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[SerArthurDayne]

So 4 days in and no scuffs. Unfortunately I appear to have picked up three small screen scratches. And I have no idea how. Three years of smartphones without, 4 days wit a new phone. What a mess.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

Is there an app which can show me which app is using data? My phone downloaded 2.5mb over 3 minutes when no app should be requiring it.

 

[mescalineeyes]

On a side note, what IS the fastest way to send files from iPhone to iPhone? In the past I've just used email attachments and Whatsapp, and if the file is really big, sendspace links (uploaded via my Mac after syncing).

iMessage or Dropbox, depending on the file.

Most likely, you can't send it either way :x

 

[buhdeh]

You are absolutely correct, when you are kicking back at home, connected to your own wifi.

Where this falls apart is when your buddy comes over and says, "hey, let me show you something on my phone, let me connect to your setup." Looks from here that AirPlay can only discover devices on your local LAN, so it's not like it uses GPS to find every AirPlay server within X feet (and it's not that you should have access to your neighbor's AirPlay just because it is behind your bedroom's wall).

If you're like me, your wifi password was created by smashing the keyboard until you have a 50 character long string of random numbers, letters, and symbols, so I suppose you could give him your password, which may only take a few tries, depending on its complexity. Or you could use WPS (iPhone does support that right? Whaaaa? It doesn't?) which can work remarkably similar to using an NFC tap to get him on there without giving him a long ass password...well, if Apple supported it.

And hey, just to be sure, you don't have any open shares on your network that maybe you don't want your friend getting into, do you? Well, if you do, just make sure you have those buttoned up, or maybe you can configure the router to have a guest network that only provides internet access. On the other hand, maybe having him on the guest network would end up killing AirPlay discovery too...

It makes no sense to use NFC for this kind of functionality. AirPlay is just quicker and way easier to set up. I don't even know why you would suggest this anyways considering most, if not all, Android and WP8 devices (at least the Lumia 800) have DLNA "play to" functions which is an actual standard and makes way more sense than buying proprietary hardware for AirPlay. At least DLNA is supported by nearly every decent TV, gaming console, receiver, blu-ray player, and media player (i.e. WDTV) on the market.

 

[Marty Chinn]

It makes no sense to use NFC for this kind of functionality. AirPlay is just quicker and way easier to set up. I don't even know why you would suggest this anyways considering most, if not all, Android and WP8 devices (at least the Lumia 800) have DLNA "play to" functions which is an actual standard and makes way more sense than buying proprietary hardware for AirPlay. At least DLNA is supported by nearly every decent TV, gaming console, receiver, blu-ray player, and media player (i.e. WDTV) on the market.

Describe all the steps in the process of using Airplay at your friends house with your iPhone.

 

[buhdeh]

Describe all the steps in the process of using Airplay at your friends house with your iPhone.

I don't use an iPhone anymore, I have an S3. But on my iPad, all I would do is connect to their WiFi, open up the music app and press the AirPlay icon and select their device. Pretty much the same thing as using DLNA on my S3 to my WDTV.

 

[Number45]

Is there an app which can show me which app is using data? My phone downloaded 2.5mb over 3 minutes when no app should be requiring it.

Just stumbled across this with some Googling, can't vouch for it personally but the price is right!

 

[-griffy-]

I feel like some of you guys are creating an infomercial view of the real world. Like if I wanted to send my friend a photo via text message, it would be all in black and white and I would be fumbling to find his name in my list, hands shaking, dropping my phone over and over before finally giving up in defeat. UNTIL WOAH! STAR WIPE TRANSITION SOUND EFFECT TO FULL COLOR NFC PHONE BUMPING! How could I ever survive before!?

 

[Soybean]

Is there an app which can show me which app is using data? My phone downloaded 2.5mb over 3 minutes when no app should be requiring it.

DataMan Pro: http://xvision.me/dataman
In the app, go to Settings -> Precise Tracking and turn that on. You'll get app-specific data usage as long as it's running in the background.

 

[Argyle]

It makes no sense to use NFC for this kind of functionality. AirPlay is just quicker and way easier to set up. I don't even know why you would suggest this anyways considering most, if not all, Android and WP8 devices (at least the Lumia 800) have DLNA "play to" functions which is an actual standard and makes way more sense than buying proprietary hardware for AirPlay. At least DLNA is supported by nearly every decent TV, gaming console, receiver, blu-ray player, and media player (i.e. WDTV) on the market.

