By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
Apple Inc.'s AAPL +1.39% iPhone has been a trendsetter for half a decade. Now the question is whether it can avoid becoming a bore.
As Apple CEO Tim Cook unveils the new iPhone, Spencer Ante on digits discusses what affect the smartphone will have on its competitors. Photo: Getty Images.
From the demo room at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, WSJ's Ian Sherr gets a first look at the new iPhone 5. Video via WSJ's #WorldStream.
On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, packed with new features. The phone is thinner and has a bigger display. Its Siri virtual assistant has grown much more powerful. It has a new mapping and digital coupon service.
Yet no one heralded the new device as a great leap forward. What's more, several features that are becoming standard across other smartphones aren't in the iPhone 5. Many of those features, such as even bigger screens and ways to pay with your phone, are generating strong reviews from consumers and technology reviewers.
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Phil Schiller, senior vice president of world-wide product marketing for Apple, introduced the new iPhone 5 Wednesday in San Francisco.
Those reviewers, quick to call winners and losers in the space, have spent the last few months lamenting that the iPhone doesn't offer more. Even some hard-core Apple fans have raised questions about whether the iPhone can continue to trail blaze or if it's becoming a snoozer. One Apple employee recently confided he had been hoping the new device would have more dramatic changes.
Whether the missing features matter remains to be seen. Consumers worldwide have eagerly snapped up incrementally different versions of the iPhone in the past.
Still, the technology gaps are getting more attention. Here's a sampling of what the iPhone 5 is missing:
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Digital Payments: Some new Google Inc.GOOG -0.19% Android phones, including the Galaxy Nexus, and forthcoming Windows Phones have a near-field communication chip that powers digital-wallet services. They allow users to pay for goods at certain retailers by tapping their phones. The iPhone still lacks NFC and has taken only small steps toward payments with a new digital coupon and loyalty-card service called Passbook.
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Touch to Share: Most new Android phones, including the Samsung Electonrics Co.'s Galaxy S III, can share media simply by touching the devices together (again thanks to NFC). The phones can share photos, videos, contacts and Web pages this way, as well as information between apps. The iPhone can't.
Dynamic Home Screens: The iPhone is sticking to a home screen of static icons that people must tap to load. Lots of Android phones offer more customizable modules that push information that's otherwise buried in the apps.
These Android widgets let consumers see content like weather or Facebook updates on their home screen. Rather than see an icon for their email application, say, people can see their actual emails. Windows Phones, including one expected from Nokia Corp.NOK1V.HE +1.84% later this year, offer home-screen tiles that provide something similar. (The iPhone does push some discreet notifications—like Facebook updates—to the unlock screen, which is a first step.)
From San Francisco, Andy Jordan is at the scene of Apple's release of its new iPhone.
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Face Unlock: Many new Android phones use facial recognition to allow people to gain access to their phone just by looking at it. IPhone users are still swiping screens with their fingers to unlock their devices.
Even Bigger Screens: While larger than the last iPhone, the iPhone 5's four-inch screen is smaller than some phones on the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, which is 4.8 inches. Indeed, phones with screens as big as five inches are hitting the market.
Wireless charging: Nokia's new phone running the Windows Phone 8 operating system can be charged without a cord. All you have to do is place the device on a pad that supports a wireless charging standard called Qi. The iPhone 5 has a new charger that's much smaller, but it still has a cord.
Write to Jessica E. Vascellaro atjessica.vascellaro@wsj.com
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