[Note: This is the first of either 2 or 3 posts on the new iPhone5 – depending on how quickly accurate information becomes available on this device. This post covers what Apple has announced, along with info gleaned from other technical sources to date. Further details will have to wait until actual phones are shipped, then torn down by specialists and real benchmarks are run against the new hardware and iOS6]
Introduction
Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock, one couldn’t help but hear that Apple has introduced the next version of its iPhone. This article will look at what this device actually purports to offer the user, along with some of my comments and observations. All of these comments are based on current press releases and ‘paper’ information: the actual hardware won’t release until Sept. 21, and due to high demand, it may take me a bit longer to get one in hand for personal testing. I’ll go into details below, but I don’t intend to upgrade from my 4S at this time. I do have a good relationship with my local Apple business retailer, and my rep will be setting aside one of the new phones for me to come in and play with for a few hours as soon as she has one that is not immediately promised. Currently we are looking at about first week in October – so look for another post then. As of the date of writing (15 Sep) Apple has said their initial online allocation has sold out, so I expect demand to be high for the first few weeks.
Front and Back of iPhone5
The basic specifications and comparisons to previous models are shown below:
|
Physical Comparison |
|||||||
|
Apple iPhone 4 |
Apple iPhone 4S |
Apple iPhone 5 |
Samsung Galaxy S 3 |
||||
| Height |
115.2 mm (4.5″) |
115.2 mm (4.5″) |
123.8 mm (4.87″) |
136.6 mm (5.38″) |
|||
| Width |
58.6 mm (2.31″) |
58.6 mm (2.31″) |
58.6 mm (2.31″) |
70.6 mm (2.78″) |
|||
| Depth |
9.3 mm ( 0.37″) |
9.3 mm ( 0.37″) |
7.6 mm (0.30″) |
8.6 mm (0.34″) |
|||
| Weight |
137 g (4.8 oz) |
140 g (4.9 oz) |
112 g (3.95 oz) |
133 g (4.7 oz) |
|||
| CPU |
Apple A4 @ ~800MHz Cortex A8 |
Apple A5 @ ~800MHz Dual Core Cortex A9 |
Apple A6 (Dual Core Cortex A15?) |
1.5 GHz MSM8960 Dual Core Krait |
|||
| GPU |
PowerVR SGX 535 |
PowerVR SGX 543MP2 |
? |
Adreno 225 |
|||
| RAM |
512MB LPDDR1-400 |
512MB LPDDR2-800 |
1GB LPDDR2 |
2GB LPDDR2 |
|||
| NAND |
16GB or 32GB integrated |
16GB, 32GB or 64GB integrated |
16GB, 32GB or 64GB integrated |
16GB or 32GB NAND with up to 64GB microSDXC |
|||
| Camera |
5MP with LED Flash + Front Facing Camera |
8MP with LED Flash + Front Facing Camera |
8MP with LED Flash + 720p Front Facing Camera |
8 MP with LED flash + 1.9 MP front facing |
|||
| Screen |
3.5″ 640 x 960 LED backlit LCD |
3.5″ 640 x 960 LED backlit LCD |
4″ 1136 x 640 LED backlit LCD |
4.8″ 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED |
|||
| Battery |
Integrated 5.254Whr |
Integrated 5.291Whr |
Integrated ?? Whr |
Removable 7.98 Whr |
|||
| WiFi/BT |
802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 2.1 |
802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 |
802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 |
802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 |
|||
As can be seen from the above chart, the iPhone5 is an improvement in several areas from the 4S, but in pure technological features still is behind some of the latest Android devices. We’ll now go through some of the details, and what they actually may mean for a user.
Case
The biggest external change is the shape and size of the iPhone5: due to the larger screen (true 16:9 aspect ratio for the first time), the phone is longer while maintaining the same width. It is also slightly thinner. The construction of the case is a bit different as well: the iPhone4S used glass panels for the full front and rear; the iPhone5 replaces the rear panel with a solid aluminum panel except for the very top and bottom of the rear shell which remain glass. This is required for the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS antennas to receive radio signals (metal blocks reception).