In my experience, DLNA discovery is limited to your local LAN, so all the same limitations apply. Great if you are on your home WiFi, not so great if you are at someone else's house and not on their WiFi (which would have been clear if you read my post).

 

[ElectricBlue187]

I feel like some of you guys are creating an infomercial view of the real world. Like if I wanted to send my friend a photo via text message, it would be all in black and white and I would be fumbling to find his name in my list, hands shaking, dropping my phone over and over before finally giving up in defeat. UNTIL WOAH! STAR WIPE TRANSITION SOUND EFFECT TO FULL COLOR NFC PHONE BUMPING! How could I ever survive before!?

lol
close up of face all contorted with frustration -> beaming with enlightened realization

 

[chrisisawesome]

When I first got the phone I also noticed that the battery life was fairly short. After using it more and more, my battery life now seems to be greatly improving. Not sure why, but I'm definitely using it the same as I always have been.

 

[Zeth]

Holy shit, that post by Sentry inspired by mescalineeyes just popped up in my Flipboard via The Verge. Cool stuff about the app switcher potential. Do they feature forum posts or how does that work? Sorry if its already been disused.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I don't use an iPhone anymore, I have an S3. But on my iPad, all I would do is connect to their WiFi, open up the music app and press the AirPlay icon and select their device. Pretty much the same thing as using DLNA on my S3 to my WDTV.

See the problem is doing the connection to the device. Your iPhone won't even have the concept of his AppleTV until you're at the minimum of being set up on his WiFi. You don't see how establishing the connection by simply going up to the AppleTV and putting them next to each other to establish that handshake would be useful? You can still use AirPlay as the protocol for transfer; NFC is about the connection. Imagine if you simply walked up, put it next to it, it established all the connection and launched the music app automatically and ready to go all by just touching it. See how easy and how much time you saved just by doing something so simple?

 

[-griffy-]

See the problem is doing the connection to the device. Your iPhone won't even have the concept of his AppleTV until you're at the minimum of being set up on his WiFi. You don't see how establishing the connection by simply going up to the AppleTV and putting them next to each other to establish that handshake would be useful? You can still use AirPlay as the protocol for transfer; NFC is about the connection. Imagine if you simply walked up, put it next to it, it established all the connection and launched the music app automatically and ready to go all by just touching it. See how easy and how much time you saved just by doing something so simple?

The problem is you act like the very act of connecting to your friend's wifi is some involving, prohibitive act that the miracle of NFC overcomes. I'm gonna be on their wifi already anyways if I want to access the internet. NFC surely has uses, but it's in extremely specific use scenarios, not in ways that radically improve or save time for most common functions.

 

[buhdeh]

See the problem is doing the connection to the device. Your iPhone won't even have the concept of his AppleTV until you're at the minimum of being set up on his WiFi. You don't see how establishing the connection by simply going up to the AppleTV and putting them next to each other to establish that handshake would be useful? You can still use AirPlay as the protocol for transfer; NFC is about the connection. Imagine if you simply walked up, put it next to it, it established all the connection and launched the music app automatically and ready to go all by just touching it. See how easy and how much time you saved just by doing something so simple?

You see, I am lazy as hell and any excuse to not get up and touch or press something is a plus in my book. And considering every electronic device on earth supports DLNA, I see very little need to purchase NFC receivers and whatnot for these supposed parties where people would prefer to touch their device to something rather than just be given a WiFi password they can input on their phone.

The problem is you act like the very act of connecting to your friend's wifi is some involving, prohibitive act that the miracle of NFC overcomes. I'm gonna be on their wifi already anyways if I want to access the internet. NFC surely has uses, but it's in extremely specific use scenarios, not in ways that radically improve or save time for most common functions.

Yeah I agree. NFC does have it uses but the one we are describing - at least to me - seems like we're just forcing a use case for it that really isn't all that necessary nor useful.

 

[Marty Chinn]

The problem is you act like the very act of connecting to your friend's wifi is some involving, prohibitive act that the miracle of NFC overcomes. I'm gonna be on their wifi already anyways if I want to access the internet. NFC surely has uses, but it's in extremely specific use scenarios, not in ways that radically improve or save time for most common functions.

