If you’ve been following the Apple rumor mill, you likely already know nearly everything that was revealed today during Apple’s keynote. Oddly enough, all of the leaks were shockingly accurate with the rest easily filled in with some educated guesses. Regardless, it’s now all official, and as of this Friday you’ll be able to preorder your shiny new iPhone 5.
In fact, the entire existing iPhone product lineup has shifted down, making the iPhone 4 the free phone, the 4S $99, and the new iPhone 5 at $199, $299, and $399 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The iPhone 5 is thinner, with better battery life, a 1136×640 16:9 screen, LTE, and the A6 chipset which Apple is boasting twice the performance of the A5.
Additionally, the dock connector is out and a new cable standard called “Lightning" is in. It’s 80% smaller, and can be inserted in either direction. WiFi now can use the 5Ghz 802.11n spectrum, the screen can display more colors, and the camera is better. In essence, the iPhone 5 is everything the iPhone 4S was, but better and with a bigger screen at similar pricepoints.
On the iPod touch front, a new device was revealed that features a similar screen to the iPhone 5, while only being 6.1mm thick. It has 7x the performance of the existing iPod touch, and a 5 megapixel camera on the back capable of doing all the panoramic wizardry that the new iPhone can. Siri and AirPlay mirroring also join the iPod touch feature set in addition to a pop-up button that a wrist strap can be attached to.
The iPod touch is available in white, black, blue, yellow and red, starting at $299 and ships in October.
Apple’s headphones have also been redesigned. Dubbed “EarPods" they’re said to be a breakthrough in both comfort and audio quality. They’re being shipped today and are going to be included with new iPods and iPhones. Neat!
We’ve got Jared on the scene who will hopefully provide some hands-on impressions with the new devices, but in the meantime check out Apple.com for all the nitty gritty details of the new announcements today as well as the actual keynote video which will likely be posted soon.
Photography: Gdgt
