Full Review of The New Apple iPhone 5.

When we envisioned the new iPhone, we landed on a remarkably thin and light design. But it’s nearly impossible to make a device so thin and so light without sacrificing features or performance.

We could have taken the easy way out and designed something more reasonable and less remarkable. But we didn’t. If the technology didn’t exist, we invented it. If a component wasn’t small enough, we re-imagined it. If convention was standing in the way, we left it behind. The result is iPhone 5: the thinnest, lightest, fastest iPhone ever.

iPhone 5 is just 7.6 millimeters thin. To make that happen, Apple engineers had to think small, component by component. They created a nano-SIM card, which is 44 percent smaller than a micro-SIM. They also developed a unique cellular solution for iPhone 5. The conventional approach to building LTE into a world phone uses two chips — one for voice, one for data. On iPhone 5, both are on a single chip. The intelligent, reversible Lightning connector is 80 percent smaller than the 30-pin connector. The 8MP iSight camera has even more features — like panorama and dynamic low-light mode — yet it’s 20 percent smaller. And the new A6 chip is up to 2x faster than the A5 chip but 22 percent smaller. Even with so much inside, iPhone 5 is 20 percent lighter and 18 percent thinner than iPhone 4S.

Making a thinner, lighter iPhone meant even the display had to be thinner. Apple engineers accomplished that by creating the first Retina display with integrated touch technology. Which means instead of a separate layer of touch electrodes between display pixels, the pixels do double duty — acting as touch-sensing electrodes while displaying the image at the same time. With one less layer between you and what you see on iPhone 5, you experience more clarity than ever before. All on a display that’s 30 percent thinner than before.

Never before has this degree of fit and finish been applied to a phone. Take the glass inlays on the back of iPhone 5, for instance. During manufacturing, each iPhone 5 aluminum housing is photographed by two high-powered 29MP cameras. A machine then examines the images and compares them against 725 unique inlays to find the most precise match for every single iPhone.

Look at iPhone 5 and you can’t help but notice the exquisite chamfer surrounding the display. A crystalline diamond cuts this beveled edge. It’s what gives iPhone 5 its distinctive lines. Fitting for a phone so brilliant.

Aluminum and Glass Body

The back of iPhone 5 is made of anodized 6000 series aluminum — the same material used in Apple notebooks — with inlays along the top and bottom made of ceramic glass (on the white and silver model) or pigmented glass (on the black and slate model).

Precision-Matched Inlays

During the assembly process, each iPhone 5 aluminum housing is photographed by two high-powered 29MP cameras. A machine then compares the images with 725 uniquely cut inlays to find a precise match.

Sapphire Crystal

Although the surface of the iSight camera is as clear as glass, it’s not made of glass. It’s actually sapphire crystal, whose hardness is second only to diamond on the scale of transparent materials. That means the surface of the lens is far less likely to scratch.

Diamond-Cut Beveled Edge

A crystalline diamond is used to cut the chamfers of iPhone 5. This process gives the beveled edge its beautiful sheen.

It’s not easy to create earbud-style headphones that not only feel good in your ears, but also sit securely in your ears. That’s because everyone’s ears are different. Using optical scans combined with silicone molding, Apple designers created 3D models of various ear types to find a common shape across many different people. That shape led to the unique look of the new Apple EarPods. Unlike traditional circular earbuds, their design is defined by the geometry of the ear. Which makes them more comfortable for more people than any other earbud-style headphones.

They’re more stable and durable, too. Apple engineers asked more than 600 people to test over 100 iterations of the Apple EarPods. Testers ran on treadmills in extreme heat and extreme cold. They performed various cardio workouts. They were even asked to shake their heads side to side, up and down. The result: Apple EarPods provide stronger protection from sweat and water, and they’re remarkably stable in the ear. Which means they stay in, even when you’re on the go.

 

At the same time Apple designers were trying to define an ideal earbud shape, Apple sound engineers — acousticians — were focused on improving sound quality. First, they established a target sound for the Apple EarPods. That target: a person sitting in a room listening to high-quality speakers.

The biggest determinant of what you hear from any speaker is the movement of its diaphragm. The inward and outward motion is what creates sound. But earbud speaker diaphragms are typically made from a single material, which can limit sound output.

So Apple acousticians re-engineered an earbud speaker diaphragm with both rigid and flexible materials to minimize sound loss and maximize sound output. Adding to the superior audio quality are strategically placed acoustic vents. The most notable of these vents is the one located in the stem of each EarPod. It allows air inside the stem, which acts as an acoustic chamber, to flow out. So you hear deeper, richer bass tones. The overall audio quality of Apple EarPods is so impressive, they rival high-end headphones that cost hundreds of dollars more.

How a product looks and performs matters, but so does its impact on the environment. That’s why nearly every Apple product is made from highly recyclable materials like aluminum, and why we refuse to use harmful toxins in our components.

