iPhone 5 full review: Finally, the iPhone we've always wanted

CNET Editors' Rating

4.0 stars - Excellent

The good: The iPhone 5 adds everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S: 4G LTE, a longer, larger screen, and a faster A6 processor. Plus, its top-to-bottom redesign is sharp, slim, and feather-light.

The bad: Sprint and Verizon models can't use voice and data simultaneously. The smaller connector renders current accessories unusable without an adapter. There's no NFC, and the screen size pales in comparison to jumbo Android models.

The bottom line: The iPhone 5 completely rebuilds the iPhone on a framework of new features and design, addressing its major previous shortcomings. It's absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its place in the top tier of the smartphone universe.

 Read the Full Review

How to Buy an iPhone 5 Without Losing Your Unlimited Data Plan

Gizmodo - So the iPhone 5 is coming out. Its LTE data speeds mean you'll stand a much better chance of blowing past your data caps, which in turn means those grandfathered Verizon and AT&T unlimited data plans are more precious than ever. Here's how to make sure you don't lose yours.

Don't Order Online

One note before you run off and pre-order tomorrow: Don't. AT&T and Verizon are both notorious for having opaque online tools for carrying over grandfathered plans. That's a bad thing, since if you accidentally ditch your plan, you probably won't get it back. Reps at both stores said that you've really got to be careful, since recovering your unlimited plan is pretty much a lost cause—not totally impossible, just effectively so.
The real benefit of in-store is being able to stop and ask, "Now, you're sure this isn't going to mess with my unlimited plan, right?" You're just sort of left to your own devices online.

Don't Add Anything to Your Plan

Adding anything to your plan, like sharing bandwidth between devices or hotspot capability, will void your unlimited and dump you into a shared, tired plan. So don't splurge on, say, sharing your new iPhone's plan with your tablet's, since that will stick you in a new, limited package. Sorry, you're stuck with the basic data plan if you want to keep unlimited.    More

iPhone 5 Details

(Credit: CNET/James Martin)

CNET - Apple’s next iPhone is official and despite being the sixth iPhone model (technically), we know it’s officially the iPhone 5.

Over the last year, we've heard a ton of rumors about what it might deliver with LTE, a taller display, and a designed connector being the most likely tidbits. Fortunately, we now can put all that speculation to rest as Apple spills the secrets.

Taller and thinner

As expected, the new iPhone is 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S. Apple says it's the thinnest handset around, but that's a race that changes often. That means it's also 20 percent lighter for a total of 112 grams. The Retina Display expands from 3.5 inches (its size since the original iPhone to 4 inches). The total resolution remains the same, though, at 326 pixels per inch. The total pixel count is 1136x640 and we now have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

To the user that means a fifth row of icons on the home screen. That's pretty nice since it will let you cut down on the number of home screens. You'll also get a full 5-day week view in the calendar, the calendar shows more events, and all iWork apps will take advantage of the bigger display. Third-party apps that haven't been updated will continue to work, but you'll see black borders on each side (so they won't be stretched or scaled). Apple also promises that widescreen movies will look better with 44 percent more color saturation than the iPhone 4S.    More 

iPhone 5 rumor roundup

CNET tracks all the iPhone 5 rumors -- from the likely to the crazy -- that we've heard so far in 2011 and 2012.

After unveiling a marginally improved iPhone 4S in 2011 instead of a radically different iPhone 5, Apple has returned to its development labs to cook up (no pun intended) the next iteration of its popular phone. In 2012, we're fairly certain that the real iPhone 5 will roll out of Apple's gates and that the device should be a bigger leap forward than the 4S was.

That's why after taking some time off at the end of last year, we've resurrected CNET's iPhone 5 rumor roundup to cover the new tidbits from 2012. So join us again in watching the rumor mill churn. We'll add to it until we get the real thing; please let us know if we've left any gossip out.

July 17, 2012
It'll have a thinner screen
The Wall Street Journal reports that the new iPhone's display will incorporate "in-cell technology." Already manufactured by LCD screen makers including Sharp, LG Display, and Japan Display, in-cell technology enables a screen's touch sensors and LCD be consolidated into one single layer. This would result in a thinner screen and a cheaper production price.

