The all new iPhone 5 (not that we care about the name Steve….) has been introduced today at the Apple Event in San Francisco by Apple VP of worldwide marketing Phillip Schiller. It’s thinner, has a 4 inch display, features LTE connectivity, and a new chip called the A6.
*Photo via apple.com
The new iPhone is made entirely out of glass and aluminum and looks just like it did in the leaked photos. No real surprise there. The iPhone 5 is essentially the same width as the iPhone 4S, but taller. It’s 7.6 mm thick, which means it’s 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S and weighs 112 grams. It comes in two colors, White and Black with an aluminum and anodized back.
The display is a 326ppi Retina display, 4-inches, with a 1136 x 640 resolution display. The pixel density is the same, but the resolution is higher – Apple says the color saturation is 44% better. Old apps will run letterboxed on the new screen if they’re not updated.
The iPhone 5 is the first to use the new A6 chip. Apple claims its graphics processing is twice as fast as the A5.
On the connectivity front, there’s GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE and WiFi 802.11 a/b/g and n. The groovy part is that it’s dual channel — like the new Kindle Fire HD — which means it can go up to 150 Mbps. No mention of NFC though.
Did I mention that FaceTime now works over a cellular network? This is something that should have been done some time ago.
The camera is smaller, but the specs aren’t much different from the one on the iPhone 4S. It does have a sapphire lens cover and Apple has made some improvements. Apple claims it’s 40% faster in terms of image capture and better low light capture — although this remains to be seen as Apple didn’t display any low light photos during the presentation. It also has a panorama mode (something Android cameras have had for some time already). It also lets you take photos while capturing video.
Speaking of video, the front camera now captures at 720p resolution, while the main back facing camera captures at 1080p with better stabilization and face recognition.
On the connector front, the rumors were completely right. And the great part is that it’s reversible and works by connecting from either end.
As for the software, I found the new Maps app to be interesting. Safari also has a feature that let’s you to share tabs from your desktop to your smartphone. This is similar to the way Chrome does on Android. Siri has also been updated significantly.
The new iPhone will be available in the US on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon and prices are $199 for the 16 GB version, $299 for the 32 GB version, and $399 for the 64 GB version. Pre-order start is September 14th, and deliveries start September 21st.
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Brian Burgess
September 12, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Well, I guess Apple is keeping up with the market it helped to build and Android has surpassed. I don’t know what I was expecting from the keynote today, but it seemed lackluster to me. Probably because we already new most of what was coming due to the rumor mill online.
It’s strange how things change. In years past we always knew what was coming out for Microsoft, and Apple was an uber secretive company — now it’s like pulling teeth to get anything out of MS…but I digress… It’s a nice piece of hardware, and will be a quality phone for sure, but there isn’t anything innovative with the new iPhone. I guess there is only so much you can do with a mobile phone. I think the real innovations will come in the new iOS and services Apple provides. I am not sure how I feel about the Lightning connector and the adapter Apple is selling for $30-$40 — if you get a new iPhone, your old docks and other components are useless unless you get that adapter, but I am sure there will be other companies making them cheaper. Actually, now that I think of it, the only time I connect my iDevices to a cable is to charge them. There’s so much that can be handled over WiFi now.
The next year will certainly be interesting for us geeks, with what’s essentially a completely revamped Microsoft — software, services and devices — Windows 8 phone and Surface Tablet. Google services, and new Android devices will continue to be released, the new Kindle Fire HD, iOS 6, new gaming consoles … and whatever else comes out of Techland…phew!
Bogdan Bele
September 13, 2012 at 3:09 am
The connector actually annoys me. In Europe every company has micro USB on their phones (EU regulation, if I remember correctly). I wouldn’t let Apple sell them here without it. If everyone can comply, so can Apple.
Austin Krause
September 13, 2012 at 10:54 am
Thirded. Apple has for years been trying to lock its customers into its own little proprietary world. The result? Android, an open-source OS that at first only mimic’d iOS, taking over and surpassing it as Brian said.
Apple hasn’t seemed to get the message yet that people are sick of being locked in on a hardware, software, and market level. This is the number 1 reason I have never bought an iPhone and will not buy the iPhone 5.
Look at the success Netflix has had by porting its service to every device possible. I pay for one subscription and it works everywhere, this is what I want to see on mobile. This is why I go with Android when it comes to mobile, and Steam when it comes to desktop software.
Bogdan Bele
September 13, 2012 at 10:56 am
Couldn’t agree more. I don’t think it’s right for a manufacturer to tell me what I’m allowed to install on a device I paid money for (and lots of it).
Mike Rothman
September 14, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Yawn.