Every iPhone starting with iPhone 3GS is free of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). That includes our newest iPhone — iPhone 5. In fact, Apple has one of the strictest BFR-free and PVC-free standards in the industry. And we expect the same from our suppliers. We go so far as to disassemble our products into individual components and materials in our Cupertino lab. Then we test them using many methods, including X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and ion chromatography. We do this to ensure that every product we release meets our environmental standards.

More display means more to see.

Anyone can make a larger smartphone display. But if you go large for large’s sake, you end up with a phone that feels oversize, awkward, and hard to use. iPhone 5 features a 4-inch display designed the right way: it’s bigger, but it’s the same width as iPhone 4S. So everything you’ve always done with one hand — typing on the keyboard, for instance — you can still do with one hand. On a larger canvas that lets you see more of every web page. More of your inbox. More events on your calendar. Even more apps on your Home screen.

It’s more vibrant, too.

This isn’t just a larger display. It’s a larger Retina display. At 326 pixels per inch, it has a pixel density so high your eye can’t distinguish individual pixels. And as stunning as the Retina display is on the iPhone 4S, this one gives you 18 percent more pixels for an impressive 1136-by-640 resolution. Colors get a boost, too, with color saturation that’s 44 percent greater than before. So with iPhone 5, the games you play, the words you read, the images you see, and the apps you love look and feel incredibly vivid and lifelike. For big-time entertainment, iPhone 5 lets you watch widescreen HD video in all its glory — without letterboxing.

 

iPhone 5 is nearly 9 millimeters taller than iPhone 4S, but it’s the same width. So it’s just aseasy to type with one hand.

LTE. The right way.

You rely on your iPhone. So a thin, light design and outstanding battery life are important to you. But so is a fast data connection. LTE wireless technology is built for speed, but adding it to a phone can create bulk and drain battery life quickly. iPhone 5 does LTE the right way — optimized for better battery life and designed for ultrafast connectivity in a thin profile. The very things you want most from your smartphone.²

Next-generation cellular and wireless connectivity.

iPhone 5 supports more networks all over the world. That includes advanced networks such as HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA. Browse, download, and stream content at ultrafast speeds. Dual-band 802.11n wireless connectivity accelerates your Wi-Fi experience, too — up to 150 Mbps.³

Faster CPU performance.

With the new A6 chip, just about everything you do on iPhone 5 is noticeably faster — up to twice as fast compared with the A5 chip. So apps launch, web pages load, and email attachments appear almost instantly.

Faster graphics.

The A6 chip also offers graphics performance that’s up to twice as fast as the A5. So you can power through graphics-intensive apps and games. And enjoy higher frame rates for smoother, more realistic gameplay.

Even better battery life.

Not only is the A6 chip custom designed to be fast, it’s custom designed to work with iOS 6 to be extremely power efficient. So even at its accelerated speed, iPhone 5 has more than enough battery power to last throughout the day — up to 8 hours of browsing on a cellular connection, up to 8 hours of talk time, and up to 10 hours of video playback time.

Panorama.

iPhone is the most popular camera in the world. For good reason. Photos look so stunning, it’s hard to believe they were taken with a mobile phone. And everything that made the iSight camera in iPhone 4S the world’s favorite is now on iPhone 5 — and then some. The new panorama feature lets you capture everything from a family reunion group photo to a jaw-dropping shot of the Grand Canyon. With one smooth motion you can shoot up to an impressive 240 degrees. The gyroscope, A6 chip, and Camera app work together to create one seamless, high-resolution panorama up to 28 megapixels.

Even better features.

The Camera app also features improvements including 40 percent faster photo capture, better low-light performance, and improved noise reduction. So you can snap more shots with more detail and clarity than ever before. 

Enhanced HD video recording.

Imagine sidesplitting, adventure-filled, must-see flicks produced by you and shot on iPhone 5. Record stunning 1080p HD video with the iSight camera. Improved video stabilization helps prevent shaky footage. Face detection for up to 10 faces means everyone can have a moment in the spotlight. You can even take still photos as you record, so you can capture small moments while shooting a big one.

FaceTime HD camera.

You use the front-facing camera on iPhone 5 to make FaceTime video calls. And now those calls can happen over a cellular connection if Wi-Fi isn’t available.⁵ The quality of FaceTime video calls is so surprising, it’s as if you’re in the same room with whoever’s on the other end. You can also use the front camera for taking self-portraits or recording 720p HD video.

A new way to get connected.

Making iPhone 5 thinner and lighter required a pivotal change: replacing the 30-pin connector with something newer, smaller, and better. Introducing the Lightning connector. It features an all-digital, eight-signal design that’s significantly more durable than the 30-pin connector. Another brilliant feature of Lightning: It’s reversible. Which means there’s no wrong way to plug in the cable.

Lightning to 30-pin Adapter.

