I’ve already posted over at G Style what’s new with the iPhone 5 and the main features introduced. Over here however, I’ll be taking a more opinionated approach to why I’ll be upgrading my iPhone 4 this time around and what I’m excited about. Again, this is an opinion piece based on what I think.

Body

For starters, yes, the iPhone 5 really doesn’t look that much different from an iPhone 4/4S, it’s just taller and thinner. For the most part, it looks exactly the same aside from the new rear which is now made from a combination aluminum and glass inlays. I’m glad Apple ditched the all glass backing as that made the iPhone 4/4S a bit fragile in my opinion which is why I always kept mine covered up in a case. Maybe now with the new back, I won’t have to cover up my phone any longer and can just use a screen protector on the front. As for the new size, I’m quite glad Apple did not make the iPhone 5 any larger than they did. To me, I really like the smaller sizing of the iPhone 4/4S over larger phones on the market today. It fits great in my hands and is very easily pocketable. Since Apple only made the new phone taller, it should still fit comfortably in my pockets.

I don’t mind that it looks similar to the iPhone 4/4S because in my opinion, it’s a great design. Why change it? The iPhone 4/4S has been the best looking iPhone to date in my opinion and the iPhone 5 just evolves the design a bit. It’s still a very handsome phone so I don’ t really care that it looks similar to the previous gen.

Camera

Since I’m on an iPhone 4 currently, the new iPhone 5 camera blows it out of the water. I love photography as you can see from my numerous camera posts so having a better camera on a device I carry around with me all the time is important to me. Sure I still prefer using a real camera, but the camera on my iPhone comes in handy often so having a new 8 megapixel one with better low-light capabilities is important. I also really like the fact that Apple did update their camera software a bit as well which will allow for easy panorama landscapes as well as being able to take still photos while shooting video. Yes, I’m aware that other phones have this feature already, but I’m glad Apple has now included it in the iPhone 5.

Specs

Again, since I’m on an iPhone 4, the bump in specs is fairly huge for me. Going from an A4 to an A6 processor is a big  jump so I should see a difference in speed. I’m also happy to see that the new iPhone 5 is now compatible with LTE networks, but doesn’t sacrifice on battery performance. Also glad to see that Apple included dual band Wi-Fi. Other than that, specs don’t really matter too much to me as I’m more concerned with user experience than raw numbers.

Software

The iPhone 5 will take full advantage of all iOS6 will have to offer. In my case, my iPhone 4 will be slightly crippled when using iOS6. Because it does not support Siri, many other features will be missing when I update it to iOS6. I won’t have Siri still which means I’ll also not have turn-by-turn navigation with the new Apple Maps. I’ll also not have many of the new camera features which is a bummer.

Should You Buy One?

I’m not going to tell you to go buy one because it’s the greatest phone ever made. In fact, it probably isn’t. What I will tell you is that I’m upgrading because I enjoy using iOS. It’s easy to use, my kids like using it, and I love the Apple ecosystem and the sheer amount of apps that are available in the App Store. Sure there are things I would love to change about the iPhone, but that’s not going to keep me away. Should you upgrade though? Well, to me, it would depend on what you have already. If you’re coming from and iPhone 4 or anything older, I would suggest upgrading if you want all the latest new features iOS6 will offer. If you’re coming from an iPhone 4S, well that’s a bit more tricky. I don’t think there is enough of a difference to warrant an upgrade and I would suggest you skip a generation. This is usually me suggestion to most people who buy technology. You don’t need to upgrade your device every year there is a new update. Instead, skip a generation because you’ll see greater difference and it’ll be worth the upgrade. I mean, do you go an upgrade your car every year? No.