iPhone 5 : Everything you need to know

One of the most anticipated device of 2012 is finally rolled out. On 12th September, Apple announced its next major release ‘The iPhone 5’ at Media Event in San Francisco. Here’s everything you need to know about iPhone 5.

Name

Being the sixth generation iPhone, this device was supposed to get the name ‘iPhone 5’. The reason is its predecessor ‘iPhone 4S’. Following the iPad policy, Apple could have named iPhone 5 as ‘The new iPhone’, but it rather stuck to traditional policy and that’s how the name ‘iPhone 5’ evolved.

Screen Size

The traditional 3.5-inch screen size of previous iPhone and iPod Touch since the original iPhone has been discontinued by Apple. iPhone 5 makes a whooping upgrade in the screen size from 3.5-inch to 4-inch.

The 4-inch screen is increased vertically keeping the horizontal size same. That’s why the iPhone 5 looks slightly elongated or stretched. With increase in the screen size the screen resolution is also increased and it’s now 1136 x 640 with aspect ration of 16:9. Still maintaining the pixel density of 326ppi it features the same retina display.

This screen resolution will enhance movies and multimedia experience, but old apps will appear in letter-boxed view. App developers will have to suffer, as they will have to redesign their apps supporting this new resolution.

Cosmetics

This is the department where iPhone 5 went through major change. The cosmetics and the shell of iPhone 5 is completely changed keeping the form factor same as iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S.

iPhone 5 is made out of Aluminum and glass body. Apple says,

iPhone 5 combines an anodized aluminum body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish.

iPhone 5 ships in two colors, Black and White. These aren’t the compete Black or White models, rather they are two-toned color. The black iPhone is ‘black and slate’ while the white iPhone is ‘white and silver’.

The redesigned internal architecture has made iPhone 5 incredibly slim having THICKNESS of only 7.6mm that is 18 percent slimmer as compared to iPhone 4S. Though there is increased in the size of the device, the weight is decreased by 20 percent to its predecessor and iPhone 5 ships with 112g.

Camera

There is no significant change in the rear camera as iPhone 5 features the same 8 mega-pixel camera sensor of iPhone 4S along with its specs. Fitting the same camera sensor into the redesigned shell was a big task for Apple.

The 8 mega-pixel sensor snaps images at resolution of 3264 x 2448 and has f/2.4 aperture. An interesting ‘Panorama’ feature is included which allows you to snap a 28 mega-pixel photo.

The front camera underwent modifications and the VGA (0.3mp) camera is replaced by a 720p camera. Sound’s good, but it has to eat  lots of bandwidth while video calling

CPU

Apple A6 makes a remarkable entry into the iPhone 5. It was expected that the Apple A5X chip could lead its way to iPhone 5, but instead Apple took the processing power way ahead than expected.

Apple A6 chip is based on new dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 architecture. Specification wise we know nothing about the A6 chip due to Apple’s tendency to avoid talking about it. Manufactured using Samsung’s 32nm process, A6 chip is twice the CPU and Graphics performance.

The 32nm manufacturing process shrinks the chip size which makes it 22 percent smaller than Apple A5 chip. The tweaked architecture does a better image processing job and is battery friendly.

Memory and Storage

Reports over the internet claims, iPhone 5 come with an increased RAM size. iPhone 5 features double the RAM than iPhone 4S. Yes, 1GB flavor finally hits iPhone.

As usual iPhone 5 is also available in three storage options, namely 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.

4G LTE connectivity

We were expecting iPhone 4S to feature 4G LTE connectivity, but it looks like Apple had different plans in their mind. Better late than never, finally iPhone 5 gets 4G LTE support. Initially it will be only supported in the US and the UK; other countries won’t get the 4G taste.

EarPods

Along with the phone Apple also redesigned their earphones. They are now named as ‘EarPods’. The traditional Apple earphones were the worst creation by Apple ever. EarPods are specially designed for more natural fit and durability while it also enhances the sound quality.

Lightning Connector

The 30-pin dock connector which Apple shipped from the original iPhone undergoes a complete makeover. Apple unveils a new 8-pin connector for the iPhone 5 which is named as ‘Lightning’. Lightning is 80 percent smaller than the old 30-pin dock connector and for you it might feel similar to a microUSB.

iOS 6

Announced back at the World Wide Developers Conference 2012 (WWDC 12), the next major mobile operating system will be shipped along with iPhone 5. It will be factory installed on iOS 6 and for other users iOS 6 will be shipped on September 19th.

iPhone 5 Availability and Release Date

iPhone 5 will be available in the store on 21st September. Alongside it is also available for pre-orders on Apple’s website.

UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the US will be getting iPhone 5 in the first wave, i.e on 21st September

The second wave is scheduled on 28th September for, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

iPhone 5 Pricing

The contract pricing for iPhone 5 in theUS is,

  • $199 – 16GB
  • $299 – 32GB
  • $399 – 64GB

The factory unlocked iPhone 5 will cost,

  • $649 – 16GB
  • $749 – 32GB
  • $849 – 64GB

The pricing is similar to iPhone 4S, a relief! No more surprises from Apple.

Let us know what you think of iPhone 5!

You might want to also check out comparison chart of iPhone 5 vs HTC Windows Phone 8X vs Nokia Lumia 920 vs Samsung Galaxy S III.

About the author

Varad Choudhari

VarDOS, as he prefers being called, Varad is 20 and tech enthusiast. All things digital, that’s what he always think about. Not a fanboy but still loves covering iDevices and is our Jailbreak “dexterous”. Brain flooded with lots of creativity he supports genuineness, he always keeps his point right so don’t argue with him.

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