Soon many iPhone accessories will be Lightning compatible. But if you have one that depends on the 30-pin connector, you can still connect it to your iPhone 5. Simply use a Lightning to 30-pin Adapter (sold separately).

Maps designed by Apple.

The new Maps app gives you a better way to find your way. Map elements are vector based, which means graphics and text are incredibly sharp, even when you zoom in. Pan around, and you’ll instantly notice how smooth and responsive Maps is. Need directions from Point A to Point B? Maps not only shows you how to get there, it tells you — out loud, turn by turn. Maps also gives you real-time traffic information and reroutes you to avoid delays. For a completely new perspective, switch to Flyover and explore major metro areas from above with photo-realistic, interactive 3D views.

Just ask Siri.

Siri is the intelligent assistant that helps you get things done, just by asking. Talk to Siri as you would to a person: “Do I need an umbrella?” or “Any modern art museums around here?” or “Where’s the closest ATM?” Siri not only understands what you say, it knows what you mean. It figures out the right apps to use to find the right answer. Then, just like a personal assistant, Siri provides you with the information you need.

New Siri features.

With iOS 6, Siri understands more questions, knows more answers, and gives you a lot more to talk about. Ask Siri about sports scores and stats, where to eat, what movies to see — even ask Siri to make Facebook posts or tweet for you. And Siri is fluent in more languages, so it does more things in more countries.

The foundation of iPhone.

At the core of every iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch is iOS. It includes all the built-in apps you use every day and all the intuitive technology — like Multi-Touch and Siri — that makes iPhone so advanced.⁷ With every free iOS update comes even more capability for your devices. You’ll find the latest version, iOS 6, already installed on iPhone 5. So right out of the box, you get more than 200 new features to make the things you do every day even better. 

Everything you need. Everywhere you go.

iCloud is built right into iPhone 5. Just turn it on and you’ll have instant access to all the things you need, whether you’re on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.⁸ New features in iOS 6 let you do even more with iCloud. Share the photos you want with the people you choose using Shared Photo Streams. Locate, lock, and recover your misplaced phone easier than ever with Find My iPhone. Browse a web page on one device and pick up where you left off on another device using iCloud Tabs. And that’s just for starters.

iPhone 5 is a remarkable device. The same goes for the apps that come with it. Because they achieve the perfect balance of everything you need to do with everything you want to do — from emailing your boss to filming your road trip — on the large, 4-inch Retina display.

There are over 700,000 apps available from the App Store — many of them free — to make iPhone more capable, more indispensable, and more fun.⁹ Sign in to the App Store with your Apple ID, browse lots of categories, and download any app you want.

 

 

 

 

Put what’s on your iPhone on your HDTV. AirPlay wirelessly streams content from your iPhone to Apple TV, so you can watch it on the big screen.¹⁰ Turn on AirPlay Mirroring, and whatever you do on your iPhone — tapping and scrolling, playing a game, even typing — appears on your HDTV at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

Print right from your iPhone over Wi-Fi with AirPrint. There’s no software to download, no drivers to install, and no cables to connect. With just a few taps in Mail, Photos, Safari, or iBooks, you can send whatever’s onscreen to an AirPrint-enabled printer.

 

Live blog: Apple iPhone 5 Event!

Full Review of The New Apple iPhone 5.

Event Updates:

• Thanks guys ! Stay tuned For a Full Detailed Post and Hands on with the New iPhone 5!
• And Tim Cook is out to say goodbye
• They’re rocking… acoustically.
• 
• Uh oh — music guest! Foo Fighters! WHAT?
  
• “They are doing the best work of their lives.”
• “Only Apple could do this. Apple has never been stronger. And that’s because of our employees.”
• “Now when you look at each of these, they are incredible industry leading innovation by themselves. But what sets them apart and what places us way ahead of the competition is how well they work together.”
• “Now with 200 new features.”
• New iPods, new iTunes. The iPhone 5. “Powered by iOS 6.”
• 
• “So let’s recap what we introduced today.”
• “Now we do love music, and we love this new lineup of iPods. We were so excited we created an ad.” And… here it is.
  iPods. Dancing. Replicating. TAKING OVER.
• “So that’s iPod and iTunes.”
• One other color — RED. To fight AIDS in Africa.
• 
• New nano and touch available in October. Joswiak says “The best iPods we’ve ever done.”
• 
• iPod shuffle, $49. iPod nano, $149. Keeping the 4th gen iPod touch, 16GB at $199. New iPod touch, 32GB, $299.
• 
• 
• “So let’s review.”
• “But you might have guessed that we want to include these with our products too.” With the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPhone 5.
• 
• “I think music lovers will love these. We’re going to start shipping these as a standalone accessory. Available today.”
• 
• “EarPods are designed to direct sound into the ear.” Wait, what.
• 
• These were leaked a few weeks ago — the same product.
• 
• “We spent 3 years designing new headphones. EarPods.”
• “Doing a great headphone is hard. Ears are challenging. Everyone’s are different, but you have to make one size.”
• 
• “Apple is one of the biggest providers of speakers in the world. We put them in just about everything we sell.”
• 
• 
• “Now I want to turn our attention to something else that’s really important for music. And that’s speakers.”
• 

• “Five choices, and each one comes with its own loop — color coordinated.”