There are two major changes in the case design, both of which will have significant impacts to usage and accessories: the headphone/microphone jack has been moved to the bottom of the case, and the docking connector has been completely redesigned: this is now a new proprietary “Lightning” connector that is much smaller. Both of these changes have instantly rendered obsolete all 3rd-party devices that use the docking connector to plug the iPhone into external accessories such as charging bases, car charging cords, clock-radios and HiFi units, etc. While Apple is offering an adaptor cable in several forms, there are serious drawbacks for many uses.
The basic Lightning-to-USB adaptor cable ($19) is provided as part of the iPhone5 package [along with the small charger], if you have other desktop power supplies or chargers, or are fortunate enough to have a car charger that accepts a USB cable (as opposed to a built in docking connector as most do), you can spend the extra cash and still use those devices with the new iPhone5.
Lightning to USB adaptor cable (1m)
For connecting the new iPhone5 to current 30-pin docking connector devices, Apple offers two solutions: a short cable (0.2m – 8″) [$39] or a stub connector [$29]:
Lightning to 30-pin cable (0.2m)
Lightning to 30-pin stub connector
The Lightning-to-USB adaptor is growing scare already: in the last 48 hours the shipping dates have slipped from 1-2 days to 3 weeks or more. Neither of the Lightning-to-30-pin adaptors has a ship date yet, a rather nebulous statement of “October” is all that is stated on the Apple store. So early adapters of the iPhone5 should expect a substantial delay before they can make use of any current aftermarket devices that use the docking connector. Another issue: the cost of the adaptors. As part of their incredible branding the closed-universe of Apple/Mac/iDevice, users have been conditioned to paying a hefty premium for basic utility devices as compared to devices that perform the same funtion for other brands such as Android phones. For example, the same phone-to-USB cable (1m) that Apple sells for $19 is available for the latest model Samsung Galaxy S3 for between $6 to $9 at a number of online retailers. It’s very easy to end up spending $100 or more on iPhone accessories just for a case and a few adaptors.
Now let’s get to the real issue of this new Lightning adaptor – even assuming that one can eventually purchase the necessary adaptors shown above. Basically there are two classes of devices that use the docking connector: those that connect via a flexible cable (chargers and similar devices), and those that mechanically support the iPhone with the docking connector, such as clock/radios, HiFi units, audio and other adaptors, phone holders for cars, just to name a few. The old style 30-pin connector was wide enough, along with the mechanical design, to actually support the iPhone with a minimum of external ‘cradle’ to not put undue stress on the connector. The Apple desktop docking adaptor is such an example:
30-pin docking adaptor
The new Lightning connector is so small that it offers no mechanical stability. Any device that will hold the iPhone will need a new design, not only to add sufficient mechanical support to avoid bending or disconnecting the new docking adaptor, but to accomodate the thinner case as well. Here is a small small sample of devices that will affected by this design change:
As can be seen, this connector change has a profound and wide reaching effect. Users that have a substantial investment in aftermarket devices will need to carefully consider any decision to upgrade to the iPhone5. Virtually all of the above devices will simply not work with the new phone, even if the ‘stub adaptor’ was employed. While a large number of 3rd party providers of iPhone accessories will be happy (they can resell the same product again each time a design change occurs), the end user may be less enchanted. Even simple things such as protective cases can not be ‘recycled’ for use on the new phone. I’ll give one personal example: I have an external camera lens adaptor set, the iPro by Schneider. This set of lenses will not work at all with the iPhone5. Not only is the case different (which is critical for mounting the lenses to the phone in precise alignment with the internal iPhone camera), but the current evidence is that Apple has changed the optics slightly on the iPhone5, such that an optical redesign of accessory lenses would be required. A very careful and methodical analysis of the side-effects of potentially upgrading your iPhone should be performed if you own any significant devices that use the docking connector.
