iPhone 5: The Rumour phone

The new iPhone launched in San Francisco today, as usual, kept the rumour mills working overtime. But the rumours were uncannily accurate, as our overview of the specs shows.

The new iPhone was launched at 10am Pacific time in San Francisco. For months ahead of the event, as always, the rumour mills worked overtime. As we sifted fact from fiction of the main rumours, most turned out to be spot-on.

Rumour: It will be called the iPhone 5, the new iPhone, or simply the iPhone. Alternatively, different formats will have different letters following the 5.

Fact: Confirmed. It is the Apple iPhone 5.

Rumour: It will have a 4″ screen. One thing that is almost certain is that it will have a larger screen than the now-pokey 3.5″” of the iPhone 4S. The screen will use second generation Corning Gorilla Glass, with liquid crystal display so that the screen is built into the body instead of being a layer over it.

Fact: Confirmed. It has a 4″” screen.

Rumour: It will be thinner. The 8.6mm thick Samsung Galaxy S3 has set the benchmark by which the thickness of the iPhone is being measured. The iPhone 5 is expected to be as thin as 7.6mm.

Fact: Confirmed. It is 7.6mm thick.

Rumour: It will have a new 9-pin socket instead of the current 30-pins of Apple devices.

Fact: Close. It will have 8-pin connector, instead of 30, thereby destroys charging compatibility with old devices. But there’s an accessory for that! An adaptor will allow users to keep using old cables. The 8-pin port is called Lightning.

Rumour: True to Apple’s approach of avoiding too much interaction with non-Apple devices, it won’t have a microSD slot or microUSB port.

Fact: Confirmed.

Rumour: It will have an 8MP camera.

Fact: Confirmed.

Rumour: It will be a 4G phone, using the next generation of mobile broadband. That’s a no-brainer.

Fact: Confirmed.

So far, so predictable.

The full specs for the iPhone 5 follow below:

Colour

Black & Slate

White & Silver

Capacity and contract price

16GB 32GB 64GB

$199 $299 $399

Size and weight

Height: 4.87 inches (123.8 mm)

Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)

Depth: 0.30 inch (7.6 mm)

Weight: 3.95 ounces (112 grams)

Cellular and wirelesss

GSM model A1428*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz): GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz): LTE (Bands 4 and 17)

CDMA model A1429*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz): UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz): GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz): LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)

GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz): GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz): LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5)

802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)

Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology

Location

Assisted GPS and GLONASS

Digital compass

Wi-Fi

Cellular

Display

Retina display

4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display

1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi

800:1 contrast ratio (typical)

500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical)

Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front

Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Cameras, photos and video

8-megapixel iSight camera

Panorama

Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

FaceTime HD camera with 1.2MP photos and HD video (720p) up to 30 frames per second

Autofocus

Tap to focus video or still images

Face detection in video or still images

LED flash

Improved video stabilization

Photo and video geotagging

External Buttons and Controls

Power and Battery

Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery

Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter

Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G

Standby time: Up to 225 hours

Internet use: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 8 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi

Video playback: Up to 10 hours

Audio Playback

Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

User-configurable maximum volume limit

TV and Video

AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p.

AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p.

Video formats supported:

H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats: MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats: Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

Headphones

Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic

Storage and travel case

Rating for hearing aids

iPhone 5 (Model A1428): M3, T4

iPhone 5 (Model A1429): M4, T4

Viewable Document Types

.jpg, .tiff, .gif (images): .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word): .htm and .html (web pages): .key (Keynote): .numbers (Numbers): .pages (Pages): .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat): .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint): .txt (text): .rtf (rich text format): .vcf (contact information): .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)

Sensors

Three-axis gyro

Accelerometer

Proximity sensor

Ambient light sensor

System requirements

Apple ID (required for some features)

Internet access

Syncing with iTunes on a Mac or PC requires:

Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later

PC: Windows 7: Windows Vista: or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later

iTunes 10.7 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)

In the box

iPhone 5

Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic

Lightning to USB Cable

USB Power Adapter

Documentation

* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA

“