July 16, 2012
A stockpile of SIMs
The Financial Times reports that wireless carriers in Europe are stockpiling nano-SIM chips in anticipation of Apple including the new technology in the next iteration of the iPhone. Smaller than regular SIM cards, they could allow Apple to include a bigger battery in its next handset. The company started using nano-SIMs in 2010 in the first iPad.

July 15, 2012
Taller phone with a center camera
The Taiwan-based blog Apple.pro posts photos of an alleged iPhone frame that is as wide as the iPhone 4S, but taller. That would allow for a 4-inch display with an aspect ratio of 16:9.    More

iPhone 5 images leak online? - iPhone 5 rumor roundup

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

 

 

CNET - After unveiling a marginally improved iPhone 4S in 2011 instead of a radically different iPhone 5, Apple has returned to its development labs to cook up (no pun intended) the next iteration of its popular phone. In 2012, we're fairly certain that the real iPhone 5 will roll out of Apple's gates and that the device should be a bigger leap forward than the 4S was.

That's why after taking some time off at the end of last year, we've resurrected CNET's iPhone 5 rumor roundup to cover the new tidbits from 2012. So join us again in watching the rumor mill churn. We'll add to it until we get the real thing; please let us know if we've left any gossip out.

May 29, 2012

Photos of purported iPhone 5 leak onto the Web

A host of new photos have emerged from two sources who claim the devices in the pictures are actually Apple's next-generation iPhone. 9to5Mac posts photos that look like the back plate of a new iPhone model allegedly from a Chinese supplier. Similarly MacRumors published an additional set from repair firm uBreakiFix with the same part.

What could be Apple's next iPhone.

(Credit: 9to5Mac)

 

 

iPhone 5 likely to launch by Sept. or Oct., says another analyst
RBC analyst Amit Daryanani says Apple's next iPhone is coming in September or October, similar to the time last year when Apple rolled out the iPhone 4S. Daryanani added that the device will sport 4G/LTE technology and be fully redesigned.       More

iPhone 5 launching with 4-inch screen, new Dock connector?

What's next for Apple's iPhone line?

(Credit: Apple)

 

The iPhone 5 rumors keep coming.

Apple's upcoming smartphone will come with a 4-inch screen, due mainly to a thinner, taller body, according to Apple-focused site iLounge, citing an unnamed source. The site's source claims Apple's new iPhone will be 10mm taller than the iPhone 4S, and about 2mm thinner. By keeping the same width and tossing in the display to fit the new form factor, Apple is able to deliver more screen space than what's available on 3.5-inch-equipped iPhones, according to the source.

Although the front of the iPhone 5 will look about the same, the back will feature a flat, metal panel stretching from beneath the camera to nearly the bottom. iLounge's sources did not say why the device might come with that additional element. Aside from the metal panel, the device will boast Gorilla Glass 2 technology, according to the site's source.            More

Apple to Unveil iPhone 5 at WWDC in June: Report

Fox News - Following the fall launch of its wildly popular iPhone 4S last year, Apple reportedly plans to return to its summer launch schedule and unveil the next-generation iPhone 5 during its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

DigiTimes relayed the claim, which cited a Daiwa Securities analyst when it first appeared in Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times on Thursday.

The continued use of glass-to-glass touch panel technology in the iPhone 5 is the only other detail noted in the report.          More

CES 2012: IPhone 5 to Support T-Mobile Network

Forbes - Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will support T-Mobile’s network, giving the struggling fourth-place carrier an opportunity to gain ground on its competitors.

T-Mobile’s chief technology officer Neville Ray at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week told CNET and several other sources the chipsets in the new iPhone 5 will support the Advanced Wireless Services, or AWS, frequency the carrier uses in its 3G network.

Just because the iPhone 5 is capable of running on T-Mobile, however, doesn’t mean the companies will be able to strike a deal. Apple largely ignored past requests from the carrier to create an AWS-friendly version of the iPhone, and T-Mobile aggressively promotes Android phones it says are as good, or better than, the iPhone.

However, adding the iPhone 5 to its lineup would be a major boost for a network still reeling from its failed merger with AT&T. The company is reforming its business strategy after the lengthy nine-month process resulted in thousands of lost customers due to uncertainty about the carrier’s fate.

In addition to figuring out how to lure returning and new customers, T-Mobile is the only “big four” U.S. carrier that does not offer the highly coveted iPhone due to its HSPA+ network, which Apple’s device does not support.