The other design change is the movement of the headphone jack to the bottom left of the case. While this does not in and of itself present the same challenges that the docking connector poses, it does have ramifications that may not be immediately apparent. While, for a user that is just carrying the iPhone as a music playback device (iPod-ish use) the headphone cable connected to the bottom is a superior design choice, it once again poses a challenge for any device where the iPhone is physically ‘docked’. The headphone cable is no longer accessible! For instance, with the original iPhone dock, I could be on the phone (using a headphone/microphone cable assembly) and walk to my desk and drop the iPhone in the docking station/charger and keep talking while my depleted battery was now being refueled… no longer… the cable from the bottom won’t allow the phone to be inserted into the docking station…
The bottom line is that Apple has drawn an absolute line in the sand with the iPhone5: the user is forced to start completely over with all accessories, from the trivial to the expensive. While it is likely that some of the aftermarket devices can be, and will be, eventually adapted to the new case design, there will be a cost in terms of both money and time delay. Depending on the complexity (plastic cases for the iPhone5 will show up in a few months, while hi-end home HiFi units that accept an iPhone may take 6 months to a year to arrive) there will be a significant delay in being able to use the iPhone5 in as ubiquitous manner as all previous iPhones (which shared the same docking and case design).
The last issue to raise in regards to the change in case design is simply the size of the new phone. It’s longer. We’ve already discussed that this will require new cases, shells, etc. – but this will also affect many ‘fashion-oriented’ aftermarket handbags, belt-cases, messenger bags, etc. With the iPhone being the darling of the artistic, entertainment and fashion groups, many stylish (and expensive) accoutrements have been created that specifically fit the iPhone 3/4 case size. Those too will have to adapt.
Screen
The driving factor behind the new case size is the increase in screen resolution from 960×640 (1:1.50 aspect ratio) to 1136×640 (1:1.77 aspect ratio). The new size matches current HD display aspect ratio of 16:9 (1.77) so movies viewed on the iPhone will correctly fit the screen. With the iPhone4S, which had full technical capability to both shoot and display 1920×1080 (FHD or Full HD), HD movies were either cut off on the left and right side, or letterboxed (black bars at top and bottom of the picture) when displayed. Many Android devices have had full 16:9 display capabilities for a year or more now. Very few technical details have been released so far by Apple on the actual screen, here is what I have been able to glean to date:
- The touch-screen interface has changed from “on-cell” to “in-cell” technology. Without getting overly geeky, this means that the actual touch-sensitive surface is now built-in to the LCD surface itself, instead of being a separate layer glued on top of the LCD display. This has three advantages:
- Thinner display
- Simplifies manufacture, as one less assembly step (aligning and gluing the touch layer)
- Slightly brighter and more saturated visible display, due to not having a separate layer on top of the actual LCD layer.
- The color gamut for virtually all cellphone and computer displays is currently the sRGB standard (which itself is a low-gamut color space – in the future we will see much improved color spaces, but for now that is best thing that can economically be manufactured, particularly for mobile devices). None of the current devices fully reproduce the full sRGB gamut, even as limited as it is. But this improvement gets the iPhone that much closer. One of the tests I intend to run when I get my test drive of the iPhone5 is a gamut check with a precision optical color gamut tester.
- No firm data is available yet, but anecdotal reports, coupled with known ‘side-effects’ of “in-cell” technology, promise a slightly more efficient display, in terms of battery life. Since the LCD display is one of the largest consumers of battery power, this is significant.
Camera(s)
The rear-facing camera (high resolution one that is used for still and video photography) is essentially unchanged. However… there are potentially three small but significant updates that will likely affect serious iPhonographers:
- Though no firm details have been released by Apple yet, when images were taken at the press conference and compared to images taken with an iPhone4S of the same subject from the same position, the iPhone5 images appear to have a slightly larger field of view. This, if accurate, would indicate that the focal length of the lens has changed slightly. The iPhone4S has an actual focal length of 4.28mm (equivalent to a 32mm lens for a 35mm camera); this may indicate the reduction of focal length to 3.75mm (28mm equivalent focal length). There are several strong reasons that support this theory:
- The iPhone5 is thinner, and everything else has to accomodate this. A shorter focal length lens allows the camera lens/sensor assembly to be thinner.
- Many users have expressed a desire for a slightly wider angle of view, in fact the most popular aftermarket adaptor lenses for the iPhone are wide angle format.
- The slightly wider field of view simplies the new panoramic ‘stitch’ capability of the camera hardware/software.
