If the iPhone 5 is the phone for you then I wish you the best of luck with it. Overall, I'd say that some of these are advantages and other would be considered personal preference or opinion more than anything. Some of these are wait and see advantages too since we have no idea what things will be like in the real world. I really do hope it is all you want it to be and more though.
1) Retina Display with built in touch sensors (not a separate layer which is less sensitive)
1) Sorry but there is no display as good as a Retina.
You do realize that the retina display is marketing, right? It has a high pixel density, but so do a lot of phones. At what point does the pixel density matter? Once you reach HD most people can't tell the difference between 720p or 1080p on a 42" screen from a certain distance away. I understand that a phone display is different, but how close are people putting the phone to their eye to detect all those pixels?
This may be a bragging rights feature more than anything else. In reality the resolution of the screen isn't even full HD.
2) 4G LTE on one chip, not a separate chip. Less battery consumption, and the only phone in the world that has this.
As already said, it needs real world testing, but the downfall of this is that it eliminates SVAD. This is something Apple used to brag about in commercials and they no longer have it.
4) Up to 8 hours continuous talk time, 8 hours constant LTE usage for data. My S3 would be lucky to get 3 hours of this type of usage. Even my Razr MAXX.
4) Like I said, no other phone has and can meet this. 3g 8 hours, 4g 8 hours. Both equal. Because it uses only one chip. That is continuous.
I have not seen anything that says this phone will get 8 hrs of continuous 4G usage. 8 hrs of continuous connection I may believe, but the fact that the 3G and 4G usage hours are the same tells me something is wrong. As others have said, real world stats need to be established. Until then this is like a car company telling me I will get 25 Mpg in a Ferrari.
5) 3.95 oz weight (lightest phone)
5) Can't compare, smaller screen.
The claim is that it is the worlds lightest phone. In this comparison size makes no difference. It is the same as them saying it is the thinnest phone in the world during the live event. If the claim is wrong, it is wrong. Besides, why is this a huge advantage over all other phones? I used to hear iPhone users say that Samsungs were junk because they were too light. lol If the phone doesn't feel too heavy for the user then this stat is useless.
6) Fastest processor in tests blows the S3 Quad Core out of the water and probably all phones.
6) Hmm, that was a real world test against other phones.
Benchmarks are not and never will be real world comparisons. There are too many minor things that can effect a benchmark score. I remember one phone getting dogged because of a bad benchmark score and the GPU was the part giving it problems. In the real world a good phone is a good phone. Benchmark scores, good or bad don't make a bit of difference.
This may be beneficial, but I refer back to the display resolution and pixels. Is it something that people are going to really notice on a small screen. It makes me think about someone trying to compare DVD to Bluray on a 12" screen.
8) Alum/Glass and the best build quality of any phone out there.
8) Yes, Alum/Glass vs plastic. It doesn't fall apart when you drop it like a S3 would and the back cover pops off.
Pretty subjective don't you think? I could argue that aluminum and kevlar make a better and far more durable combo. This is a personal preference. If you like it then it is an advantage, if you prefer something different then it isn't.
9) Dual band 802.11n 150meg
9) No other phone does, and reason why I mentioned it.
I've had 3 phones that will work with 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands on 802.11n. It isn't all that new.
10) Sapphire Crystal on camera lens for better durability
10) Just a known fact.
Sapphire Crystal is far more durable and scratch resistant than glass. It is the reason so many watch companies use it. I wasn't aware that busted or scratched camera lenses were such a problem though. This is something I have been fortunate about.
11) fastest capture speed of any phone for camera
This is just on their say so at this point. I'm sure it is pretty fast though, the 4s was. Camera load time is pretty important as well and we'll have to see how fast that is.
12) 720p HD front facing camera
12) Forgot the One X had one, but question is how good is it.
Since it is HTC, I'd assume it is probably pretty good. The other side of that question is, how good is the iPhone's. Nobody knows yet.
13) A6 post processing of photos
13) Better pictures come out with more brilliant colors for the average user.
This is another area where I'm sure they did something nice. Apple has done some great things with their camera. If it makes it better then that is a good thing. The real question is better than what though. Better than the 4s or better than anything we've ever seen before? Better than the Lumia 920?
14) Pana pictures
14) Not built into the phones O/S, this is built into it. APPS can add it afterwards, but either way it comes with the phone
The feature was built in to ICS and Jelly Bean. So it has been around as apart of the OS for about a year now.
15) Better Earphones (one of a kind)
15) Most Smart Phones come with headphones. These are the best ones out of the bunch.
This is like saying that the Beats headphones that came with the Rezound made it a better phone. They were a neat added feature, as are the new headphones for the iPhone, but it only improves it as an MP3 player and not as a phone. Besides, I can go get a pair for about $20. Does that make my Razr as good as the iPhone 5 or better?
16) Three microphones
16) 3 mics, like I said, no other one has it.
I am sure that the third mic is designed to help out with noise canceling. I'm aslo sure this is a feature a lot of phones will start having if it there is noticable improvement in call quality. However, just because it has the third mic doesn't necessarily make it an advantage. If call quality isn't a lot better then the 4s then it is the equivalent of the Spinal Tap guy telling me that the volume goes to 11.
17) 5 magnet speakers
17) Speakers with more magnets/stronger ones produce better sound. Like any audio speaker.
I have seen nothing on this spec so I can't make much of a comment.
BTW, I always thought it was the size of the magnet and not the number than made a difference. I could be thinking of something else though.
18) 2-way noice cancelling earpiece
18) Mic next to the ear piece listens to sounds around what you are listening too to make you hear better what the person is saying.
I'm not honestly sure I get this one. How is the earpiece supposed to remove noise from the other person's side of the conversation without affecting the call quality? If I'm performing one of those Jawbone tests with jackhammers in the background there is no way this will cancel out the jackhammers and still allow my voice to come through properly.
This may be a feature that only works iPhone 5 to iPhone 5 which would make the 3rd mic make a lot more sense.
19) Wideband/HD Audio
19) It supports HD Audio, but no provider right now supports it. So better quality audio over cell. Kinda like how a Blu-Ray would look to a DVD but in Audio.
This is one of those, waiting for VoLTE features. Once we have it then HD audio will be supported more. I think it is cool that they are thinking ahead though. Then again other phones have this as well.
20) Reversible dock connector
20) Who cares if it's proprietary. It goes both ways. No need to figure out which way to plug it in.
I'm going to have to agree with others here. The whole proprietary connector thing isn't an advantage in my mind. They actually make me mad when I need a plug and don't have the right one. It will really suck when people are out with friends and need to charge, but nobody else has an iPhone 5. On the other hand, I can't think of a single person I know, including iPhone users, that don't have micro usb connectors in their house or car for something.
A proprietary port is a huge disadvantage IMO. It's just a way for Apple to charge $30 (or maybe even more this time) for a charger that costs them ~$1 to make. Plus, think of all the money they're going to make selling adapters so people can use their old iPhone docks, etc. Can you say "license to print money"?
