As anyone would know, I'm definitely not famous or popular enough for them to send me a free iPhone to try, so whatever information I have here is courtesy of the two live blog that I followed throughout the event - Engadget and App Advice.
Here is the new iPhone 5 at a glance (no pictures though):
Physical Specifications
Weight: 112g (20% lighter)
4” Display
326 Retina ppi with 1136x640 Resolution
Apps are centered and to be designed to show more instead of merely stretching or expanding the app. (Example: Calendar to show more information at a time and homescreen has 5 rows of apps)
Basically what you have here is a lighter, taller and thinner phone as compared to the iPhone 4S. With a taller phone comes a longer screen (but not wider), According to Apple, with all these changes, the phone will still fit nicely in your hands.
Connectivity
LTE Connection
"Ultrafast" Wireless
Bottom line: Assuming if all goes well (and you are willing to pay your telco), your internet speed on your phone just got way better.
Processer Chip
New A6 Chip (luckily, the chip number doesn't follow the iPhone number)
The A6 Chip is basically two times faster in terms of the processing speed and graphics. Though this mean speed for new phones, this might be bad news for older phones as they try to keep up with the new programs built for the A6 chip.
Battery Life
3G Talk Time / 3G Browsing / LTE Browsing - 8 Hours
Wi-fi Browsing - 10 hours
Video - 10 hours
Music - 40 Hours
Standby - 225 hours
Uh-huh! The bane of all iPhones - the Battery Life. Obviously they have made improvements (or maintained for some) and made the machine more energy efficient. However, all these are based on the assumptions of the phone being in next-to-perfect conditions. So, things might not be so rosy after a certain time. Question here is - how long will this "honeymoon period" last?
Camera
8 Megapixel sensor
3264 x 2448
Backside illumination
Hybrid IR Filter
Five-elment lens
f/2.4 aperture
Dynamic low light mode
Precision lens alignment
Sapphire Crystal (For durability)
Looks like they are giving all point-and-shoot camera (or even semi-pro camera) a run for their money. They practically made an already awesome camera into an even more fantastic one. What I like about the camera improvements is that they don't merely pump the Mega Pixels but developed the camera in a more holistic approach. With backside illumination and a f/2.4 aperture, I'm pretty sure my foodie pictures will turn out to be much better.
Oh I forgot to mention - they added Panorama into the camera app!
Dock
Yeap, the rumors were absolutely spot on. They have done away with the old iPhone connector and introduced the new iPhone lightning connector. Unfortunately, this means that ALL your old devices CANNOT be used directly with new iPhone 5.
Fortunately (which means more $$$ for Apple), they have offered a one-stop solution in the form of a connector adapter. Make sure you budget that in when you are purchasing your new iPhone (unless you intend to throw out all your iDevices). Btw, there is no mention of the price for the adapter.
Here are the specs of the new connector (and here lies their justifications for the change):
All-digital, 8-signal design
Adaptive Interface
Improved durability
Reversible, easier to use
80% smaller
So there you have it - the main changes made to the iPhone to warrant a jump from iPhone 4 to iPhone 5. A few other changes which I didn't mention above include improvement made to Video Recording, the microphones and speakers, and Photo Sharing.
Price
The price will be the same as when iPhone 4S was released
$199 for 16GB
$299 for 32GB
$399 for 64GB
(All prices in USD for contracted purchase)
Here's a breakdown of the prices in USD
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| Photos courtesy of Engadget |
This new machine is obviously Apple's answer to the Samsung Galaxy SIII (and of course the lawsuits too). They have managed to give the consumers the highly sought after "bigger screen" which the Galaxy has kindly provided without compromising their trademark "iPhone look". As expected, the device is built to be faster and battery designed to last longer. My favorite part is the improvements made to the camera.
Unfortunately, there was no mention of the NFC (Near-field-communication) or 4.0 Blue tooth (which are both offered by the Galaxy). With all the ruckus about the NFC coming to Singapore, it will be really disappointing to get left out because I'm sticking to Apple. Somehow I got this feeling the iPhone 5S will feature this new technology (please don't quote me on this).
All in all, the iPhone 5 is certainly a powerful machine that will tempt many. However, the lack of surprises in the event (no more "one more thing") has somehow eroded the magic that these events usually bring. Hopefully Apple can pick themselves up from all these controversy and continue to surprise us with revolutions for many more years.
So will I be getting the New iPhone 5? Well, I'm still pretty much on the fence about it. The lack of NFC is quite unsettling but the other features are just too tempting. Regardless, if I do get the phone, I'll definitely give my full review on this blog.
Stay tuned as I'll give me reviews on the new iOS6 after I get a chance to download and fiddle with it.
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