So Apple has finally issued an invite to the latest media event, which is clearly for the iPhone 5 and is scheduled for September 12th 2012. Unless they shock us all, of course, but no…this will be the introduction of the iPhone 5. Are you ready?
What To Expect
The presentation, starting at 10am Pacific Time in San Francisco, will no doubt be given by CEO Tim Cook, perhaps ably supported by the likes of lead designer Sir Jony Ives and Worldwide Marketing SVP Phil Schiller. Expect it to be slick, smooth and very well done. Also expect it to not live up to the late Steve Jobs’ standards – but get over that, Cook is a strong presenter in his own right.
They will not only show off the new iPhone but also iOS6 once more, following its intro at WWDC earlier this year. Any more than that, we really can’t say and as TechDrink unsurprisingly didn’t receive said invite, we won’t be in attendance to report on it live. C’est la vie.
iPhone 5 Rumour Round Up
Ok, so here’s a short round up of all the rumours flying around that seem sure to come, simply by the amount of evidence that’s built up. You know, unless Apple shock us all…
Bigger Screen
New Hardware
Bigger Overall
Due to the new screen and potentially new hardware the overall dimensions of the iPhone 5 will be increased. From the mock ups, leaked images and the like we’ve seen, it’ll be noticeably taller, though width so far looks unchanged. Personally, I’m ok with a slightly taller phone but would not like an increase in width, so this is good.
LTE (4G)
Faster connectivity is a must in our fast-paced world so you can expect the iPhone 5 to be LTE-enabled. It will then be down to the carriers to provide that to users. What’s more interesting here is the battery. LTE would be a huge drain on the battery life of the existing iPhone 4 and even the 4S so you can also expect a much improved battery in the iPhone 5 with a much longer life. And if it doesn’t come, you can definitely expect a huge consumer backlash.
Smaller Dock Connector
We’ve heard and seen it so many time snow that if it doesn’t happen it’ll be a major surprise. The new iPhone will come with a much smaller, 19-pin (or 9-pin according to some rumours) dock connector. This will render all current charging devices and USB cables useless. A shame, as I have about six and find I need them for work, home and traveling. Nevertheless, it looks likely. This may piss some users off, but think about this…when was the last time you plugged your phone in for anything but charging? The wireless syncing and set up that came with iOS5 pretty much means you probably haven’t in a long while.
Near Field Communication (NFC)
This is perhaps the least likely but has been strongly rumoured lately. A lot of Android devices ship with NFC so it would make sense for Apple to follow suit. However, the rumor has come so late in the day that we’re going to say the iPhone 5 won’t come with NFC – not least because it would interfere with the design, and we all know Apple puts design at the top of the requirements list.
Design
Finally, and most importantly, comes the design. There have been far too many mock ups, concepts and ‘leaked’ photos and images of the new iPhone 5 for anyone to be sure what it will really look like. What comes through all these rumours though is a predominantly metal back with glass at the top and bottom for improved reception, and edge to edge screen and black and white versions. To be honest, I’m not going to even guess. I’ve seen some concepts that I would love but will never see. Why torture myself (or you!)?
That’s pretty much all the likely things to come out of the September 12 event but you can expect some surprises too I would think. TechDrink will, of course, do a full report post-event detailing the key features of both the new iPhone and iOS6.
In the meantime, what would you like to see from Apple and the iPhone 5?
