Failure to impress

   It’s just longer and thinner—that’s what she said...just kidding.

The new iPhone does not have much to impress the millions of fans Apple has. Sure, the phone has a 4’’ retina display and a faster wireless connection, but aside from that there are not any big original advancements.

I think they might have even copied Samsung with the photo sharing function the Galaxy SIII has. That left me thinking, who’s copying who now? I’m sure Samsung won’t hire a lawyer and sue them for that. Or maybe they will.

The slogan is a bit unoriginal as well, “The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone.” It really doesn’t say much. I was expecting something that was truly big and innovative. Maybe a phone that had a see through screen that created holograms just like the one in the fake video that was going around the web. Well, maybe that’s a little extreme, but I did want to see some sort of huge leap in technology, not just a few upgrades.

All the things mentioned above can be debatable, but the one thing that will be a real pain for everyone is the new connector they are calling “Lightning.” A new phone just means a new case, but a new dock connector means new equipment, from chargers to stationary stereos.

The pricing for the highly anticipated device actually wasn’t bad. I thought it would be an outrageous amount of money since it came from Apple. Surprisingly, with a contract renewal the most you will spend is $399—cheap, right?—if you get the 64GB. Without a contract, well, you might as well chop-off your hand and sell it, because the price will be over $600.

With that in mind, I honestly think it’s better to just buy the 4S that is now $99 or even free. You wont only save money, but you will also save yourself the trouble of buying an adapter in order to connect the phone to every Apple product you own.

Alejandro Alba may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.