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A SMARTPHONE NAMED FOR ITS ANNIVERSARY?
It's human nature to quickly take things for granted and adapt. For example, we now take for granted having access to hundreds of thousands of smartphone apps at low prices, and have adapted to typing on a touchscreen. We're also a fickle species, especially with regard to products. Lawyers used to refer to their beloved BlackBerry as a CrackBerry. But most lawyers have kicked the habit and kicked the BlackBerry to the curb — principally because of the smartphone that changed the game five years ago.
iPhone 5 … in One Sentence
Announced today and shipping September 21, Apple's iPhone 5 is a smartphone.
The Killer Feature
Over in the Android world, you may have noticed that smartphones have grown quite large. If you cannot use a smartphone one-handed, is it still a smartphone? If it won't fit in your jeans, is it still a smartphone? Isn't the major selling point of a smartphone portability?
Thankfully, Apple has both jumped on and off this bandwagon with the iPhone 5. It sports a new 4-inch retina display (diagonally) with an 1136 x 640 pixel resolution versus 3.5 inches and 960 x 640 for the iPhone 4 and 4S. However, the larger screen has not taken too much of a toll on the overall size and weight. The new iPhone's width remains the same at 2.31 inches. It's unavoidably taller but not by much — an 8% increase to 4.87 inches. This might be an acceptable trade off as it's 18% thinner (7.6 mm) and 20% lighter (3.95 ounces).
The larger display enables you to add an extra row of apps for five rows in addition to the fixed row at the bottom. While the "retina" pixel density of the display remains unchanged at 326 pixels per inch, Apple claims that new sensor technology results in better colors and sharper text. Finally, the display has a 16:9 aspect ration — the same as your HD television so when watching HD video you will no longer have to choose between letterboxing or chopping off part of the frame.
Other Notable Features
The iPhone 5 features LTE — the next-generation cellular technology that offers broadband Internet speeds (Verizon has the largest LTE network in the United States). Apple has also improved the WiFi technology to accommodate both 2.4 and 5 GHz 802.11n routers.
The iPhone 5 is powered by Apple's new A6 chip with double the CPU and graphics performance of the previous A5 chip. Apple claims that battery life has improved — most notably 8 hours of talk time, 8 hours of LTE web browsing, and 10 hours of WiFi web browsing.
Apple has also improved the cameras. While the rear camera remains at 8 megapixels, it works better in low light, has an improved lens, and takes panoramic photos. It shoots 1080p HD video (you can take still photos while shooting video). The front camera, typically used for video calls, now shoots HD video at 720p (versus 480p VGA for the iPhone 4S) and takes 1.2 megapixel still photos.
Other features include wideband audio technology for improved telephone calls (assuming your carrier supports it), new earphones (called EarPods), improved speakers, and a new dock connector called Lightning that's 80% smaller.
What Else Should You Know?
The iPhone 5 runs iOS 6, Apple's new mobile operating system. iOS 6 will also run on older iPhones back to the iPhone 3GS though some older iPhones won't support all the new features such as turn-by-turn navigation. With a two-year contract, the iPhone 5 costs $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB, or $399 with 64 GB. Color options consist of black and white. Learn more about iPhone 5.
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