- Apple claims the camera is “25% smaller”. We have no idea what that really means, but IF this in fact results in a smaller sensor surface then the individual pixels will be smaller. The same number of pixels are used (it is still an 8MP sensor), but smaller pixels mean less light-gathering capability, potentially making low light photography more difficult.
- Apple does claim new hardware/software to make the camera perform better in low light. What this means is not yet clear.
- The math and geometry of optics, sensor size and lens mechanics essentially show us that small sensors are more subject to camera movement, shaking and vibration. (The same angular movement of a full sized 35mm digital camera will cause far less blurring in the resultant image than an iPhone4S. If the sensor is even smaller in the iPhone5, this effect will be more pronounced).
- Apple claims a redesigned lens cover for the iPhone5. (In all iPhones, there is a clear plastic window that protects the actual lens. This is part of the exterior case). With the iPhone5, this window is now “sapphire glass” – whatever that actually is… The important issue is that any change is a change – even if this window material is harder and ‘more clear’, it will be different from the iPhone4 or iPhone4S – different materials have different transmissive characteristics. Where this may cause an effect is with external adaptor lenses designed for iPhone4/4S devices.
The front-facing camera (FaceTime, self-portrait) has in the past been a very low resolution device of VGA quality (640×480). This produced very fuzzy images, the sensor was not very sensitive in low light, and the images did not match the display aspect ratio. The iPhone5 has increased the resolution of the front-facing sensor to 1280×720 (720P) for video, 1280×960 for still (1.2MP). While no other specs on this camera have been released, one can assume some degree of other improvements in the combined camera/lens assembly, such that overall image quality will improve.
The faster CPU and other system hardware, combined with new improvement in iOS 6.0, bring several new enhancements to iPhonography. Details are skimpy at this time, but panoramic photos, faster image-taking in general, improved speed for image processing within the phone, better noise reduction for low-light photography are some of the new features mentioned. Experience, testing and a full tear-down of an iPhone5 are the only way we will know for sure. More to come in future posts…
CPU/SystemChips/Memory
Inside the iPhone5
As best as can be determined at this early stage, there are a number of changes inside the iPhone5. Some (very little actually!) of the information below is from Apple, many of the other observations are based on the same detective work that was used for earlier reporting on the iPhone4S: careful reading of industry trends, tracking of orders for components of typical iPhone parts manufacturers, comments and interviews with industry experts that track Apples, Androids and other such odd things, and to a certain extent just experience. Even though Apple is a phenomenally secretive company, even they can’t make something out of nothing. There are only so many chips to choose from, and when one factors in things like power consumption, desired performance, physical size, compatibility with other parts of the phone and so on, there really aren’t that many choices. So even if some of the assumptions at this early stage are slightly in error, the overall capabilities and functionality will be the same.
Ok, yes, Apple has said there is a new CPU in the iPhone5, and it’s named the “A6”. But that doesn’t actually tell one what it is, how it’s made, or what it does. About all that Apple has said directly so far is that it’s “up to twice as fast as the A5 chip [used in iPhone4S]”, and “the A6 chip offers graphics performance that’s up to twice as fast as the A5.” That’s not a lot of detailed information… Once companies such as Anandtech and Chipworks get a few actual iPhone5 units and tear them apart we will know more. These firms are exhaustive in their analysis (and no, the phone does not work again once they take it to bits!) – they even ‘decap’ the chips and use x-ray techniques to analyze the actual chip substrate to look for vendor codes and other clues as to the makeup of each part. I will report on that once this data becomes available.
At this time, some think that the A6 chip is using 28/32nm technology (absolutely cutting edge for mobile chipsets) and packing in two ARM Cortex A15 cores to create the CPU. Others think that this may in fact be an entirely Apple ‘home-grown’ ARM dual-core chip. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is likely an assembly using four of Imagination’s PowerVR SGX543 cores, which double the GPU cores that are in the iPhone4S. In addition to the actual advanced hardware, the final performance is almost for certain a careful almalgamation of peripheral chips, tweaking and tuning of both firmware and kernel software, etc. The design criteria and implementation of devices such as the iPhone5 is just about as close to the edge of what’s currently possible as current science and human cleverness can get. This is one area where, for all of the downsides to a ‘closed ecosystem’ that is the World of Apple, the upside is that when a company has total control over both the hardware and the software of a device, a level of systems tuning is possible that open-source implementations such as Android simply can never match. If one is interested further in this philosophy, please see my further comments about such “complementary design techniques” in my post on iPhone accessory lenses here.
