I bought an iPhone 5s this week.  I acquired an iPhone 4 in November 2010.  I was introduced to iPhone at 3G in the Spring of 2009.

The 5s seems solid.  It is FAST.  The BlueTooth stuff Just Plain Works.  The thumbprint  access control is awesome.  The display size is increased by an amount an amount that feels like it hits the sweet spot.  I appreciate the things that Siri renders hands free.

Somehow, though, the iPhone loses a certain degree of design elegance every time I buy a new one.  Going from the 3G to the 4, I felt a loss in the physical form, as it went from a beautifully curvy shape to a more boxy one.  I miss caressing the 3G as it nuzzled into the palm of my hand.  Going from the 4 to the 5s, the color palette has gotten bleached.  What happened to the warmth and the gradients?  Compare the interface for dialing a number in the 4 to the 5s.  In the former, you get rich tones and beautiful gradients.  In the latter, everything is white.

I appreciate the raw efficiency of the new.  I mourn the beauty of the old that is gone.  Why can’t I have both?

Maybe what is attractive to Western markets is offensive to Eastern markets and vice-versa, the modern iPhone is trying to be a comprehensively international product, and so everyone gets a tolerable vanilla design?  Or maybe the new scheme is easier on color blind people?