Holding off on the iPhone 5

I’m at least temporarily holding off on buying an iPhone 5. Not because I’m “bored” or “disappointed” by it; I actually think that Apple has once again done an elegant job creating the new iPhone. And I actually appreciate that they’re trying to refine their redesign, rather than completely reinvent it. No, I’m holding off because my iPhone 4 still works great, and since I’ll be able to update it to iOS 6 next week I don’t have a hugely compelling reason to upgrade. Yes, my 2 year old iPhone will be able to run the latest and greatest iOS the day it’s released. Contrast that with my Galaxy S3, which is still running Ice Cream Sandwich 2 months after the release of Jelly Bean (although rumor has it that a Jelly Bean upgrade is pending for October – but possibly not for the US).

I will confess that I’m slightly tempted to upgrade because of the larger screen on the iPhone 5; I do like the 4.8 inch screen on the S3. But these days I split my carrying time between the iPhone and the S3, so I get a larger screen fix half the time. And on weekdays I tend to use my iPad more than their phone because I use it on the light rail to and from work. I may still cave, though, since my wife ordered one (to replace her 3GS) and I may develop tech envy when it arrives. Hi, my name is Jeff, and I have an electronics problem.

Oh, I do feel obligated to note that I actually think the new Lightning (ok, the name (Thunderbolt and Lightning) is groan-inducing) connector is an attractive feature rather than an enormous insult (seriously?). Why? It plugs in either way. I cannot tell you how many times I have struggled to figure out which orientation to use to plug in a microUSB connector. Eliminating that “death of a 1,000 cuts” problem is genius (see how USB devices exist in 4 dimensions).

So no iPhone 5 for me, at least not yet. But I think it looks great. And I’m looking forward to updating my iPhone 4 to iOS 6.