There are two types of memory in all advanced smartphones, including the iPhone5. The first is SDRAM (which is similar to the RAM in your computer, the very fast working memory that is directly addressed by the CPU chips), the second is NAND (which is similar to the hard disk in your computer – slower but has much greater storage capacity). In smartphones, the NAND is also a solid-state device (not a spinning disk) to save weight and power, but it still is considerably slower in access time than the SDRAM. As a point, it would not be practical, either in terms of economics, power or size, to attempt to use SDRAM for all the memory in a smartphone. The chart at the beginning of this article shows the increase in size of the SDRAM over the various iPhone models, to date the mass storage (NAND) has been available in 3 sizes: 16, 32 and 64GB.
Radios: Wi-Fi/Cellular/GPS/Bluetooth
Although most of us don’t think about a cellphone in this way, once you get all the peripheral bits out of the way, these devices are just highly sophisticated portable radio transcievers. Sort of CB radio handsets on steroids. There are four main categories of radios used in smartphones: Wi-Fi; cellular radios for both voice and data; GPS and Bluetooth. The design, frequencies used and other parameters are so different for each of these classes that entirely separate radios must be used for each function. In fact, as we will see shortly, even within the cellular radio group it is frequently required to have multiple radios to handle all the variations found in world-wide networks. Each separate radio adds complexity, cost, weight, power consumption and the added issue of antenna design and inter-device interference. It is truly a complicated design task to integrate all the distinct RF components in a device such as the iPhone.
Again, this initial review is lacking in hard facts ‘from the horse’s mouth’ – our particular horse (the Rocking Apple) is mute… but using similar techniques as outlined above for the CPU/GPU chips, here is what my best guess is for the innards of “radio-land” inside an iPhone5:
Wi-Fi
-
At this time there are four Wi-Fi standards in use, all of which are ‘subparts’ of the IEEE 802 wireless communications standard: 802.11a; 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
-
There are a lot of subtle details, but in essence each increase in the appending letter is equivalent to a higher data transfer speed. In a perfect world (pay attention to this – Wi-Fi almost never gets even close to what is theoretically possible! Marketing hype alert…) the highest speed strata, 802.11n, is capable of up to 150Mb/s.
- Again, I am oversimplifying, but older WiFi technology used a single band of radio frequencies, centered around 2.4GHz. The newest form, 802.11n, allows the use of two bands of frequencies, 2.4GHZ and 5.0GHz. If the designer implements two WiFi radios, it is possible to use both frequency bands simultaneously, thereby increasing the aggregate data transfer, or to better avoid interference that may be present on one of the bands. As always, adding radios adds cost, complexity, etc.
Cellular
This is the area that causes the most confusion, and ultimately required (in the case of the iPhone) two entirely separate versions of hardware (GSM for AT&T, CDMA for Verizon – in the US. Gets even more complicated overseas). Cellular telephone systems unfortunately were developed by different groups in different countries at different times. Adding to this were social, political, geographical, economic and engineering issues that were anything but uniform. This led to a large number of completely incompatible cellular networks over time. Even in the earliest days of analog cellphones there were multiple, incompatible networks. Once the world switched to digital carrier technology, the diaspora continued.. This is such a complicated subject that I have decided to write a separate blog on this – it is really a bit off-topic (in terms of detail) for this post, and may unreasonably detract those that are not interested in such details. I’ll post that in the next week, with a link from here once complete.
For the purposes of this iPhone5 introduction, a very simple and brief primer so we can understand the importance – and limitations!! of what is (incorrectly) called 4G – that bit of marketing hype that has everyone so fascinated even though 93% of humanity has absolutely no idea what it really is. Such is the power of marketing…
Another warning: telecommunications industries are totally in love with acronyms. Really arcane weird and hard to understand acronyms. If a telecomms engineer can’t wedge in at least eight of them in every sentence, he/she starts twitching and otherwise showing physical symptoms of distress and feelings of incompetence… I’m just going to list them here, in all their other-worldly glory… if you want them deciphered, wait for my blog (promised above) on the cellular system.