Remember the target audience though. Setting WiFi up isn't the easiest thing in the world. You gotta know which protocol, you have to wonder if the SSID is even broadcasting, you have to possibly enter a super long password, you have to assume the person is ok with allowing you on their personal network to begin with, and so forth. Remember, for some of these people they just broadcast their SSID and leave it open because WiFi has never been the most user friendly thing that people understand. NFC can take all the confusing and annoying connection issues out of the equation for not just WiFi but for many other things as well. Sure you don't need it, but man it makes things so much more simple and hides all that complexity from the end user.

Why would you necessarily already have WiFi access to someone's network when you want to use the Internet? Wouldn't your phone have Internet? I certainly usually never have a need to connect to a friends WiFi to have already been pre-setup. Is it really common to have connected to everyone you ever knew to their router and have it all preconfigured by now on your device?

Remember the target audience here. It's not the tech savvy.

You see, I am lazy as hell and any excuse to not get up and touch or press something is a plus in my book. And considering every electronic device on earth supports DLNA, I see very little need to purchase NFC receivers and whatnot for these supposed parties where people would prefer to touch their device to something rather than just be given a WiFi password they can input on their phone.

Sorry but I don't give out my WiFi password, nor do I broadcast my SSID. I also don't want everyone on my personal network which does have things I don't want people to have access to. You wouldn't always have to go up and touch it. You go up to establish the initial communication or for a specific event. There are different ways of doing it, but the key thing is having it all automated for you. I'm not talking about everytime you want to go use your AppleTV you need to get up to touch it with your device. The initial setup ya, but not every time you use it.

This is just one of many things you can use it for though to. The point is you establish a universal method that everyone understand and each scenario does something different but the way it's communicated to the end user is unified. That's the point. Do you guys argue against Passbook too?

 

[lupinko]

Still waiting. =/

 

[Solideliquid]

If you guys want to discuss Samsung devices, there's a thread for that.

 

[numble]

You are absolutely correct, when you are kicking back at home, connected to your own wifi.

Where this falls apart is when your buddy comes over and says, "hey, let me show you something on my phone, let me connect to your setup." Looks from here that AirPlay can only discover devices on your local LAN, so it's not like it uses GPS to find every AirPlay server within X feet (and it's not that you should have access to your neighbor's AirPlay just because it is behind your bedroom's wall).

If you're like me, your wifi password was created by smashing the keyboard until you have a 50 character long string of random numbers, letters, and symbols, so I suppose you could give him your password, which may only take a few tries, depending on its complexity. Or you could use WPS (iPhone does support that right? Whaaaa? It doesn't?) which can work remarkably similar to using an NFC tap to get him on there without giving him a long ass password...well, if Apple supported it.

And hey, just to be sure, you don't have any open shares on your network that maybe you don't want your friend getting into, do you? Well, if you do, just make sure you have those buttoned up, or maybe you can configure the router to have a guest network that only provides internet access. On the other hand, maybe having him on the guest network would end up killing AirPlay discovery too...

Remember the target audience though. Setting WiFi up isn't the easiest thing in the world. You gotta know which protocol, you have to wonder if the SSID is even broadcasting, you have to possibly enter a super long password, you have to assume the person is ok with allowing you on their personal network to begin with, and so forth. Remember, for some of these people they just broadcast their SSID and leave it open because WiFi has never been the most user friendly thing that people understand. NFC can take all the confusing and annoying connection issues out of the equation for not just WiFi but for many other things as well. Sure you don't need it, but man it makes things so much more simple and hides all that complexity from the end user.

Why would you necessarily already have WiFi access to someone's network when you want to use the Internet? Wouldn't your phone have Internet? I certainly usually never have a need to connect to a friends WiFi to have already been pre-setup. Is it really common to have connected to everyone you ever knew to their router and have it all preconfigured by now on your device?

Remember the target audience here. It's not the tech savvy.



Sorry but I don't give out my WiFi password, nor do I broadcast my SSID. I also don't want everyone on my personal network which does have things I don't want people to have access to. You wouldn't always have to go up and touch it. You go up to establish the initial communication or for a specific event. There are different ways of doing it, but the key thing is having it all automated for you. I'm not talking about everytime you want to go use your AppleTV you need to get up to touch it with your device. The initial setup ya, but not every time you use it.

This is just one of many things you can use it for though to. The point is you establish a universal method that everyone understand and each scenario does something different but the way it's communicated to the end user is unified. That's the point. Do you guys argue against Passbook too?

