iPhone 5 Revealed: Taller, Thinner, LTE Capable

EYES IN tuned in to the CNET Live iPhone Coverage broadcast on Ustream for the big iPhone 5 reveal. CNET covered the San Francisco press extravaganza featuring Apple CEO Tim Cook and musical guests The Foo Fighters.

Apple is reported to release preorders for the new iPhone on Friday, Sept. 14, 2012 with official release in the U.S. on Sept. 21. Apple will also release the new iOS 6 system to all iPhone users (4 and 4S) reportedly on Sept. 19. According to the CNET crew, here's what we can expect from Apple's newest iPhone dubbed "the world's thinnest smartphone."

Taller and thinner: As expected, the new iPhone is 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S. Apple says it's the thinnest handset around, but that's a race that changes often. That means it's also 20 percent lighter for a total of 112 grams. The Retina Display expands from 3.5 inches (its size since the original iPhone to 4 inches). The total resolution remains the same, though, at 326 pixels per inch. The total pixel count is 1136x640 and we now have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

To the user that means a fifth row of icons on the home screen. That's pretty nice since it will let you cut down on the number of home screens. You'll also get a full 5-day week view in the calendar, the calendar shows more events, and all iWork apps will take advantage of the bigger display. Third-party apps that haven't been updated will continue to work, but you'll see black borders on each side (so they won't be stretched or scaled). Apple also promises that widescreen movies will look better with 44 percent more color saturation than the iPhone 4S.

Touch sensors are now built into the display itself, which makes it 30 percent thinner as a result and less prone to glare.

LTE and carriers: Not a shocker either, but the iPhone 5 will support 4G LTE networks. That's in addition to the current support for GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, and HSPA data networks. LTE has a single chip for voice and data, a single radio chip, and a "dynamic antenna" that will switch connections between different networks automatically.

So which carriers will support an LTE iPhone 5? Well, in the United States that means AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless. So again, T-Mobile loses out. In Canada it's Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin, and Kudo. In Asia the providers will be Softbank, Smartone, Singtel, and SK Telecom. For Australia there's Telstra, Optus, and Virgin Mobile and in Europe it will go to Deutsche Telekom and EE. On carriers without LTE the iPhone 5 will run on dual band 3.5G HDPA+.

A faster chip: The iPhone 5 will offer a an A5 chip, which is two times faster than the current A5 chip. Graphics will get faster speeds, as well. Yet, despite the speedier performance, the new chip will be 22 percent smaller than the A5. According to Apple's specs, users will see Web pages load 2.1 times faster and the Music app with songs will load 1.9 times faster.

More battery life: LTE tends to be a power hog, but the iPhone 5 is set to deliver respectable battery life. Of course, the real story may differ, but here's what Apple is promising for now. We're supposed to get 8 hours of 3G talk time, 8 hours of 3G browsing, 8 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music, playback, and 225 hours of standby time. You can be sure that CNET will put these promises to the test when they get a device in their hands.

Camera: The main shooter, or the "iSight" camera, stays at 8 megapixels (with the best resolution being 3264x2448 pixels) with a feature list that includes backside illumination, a hybrid IR filter, a five-element lens, a f2.4 aperture. New is a dynamic light mode and you should be able to launch photography apps from up to 2.1 times faster. Another addition is an image signal processor in the A6 chip. That will bring spatial noise reduction and a "smart filter" that produces better low-light performance and captures photos faster. Finally, there's a built-in panorama mode that stitches shots together for one large 28-megapixel photo.

Source and Images Courtesy: CNET