The Official iPhone 5 Thread (Liveblog links inside!)

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Here it is! Let's keep this discussion relevant to the iPhone 5!

Announcement is scheduled for September 12, 2012 at 10 AM PDT in San Francisco, CA

07:00AM - Hawaii
09:00AM - Alaska
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
01:00PM - Eastern
02:00PM - São Paulo
06:00PM - London
07:00PM - Paris
09:00PM - Moscow
02:00AM - Tokyo (September 13th)
03:00AM - Sydney (September 13th)

Liveblogs:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/12/apple-iphone-5-liveblog/
http://live.arstechnica.com/apple-september-2012-event-its-almost-here/
http://live.theverge.com/apple-iphone-5-live-blog/


-------------------------------------------
From September 4, 2012

So the invites are out:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/04/apple-announces-presumed-iphone-5-launch-event-for-september-12t/

Apple has just invited members of the press to attend a San Francisco-based product launch event on September 12th, where the next generation iPhone is expected to be officially unveiled. As rumored, it seems as if the company's prior iPod-focused fall events may be split off into two. It's been reported that an October event may follow this one, with a miniaturized 7-inch iPad on the docket for that. This event, however, seems a lock for the iPhone 5 -- or "new iPhone," or whatever it ends up being coined -- and while CEO Tim Cook confessed at D10 that it would be doubling down on secrecy, leakers seem to have doubled down on tipping the world off on what's to come. The keynote kicks off at 10AM PT in SF, and you can bet we'll be there covering every second of it live. Didn't have any "lunch" plans for 9/12? Looks like you do now.
Wed Sep 12 2012 10:00:00 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

Who's excited? I'm not getting an iPhone anytime soon but these events are always interesting to see Apple's next iteration. In some ways Apple does set a standard for smartphone development, so it's good to see what's changed.

Anandtech's iPhone rumors analysis: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6196/preparing-for-the-iphone-next-rumors-analyzed




Please note that this is the official iPhone 5 thread for the Sept. 12th announcement. Apple only releases one iPhone revision per year, and regardless of how you feel about the company or the device, nearly all of us should agree it's always been an interesting event in the past. Please keep the discussion on topic, and please be warned that the moderators will have a very low tolerance for trolling and off-topic discussions.

Moderators PM & TheStu

 

[Red Storm]

I'll tune in to get a look at it, but I know I'm not getting one. iOS is old and dry (IMHO), but new gadget releases are always fun.

 

[bearxor]

I wouldn't have put money on iPhone 5. I was almost positive it would be "iPhone (2012)."

 

[Bateluer]

I wouldn't have put money on iPhone 5. I was almost positive it would be "iPhone (2012)."

^ Going to go with this myself. Innards will be identical to the 4S though, likely with an LTE radio and a 32nm die shrink on the A5.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The New iPhone?

 

[Oyeve]

The New yet old iphone.

 

[foghorn67]

I'm interested in the processor. I'm pretty sure they got LTE with decent battery life.
They've been pretty good at in house chip design.

 

[Oyeve]

Im more interested in going to my local coffee pub as it will be empty what with all the customers camping out on line for days. Gotta support my local businesses.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I'm interested in the processor. I'm pretty sure they got LTE with decent battery life.
They've been pretty good at in house chip design.

Odds are it is just a 32nm A5 which is horribly outclassed by Krait and Exynos.

 

[Eug]

Odds are it is just a 32nm A5 which is horribly outclassed by Krait and Exynos.

Yeah, but it's not just hardware. It's taken a quad-core Tegra 3 with Jelly Bean to match/beat an iOS dual-core 45 nm A5 in general OS smoothness.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Odds are it is just a 32nm A5 which is horribly outclassed by Krait and Exynos.

How does this matter??? It runs apps fine and it does the same things.