More than its other challenges, lack of the iPhone is often cited as T-Mobile’s biggest hurdle to overcome, but that obstacle may be temporary.

Acquiring the iPhone is a costly move for a smaller carrier like T-Mobile. The carrier received a hefty $3 billion break-up fee from AT&T, giving it some cash to invest, but third-place rival Sprint will spend $20 billion over the next five years to sell Apple’s top-selling device and create a more data-friendly network.               More

iPhone 5: 'Most Revolutionary User Interface in History'

Steve Jobs with iPhone 4 (Image via Wikipedia)

Apple’s plans to introduce the iPhone 5 on Oct. 4 have spawned a huge wave of the typical informed speculation, trendy rumor, and uninformed innuendo that precede every Apple announcement, but I want to share the most-intriguing report I’ve heard.

Forbes - What makes it worth repeating is that it comes from an Apple follower and investor named Jason Schwarz, whose commentary over the past few years about Apple and its strategy, products, and financial performance have been exemplary. Not long after the original iPhone debuted in 2007—and this was way back in the days before Apple had become the most highly valued company on the planet—Schwarz was perhaps the first advisor to proclaim (and he did so loudly and repeatedly) that Apple’s breakthrough smartphone was triggering an enduring wave of mobile innovation that would push Apple’s stock price up to and past $300.

With that backdrop, I’ve come to place a fair amount of trust in Schwarz’s analyses of Apple, which this time around include some jaw-dropping claims about the power of the iPhone 5’s new voice technology (and before I insert this excerpt from Schwarz’s analysis, bear in mind that this guy is an investor and investment advisor and that he holds long positions on Apple):

At the original iPhone event in January 2007, Steve Jobs stated, ‘We are all born with the ultimate pointing device-our fingers-and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.” Well, I would add that we’re also born with the ultimate communication tool-our voice-and iPhone is about to create the most revolutionary user interface in the history of technology (emphasis added). I expect that this voice assistant will quickly make its way into laptops and desktops as well. Apple’s competitive advantage is widening by the day. (End of excerpt.)

That’s quite a claim. And Schwarz makes such an audacious forecast because he believes the iPhone 5’s new capabilities will create for Apple a breakthrough level of competitive advantage in its battle with Google: “Voice search, rather than browser based search, could prove to be a real threat to Google’s dominance,” he writes. And here’s how that could play out, thanks to Apple’s acquisition last year of the Siri voice-assistant technology:

The Siri voice control system allows users to instruct the iPhone to ‘send a text message to Jason Schwarz asking him meet me for lunch’. Think about this capability in terms of safety. We all know that too many drivers send and receive text messages, now they will be able to safely operate an iPhone in the car. The voice assistant adds a layer of intelligence as well. If I ask my iPhone to ‘call Dad’ it might ask me whether it should dial his home phone or his mobile. It is also able to perform Web based search functions such as ‘book a table for two at 9:00 tonight’ or ‘send a taxi to my house’. Siri worked with Citysearch, Opentable and Taxi Magic before the Apple acquisition.(End of excerpt.)



For CIOs and the mobile workforces trying to deliver real-time insight and decision-making to the point of the customer, any additional layer of intelligence can truly be a game-changer as rapidly growing numbers of professionals begin to rely on smartphones and tablets as their primary computing device.

In fact, with these reported new capabilities for the iPhone 5, we shouldn’t be surprised if Apple, during its earnings call on Oct. 18, is able to report that it’s come even closer to having 100% of the Fortune 500 testing or deploying its mobile products. The most-recent corresponding numbers reported by Apple in late July were in the mid-80’s.

But even having made his claim that iPhone 5 will include “the most revolutionary user interface in the history of technology,” Schwarz made yet another remarkable forecast in his piece called ‘Let’s Talk’ iPhone 5 Is a Game Changer. After touting the iPhone 5’s implications for Apple’s iCloud business and highlighting how trends in mobile retention rates are favoring Apple over its competitors, Schwarz says he expects Apple to double the total number of iPhones it sells in the fourth quarter of this year compared to last year’s Q4:

After witnessing 142% unit growth for the iPhone in Apple’s most recent quarter, we believe that the upcoming iPhone 5 will command a similar growth trajectory in the holiday quarter. Last year Apple sold 16.24 million iPhones, this year we expect they will sell at least 32.48 million units. (End of excerpt.)                     More

Countdown to iPhone 5 (VIDEO)

iPhone 5 Cases Briefly Post Online...Ahead of the Actual iPhone 5's Release

The cases that were pulled. (Credit: Case-Mate/BGR)

In a peculiar move, accessory maker Case-Mate briefly posted renderings of a new line of cases for the Apple’s next iPhone, which has not yet been announced by the company.

