When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 last month, many tech pundits called it “boring.” I was one of them. In fact, I was so bored that I called the iPhone boring way back in July, on the basis of the lackluster new mobile operating system that Apple announced at its developer conference. After I got a few minutes with the iPhone 5 after Apple’s press event, I wrote that it was “a very impressive device.” But those words appeared under the headline, “No, This Is Not the Best iPhone Ever,” a conclusion that was prompted by my annoyance about Apple’s new, proprietary dock connector. The company should have gone with a universal connector, I argued. By making that unfriendly move, the firm had “screwed over” its most loyal customers, and missed a chance to build a truly perfect device.
Now, almost a month later, it’s time for me to get something off my chest: I’ve made a huge mistake. I’ve had the iPhone 5 for about a week and a half, and I’m still annoyed about the dock connector thing. But it’s a small problem, and in retrospect I was wrong to allow myself to become overwhelmed by dock-based frustration.