The iPhone 5 Is Pretty Darn Thin

The iPhone 5 measures 7.6mm thin, besting the Samsung Galaxy S III, which measures 8.6mm, and the HTC One X, at 8.89mm.

Still, Apple’s claim that that the iPhone 5 is the “thinnest and lightest phone ever” isn’t exactly true. As tech site TechTree has pointed out, that honor goes to Fujitsu’s Arrows handsets. The Android-running Arrows ES IS12F features a 4-inch active-matrix organic LED (AMOLED) display, a 1.4GHz processor, water-resistant technology, a 5.11-megapixel camera capable of capturing Hi-Vision video and what Fujitsu calls its “original human-centric engine.” It’s just 6.7mm thick and weighs 3.7 ounces. If what Apple meant to say is that the iPhone 5 is the thinnest smartphone available in the United States (the Arrows is Japan-only), then it’s exactly right.

Apple made impressive improvements to the iPhone’s camera. While 25 percent smaller, it can take panoramic images up to 28MP, has an f/2.4 aperture, an 8MP sensor and new video features that include imaging stabilization. It’s also paired with a processor said to enable faster image capture.

Nokia got in trouble for ads representing its technology that didn’t actually use its technology. Still, when the Lumia 920 comes out, its camera, with PureView technology, will very likely be phenomenal. It uses floating lens technology that enables it to take in five times more light—and account for the shakiness of the average hand—than phones on the market as of its Sept. 5 introduction, resulting in brighter, clearer flash-free low-light phones. According to Nokia executives, PureView makes it possible to take “the kind of images usually only seen on a stand-alone SLR camera.”

While not going into specifics about the iPhone 5’s battery, Apple says it’s an improvement on the iPhone 4S battery and can offer eight hours of 3G talk time and 10 hours of WiFi browsing.

On Sept. 5 Motorola introduced the Razr HD, which features a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED high-definition display and a 2,530mAh battery that supports 16 hours of talk time or 20 hours of streaming music. Even crazier is the Razr HD Maxx, which is essentially the Razr HD but with a 3,300mAh battery that can withstand up to 32 hours of mixed use.Â

Apple made the iPhone longer but kept its width the same. “Why did we make it this size?” said Apple marketing man Phil Schiller during Apple’s announcement event in San Francisco, before an image of a thumb reaching across the iPhone’s display. “It’s because of your hand. It should fit there.”

The Motorola Razr M is more phone than it appears at first glance. Motorola slimmed the bezel to near-nonexistent, so that while the slim Razr M seems as petite as a pocketable feature phone, it actually boasts a 4.3-inch quarter-high-definition (qHD) Super AMOLED Advanced display that’s color-saturated and super crisp. It measures 60.9mm across, so like the iPhone (58.6mm), it can honestly be used with one hand. At $99, it’s also half the price.

The iPhone 5 can support Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, which makes it compatible with a lot more wireless networks. Eventually, that should include T-Mobile.

LTE-enabled smartphones have been hitting the market since 2011, making Apple among the last brands to offer it. The HTC One X, a great phone, runs on AT&T’s super-quick LTE network, features a 4.7-inch display and is now $99.

Apple shocked the industry by leaving near-field communication (NFC) out of the iPhone 5. The technology is behind a majority of mobile-payment apps, and can power a growing number of uses, such as acting as a hotel key card you won’t forget in the room. Samsung sells NFC stickers that users of the Galaxy S III can program to perform helpful tasks, like sending off a specific text message when the phone is tapped to the sticker.