HANDS-ON iPhone 5 REVIEW AT BETHESDA ROW APPLE STORE (PHOTOS)

iPhone 5 sales may have been high this past weekend, but unlike some earlier launches, there was no line outside the Apple Store at Bethesda Row the next evening.

The phone may not be as earth shattering as Apple would have you believe, but it still has the organic intuitiveness you expect - and almost always get - from an Apple product.

Are you following this guy
@BethesdaRow on Twitter?

The 4" screen is just about as impressive as the latest iPad's.  But after the Samsung Galaxy S III, going from 4.7" to 4" is like going from a giant flatscreen TV to a 1970s Trinitron.  For video in particular, that .7 is a world of difference.

Hey, it's the Piano Guy at
American Tap Room!

 I don't think the Apple Maps are as terrible as advertised, but it's quite different using them in a store, rather than navigating on the road.  There's a neat feature where photos (from Yelp?) pop up for a particular restaurant, for example.  But it is hard to to compete with Google without a Street View feature.

Where Apple continues to dominate, is not just in the interface, but in the tools provided (or downloadable) for video and audio recording and editing.  And they continue to hold a slight edge in the apps department, as there are still a few apps exclusive to Apple (The Drybar was a recent example, much to the chagrin of Android-using ladies at Bethesda Row), and still some tricks you can't make your Android do with a trip to Google Play.

Panorama?  The Galaxy S III can do that too.  Front facing camera?  Ditto.  And the "new" Siri seems mostly just an upgrade to catch up with the app-launching S-Voice.

Which gives one the sense that with Google, Apple, and - almost unbelieveably - Microsoft, Amazon and maybe even Facebook hunched over their workbenches, and more competitive than ever, the next generation of phones after this will be truly exciting.

CAMPING OUT AT BETHESDA ROW APPLE STORE - IN LINE FOR iPhone 5 [PHOTOS]

BETHESDA LINE

PALES AGAINST NYC

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

While New York's iPhone fanatics waited outside every night for the last week, ahead of today's iPhone release, Bethesda Row's Apple sidewalk was dead, dead, dead.

You may be forced to relinquish your Hipster Cards, Bethesda, should Forbes and the other "Top 10 Towns for ________" curators get wind of this Apple Apostasy.

Fortunately, by last night at 7 PM, a contingent of 6 brave souls had stepped forward to save us from an international embarrassment.  Yes, 6 people who realized that blankety-blank percent of life is just showing up, finally showed up.  As the hours passed, more joined them, to spend the night in the warm glow of the Apple logo, with promises of nothing more than a few slices of pizza.  Maybe.

If it seemed that there were more reporters asking questions than actual iPhone buyers in line, well, it wasn't just your night-before giddiness getting the best of you.  That Mix 107.3 van out front?  Uh, actually, they were across the street for the dog event on Bethesda Lane at Redwood.  Arf!

Personally, I think the new iPhone is a worthy competitor that does get trumped in several categories by the Samsung Galaxy S III.  There should be a good turnout throughout the morning, but it's too late to put the genie back in the bottle:  the fact is, the excitement level just wasn't there.  We know that, because the live bodies weren't there lined up all week outside the store.

iPhone 5 is anything but a failure.  But the response here in Bethesda is a warning to Apple:  the quality is there, but the magic is gone.  What's needed in an iPhone 6, is a feature, a concept, a revolution that brings the magic back.  What that is, has never been up to us, the consumer; Steve Jobs gave us products and features we never imagined or thought we needed.  The problem now is that Steve Jobs is gone.  Let's face it, the Google Glass presentation blew away any of the post-Jobs Apple product reveals.

Jobs/Apple fans like me will always have a nostalgia and affinity for the brand.  But it takes more than that to excite the masses.

After finding 6 people outside the Apple Store T-minus 12 hours before iPhone 5, I do know what Apple needs to address.  "Help Wanted:  Visionary."

DRYBAR AT BETHESDA ROW NOW TAKING APPOINTMENTS - AND ON YOUR iPhone

The Drybar at Bethesda Row hasn't even opened yet, but demand is so high, they're already taking appointments!

There's also a Drybar app you can use to quickly make your appointment; sadly for Android users, it is only available for iPhone at the moment.

Ladies, this means you can pick up your new iPhone 5 on Friday, and make your Drybar blowout apppintment before you even leave the Bethesda Row Apple Store!

iPhone 5 - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW! iOS6 LIGHTNING A6 PANORAMA LTE

SHIPPING

SEPTEMBER 21

AT

BETHESDA ROW

APPLE STORE!

LIVE FROM

BETHESDA ROW

APPLE STORE

The incredible new iPhone 5 has just been unveiled to the world, and I've scribbled down as much information as I can for all Bethesdans who will be lining up here at Bethesda Row next week.

What aren't we getting?  Nikola Tesla wireless charging.  Also, just how improved Siri is was not really emphasized.

With that out of the way, let's get right to the iPhone 5!

Three letters:  LTE

No surprise there, nor with the iOS6 operating system.

The new iPhone is the same width, but taller.

SCREEN

Another row of apps!  5-day workweek in Calendar!

That's thanks to a 4" 326ppi Retina display.

1136x640 resolution

Your old apps?  They'll be letterboxed.

PHONE

It's made entirely of glass and aluminum, and 20% lighter than iPhone 4s.  Now "the World's Thinnest Smartphone."  7.6 mm thick, to be precise.

WHAT'S INSIDE?

New A6 chip.

BATTERY LIFE

8 hours of LTE talk time or browsing.

CAMERA

8 megapixels, dynamic low light mode, sapphire lens crystal cover, shared photo streams, and a 720p Face Time front camera.

Biggest camera news?

Panorama!  Take 28 megapixel images with a sweep of the phone!

And Face Time is available over all cellular networks, apparently.

LIGHTNING STRIKES!

An 80% smaller connector, all content downloaded wirelessly, and share iCloud tabs between your iPhone 5 and your desktop.

COLORS

Black and white.

PRICE

The same!

16GB: $199
32GB: $299
64GB: $399

WHEN CAN I BUY iPhone 5?

Preorder Friday the 14th of September.

iPhone 5 ships September 21!