• Whoa! iPod touch in colors!
• “And for the first time, we’re supporting Siri on the new iPod touch.”
• 
• “Improvements for wireless across the board.”
• “We bring AirPlay mirroring to the iPod touch for the first time.”
  
• “We’ve improved the wireless capabilities as well. We have support for 802.11a/b/g/n…”
• 
• 
• 
• 
• “You may have noticed there’s a little circle on the bottom of the touch. We call it the loop.” You push the circle and it pops up a loop… for a bracelet. Clumsy Ninja, this is perfect for you.
• 
• 
• “This rivals point and shoot cameras, but there’s more…”
• Panorama mode here as well.
  
• Pictures look way, way better than previous generation.
  
• “I want to give you an example. These are actually shot with an iPod touch.”
• 
• “So the camera… iPod touch customers love to take pictures and shoot video. For the first time we’re building an iSight camera into the iPod touch. And we’re building autofocus and a flash into it.”
• 
• Battery life has been increased on the iPod touch.
• Big cheers for that demo!
• The Ninja is based on research from Oxford! The best minds of our time… working on Clumsy Ninja.
• 
• “Clumsy Ninja can learn.”
• The character onscreen is reacting to the player’s actions. Pretty funny stuff. Now being tickled… and chased. Stuff is getting weird.
• “The Ninja is fully aware of his environment.”
• 
• Now a game developer is on stage to show off some iPod touch action. ‘Clumsy Ninja’ an interactive toy.
• “We can do things with the iPod touch that we couldn’t do with the last generation.”
• 
• “And we made it faster. We’re bringing the A5 chip to the new iPod touch.”
• “So that’s the new iPod touch.”
• “But I know you noticed the display. It’s the same display as the iPhone 5.” So larger display here too.
• 
• 
• “The lightest iPod touch we’ve ever created.”
• “We made it out of high quality anodized aluminum.”
• “It’s almost as thin as the nano, but it’s a touch!”
• “Only 6.1mm thin.”
• 
• 
• “The best we’ve ever made.”
• “It’s not just a great music or game player — it’s a great iOS device. We wanted to make it better, with an all new, 5th generation iPod touch.”
• 
• “It’s the world’s most popular player, but also the most popular game device.”
• 
• “Next let’s talk about the iPod touch.”
• “Hope you love it as much as I do.”
• “We’ve given it the all new Lighting connector.”
• 
• 
• “One of the biggest requests we’ve had was for Bluetooth, so we’ve added it.”
• “And we’re building fitness and pedometer right in.”
• “And we’re bringing video back to the iPod nano. And it’s widescreen video — and it uses every pixel.”
• 
• 
• FM tuner integrated — “It even has live pause, so you can pause or go back and listen to something again.”
• 
• 
• “It comes in really fun colors. 7 different colors.”
• It has a home button, just like the iPhone.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• “That’s what we did with the nano. And here it is.”
• “First we want to give it a large display. Give it nice controls. Make it thin and light. And of course, the Lightning connector.”
• “First we want to give it a large display. Give it nice controls. Make it thin and light. And of course, the Lightning connector.”
• “Let’s start with the nano. We’ve had 6 generations of it. But we wanted to reinvent the nano — we thought, what elements do we want to add?”
• 
• 
• 
• “The iPod is the most popular music player of all time. We’ve sold 350m of them.”
• Update on the iPod now.
• Eddy Cue is back and running down the changes.
• Apps, books, etc. all built in and seamless.
• The store on desktop is very similar to the new iOS versions. Much cleaner and looks simpler to navigate.
• “Here’s a movie I was watching earlier on my iPad, The Avengers.”
• 
• “Let’s switch to movies. This is my entire library.”
• “We’ve built iCloud right into iTunes.”
• The mini-player allows you to manage playlists and upcoming songs as well.
• It strikes me that it’s hard to describe a demo of iTunes accurately.
• New mini-player design.
  