The scenarios you posit all require the iPhone to have WiFi Direct, and at that point, there shouldn't be a problem enabling current Apple TVs to interact with future iPhones via WiFi Direct in a similar manner to AirPlay today. Don't want to involve interaction with the local network, then don't, and use a direct WiFi connection created by the iPhone. That will be far simpler than NFC activation, and it won't require replacing Apple TVs, which are probably going to stay on the A5 SKU for a long time, and I don't think many people want to upgrade Apple TVs.

NFC in future iPhones are fine. I don't think they will make it an Apple TV feature when they can just issue an update that allows it to interact with WiFi Direct iOS devices.

 

[Marty Chinn]

The scenarios you posit all require the iPhone to have WiFi Direct, and at that point, there shouldn't be a problem enabling current Apple TVs to interact with future iPhones via WiFi Direct in a similar manner to AirPlay today. Don't want to involve interaction with the local network, then don't, and use a direct WiFi connection created by the iPhone. That will be far simpler than NFC activation, and it won't require replacing Apple TVs, which are probably going to stay on the A5 SKU for a long time, and I don't think many people want to upgrade Apple TVs.

NFC in future iPhones are fine. I don't think they will make it an Apple TV feature when they can just issue an update that allows it to interact with WiFi Direct iOS devices.

I'm just using AppleTV as an example to make it easier on how such a technology could interface with other devices. Something like the AppleTV people can grasp on how they would want or need to talk to it. That said, I was always under the impression that WiFi direct still needs a way of establishing a connection between two devices and a very common way of doing that is with NFC. Again it's not one or the other, it's the whole ecosystem.

It's really boggling to me how many people either can't see it or don't want a simple method to establish a connection between two devices for whatever purpose those two devices might need to talk to each other. It literally is "It just works" that Apple is known for.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

DataMan Pro: http://xvision.me/dataman
In the app, go to Settings -> Precise Tracking and turn that on. You'll get app-specific data usage as long as it's running in the background.

Not available in the UK. How stupid.

 

[numble]

I'm just using AppleTV as an example to make it easier on how such a technology could interface with other devices. Something like the AppleTV people can grasp on how they would want or need to talk to it. That said, I was always under the impression that WiFi direct still needs a way of establishing a connection between two devices and a very common way of doing that is with NFC. Again it's not one or the other, it's the whole ecosystem.

It's really boggling to me how many people either can't see it or don't want a simple method to establish a connection between two devices for whatever purpose those two devices might need to talk to each other. It literally is "It just works" that Apple is known for.

You can use examples to show how NFC can be useful. But Apple TV and AirPlay are dead simple as it is, and telling people that walking up to a TV setup to wave your phone at a contact point on another device that you need to replace with a new accessory is probably not going to convince people that it is something they need in their lives. Especially when you can just do it with a better method that probably just requires a software update on the Apple TV.

 

[Marty Chinn]

You can use examples to show how NFC can be useful. But Apple TV and AirPlay are dead simple as it is, and telling people that walking up to a TV setup to wave your phone at a contact point on another device that you need to replace with a new accessory is probably not going to convince people that it is something they need in their lives.

People seem to be having trouble grasping how a simple communication method and protocol for establishing a connection between two devices as is. I thought laying it out to them in terms that they might be able to understand would help make it easier. You're taking it too literally where as I'm simply showing how such an easy thing could be nice for the end user. These devices would become more standard over time once the concept is more common. Remember, not everything exists at this point in time. This wouldn't be the first time that things needed growth over time, nor the first time that a change would need people to upgrade their devices. Are we condemning Passbook or are we giving it time to grow? What's the point of Passbook when you can just go to an app and do the same thing. Are we saying Apple wasted their time there? Are we saying Passbook will annoy the end user? How about all the devices Apple forced everyone to change because they changed the interface? Should people not buy the iPhone 5 because now all their current devices and cables don't work? How many people switch to a Macbook from a PC because of the Apple ecosystem to work better with their iPhone and/or iPad? These are examples where things needed time to develop and/or grow as well as the need to change or buy new things in order to take advantage of new things.

