will this be different enough to get played by me?

You're welcome! It's different in the fact that flying Infinite Flight is much easier not because it is dumbed down, but because the plane is much more stable. I understand wanting to hold off (wish I hadn't bought half the stupid apps I have), but this might be worth it.... also I am not sure if the pricing is going up or if the $5 is an introductory price. I don't want to talk you into buy something you won't care for, so check out the videos on Youtube or other reviews! :)

Report on X-Plane for iPhone/iPad:It's ok for a portable device app but it has but it has its share of quirks that frankly have me wanting spend another $5 to try Infinite Flight now.Things I like about X-Plane:

1. Multiple planes,
2. Multiple geographies,
3. Tunable weather conditions,
4. Tunable time of day,
5. ILS support
6. Autopilot
7. Simulated unreliability and failures (engines, instruments, brakes, tires, flaps, rudder, aileron, elevator, bird strikes)
8. Multiplayer on the same local area network (it works, I had my iPhone and iPad in the same session)
9. Flaps
10. Landing Gear
11. NAV1/NAV2/DME support

Things that kind of bug me about X-Plane & could use improvement for a better experience:

1. Geography: I'm limited to flying inside of the region I choose before I start the flight. I can't actually fly from one supported region to another (a good example would be wanting to fly from southern to northern California). The boundaries for the region are seen as a white abyss. Fly into it and I simply warp to the opposite end of the axis.
2. Too fast. True or not, each plane seems to cover territory much quicker than anticipated which equates to short flight sessions & difficulty navigating & making adjustments on the radio panel.
3. I really like the cockpit instrument panels but autopilot gives me fits. When enabling it, it quickly locks to the roll of the plane. One has to be very quick to get it to track a coordinate. Unfortunately there's no coordinate/altitude tracking knobs for autopilot that I can find. While it does support ILS indicator guidance with ILS runways, autopilot doesn't seem to lock on to the localizer or glide slope. One ILS approach had me flying into a mountain range just before the runway. GS didn't take into account terrain.
4. There is some terrible bouncing on runways during touchdown. Bringing down the nose propels the plane 40 feet into the air. Bouncing perpetuates with the loss of airspeed resulting in a crash on the 2nd or 3rd bounce.
5. No AI or scenery at airports beyond the runway and lighting. Add to that, no landmarks. I flew to where the Golden Gate Bridge is supposed to be and there is no bridge. Only the 2 visible land connecting endpoints and a gap of water where the bridge should be as if I was flying in the year 1800 before the bridge was constructed.
6. Roll and Pitch is too sensitive for iPad controls.
7. No ATC

Hello,I wrote the review of Infinite Flight found at the link above. To give you a bit of a breakdown based on your lists:"Things I like about X-Plane:"1. Infinite Flight is a bit lacking in this area, although the fact that there are quite a few more on the Windows Phone 7 version and that videos have demonstrated additional planes seems promising.2. Here Infinite Flight only has two regions. The socal one is impressively extensive compared to most of the X-Plane regions, however, especially in terms of the number of airports modeled.3. Infinite Flight currently only allows control over visibility and wind.4. Same between sims5. Yes6. Yes7. No8. No9. Better in Infinite Flight as there are fixed positions.10. Yes11. No. Aircraft automatically picks up selected ILS in flight plan."Things that kind of bug me about X-Plane & could use improvement for a better experience:"1&2: Much the same in Infinite Flight except flying outside the region results in throttling back to idle, which can be an annoyance especially in a jet if it happens, not so bad in slower aircraft.3. No instrument panel like iPad version of X-Plane. Autopilot has tracking buttons, however. Haven't tested for terrain problems yet.4. Not an issue.5. Same in Infinite Flight. X-Plane iPad has this in very limited locations; check KSEA.6. Infinite Flight is much better in this respect, and I found hand flying to be a joy.7. Same in Infinite Flight.