 

[Anubis]

im actually curious about the responce to a larger phone. blah blh blah quote about large phones being stupid

 

[bearxor]

At this point, I am less interested in the actual hardware and more interested in seeing some kind of new jump in the OS. Had hoped JB would be the large step forward everyone thinks it is, but but can't help but think that is worked better for me in day to day usage. I'm am just sick and tired of looking at screens of icons after 4 years though. I just don't think the Google or Microsoft system is any better.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Yeah, but it's not just hardware. It's taken a quad-core Tegra 3 with Jelly Bean to match/beat an iOS dual-core 45 nm A5 in general OS smoothness.

The problem is Android will have quad core Krait devices and already has quad core Exynos devices that are more powerful than Tegra 3 which puts Android ahead still.

 

[Red Storm]

At this point, I am less interested in the actual hardware and more interested in seeing some kind of new jump in the OS. Had hoped JB would be the large step forward everyone thinks it is, but but can't help but think that is worked better for me in day to day usage. I'm am just sick and tired of looking at screens of icons after 4 years though. I just don't think the Google or Microsoft system is any better.

I couldn't stand iOS's grid 'o icons either, and that was one of the things that pushed me back to Android. Widgets really open the door for customizing your phone, both in appearance and function. WP7/8 is marginally better than iOS at this.

 

[Bateluer]

I'm interested in the processor. I'm pretty sure they got LTE with decent battery life.
They've been pretty good at in house chip design.

It will have solid LTE battery life, by virtue of a mature 28nm LTE chip, coupled with a 32nm A5, backed up by the larger battery allowed by having a slightly larger screen. Tada!

 

[Oyeve]

Im betting it will have some 8core processor in it throwing off all rumors and speculation.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The problem is Android will have quad core Krait devices and already has quad core Exynos devices that are more powerful than Tegra 3 which puts Android ahead still.

But what's the point of this?

When you use an SGS2 versus an SGS3, the SGS3 feels worlds faster. You can take a slower Galaxy Nexus, slap Jellybean on it, and it feels like it runs circles around both the SGS2 and SGS3. Take an SGS2 and run CM9 and it feels like it flies compared to the SGS3's Touchwiz.

You continue to emphasize these hardware differences like its night and day, but I've pointed out time and time again that people on Android stress hardware improvements so much because so far it's been brute force engineering to get Android to feel fast. It's taken a quad core phone to give me 60fps smoothness. Yes Google's finally gotten there with Jellybean, but who knows how long we'll have to wait considering ICS penetration is around 15% only after 9 months of use.

No one's crying the iPhone 4S feels slow or the iPad 2 or 3 feels slow. These devices run fine. Can we use faster hardware? Certainly, but the biggest issue with the iDevices is not that they're running slower hardware. It's complaints like the OS having a stupid UI or not having widgets, not having a notification center (pre iOS 5), etc.

Apple will ramp up hardware to accompany its software changes. iDevices to date may not be the fastest devices around, but being "slow" isn't what they're known for.

Had Android been designed properly from the ground up, we wouldn't be crying lag for so long. And CPU bumps would be less of a "must."

Finally, 60fps smoothness is 60fps smoothness. A quad core isn't going to make 60 fps any faster. You can attain 60 fps with a single core. Dual core practically guarantees it and iOS never stalls or falters on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S. A quad could speed up load times and more memory can assist too, but what works on the Android ecosystem doesn't mean it has to be applied to the iOS side.

 

[abaez]

You guys think it will have LTE? Wouldn't that mean they'd need a specific model for every carrier? Nothing like GSM...

 

[bearxor]

I couldn't stand iOS's grid 'o icons either, and that was one of the things that pushed me back to Android. Widgets really open the door for customizing your phone, both in appearance and function. WP7/8 is marginally better than iOS at this.

I just don't get it wrt Android. I mean, when I buy something from the Play Store, the applications in the drawer stay in alphabetical order, so now where I was used to hitting something is moved down depending on if I decide to install/uninstall apps. I can make shortcuts on the homescreen, but then is that really better than they way iOS does it?

At least on iOS, I could put my most used apps on the first screen, then if I needed something but didn't know where it was, I could swipe to the left and type in the first couple of letters and launch it from there. If there isn't a shortcut to it on Android, I have to open the app drawer, then look for the right place in the alphabet and then try to find my app. The Google search doesn't search Apps, even if I have it checked in the options, it doesn't bring me the results. I can't find a widget or anything that's like 'Search your apps on your phone!'.

