Apple’s Phil Schiller captured the stage and his audience’s imagination today at Apple’s media event at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. As widely anticipated, the iDevice maker took the wrappings off of the next-generation iPhone – the iPhone 5.
Schiller’s initial description of the device is that it is an absolute “jewel.”
It’s the thinnest (and lightest iPhone) ever made at just 7.6mm thick. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 18% thinner than the last model.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the hardware and software engineering that has gone into this product is unlike we’ve ever undertaken before,” he said. “So, iPhone 5. It is made entirely of glass and aluminum. It’s designed and built to an exacting level of standard unlike anything we, or anyone in our industry, have made before.”
In recent months, the tech news blogosphere and rumor mill sputtered out no shortage of claims and assertions with regard to new features coming to the refreshed iPhone. Today, we can finally separate rumor from reality
And, incredibly, there wasn’t a whole lot that the rumor mill got wrong.
A core attribute of this new device has been the worst kept secret of all when it comes to the iPhone 5. The smartphone will deliver 4G LTE connectivity, a move that will take Apple well into the future of mobile technology and keep its iPhone on the cutting edge of smartphones.
“We’ve updated every aspect of iPhone 5. Everything has been enhanced,” Schiller says.
In the US, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon will support LTE on the iPhone 5.
“And we have a really unique innovation with a dynamic antenna,” he adds. “It can automatically switch antenna connections.” Similar to how the 4S worked.”
If bigger is better, the iPhone 5 is the best iPhone Apple has released hands down. Today it was confirmed that the new iPhone delivers the biggest screen of any previous generation iPhone. You’ve got a 326ppi Retina display (4-inches) with 1136 x 640 resolution. In other words, the new iPhone delivers the same width as before, but it’s now taller.
Stay with MMW for more coverage coming out of San Francisco today as Apple dazzles the iOS ecosystem with it’s most sophisticated iPhone to date.
So far… are you impressed? Please weigh in with a thought or comment below on your first impression of the iPhone 5.
