. I'm very used to, while driving in my car, holding the iphone the right way up and swiping to take a call without looking at the screen... that is no more the case. Also, since I use a wired headset to talk on said call, I usually have it always plugged in to my phone. With it placed at the bottom, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to hold the phone and type properly, hence leading me to constantly have to yank out the headset and put it back in. Again, unnecessarily inconvenient.

To add to my woes it doesn't help that my particular unit is a bit buggy at the moment. The first night I plugged it into my computer to charge as I always did my old iPhone 4S and in the morning, the battery had actually drained through the night. This is with it actually showing up the charging symbol on the phone so it's not like I hadn't plugged it the right way in. A quick reboot though solved the situation and it charges fine, but after reading some reports that people have been having trouble charging it through the computer, I've stuck to it being plugged into a wall socket. This morning I tried to type some things into the screen and it actually wasn't responding to my touch for a few seconds as well... something I'm hoping was a one off. Please let me point out that it is not uncommon for certain handsets to have glitches and I'm sure thousands of others using the iPhone 5 have no problems doing so. I'm mentioning this for full disclosure on my experience as well as an issue of a warning for those who don't want to wait for those who buy the phone from the official channel once its launched. No warranty can be a pain.

I know it sounds like I have only negative points to talk about and I really don't... the device is great and as I said, I love the look and feel of it. There are LOADS of reviews online from people who are absolutely crazy about the device and all the features it offers. I really wish LTE (or what everyone I've been speaking to is terming "4G") was available from the start for me to really tell a difference in operation as most of those reviews are raving about the blazing fast internet speeds. I have heard however, that both Du and Etisalat have confirmed it in the future. The look of the phone can't be beat and is an absolutely gorgeous GORGEOUS device and really, FaceTime wasn't available to most phones in the UAE anyway.. it was just a matter of time they caught up to the rest of us. As for the nano SIM, Apple are trendsetters and after they went Micro in the 4, didn't like everyone follow suit? As for the adapter, almost everyone I know who has a 4S now is looking to upgrade and very soon charger problems will be a thing of the past.
Yet, there is one small question keeps niggling at me and I can't quite find the answer. Why am I missing my 4S so damn much?
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UPDATE!!!- Just to let you know, both FaceTime and iMessage on my UK-originated device are now working just fine on the Etisalat network!

Microsoft Surface- a sneak peak..

As the release of Microsoft's Surface inches closer, there is a certain buzz taking place in tech blogs about this little device. For those who don't know what it is, it is Microsoft's entry into the tablet space, a space that is obviously mostly taken over my Apple, with Samsung and Amazon gunning for the iPad's market share. Apple however has plans to invade their territory instead with a highly rumoured iPad Mini to be released before the end of the year that will compete with the lower priced Android devices currently on offer. I read a story earlier today that Microsoft will be giving all its full time employees with a Surface which I think would be great not only for employee morale, but will improve visibility of the product and promote the product through word of mouth. Microsoft after all, isn't exactly a small company! The nifty little device is going to be launched on 26th with a previously rumoured price of 199USD with Steve Ballmer recently going on record with the Seattle Times suggesting it will cost somewhere between 300 to 700 or 800 USD.
If you haven't already seen pictures of one, the device has a 10.6 inch screen, a kickstand and will run Windows 8. The USP of the device of course remains its tactile multi-touch keyboard, which seemingly has left a lot of tech critics very impressed. We will see details in a month when the device is actually available, but in the meantime here is a video to whet your appetite.

I'm super excited to get my hands on one of these! Probably even more so than the iPad Mini! If this functions well, it will be quite revolutionary indeed!
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