Apple announced the much anticipated iPhone 5 today which is loaded up with plenty of new features along with a new thinner and lighter design. Overall, I think Apple really has brought the iPhone up to par with what most consumers were expecting or hoping to see in this latest revamp. So here’s a rundown of the major design changes and features to get you up-to-speed.
Design Changes
The iPhone 5 is 18% thinner and 20% lighter and now features a larger retina display of 4″, which is up from the previous 3.5″.The extra screen real estate is nice and it isn’t too overpowering, this extra space will allow for a new row of icons, which I think is pretty nice. The screen is also wide enough to support a 16:9 aspect ratio. Touch sensors are now built in the display which is what allows the new phone to be much thinner. The glass back has been replaced by mostly metal now which will prevent the phone from cracking if you accidentally drop it. The dock connector and SIM card are also much smaller and the dock connector no longer requires that you have it facing towards the front, it will work both ways.
Power
With the new A6 chip the iPhone 5 will be much faster, up to about 2x as fast. Graphics also get an overhaul here and will deliver a faster, smoother experience when gaming. The battery life promises to be strong by offering 8 hours of browsing, 8 hours of talk, and 10 hours of video playback.
Camera
The new camera will allow you to take panoramic images and will feature the ability to record video in 1080p HD. You will also be able to use the front facing camera for FaceTime, which you will be able to initiate over your cellular network now instead of just Wi-Fi.
Sound
The iPhone has an additional microphone and the speakers get a bit of a touch up by adding more magnets which are supposed to improve audio quality. The phone will support wideband to make voices sound more natural. The speakers have also been designed to take up much less space and offer better noise canceling.
iOS 6
iOS 6 will come already installed on the new device and will feature FaceTime over 3G, Apple Maps, and new updates to Siri, just to name a few.
Network Support
iPhone 5 will support 4G LTE networks as well and claims that battery performance will still be solid despite the power demands of 4G. Wi-Fi performance will also be much better on the iPhone 5 with the addition of 802.11n wireless connectivity.
Price
The iPhone 5 will be priced as follows:
16GB – $199
32GB – $299
64GB – $399
The iPhone 5 will be available in two different colors, black and slate or white and silver.
For complete details on the new iPhone you can head to Apple’s official site.