I just don't see how it's significantly better than the static grid of icons. I don't see how WP7's is even slightly better. I don't want to derail this in to an Android vs iOS thread so if this is too OT, let me know, but am I just MISSING something?

 

[Red Storm]

I just don't get it wrt Android. I mean, when I buy something from the Play Store, the applications in the drawer stay in alphabetical order, so now where I was used to hitting something is moved down depending on if I decide to install/uninstall apps. I can make shortcuts on the homescreen, but then is that really better than they way iOS does it?

At least on iOS, I could put my most used apps on the first screen, then if I needed something but didn't know where it was, I could swipe to the left and type in the first couple of letters and launch it from there. If there isn't a shortcut to it on Android, I have to open the app drawer, then look for the right place in the alphabet and then try to find my app. The Google search doesn't search Apps, even if I have it checked in the options, it doesn't bring me the results. I can't find a widget or anything that's like 'Search your apps on your phone!'.

I just don't see how it's significantly better than the static grid of icons. I don't see how WP7's is even slightly better. I don't want to derail this in to an Android vs iOS thread so if this is too OT, let me know, but am I just MISSING something?

Yes, the entire point of widgets is not needing to open an app to do every little thing. I can scroll through every type of message on my phone, I can turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, set volumes, turn on flash light, disable or enable LTE, do a quick song search, look at a calendar, look at my agenda, scroll through a list of bookmarks, etc. All of that from my homescreen(s).

The list goes on and on. For 99% of the above, I have to launch an app in iOS. Android makes it much more efficient.

 

[ilkhan]

Yeah, but it's not just hardware. It's taken a quad-core Tegra 3 with Jelly Bean to match/beat an iOS dual-core 45 nm A5 in general OS smoothness.

The GNexus (OMAP4460(?)) with JB matches iOS for smoothness. Tegra3 isn't needed at all, just JB and some sort of a decent SoC.

 

[bearxor]

Yes, the entire point of widgets is not needing to open an app to do every little thing. I can scroll through every type of message on my phone, I can turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, set volumes, turn on flash light, disable or enable LTE, do a quick song search, look at a calendar, look at my agenda, scroll through a list of bookmarks, etc. All of that from my homescreen(s).

The list goes on and on. For 99% of the above, I have to launch an app in iOS. Android makes it much more efficient.

I guess it just depends on how much you do with your device. I only have two email accounts and I keep my corporate in Touchdown so it doesn't touch the rest of the phone. I open the apps to view them. I tried doing the widget for GMail and TouchDown but didn't see a point and the apps open plenty fast enough that swiping to the location on a different home screen and tapping to open the app is basically a wash for me.

I don't bother turning on/off wifi/bt, etc. I do have power toggles installed to turn the flashlight on/off. But it's not significantly faster for me to do that vs the flashlight app I had on my iPhone 4. I tried a couple of other flashlight widgets but all they did was open the app and it seemed to take FOREVER.

I don't have a ton of calendar entries so I guess I'm not a busy, busy DC man and so it's easy for me to keep everything straight.

I guess I just don't NEED or WANT super-immediate access to everything. I remember many years ago when I would mess around with WinMo ROM's for hours trying to get everything set up right and working perfectly and now I just want to not have to mess with anything for more than 10 minutes. I want it to text, make phone calls and use the internet whenever I feel like it. I'm just not a Toys'R'Us kid anymore I guess. It's looking more and more like I'll ditch the GNex and move back over to the iPhone when it comes out.

 

[TuxDave]

The New iPhone?

I'm betting it'll have this name too. With the whole "is it iPhone 5? iPhone6?" it's pretty clear that the numbering has outlived its welcome.

 

[bearxor]

The New iPhone?

I'm betting it'll have this name too. With the whole "is it iPhone 5? iPhone6?" it's pretty clear that the numbering has outlived its welcome.

You guys see the shadow of the '5' underneath the '12', right?