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As expected, Apple has announced the iPhone 5 and "it's made entirely of glass and aluminium" although we're fairly certain it has some silicon inside it too. What's interesting is that many of the leaks and rumours have proven to be true, much more so than what some hoped for, although some didn't come true as well.The new handset from Apple weighs in at 112g (3.95 oz) which is 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S which weighs in at 140g (4.9 oz) and it measures 7.6mm thin which is 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S at 9.3mm. The display measures 4-inches as expected and has a very unusual resolution at 1136x640 pixels. In other words, Apple has kept the same width of the screen and simply just stretched it to create a 16:9 aspect ratio. As such, the pixels per inch remains the same at 326 ppi.
With additional desktop real-estate, Apple has managed to squeeze in a fifth row of icons. As far as apps are concerned, non-updated apps will run in "letterbox mode" whereas updated apps will be able to take advantage of the extra resolution. Other improvements to the screen includes 44 percent better colour saturation and full sRGB support. The new screen also features integrated touch support which according to Apple results in a thinner and shaper display with less glare.
As rumoured, the iPhone 5 sports the Apple A6 processor and although currently not much is known as to what Apple has done behind the scenes, the company claims that the A6 offers twice the CPU performance and twice the graphics performance over the A5 processor, as well as over twice as fast performance when it comes to launching apps. EA was on stage demoing the graphics capabilities of the iPhone 5 showing off a new game called Real Racing 3.
LTE is also part of the package, as expected and Apple is using a single chip, single radio solution – rumours suggest that Apple is using the MDM9615M from Qualcomm – and in the US Apple will work with Sprint, Verizon and AT&T as far as LTE support is concerned. Apple also threw in some 5GHz 802.11a/n Wi-Fi support, something that's been missing from the iPhone to date. Let's not forget about the new nano SIM cards that you have to use with the iPhone 5 for 3G and LTE connectivity.
The new camera is somewhat unexciting, as Apple has pretty much only shrunk the entire camera module, but all the spec remains the same. The only new additions according to Apple's presentation is a dynamic low light mode and a panorama mode. That said, the A6 processor is said to have a few features that further help the camera functionality such as spatial noise reduction, smart filer, better low-light performance and up to 40 percent faster photo capture. On the video side of things Apple has improved the video image stabilization, added face detection and the ability to take photos while you record video. The front camera has been bumped up to 720p and now features a BSI (Back Side Illuminated) sensor.
Apple has also added a noise-cancelling earpiece, a 20 percent smaller internal speaker that's meant to deliver better audio quality courtesy of a new speaker design that uses a five magnet transducer. While we're on audio related subjects, Apple also added three microphones to the iPhone 5 which should further help eliminate external noise during calls. Battery life hasn't really improved much, although standby time is up by 25h, with Wi-Fi browsing having increased by an hour and 3G browsing by as much as two hours.
As expected, Apple did announce a new dock connector and as some last minute rumours suggested, it is indeed known as Lightning. Apple claims it's 80 percent smaller than the old dock connector, but other more tangible benefits include an all-digital, 8-signal design that's said to feature an "adaptive interface", improved durability and maybe best of all, a reversible design that can be plugged easier. Apple also announced an adapter for the iPhone 5 to make it able to use older dock connector devices with the iPhone 5.
Price wise, nothing has changed, as Apple is expecting you to pay up $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model of the iPhone 5, of course on contract. The good news is that the 8GB iPhone 4 will be available for free, again on contract, with the iPhone 4S going for $99 on contract for the 16GB model which is now the only SKU available. The iPhone will be available on the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] of September in some regions, with September 28[SUP]th[/SUP] adding most of Europe with the exception of the UK, France and Germany which will get it on the 21st, although pre-orders start tomorrow for all regions.
Images courtesy of the Verge
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