• 
• The currently playing window provides a dropdown to see upcoming songs. Lots of modals here — not so much jumping around, which is a welcome change.
• Nice split screen view to see your full library while adding songs to playlists.
• 
• 
• “We’ve given the artist the ability to share photos with you in your library. Here’s some photos Coldplay is sharing.”
• “You can also browser your library by artist.”
• “Each album comes with a feature we call ‘in the store’ where you can see top songs and albums.”
• “When you click on an album it expands in place.” Sort of like folders on iOS. Lots of mobile design cues here.
• 
• New edge-to-edge design.
• “Rather than walking through the features, let’s see a demo.”
• 
• “But we’re not standing still. Today we’re introducing a new version of iTunes.”
• “We now have over 200m customers using iTunes in the cloud.”
• 
• 
• All available with iOS 6 on September 19th.
• Preview songs while browsing — play your samples while looking around the store.
• New App Store design — Facebook likes integrated in every entry.
• 
• 
• Same design runs across all stores, books, music, video.
• “So here’s our new design for iOS devices.”
• 
• “But over the last couple of years there’s been a trend — more than 2/3rds of downloads come from iOS.”
• “Customers can shop from anywhere.”
• “Today I’m happy to report that the store is available in 63 countries around the world.”
• 
• “Let’s talk about iTunes. It’s the #1 music store in the world.”
• Eddy Cue is up.Strutting
• “Today we’re announcing changes with iPod and iTunes.”
• “We get really excited when we can make music products better or simpler.”
• 
• “We love creating music products. This is the reason we have created the iPod and iTunes.”
• “Now in addition to announcing iPhone 5, we have something near and dear to our hearts to talk about today — and that is music.”
• 
• “This is the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the iPhone.”
• Tim is back.
• “If you have an iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, new iPad, iPad 2… upgrade for free to iOS 6.”
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Ships September 21st.
• September 14th is when preorders start.
• 
• New lineup is iPhone 4, 4S, 5.
• iPhone 3GS is gone.
• Same price for the iPhone 4S. $199 $299, $399.
• 
• 
• And we’re back with Phil!
• 
• 
• I’m going to make sweet love to this phone. LOL
• 
• Man the hero shots of the phone in this video make it look extremely nice. Sexy even? Sure, sexy.
• 
• 
• “Never before have we built a product with this level of fit and finish,” says Jony.
• “Now you can make a FaceTime call right over the cellular network.” Well…
• Scott Forstall onscreen now talking through the integration of hardware and software — Apple’s edge for so long.
• “I don’t think the level of invention has been matched by anything we’ve ever done.” The MacBook Retina team sobs quietly.
• “We also moved to a sapphire lens for the camera.”
• “We needed to manage space inside the phone carefully. We created a new connector.”
• Love seeing the cutaways of the internals. Nerd porn.LOL
• 
• Bob Mansfield is going through the engineering feats to create a smaller phone with the battery life and wireless features.
• 
• “It took an incredible effort to do this.”
• 
• “iPhone 5 is the result of this approach. For the first time ever, we’ve increased the size of the display. You can see more of your content, but still comfortably use it with your hand.”
• 
• “We take changing the iPhone really seriously. We don’t want to just make a new phone, we want to make a much better phone.”
• 
• Jony Ive is in a large, white room.. Video Time
• “What would be the best phone without a killer video?”
• Price and release date must be coming up…
• Phil is going through the features again now, a wrap up.
• 
• “Again, the thinnest and lightest phone we’ve ever made.”
• “The iPhone 5 comes in this black color, and also white.”
• “iOS 6 is the most advanced OS for any phone. And it powers the iPhone 5.”
• Phil is back!
• “We think you’re going to love it.”
• “And we have some great enhancements for accessibility.”
• “And those are just a few of the new features in iOS 6. There’s some great enhancements to the phone app, including the ability to automatically send an SMS back when you can’t take a call.”
• 
• “I can post right to my wall with Siri ‘post looking forward to sushi tonight'”
• 
• “Find a sushi restaurant for 4 at 8 o’clock.” Sure enough, Siri pulls up the info. Hardly any lag here at all.
• 
• Ha! Siri says that’s a very subjective question!
• 
• “Siri has also learned a lot more about movies, so I can ask ‘can you recommend a good movie in theaters?”
• 
• Some of the stuff we saw at WWDC — you can get sports scores, standings…
• “There’s one more thing I’d like to demo for you, and that’s great enhancements to Siri.”
• 
• “They’ve received a push notification with those photos on their phones. You can comment on photos, your friends can, and you can like that photo.” But this is not integrated with Facebook, it seems.
• 
• 
• 
• “Now I’d like to show you photo stream sharing. I can just select photos and then say share…” Scott is picking individual people he wants to share with.
• Boarding passes, etc. will work from lockscreen.
• “Here’s a ticket for a baseball game. Here’s one I’ve gone to — so I tap the trash button… and we’ll shred that for you.” Cute! A shredding animation. That must be satisfying.
• “Now I’d like to show you Passbook. Here I have a movie ticket, a boarding pass, a card from Starbucks…”
• 
• “We now have VIPs in mail. They’re all collected in one place. It’s also easier to flag messages.”:
  
