Apple's latest and long awaited iPhone the iPhone 5 has gone on sale today surrounded by continued criticism of the new mapping application introduced to replace Google Maps. Apple's latest mobile operating system iOS 6 is the first to expunge Google's mapping features which have now been entirely removed.
From a hardware perspective the new design has already been well received with reviewers commenting positively on the looks, the features, and the more easily accessible case design. According to Apple's press release the iPhone 5 is thinner, lighter, has a larger screen and is twice as fast as its predecessor the iPhone 4S as the result of a processor upgrade). Apple is no doubt disappointed however that this has been overshadowed by the extremely bad reception received by its mapping app.
Continued and significant problems with the Apple mapping app have very quickly emerged creating a deluge of complaints and considerable negative PR for Apple.
Glaring mistakes include:-
• Significant towns and cities either in the incorrect location or missing entirely.
• Features such as train stations either shown in the ocean or in the middle of rivers, or incorrectly labelled.
• Poor detail in mapping with many roads not shown.
• Much lower resolution satellite photography compared to Google.
• Poor choice of colour scheme, making the mapping blander looking and harder to interpret.
• No Google 'Street View' replacement.
Clearly this hasn't stopped the masses though with some Apple stores reporting queues of more than a thousand people. Whether this enthusiasm continues or is dissipated by the software problems remains to be seen, although with Apple reporting a record number of pre-release upgrade requests the initial hype is unlikely to die down for a while yet.
So are you intent on buying an iPhone 5 or are you perhaps already standing in the queues?
Do you think the new mapping app and recent security concerns will adversely affect sales?
Tell us your views on the latest iPhone 5 here.
