Apple Introduces iPhone 5, New iTunes, New iPods

Published on 12 Sep 2012 at 3:20 pm.
Filed under Informative,Mobile.

Today Apple introduced a line of products powered by iOS 6. This included the iPhone 5, new iPod Touch and iPod Nano, and a new version of iTunes. Here is a recap.

Apple’s New iPhone 5

The Apple iPhone 5 is the most anticipated smartphone of the year. This is the phone that people were hoping for last year.

The iPhone 5 is an impressive device. It is the first device to include the A6 processor. The CPU and graphics are twice the speed of the A5 processor. They claim that it will launch pages 2.1 x faster, save images from the photo app 1.7x faster, and will load the music app with songs 1.9x faster.

The new design includes an impressive 4 inch screen. This screen has an impressive 326PPI. This makes it a retina device. It has a 1136×640 resolution in a 16:9 ratio. They will not stretch Apps for this resolution. They will include black bars when the app does not fit that screen. There will be a fifth row of icons on the home screen!

The iPhone finally supports 4G LTE! 4G LTE is the fastest connection type available in America. Unfortunately for Apple, Samsung has already announced that they will sue Apple over this feature. They will not support a non-4G version. This means that T-Mobile will not receive the iPhone. Additionally it will support 802.11n is now 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Apple has improved the battery. They claim 8 hours of 3G browsing, 8 hours of LTE browser, 10 hours of WiFi, browsing, 8 hours of 3G talk time (4G does not support talk, just data), 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music playback, and 225 hours of standby.

There is a new camera in the iPhone. It has an 8 MP sensor with a 3264×2448 resolution. It sports backside illumination, hybrid IR filter, five-element lens and f/2.4 aperture. Dynamic low-light mode and precision lens alignment with a sapphire crystal. Like most Samsung phones it will finally include a panorama mode. They showcased a 28 MP image  created in panorama mode.

The new design is slimmer. This is both a good thing and a bad thing for current iPhone owners. It’s good because it is lighter and is easier to carry. It is bad because it will not work native with any of your previous accessories. You will need to use a new adapter to use your previous accessories. It is 18% thinner and will have a metal back. The 19 pin called Lightning. It can now be plugged-in in either direction. They did not comment on the connection speed. One can assume it is the same speed from earlier devices.

It supports 1080p HD video and, like the HTC Evo 4G LTE, it can support taking pictures from video. FaceTime HD has 720p backside illumination, and face detection.

There are new colors available for your iPhone. It will also include better microphones and speakers. NFC support will not come with this device.

The Apple iPhone 5 will be the same price as the current 4S model. That 16 GB model is $199, 32 GB for $299, and 64 GB for $399. Pre-orders will begin on Friday. The iPhone 5 will ship on September 21.

iOS6

Apple spent time talking about what’s new in iOS 6. They have not included a release date for iOS 6, but it does power the iPhone 5. The rumored release is September 19th.

Apple explained that they have removed Google Maps in favor of their own maps application. The new maps application will finally bring turn-by-turn navigation to the iPhone.

The updated notification center can now post content directly to Facebook or Twitter.

Safari now includes a full screen mode, and can sync with a website you have open on a Mac thanks to the iCloud Tabs feature.

Mail includes a new feature called VIPs. This feature lets you mark people as VIPs and collects all of your messages from them in to one place.

Passbook is a feature that lets you collect all of your passes into one place. This includes movie tickets, plane boarding passes, Target coupons, Starbucks store card, concert tickets, sporting tickets.

Siri has can now display sport scores and standings. It still lets you launch apps from your phone, and lets you post photos and status updates to Facebook.

Apple’s iTunes update

Apple’s iTunes is already the #1 music store in the world. Today they are rolling out changes to improve the store on iOS, specifically on the iPad. This makes sense because over 60% of purchases on iTunes come from iOS.

iClouds has now been integrated directly into iTunes. This includes a desktop version. If you buy something on any iOS device then it will automatically show up on all of your other new iTunes connected device.

The updated interface actually looks a bit like Windows 8. It has tiles that are similar to the often criticized Metro interface.

Apple’s New iPods

Apple has also updated the iPod nano, iPod shuffle, and the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is radically different than anything we’ve seen before. It sports:

• GPS
• 4 inch screen (matching the iPhone)
• Lightning connector (matching the iPhone 5)
• 5 MP camera
• A5 Processor (same as the iPad 2)
• Better compatibility with iPad and Mac devices
• New Colors
• 40 hours of music playback
• A circle button that you can attach a loop that will allow you to connect it to your wrist
• Siri support.

The iPod Nano is larger than current Nano devices. It is actually a bit similar to the old iPod classic size. It will come in a variety of colors that are very different from what we’ve seen before. CNET’s coverage referred to them as Skittles. The iPod shuffle will come in these new colors as well.

The iPod shuffle starts at $49. The 16 GB iPod nano is $149. The 16 GB iPod touch is $199,  $249 for the 32GB, and $399 the 64GB model.

Apple has introduced new headphones. The EarPods took 3 years of development on Apple’s part. They are better shaped to fit the geometry of your ear. They did 3D scans of many human ears to find what would fit most ears. By letting air flow in and out of the acoustic chamber, it allows the speaker to move more freely and produce better low-frequency sound.

What do you think of these updates? Are you excited? Are you disappointed that they did not introduce the rumored 7 inch iPad Mini?

This post was originally published as Apple Introduces iPhone 5, New iTunes, New iPods for The BrandBuilder Company.