The S variants certainly didn’t – and this adds more than every S variant ever did.
Looking at the construction, the 3G was never something to write home about. The technology forced Apple's hand and they had to make that plastic monster. Acceptable, not great. Like the 5, the 3G improved every aspect of its predecessor and it added 3G.
The 5 is just like the 3G – only that this time around the construction is at least on par or better (likely, looking at first hand ons, still, only speculation at this point) than that of the predecessor. It’s also, quite obviously, less fragile. So Apple has done much more on the construction front, but the jump from 3G to LTE is also arguably not as important than the jump from Edge to 3G.
Looking at the specs and comparing them with other phones you get the same picture you always got. It’s a wash. Those kinds of comparisons never mattered.
In conclusion: no 3GS to 4 jump, but certainly a 1 to 3G jump.
Also a familiar sight since the 3G, geeks are disappointed, the phone sells faster than Apple can make it.
This phone is no surprise. It’s Apple doing what they have always done.
Funny, I seem to recall that the disillusioned techie reaction to the 4S was that it was also a non-update. Same shell. Modest internal updates and the only feature of note (Siri) was panned as an app that Apple bought that merely caught it up to other phones that already had voice control.
One problem with the 4S was the rumors of an iPhone 5 with a tapered design. (If you Googled for iPhone it would autocomplete "iPhone 5" — I guess bad rumors are now self-reinforcing.) At least this time the rumors were accurate and people can't complain that they were expecting more.
Larger screen is a "new feature" since we are talking about hardware. LTE would be a new feature as well. Not having a big piece of glass on the back seems like a new feature too (my iPhone 4S has had a cracked back for a couple of months). I know this may seem silly, but a new dock connector that is symmetrical and is easier to plug in without looking is a new feature as well. Also, something about a panorama camera, but I wouldn't call that a BFD)
It was the first I bought but key features it hit included tethering, stereo bluetooth support, compass (and maybe improved GPS) and performance.
The 5 seems like a solid step. I don't see the need to upgrade every year but if you compare back to the 4 rather than the 4S the performance should be a massive jump. Support for 5GHz wifi could mean a real speed boost too and the bigger screen should be nice.
The S really was the feature. Besides the performance bump for everything (e.g. loading web pages twice as fast) it let you run a class of apps you simply couldn't only earlier iphones (e.g. unreal engine).
Other then that copy and paste and enough memory to keep more then 2 tabs open in safari were what I remember.
For me it was that my original iPhone contract was finally up and I could get 3G. Is that the one with gyroscope? -- Jobs playing Jenga during the keynote?