 

[numble]

People seem to be having trouble grasping how a simple communication method and protocol for establishing a connection between two devices as is. I thought laying it out to them in terms that they might be able to understand would help make it easier. You're taking it too literally where as I'm simply showing how such an easy thing could be nice for the end user. These devices would become more standard over time once the concept is more common. This wouldn't be the first time that things needed growth over time, nor the first time that a change would need people to upgrade their devices. Are we condemning Passbook or are we giving it time to grow? What's the point of Passbook when you can just go to an app and do the same thing. Are we saying Apple wasted their time there? Are we saying Passbook will annoy the end user? How about all the devices Apple forced everyone to change because they changed the interface? Should people not buy the iPhone 5 because now all their current devices and cables don't work? How many people switch to a Macbook from a PC because of the Apple ecosystem to work better with their iPhone and/or iPad?

I think the benefits of a NFC Apple TV are negligible and your stated examples can be accomplished without changing the Apple TV hardware, both the A4 and A5 versions, which I don't think will change for a long time, and you can make it work with the existing method that people know work with the Apple TV with regard to AirPlay and Home Sharing (you could mimic the Apple TV's ability to access your computer's iTunes Home Share).

Look at all these rumors of AirPlay accessory makers preparing for "AirPlay Direct":
https://www.google.com/search?q=airplay+direct+apple&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

If Apple updated the software in the A4/A5 Apple TVs to allow for this feature, and included something similar to the current Home Sharing feature, do you really think walking up to an AV setup and waving your phone in front of a contact point would be that great of a feature? Especially if the millions of Apple TVs out there would be able to support the former but not the latter?

 

[Marty Chinn]

I think the benefits of a NFC Apple TV are negligible and your stated examples can be accomplished without changing the Apple TV hardware, both the A4 and A5 versions, which I don't think will change for a long time, and you can make it work with the existing method that people know work with the Apple TV with regard to AirPlay and Home Sharing (you could mimic the Apple TV's ability to access your computer's iTunes Home Share).

Look at all these rumors of AirPlay accessory makers preparing for "AirPlay Direct":
https://www.google.com/search?q=airplay+direct+apple&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

If Apple updated the software in the A4/A5 Apple TVs to allow for this feature, and included something similar to the current Home Sharing feature, do you really think walking up to an AV setup and waving your phone in front of a contact point would be that great of a feature? Especially if the millions of Apple TVs out there would be able to support the former but not the latter?

So you say nobody is going to buy a new device to support a feature like that, but then you point out AirPlay Direct which people will have to buy new devices to use? The AppleTV may get upgraded to support it, but will other devices out there?

Plus you're too focused on this one simple example and not looking at the bigger picture of things across the board.

 

[numble]

So you say nobody is going to buy a new device to support a feature like that, but then you point out AirPlay Direct which people will have to buy new devices to use? The AppleTV may get upgraded to support it, but will other devices out there?

I'm not going to buy a new Apple TV in order to support NFC when everything can be accomplished, in a better way, via a software update.

I will upgrade my phone simply because it makes economic sense to do so, due to the predictable trends for resale value, and because it has a lot of new features that I want.

Do you really think walking up to an AV setup and waving your phone at an Apple TV, which may or may not be a NFC model, is better than updating Apple TVs from 2010 and onwards to support AirPlay Direct?

 

[ReconPeon]

So 4 days in and no scuffs. Unfortunately I appear to have picked up three small screen scratches. And I have no idea how. Three years of smartphones without, 4 days wit a new phone. What a mess.

I had this same problem from just putting it in my pocket by itself. I think its just in the oleophobic coating, so I ordered some stuff that is supposed to fill in the minor scratches like this. It will be here tomorrow, and ill let you know if it works.

 

[Baconsammy]

For people like me thinking about going dumbphone+iPod Touch 5, here's a video of the new Touch. Apparently they released today in Japan.

One glaring omission being the lack of ambient light sensor. I dont really care about that since I never used it on past Apple iOS devices. I love how squared it is at the bottom now compared to the old Touch.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I'm not going to buy a new Apple TV in order to support NFC when everything can be accomplished, in a better way, via a software update.

Maybe you won't now, but in the future you plan to never update your Apple TV? What if all future iterations of Apple TV made it standard. At some point when you updated, you could take advantage of that. It wouldn't be the first time where you needed to upgrade for an Apple product to take advantage of features.

I will upgrade my phone simply because it makes economic sense to do so, due to the predictable trends for resale value, and because it has a lot of new features that I want.

Do you really think walking up to an AV setup and waving your phone at an Apple TV, which may or may not be a NFC model, is better than updating Apple TVs from 2010 and onwards to support AirPlay Direct?

