iPhone 5: "Real Gem" with no surprises
The device has a 16: 9 display, a stronger CPU and LTE support
Today, Wednesday, Apple hosted a presentation at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, at which Steve Jobs' successor Tim Cook first reviewed successes with Apple stores and products from Mac to iPad. Then he handed the floor over to Head of Marketing Phil Schiller, who had to present "a real gem": the eagerly awaited iPhone 5 - the first model developed under the new CEO - as expected with LTE support.
As previously rumored, the new model comes with a larger widescreen display on the one hand, but is even slimmer overall - according to Schiller, it is 112 percent lighter than the iPhone 20S at 4 grams. The performance doubles thanks to the new CPU, with iOS 6 there is an operating system update in good time before the new model and, as expected, the new iPhone with LTE is entering the 4G era. The battery life is also impressive: There are no real surprises - except perhaps that the device will be launched on September 21 not only in the USA, but also in Germany on the same day.
High expectations met
The past few weeks have been dominated by rumors about the features of the new iPhones, of which the most common has come true. The iPhone 5 has a four-inch display that, with 1.136 by 640 pixels, has ideal proportions for playing back widescreen films in 16: 9 format. This time, the touch sensors are built directly into the display, which, according to Schiller, contributes significantly to the fact that the device, with a thickness of 7,6 millimeters, is 30 percent thinner than its predecessor. Despite its compactness, the battery lasts for eight hours of 3G telephony or LTE surfing or 225 hours of standby, according to Apple.
Inside the device is a new processor, the A6, which, according to Schiller, is 22 percent smaller than the predecessor A5, but promises about twice as much performance. The star of music apps with songs, for example, should be 1,9 times faster than before. In collaboration with EA Games, the "Real Racing 3" example demonstrates how smoothly dynamic mobile games can run. The well-known 30-pin connector has to give way to the slimmer "Lightning". Although there will be a 30-pin-to-Lightning adapter, it remains to be seen how well it will do, especially with third-party accessories.
Lots of features, hardly any surprises
All in all, there are some innovations on the hardware side as well as with iOS 6. The new iSight camera, for example, not only uses an eight-megapixel sensor (3.264 x 2.338), but also attracts with a panorama feature that, according to Schiller, enables landscape shots with 28 megapixels by panning to the side. All important iOS components such as the notification center are designed to make optimal use of the new screen format. Siri voice recognition now also enables direct Facebook postings, among other things.
What is missing is a really outstanding killer feature such as the retina display of the iPhone 4. There are also no real surprises. Rumors that the iPhone 5 could support the short-range wireless technology NFC and thus, for example, contactless cell phone payments, have also proven to be false, as have vague hopes that the new connector could possibly be a normal micro-USB port after all. Apple has not opened up for a microSD card slot either. In terms of price, the iPhone 5 corresponds to what a 4S previously cost - the expected changing of the guard on the top model.
LTE: pitfall and hope at the same time
As expected, LTE is now finally on board with the iPhone 5; for Europe, Schiller names, among other things, Deutsche Telekom as the provider that supports 4G technology. Of course, LTE could turn out to be a pitfall for the new iPhone, as Samsung is already definitely planning patent lawsuits. "It seems that Apple has very little or no intellectual property in the LTE sector," said patent attorney and IDC analyst Rüdiger Spies http://idc.com on request from pressetext. Apple's lamentation could now take revenge.
"Actually, Apple didn't deserve it any other way. In many cases, Apple was the initiator of the disputes," said the analyst. Because Apple's behavior in IP matters would have been very aggressive recently and not conducive to the patent system. But there is a glimmer of hope. "If Apple infringes LTE patents - which is not unlikely - then Apple has to come to an agreement with Samsung," explains Spies. So there could be a return from the courtrooms to civilized negotiating tables.
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