In a special event held in San Francisco on September 12, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 – no great shakes though, because this is just a slightly redesigned phone. Let’s take a closer look.
The lack of dramatic changes could lead to problems down the line- Jesmond Darmanin
The iPhone 5 features a 326 PPI display. The new four-inch screen is 30 per cent thinner, has 44 per cent more colour saturation and supports the full RGB colour space.
The touch sensor is now built completely into the display using in-cell technology, allowing the device to be thinner. There are five rows of icons now, instead of four, as the screen has been elongated vertically with 176 rows of pixels.
The radio in the device is LTE capable and supports HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA and 5Ghz Wi-Fi as well. The new A6 processor in the iPhone 5 has a CPU and graphic capabilities that are twice as fast than its predecessor’s.
The battery life of the new iPhone 5 has not been affected by the beefier capabilities as it features eight hours of 3G talk time, 3G browsing or LTE browsing and up to 225 hours of standby time.
The camera in the iPhone 5 has an eight-megapixel sensor, is backside illuminated and has a five-element f2.4 aperture hybrid IR filtered lens.
The lens cover is sapphire crystal, which enhances image capture quality and protection. The new image processing chip in the iPhone 5 features spatial noisereduction and a smart filter which reduces noise algorithmically. Image capture is now 40 per cent faster as well.
The camera also features a built-in panoramic mode which can shoot up to a 28 megapixel still image stitched together out of a bunch of captures. Just tap the panoramic button and pass the camera over the scene.
New video features include improved stabilisation, video face detection for up to 10 faces and the ability to take still photos as you record. The front-facing iSight camera has now been updated to HD 720p quality and you can now do Facetime over 3G. iPhone 5 also comes with the new Apple Earpods with a tweaked design for a more natural fit, increased durability, and acoustic quality boost.
Now for the most controversial upgrade – the dock connector. For the first time ever, Apple has changed the iPhone – the new one, dubbed ‘lightning connector’, is 80 per cent smaller than the older connector.
With an all-digital, eight-signal design that is reversible, you can stick it in any way you want. What this means is that people who already own an iPhone/iPod/iPad dock will not be able to connect the new iPhone to them unless they purchase the adaptor that will convert your old cable to the new one.
The launch of the iPhone 5 has been met with both positive and negative feedback from tech bloggers, iPhone fans and major online publications. For avid tech followers, this launch did not contain any surprises, mostly because every single aspect of this launch was leaked well before the presentation.
I think that the lack of dramatic changes in Apple’s last few product announcements could lead to problems down the line, considering that other companies like Samsung, Nokia and HTC are miles ahead with the latest technologies such as NFC, wireless charging and 332PPI bigger screens.
Quoting from some major publications, BBC said that, “Apple’s iPhone launches no longer excite” and Cnet.com posted that “the iPhone 5 isn’t going to wow anyone”. Regardless, I’m pretty sure that thousands will buy this phone and dub it as the best phone in the world.
Jesmond Darmanin is a technology enthusiast who has his own blog at www.itnewsblog.com.