Apple has introduced the iPhone 5 officially today.
Like the leaked photos, the phone is taller, thinner and made of a mix of aluminum and glass. It has a two-toned colour scheme.
It is 112g and is 18% thinner and 20% lighter at 7.6mm than the iPhone 4S. It has a 4-inch 1136×640 pixel display with an identical 326ppi pixel density to the iPhone 4S. The screen has a 16:9 ratio, a change from the 5:4 ratio we’re used to in the existing product line. This will mean that existing apps will need to be updated to use the increased real estate. Existing apps that aren’t yet updated will be centred in the middle of the screen, with a small space at the top and bottom. All of Apple’s existing apps, such as Garage Band, iMovie and iPhoto, will be updated to support the iPhone 5.
The screen is not just bigger: it has 44% more colour saturation than the iPhone 4S while maintaining its Retina roots.
Then there’s the wireless connectivity: the iPhone 5 has a LTE baseband with support up to 100Mbps. It will also be backwards compatible with HSPA+ and DC-HSPA+ at 42Mbps. Apple is claiming the iPhone 5 uses a single chip for both voice and data, as well as a dynamic antenna for stable connections regardless of how it’s held (no Antennagate this time!)
Like the new iPad, the iPhone 5 will be compatible with Canadian LTE carriers such as Rogers, Telus and Bell out of the box. This also means that it could come to Fido, Koodo and other subsidiary LTE networks in the future. There’s also a new WiFi chip with support for 150Mbps Wireless-N technology.
The A6 chip is Apple’s new go-to SoC, and is a dual-core part. Despite that fact, it is twice as fast as the A5 in both CPU and GPU capabilities. We’re talking a 2x increase in page load times, though that likely takes both LTE and the new A6 chip into account.
Apple is touting some interesting new Game Center features including something called Time Shift which, when it is supported, will allow users to compete against each other even in single player mode by syncing times, such as in a racing game.
In terms of battery life, the iPhone 5 is going to last longer than the iPhone 4S. We’re talking about 10 hours of video watching, which is around an hour longer its predecessor.
The camera is also 8MP again, but is 25% thinner while being faster still. The module has digital signal processing for improved low-light performance and autofocus.
If you were wondering where that rumoured Panorama mode went from the iOS 5 beta? It’s here in the iPhone 5. The new phone supports dynamic and image stabilized panoramic photos with seamless transitions. You can effectively, according to Apple, create a 28MP panorama photo using the tools provided. Amazing stuff.
The front-facing camera has also been updated to HD, meaning likely 720p. Better than the VGA shooter in the iPhone 4S but still nothing special. Remember the PlayBook has a 3MP front-facing camera and supports real-time video chat.
As rumoured, there is a new dock connector called Lightning. It is a 9-pin connector and will be used in all future products. Intelligently, it’s also reversible so it doesn’t matter which direction you plug it in.
The device will come in black and white colours, and will be preloaded with iOS 6, which introduces a host of new features including 3D Maps and PassBook.
It will be available in Canada on September 21st!
Developing… post will be updated.