Included in the renderings were depictions of Apple’s next device, which was shown as having a rounded aluminum backing, similar to the iPad 2′s design.

The accessory gallery was pulled down shortly after its discovery, BGR reports. In its place, the old gallery page redirects to a page where users can sign up to be notified when Case-Mate will be providing cases for the new device, be it an “iPhone 5″ or “iPhone 4S.”

A Case-Mate spokeswoman declined to comment on the gallery.

More

iPhone 5 Will Reportedly Go On Sale in Early October, Pre-Orders on September 30

More reports suggest the iPhone 5 will launch in October, with pre-orders beginning September 30.

Backing up a report from TiPB last week, 9to5 Mac claims it has independently confirmed Friday, October 7, as the launch date of the iPhone 5. Unlike with the iPad 2, Apple is also rumoured to take pre-orders with the next-generation iPhone at the end of September.
Apple has not said when it will launch the iPhone 5, which is widely expected to arrive this spring along with a final version of iOS 5. This left pundits debating for the past two weeks over the exact day of the iPhone 5 launch, with the general consensus that the new device is bound for release either late September or early October.

An October surprise

iPhone 5 carrier testing begins with AT&T

ComputerWorld - The next-generation iPhone 5 (or 4S) is on the way and is already being tested extensively on the AT&T network, even as Apple [AAPL] watchers continue to speculate on just when we'll see iOS-friendly OS X release, Lion ship.

[ABOVE: This interesting video clip shows the movement of 880 iPhones in Europe in April 2011, courtesy of Crowdflow.] 

AT&T carrier testing begins

Citing what it calls, "well placed sources", ChipHazard  tells us the next iPhone (is it the iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S, or something else entirely?) was handed out to AT&T beta testers on July 6.

[This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]

If true, beta testers are checking the new Apple smartphone for signal reception and connectivity. Apple executives really, really don't need a repeat of last year's 'antenna-gate' fiasco. If the devices make it through beta testing then the iPhone factories will get the go-ahead to begin churning out millions of the things.

Why would Apple farm the product out to AT&T's beta testers? Isn't that a big departure from its usual secrecy? Perhaps, but the device will need to be tested, and, as every Apple watcher knows, Apple's own internal testing procedures didn't work out too well last year when a stolen prototype unit ended up in the hands of tech website, Gizmodo.

Fearful times

It isn't hard to imagine that high-ranking iPhone engineers may also spend their hard-won sleep time fretting about whether their phones are being tapped by media sources seeking a story, or competitors seeking an idea.      More

A Little Brother for iPhone 5: Why Apple Might Do It

PCMag.Com - Rumors about the next iPhone have been circulating ever since the last one came out. There have been a lot, but besides the many supposed features it'll have, there's been some debate about whether it will be called iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S. Now the word on the street is that both are correct—that Apple will actually release two new iPhones in the fall, one being a completely redesigned model that will remain the flagship phone, and the other a cheaper, lower-end model that would be more like a cousin of the current iPhone 4.

The rumor is actually not much more than educated speculation from an industry analyst, Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank. That alone is enough to put the plan in the "questionable" bin. On top of that, though, such a move just seems out of character for Apple. Since its inception, the iPhone has always been "The iPhone." Apple's mobile product philosophy is pretty clearly a "one size fits all" strategy, releasing just one phone per year. Much like the tagline for the Highlander movies, for the iPhone, there can be only one.

iPhone Fragmentation

A split iPhone 5/4S launch shatters that apparent strategy. But, looking at the whole picture of Apple's recent actions, it does make some sense. While the standard case for a cheaper iPhone—that it would open the company up to new markets—has been true since the iPhone first debuted, it now matches with what Apple's been doing: getting serious about going global.   More