BY STEPHANIE LEFEBVRE
The hype has died down, but only slightly as the seventh version of the iPhone makes its way into the public eye.
The iPhone 5, unveiled on Sept. 12 in San Francisco, was available for purchase last Friday at Apple stores and cellphone service providers across the country.
Apple was proud to unveil its new product.
“The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone,” the company said on its website.
Though the screen is now four inches, the phone itself is less than half an inch taller than its predecessor, the 4S. It also has the new retina display that Apple has made available on its line of computers and laptops.
“By making the screen taller and not wider, you can see more of your content but still comfortably use it with one hand,” said Jony Ive, senior vice-president of design at Apple in a promotional video on their website.
Having made the phone thinner and lighter, but still more powerful, Apple was able to stay in the game with its competitors.
The iPhone 5 also comes with a newly designed charg-
ing cable, called Lightning; a pair of innovative ear buds, called EarPods; and an eight megapixel built-in camera.
Those who highly anticipated the release already had theirs delivered right to their house on Friday. Those who didn’t were made to wait in long lines or still don’t have one due to a lack of availability.
The new phone received 40 per cent positive feedback compared to 12 per cent negative on social media websites, according to Mashable, an online news source. Other responses were neutral or humourous in nature. This is a more positive release than the previous model.
The word around campus does not differ much from those numbers. Several Conestoga students either don’t care about the release or haven’t looked into it. However, Cameron Wilson, a second-year software engineering technology student, voiced an opinion. He is an Android user and he said the new iPhone hasn’t changed much.
“I’m not very excited about the iPhone 5,” he said. “It’s just a bigger screen and all the same iPhone stuff as the last couple of generations.”
Even students who own a previous generation of the iPhone aren’t thrilled. Julia Peters, a second-year broadcast journalism student, said the phone may only be interesting for people who have never owned an iPhone before.
“As someone who has the iPhone 4, I’m not very eager to wait in line,” said Peters. “I’m so content with mine.”
When Apple released its first model of the iPhone, the cellphone world was changed. Now they have major competition with Android, especially with Samsung who released the latest model of the Galaxy smartphone in May.
However, only time will tell if the iPhone 5 can withstand the regular wear and tear of a smartphone user and compete with what is already on the market.