I like how you quantify that only newer Apple TVs can do it. So if they had an older Apple TV, they would have to upgrade the hardware to take advantage of the feature. Don't want the feature, don't upgrade. How is that any different than moving forward all future versions used it?

I do think moving forward simply putting a device next to associate the devices is way easier than anything you guys are suggesting. You can still use AirPlay, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, etc, but still use NFC to compliment them. Why did Apple invent AirPlay when Bluetooth existed? Bluetooth would have been sufficient for what AirPlay was being used for when it first came out, but Apple came out with a different method.

Again, you're too focused on this one example and not seeing the bigger picture. I'm talking about a universal method/gesture that people can understand to initiate two devices talking together that makes it easy for the end user.

 

[numble]

Maybe you won't now, but in the future you plan to never update your Apple TV? What if all future iterations of Apple TV made it standard. At some point when you updated, you could take advantage of that. It wouldn't be the first time where you needed to upgrade for an Apple product to take advantage of features.



I like how you quantify that only newer Apple TVs can do it. So if they had an older Apple TV, they would have to upgrade the hardware to take advantage of the feature. Don't want the feature, don't upgrade. How is that any different than moving forward all future versions used it?

I do think moving forward simply putting a device next to associate the devices is way easier than anything you guys are suggesting. You can still use AirPlay, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, etc, but still use NFC to compliment them. Why did Apple invent AirPlay when Bluetooth existed? Bluetooth would have been sufficient for what AirPlay was being used for when it first came out, but Apple came out with a different method.

Again, you're too focused on this one example and not seeing the bigger picture. A universal method/gesture that people can understand to initiate two devices talking together that makes it easy for the end user.

There does not need to be a universal method when not all devices are the same. What if they released an actual Apple TV next year, big old monitor and all? I'm definitely not going to replace that. Where would the contact point be, and what if I hang it on my wall?

I don't think Bluetooth is sufficient for streaming large video files or AirPlay mirroring. It also degrades audio quality, and those expensive HiFi AirPlay stereos would suck if limited to Bluetooth quality and range.

 

[Ashhong]

I was a bit sad at how slow this thread moved before, but I gotta say, it's better than all of this NFC/Bump arguing.

 

[MasLegio]

I was a bit sad at how slow this thread moved before, but I gotta say, it's better than all of this NFC/Bump arguing.

yep, should be a separate thread for that.


But I bet that when the iPhone 5S is released with NFC it will be considered the best tech ever by the Applebots.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Applebots.

jesus, can this shit stop already?

 

[Dazzla]

I put mine in a case ASAP and I don't have anything over and above what it was like out of the box. My boss on the other hand, his phone is a mess. Nearly the entire edge is raw aluminium, it's disgusting. I'll try and take a picture tomorrow.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

I've put a cheap bumper on it. Looks and feels fine. The phone was perfect out the box.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

But I bet that when the iPhone 5S is released with NFC it will be considered the best tech ever by the Applebots.

haha

 

[KtSlime]

yep, should be a separate thread for that.


But I bet that when the iPhone 5S is released with NFC it will be considered the best tech ever by the Applebots.

Okay, you should really stop this. I get that for some reason of other you have grievances with Apple, but is it really necessary to spend your entire day trolling this thread?

 

[Tobor]

NFC will be in the iPhone when it's time.

This is no different than the people bitching about no LTE last year.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I've been experiencing this "problem" and I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not. As of two days ago, all calls made are more "clearer". It's weird; it's not clearer but that I hear background noise a lot more than I should. The voice has this sweet clarity, as if it's being post-processed. My friend with an iPhone 5 has started to experience this as well.

Not that it's annoying but before you could only hear the speaker's voice and no background noise. Now, every small pin drop is loud enough to be noticed. It's as if all microphones in the phone are active and listening in.

I called my friend who owns a Sony and I could hear him clearly as well, though my friend thinks it's only iPhone to iPhone. Maybe it's related to LTE? Doesn't make sense as we never had that issue before in the past month or so.

 

[mescalineeyes]

I've been experiencing this "problem" and I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not. As of two days ago, all calls made are more "clearer". It's weird; it's not clearer but that I hear background noise a lot more than I should. The voice has this sweet clarity, as if it's being post-processed. My friend with an iPhone 5 has started to experience this as well.

Not that it's annoying but before you could only hear the speaker's voice and no background noise. Now, every small pin drop is loud enough to be noticed. It's as if all microphones in the phone are active and listening in.

