Mobile and Wireless: iPhone 5, iOS 6: What You May Have Missed in Apple News This Week
Email
Print
It was a good week to be an Apple fan. Apple introduced the iPhone 5 Sept. 12. And while it's faster than previous models and thinner—in fact the thinnest smartphone in the world, according to Apple—the most important thing to know is that it's larger than past iPhones. For the first time since its introduction, Apple increased the size of the iPhone's display, from 3.5 inches on the diagonal to 4 inches. Apple's cheeky tagline for the smartphone, then: "The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone." The iPhone 5 runs an Apple-made A6 processor that's said to be twice as fast as the A5 processor in the 4S and more energy-efficient. It also runs iOS 6, the new mobile operating system Apple first showed off at its developer conference in June. The new OS brings 200 new features to iPhone users, such as an improved Siri, turn-by-turn navigation and Facebook integration. As expected, Apple included Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology in the iPhone 5, though rather shockingly left out near-field communication (NFC) technology. It also used the event to introduce an updated and redesigned iTunes, as well as new Shuffle colors and markedly updated iPod Touch and iPod Nano devices. The iPhone 5 will be available for preorder Sept. 14 and go on sale Sept. 21 through Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint. So in case you missed any Apple news this week, eWEEK offers a handy recap of what's new.
Apple iPhone 5
The most important thing to know about the iPhone 5 is that it features a 4-inch Retina display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1136 by 640 resolution, breaking the 3.5-inch tradition of past iPhones. "It's an absolute jewel," said Phil Schiller, Apple vice president of marketing, introducing the smartphone Sept. 12 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. "We couldn't be more proud of it."