• “I can get back to any of my content from any of my browsers on the go, it’s called iCloud tabs.” Sort of like Google’s Chrome syncing between desktop and Android.
• 
• 
• “You can now go into fullscreen mode.” That’s a welcome addition.
• 
• “Let me show you some enhancements we made to Safari. It looks great on this display.”
• “Next up I’d like to show a little tweak we made to Notification Center. You can tap to tweet or post to facebook… and it’s that easy.”
• “And that is Maps.”
• “You take two fingers and you can change the camera angle.” Seems to work just like Google Maps 3D view.
• “When you tap on the 3D button, you get taken into flyover.” 3D modeling of the actual pics — we saw this at WWDC. Very impressive stuff.
• 
• “We’ve also got great satellite imagery.”
• “All of this works in landscape in addition to portrait. And that, is turn by turn.”
• “As we take you around turns we use a cinematic camera angle to fly you around.” Yes, because while driving you’ll want that cinematic sweep to look at.
• Now demoing the GPS features.
• “And we’ve built in turn by turn directions.”
• 
• Scott is showing off maps. “We’ve built a search engine in to find POIs — we have over 100m points of interest.”
• “We are really excited about iOS 6. It has so many new features in it, and I’d like to demo it here on the iPhone 5.”
• Scott Forstall is out!:
• “Perhaps one of the most important features of the iPhone is the software it runs. And we have iOS 6. It’s been designed from the beginning to take advantage of the iPhone 5.”
• 
• “So that’s the new lightning connector.”
• 
• “But what about the stuff you have now that uses the 30 pin connector? Well we’re working on accessories for that. Here’s an adaptor.”
• All digital, 8-signal design, adaptive interface, improved durability, reversable.
• 
• “So a lot has changed, and it’s time for the connector to evolve. Our new connector is called Lightning. So we have Thunderbolt and Lightning.”
• 
• “We use wireless to do a lot of what we used to use cables for.”
• 
• 
• “Next, the connector.”
• “With wideband audio, we can fill up more of the frequency spectrum. We’ll have 20 partners on this at launch.”
• 
• Wideband audio…
• One thing Apple has an uncanny ability to do is downsize components. It is an impressive feat.
• “Improved speaker design.” 20% Smaller
• 
• “Everything has been updated in iPhone 5, and that goes for the audio system as well.” Three microphones, bottom, front, and back.
• 
• FaceTime camera is HD:
  
• 1080p video, improved video stability, face detection — you can take photos while shooting video.
• “Here’s some fun you can have. That’s not two people. I’ll leave it to fans to figure out how we did this.”
• 
• “It creates seamless transitions between these photos.” Looks like there’s some pretty intense software processing here.A photo of the Golden Gate bridge — pretty impressive.
• “You get beautiful photographs and images… this image is 28 megapixels.”
• 

• 
• 

• “Here’s pictures from the iPhone 5. These are from the camera… untouched.” Burn?:
  
  
• “This is 40% faster on photo capture.”
• Better low light performance.
• “We also improved the processing.”
• 
• “Sapphire is renowned for being hard and crystal clear.”
• 
• “But they didn’t stop there. They enhanced it even further. Dynamic low light mode, precision lens alignment, sapphire crystal.”
• 25% smaller.
• “We asked our team to try and design something better than the iPhone 4S… and they’ve done that. 8mp, backside illuminated, hybrid IR filter…”
• 
• “Next, the camera. If you know anything about camera design is vertical height. Making something thinner is the worst thing you can do.”
• That was fast..now:
  