I called my friend who owns a Sony and I could hear him clearly as well, though my girlfriend thinks it's only iPhone to iPhone. Maybe it's related to LTE? Doesn't make sense as we never had that issue before in the past month or so.

there's some sort of high-quality phone call thingy, I am sorry I can't be of any more help, but you might be onto something.

 

[Ashhong]

What is that one thing called, where it provides better voice quality? Wasn't it a feature of Android/iPhone phones recently?

edit: dammit, I should have refreshed before posting lol

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/09/21/iphone-5s-hd-voice-impressive-theres-still-work-done/

TNW Australia got its hands on two iPhone 5 units today to test out the only feature that US reviewers haven’t been able to, due to lack of carrier support – HD Voice.

HD Voice is a remarkable improvement over standard cell voice. There’s a fuller sound, as you’d expect given the expanded frequency range, that’s at first a little startling. It’s not the same as sitting down to a Skype call where both participants have decent headsets — it’s closer to a regular call than that, but it is a noted improvement.

Though calls have traditionally used a frequency band that picks up the most important aspects of the human voice, it seemed to me that the main improvement was not in clarity of sound — like you’d get on a good Skype call — but intelligibility; though it is certainly clearer, sharper is more accurate a descriptor than clearer. There was much less need to strain to hear clearly what was being said.

There was an element of strangeness, despite the noted improvement and — based on our limited testing — it is the sound of phasing, where two audio waves slightly out of alignment cancel each other out to an extent. If you’ve ever heard two televisions playing on the same channel in the same house and noticed a strange washy sound between them, phasing is what you heard.

It’s only very slight and has no impact on intelligibility, but given that I was simultaneously hearing a much improved sound, the shade of washiness threw me. This is likely to be caused by the iPhone’s noise cancellation — phase cancellation is a big part of background noise cancelling technology. I would prefer to hold out for more widespread testing before claiming this was anything more than an isolated event, though.

On that note, the noise cancellation is great. I sent my fellow tester into a room with our chatting partners, a sound that we usually find makes comprehending a call very difficult on most phones, and there was a pronounced improvement in the layer of separation between our conversation and the background noise. It was slightly audible but removed from the conversation — I often find that even when the speaker is much louder than the background noise, it still cuts through enough to give me trouble picking up some words and this was certainly not the case with the iPhone 5.

These are very rough observations based on limited testing as I had to give the handsets back — Telstra has delayed my delivery, unfortunately — but this early look is definitely promising.

Currently, Telstra is the only carrier in Australia supporting HD Voice. Sprint in the US has HD Voice support but not in a way the iPhone can make use of — hopefully American iPhone owners will get some love soon.

 

[diehard]

why the crap hasn't Anand released his performance review yet?

 

[Pixels]

Ordered on the 20th from att and still preorder processing ...

 

[MasLegio]

Okay, you should really stop this. I get that for some reason of other you have grievances with Apple, but is it really necessary to spend your entire day trolling this thread?

I am not trolling, just making an observation.

I have an iPad 3 and iPhone 4S (on the fence on 5 due to iOS6) but appelologists annoy the hell out of me, thus my "comments".

 

[LyleLanley]

the Applebots.

appelologists

I am not trolling, just making an observation.

...

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

What is that one thing called, where it provides better voice quality? Wasn't it a feature of Android/iPhone phones recently?

edit: dammit, I should have refreshed before posting lol

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/09/21/iphone-5s-hd-voice-impressive-theres-still-work-done/

Hmm... This doesn't make sense as its something new. I didn't experience this when I bought the phone. Also, it's the reverse of noise cancellation as I hear every scratch and scuffle.

Unless they "activated" it via network...

 

[petethepanda]

Glad to see the Lightning to 30pin adapters are finally shipping. Now, to use the internet as a guinea pig and see if it works for people with similar car stereos...

 

[hirokazu]

I am not trolling, just making an observation.

I have an iPad 3 and iPhone 4S (on the fence on 5 due to iOS6) but appelologists annoy the hell out of me, thus my "comments".

Is there something wrong with saying Apple enthusiasts or Apple fans?

Also, does this same thing happen in the Android-related threads where iOS and Windows Phone enthusiasts go in and start touting how their devices are better and "Androidbots" are deluded? Serious question.

 

[neojubei]

Still waiting. =/

oh man that's a lot to spend on a phone.