I got an iPhone 5, am iOS7 ready, and am irritated

I guess it was just my day last Saturday when I took my giant ginger son (aka The Ginger Avenger) to the AT&T store to transfer my iPhone 4 to him. My two-year contract was up and his iPhone 3GS had seen better days (the screen was shattered), so I thought I'd give him my iPhone 4. After all, I do have my corporate-supplied Samsung Galaxy SII to use. To my surprise, I got an iPhone 5 for my trouble.

My son needed a non-broken phone and I didn't really need my iPhone 4, although I really liked it, I just didn't need it. I have my less-than-cherished Galaxy SII to use. I decided to lower our overall monthly bill to AT&T by getting rid of my phone altogether. It was a plan. And the plan was for just us two to go and get it done. My wife, it seems, had other plans.

On our way to the AT&T store, I made some joke about getting an iPhone 5 as a replacement for my soon to be no longer my iPhone 4. I was joking but you know how women can be about these things. In her mind, I was being passive-aggressive and wanted an iPhone 5.

I wasn't and I didn't.

While we were at the store, our customer service rep (William) helped us take care of our somewhat confusing needs. My wife, of course, took the reins and negotiated the changes we wanted to make. I just looked around the store wondering why I had come. A typical male-female shopping experience.

So, in a few minutes, after I'd looked at every single item in the store, here comes William toting an iPhone 5 box. I was taken aback at the sight of it.

"What's that?," I asked knowingly.

"That's your Father's Day present. I'm off the hook now and I don't want to hear anymore about your phone or how you have to drive across country on Father's Day."

I retreated in silence.

I got home with my iPhone 5 and began transferring my iTunes and backup to my new phone. That took some time—probably an hour or more.

I tried out a few apps and a few peripherals that I'd purchased for my iPhone 4. Many of my external peripherals don't work with the iPhone 5. It's a little longer and thinner than the iPhone 4.

So now, I'm really no better off, peripheral-wise, than I'd have been if I had no iPhone at all. It's very frustrating that the form factor would change so much that my Kogeto Dot, for example, doesn't fit. I'm irritated about that.

I guess the need to update the grille and taillights is more important than me being able to use my peripherals. Even my car's iPhone connector uses the "old" style interface so now I can't play my phone's music through my car stereo. Irritated.

That evening, I spoke with Jason Perlow of TechBroiler fame about my new iPhone 5. He told me that Apple was about to announce iOS7 or a new iPhone. 

"That figures, doesn't it."

I'm now finally up to date on Apple gadgets (iPad 4 and iPhone 5) and Apple might announce a new one. It never gets old. Actually it does. That is irritation number three. It's also the last straw in this ongoing upgrade and buy more stuff madness.

So now, I don't have a case for my iPhone 5. My cool peripheral gadgetry won't work with it. And my music won't play in my car.

BUT, I'M IOS7 READY BABY!

I'm ready to have my apps break again, like they did when I upgraded to iOS6. I'm ready to sit and wait for programmers to download the new SDK and reprogram their apps so that I can use my cool stuff again because, although it's a phone, it's a do everything gadget now. 

I don't want you to think that I'm totally ungrateful for my new phone but seriously, why can't you make something better without messing it up in the process?

It's very frustrating. So frustrating that I might just trade my son back for my iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 just isn't that compelling for me to acquire all new peripherals for it. Of course, I'd be even more irritated if he broke the brand new phone, so there's no easy way out for me.

For the $200+ dollars for the phone and extra money per month for more data, I would have been happier with a new lens for one of my many cameras or a new funky lo-fi camera. Actually, for the $200 to $300, I could have bought a load of film and a few nice plastic cameras to satisfy my camera obsession.

The only thing that keeps me from trading the iPhone 5 with one of my kids right now is that it does have a camera on it that's better than the iPhone 4 camera. That, and I was able to transfer all of my cool camera apps to the new one.

So for the moment anyway, I have the latest and greatest Apple devices, although I have no case for either of them, since the old ones don't work and I don't relish spending another $50+ on cases.

I'm not even sure I need a phone. What I should have gotten is an iPod 4. I don't want to make or receive any phone calls. I could always use Skype or FaceTime, if on the rarest of occasions, I want to have a conversation with someone other than myself or the computer screen.

But, don't worry about me, I'm OK, I have a new iPhone 5 and I'm iOS7 ready. And for the moment, I'm on the leading edge of Apple's techno gadgetry. Awesome.