• 
• “So, you can imagine the challenge on the battery life. But we’ve not only matched it… we’ve exceeded that of the iPhone 4S.”
• Phil is back. “To marry mobile with console graphics, it’s never been done before.”
• And Rob is out. Not an overwhelming demo.
• 
• “Real tracks, real cars, real people you can play against anytime you like.”
• The graphics are somewhat sparse, but what we can see looks quite nice.
• 
• “Now you can see Vince is driving, and he’s racing me. How is that possible? Well we’re using a feature in Game Center. Time shifted head to head.”
• 
• “For the first time, rear view mirrors!”
• Graphics do look excellent. Lots of nice shaders and reflection.
• 
• “Full console quality.”
• “Look at the graphics here.”
• 
• “Hi everyone.”
• Rob Murray from EA is out.
• “Devs are going to love what they can do. So we thought, let’s get a dev on this A6 chip and show what can be done.”
• “You’re going to see this in many things you do. 2x performance across the board.”
• 
• “It’s a huge jump in performance, but 22% smaller.”
• “Compared to the A5, it’s two times faster.”
• 
• “Everything has been enhanced. So what’s next? The Apple A6 chip.”
• “Now we’re gonna keep going with this… we’ve updated every aspect of iPhone 5.”
• 
• New Wi-Fi, 2.4ghz and 5ghz on 802.11n.
• “So ultrafast wireless doesn’t stop at LTE.”
• “In Europe there’s something else going on. A lot of adoption of this dual carrier network.”
• 
• Phil is listing carriers around the world. It’s a lot. A ton.
• “Now you probably know that LTE is the most complicated networking tech on this earth. So who are we working with? In the US, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T for LTE. In Canada, Rogers, Telus, Bell…”
• “There’s now a single chip for voice and data, and a single radio chip. And we have a unique Apple advantage with a dynamic antenna.”
• 
• “It just screams. So how did we do this?”
• “We’ve added HSPA+, DC-HSDPA, and yes… LTE.”
• Now talking about wireless tech.
• 
• “This is the most accurate display in the industry. The touch sensors are integrated right into the display itself. We removed a layer and made it sharper. This is the world’s most advanced display, and I couldn’t be prouder of it.”
• 
• 
• “When I say this display looks better, it really does look better.”
• 
• So, apps can be bigger. Just so we’re clear here.
• 
• “CNN, now they take advantage of that display. Here’s OpenTable.”
• 
• “We learned that they can update their apps quickly, and they want to do more with the display. Let me show you some examples.”
• “All your software works just like before. But we have given some devs early access.”
• “But what about the App Store apps? Well here’s an app that hasn’t been updated. It runs at the same size. We center it and place black borders on either side.”
• 
• 
• 
• “Keynote, Pages, Numbers.””iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand.”
• 
• “Now you see a full five day workweek.”
• “You see more of your email in mail. Your calendar shows more events.”
• “And all our software has been updated.”
• “You see we’re able to add a 5th row of icons.”
• “It’s because of your hand. It should fit there. That’s how we designed the iPhone 5.”
• “Why did we make it this size?”
• 
• So, you did make it bigger?
• 16:9 aspect ratio…
• 1136 x 640 screen resolution
• “The new screen on iPhone 5 is a 4 inch display.”
• 
• Retina display, 326 PPI.
• “This is the monumental challenge we had — can you make a phone with more features that is smaller and lighter. Anyone can make a bigger phone.”
• 20% lighter than the 4S.
• 
• “The world’s thinnest smartphone.”
• “It’s the thinnest phone we’ve ever made, and the lightest.”
• 
• “This was the biggest challenge our team has ever taken on, and it’s simply amazing.”
• “This is unlike anything we or anyone else in our industry has made before.”
• “It’s made entirely of glass and aluminum.”
• “I’m going to take you through it, and I hope you’ll love it as much as we do.”
• 
• “This is iPhone 5.”
• “It’s the most beautiful product we’ve ever made… we’ll put a video onscreen.”
• “We’d like to show it you right now.”
• “Today we’re introducing iPhone 5.”
• “We’re gonna do that again today.”
• “We started with that first iPhone, and each and every year we introduce new versions. Each time setting a new bar.”
• 
• “I’m here to talk about the iPhone.”
• “it’s really neat to stand here and see the Apple logo on all these computers.”
• Big cheers for Phil.
• Phil Schiller is up.
• “We have some exciting news about the iPhone.”
• “Now today we’re taking it to the next level. Making a huge leap.”
• “Together with incredible products, it’s helped us hit a milestone. We sold over 400m iOS devices. This is amazing!”
• “It’s a revolution. It’s phenomenal.”
• “90% of the apps in that 700k are downloaded every month. The average customer uses over 100 apps.”
• “There’s something there for everyone. And believe it or not, every app has its fans.”
• “250k have been tailored for the iPad.”
• “It’s the most vibrant app ecosystem on the planet. We’ve crossed 700k apps in the store.”
• “Now of course the App Store is the place for all of us.”
• “Or this one from Ducati.”
• “Apps like this from GE Capital, or this one from the Mayo Clinic.”
• “Almost all of the Fortune 500 are testing or deploying iPads. And they’re investing in custom apps. This is something none of them do on the PC.”
  
• 
• Some laughs for that.
• “They must be in warehouses or on store shelves, or maybe in someone’s drawer.”
• “iPad accounts for 91% of all the web traffic from tablets. I don’t know what these other tables are doing.”
• 
• “So what happened over the last year. Well, the latest data shows the iPad with 68% share. It actually went up!”
• 
• “Now, our competitors have taken note of this. They’ve launched hundreds of tablets.”
• “This brings us to a total of 84m units. Shocking when you think this is a category that didn’t exist two and half years ago.”
• “Now to put this in perspective, we sold more iPads than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire lineup.”
• “Just last quarter we sold a whopping 17m iPads.”
• “Our new iPad was recently announced, and the reviews have been incredible.”

• “Now the iPad.”
• “We’re really happy how we’re doing with the Mac.” :
  
• Wow:
  
• “Together with MacBook Air, our notebooks rank #1 in the US in marketshare for the last 3 months.”
• “We also launched the new MacBook Pro. It’s the best Mac we’ve ever made.”
• “Our customers have responded. They’ve downloaded 7m copies of Mountain Lion.”
• “We’ve had a very busy summer for the Mac. We launched Mountain Lion. The reviews have been fantastic.”

• “Now onto the Mac.”

• “We welcomed 83m visitors to our stores last year.”
• “We’re opening in our 13th country on friday.”
• “Our stores offer the best experiences on the planet.”
• And we’re back…
• 
• This is the most inspiration retail experience video ever made.
• Actually, seems to be from the Barcelona launch. People are screaming. A lot.
• And now a video of the Apple retail stores… dominating.
• 
• “It’s the perfect place to explore and discover Apple’s products.”
• “It has a signature glass staircase, and the opening had a signature crowd.”
• “We used limestone from a local quarry. No one would have done this but Apple. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
• “I’ll give you a few updates, first about Apple retail.” Tim is showing off a store in Barcelona.
• “It’s an amazing time at Apple.”
• 
• Tim Cook is out!
• And the lights have dimmed…
• 
• “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll begin shortly. Please switch devices to silent mode.”
• And we’re in our seats:
  
• Here’s The Crowd :
  
• New freshly leaked image by a french website, is it the real iPhone 5 ?! :
• We’re in line… with a million other people!
• This event has not yet begun. Stay tuned!
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•  Apple iPhone 5 event live blog: up-to-the-minute coverage, direct from San Francisco.

What we think we’re going to see from Apple Today.

Our live coverage of Apple’s event will begin just before 10 a.m. ( 8P.m Beirut Time ) Please join us in following the introduction of what will in all likelihood be the introduction of the iPhone 5, along with updated iOS software and new iPods.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock — or avoiding the internet the last few weeks — you know what’s happening today: Apple’s iPhone event. Just a few hours from now we’re going to be kicking off our coverage of Apple’s press event to be held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. I’ll be providing up-to-the-minute coverage as CEO Tim Cook and other Apple executives take the stage to introduce us to what in all likelihood will be Apple’s latest smartphone.

So please come back to this page a little before 10 a.m. PT ( 8P.m Beirut Time ) to join the fun. In the meantime, here’s a bit about what we think we’re going to see from Apple later today:

New iPhone

• Slightly larger screen. In a world of smartphones with 5-inch screens, the iPhone’s 3.5-inch display can seem small. It’s been reported that we’ll get at least a 4-inch iPhone display that’s slightly taller, but not much wider. The result may mean an extra row of apps on the home screen, and an overall larger area to view apps, ebooks, web content and videos.
• Thinner. The new iPhone could be thinner than ever mostly due to new display technology that combines the glass and the touch layer into one unit.
• Better battery life. One of the things Apple could do with that extra space created by taller phone? Put in a slightly larger, more powerful battery. That’s long been an Apple priority, and because of the next item on this list, a necessity for this year’s new model.
• LTE networking. This has been an assumption since early this year when Apple introduced 4G LTE as an option on the latest iPad. True, LTE is far more complicated to build for because of the variety of frequencies. But late Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the new iPhone would be LTE-capable and available worldwide, though, according to the report and those usual “people familiar with the matter,” it “isn’t likely to work with all carriers’ LTE networks in all countries, the people said, though it wasn’t clear which would be left out.”
• Smaller dock connector. It’s been rumored since February that Apple is replacing its aging 30-pin connector on the bottom of the phone with a sleeker 9-pin model. This will make room for other components — perhaps 4G radios — but unfortunately require adapters for older docks and accessories. Apple is reportedly planning to roll out the new 9-pin model across all iOS devices.

iOS 6

• Details. We heard about many new features of the updated software at WWDC in June. Now that Apple has had time to fine-tune the software and get feedback from developers, we’ll hear more concrete details about the new stuff, from Apple’s Maps and navigation, to Siri improvements, Facebook integration, to the tweaks to Safari, Photos and Mail, and more.
• YouTube alternative. Apple will no longer feature YouTube as a default application on all iOS devices, Apple already acknowledged last month. Expect to hear more about what the YouTube video-watching experience on iOS will be like from now on.
• More about Passbook. This is Apple’s new application that aims to duplicate the part of your wallet that holds everything except cash and credit cards: tickets, boarding passes, gift cards, reward cards, coupons, and travel reservations. Details about participating companies have been dribbling out, but we should get solid details regarding which airlines, hotels, stadiums, amusement parks, coupon-issuers and others that are officially on board with Passbook.
• App Store redesign. There’s going to be a new look and new design for the mobile App Store. Emphasis will be placed on app recommendations through Apple’s genius function, and will look a lot more like Chomp, which Apple bought earlier this year.
• Changes to search. This is a longshot, but since Apple’s been busy excising its default apps list with anything Google-related, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think Apple might move away from Google as the default search in the mobile Safari browser. It would be silly to remove Google outright, but Apple could easily make Google just one of many options for users to select for search, including Siri, Bing and other third-party sources.