To add some semblance of control to the chaotic jungle of wireless networks there are a number of standards bodies that attempt to set up some rules. Without them we would have no interoperabililty of cellphones from one network to another. The two main groups, in terms of this discussion, are the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). That’s where nomenclature such as 2G, 3G, 4G comes from. And, you guessed it, “G” is generation. (Never mind “1G” – that too will be in the upcoming blog…). For practical purposes, most of us are used to 3G – that was the best data technology for cellular system until recently. 4G is “better”… sort of… we’ll see why in a moment.
The biggest reason I am delving into this archane stuff is to (as simply as I can) educate the user as to why you can’t browse the web or perform other data functions while simultaneosly talking on the phone IF you are using an iPhone on the Sprint or Verizon networks – but can if you are on AT&T. The reason is that LTE is an extension of GSM (the technology that AT&T uses for voice and data currently), whereas both Sprint and Verizon use a different technology for voice/data (CDMA). Each of these technologies requires a separate radio and a separate antenna. For AT&T customers, the iPhone needs 2 antennas (4G LTE + 3G for voice [and 3G data fallback if no 4G/LTE is available in that location), if the iPhone was going to support the same functionality for Sprint/Verizon, a 3rd radio and antenna would be required (4G/LTE for high speed data; 3G fallback data, and CDMA voice). Apple decided not to add the weight, complexity and expense to the iPhone5, so customers on those networks face an either/or choice: voice or data, but not at the same time.
Apple is making some serious claims on improved battery life when using 4G, saying that the battery will last the same (up to 8 hours) whether on 3G or 4G. That’s impressive, early 4G phones from other vendors have had notoriously low battery life on 4G. Some assumptions, other than OS tweaks, are possibly the use of a new Qualcomm chip, the MDM9615LTE.
The range of cellular voice and data types/bands/variations that are said to be supported by the iPhone5 are: GSM (AT&T), CDMA (Verizon & Sprint), EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA, LTE.
Now, another important few points on 4G:
-
The current technology that everyone is calling 4G… isn’t really. The marketing monsters won the battle however, and even the standards bodies caved. LTE (Long Term Evolution – and this does have a technical meaning in terms of digital symbol reconstitution from a multiplexed data stream, as opposed to the actual advancement of intellect, compassion, health and heart of the human species – something that I hold in serious doubt right now…) is a ‘stepping-stone’ on the way to “True 4G”, and is not necessarily the only way to implement 4G – but the marketing folks just HAD to have ‘higher number means better’ term, so just like at one point we had “2.5G” (not quite real 3G but better than 2G in a few weird ways), we now have 4G… to be supplemented next year with “LTE Advanced” or “4G Advanced”. Hmmmm. And once the networks improve to “True 4G” or whatever, will the iPhone5 still work? Yes, but it won’t necessarily support all the features of “LTE Advanced” – for instance, LTE Advanced will support “VoLTE” [Voice over LTE] so that only a single radio/antenna would be required for all voice and data – essentially the voice call is muxed into the data layer and just carried as another stream of data. However, and this is a BIG however, that would require essentially full global coverage of “4G/LTE Advanced” – something that is years away due to cost and time to build out networks.
-
Even with the current “baby 4G”, this is a new technology, and most networks in the world only support this in certain limited areas, if at all. It will improve every month as the carriers slowly build out the networks, but it will take time. The actual radio/antenna systems are different from everything currently deployed, so new hardware has to be stuck onto every single cell tower in the world… not a trivial task… Trying to determine where 4G actually works, on which carrier, is effectively impossible at this time. No one tells the whole story, and you can be sure that Pinnochio would look like a snub-nose in comparision to many of the claims put forth by various cellular carriers… In the US, both Verizon and AT&T claim about 65-75% coverage of their respective markets: but these are in high density population areas where the subscriber base makes this economically attractive.
-
The situation is much more spotty overseas, with two challenges: even within the LTE world there are different frequencies used in different areas, and the iPhone5 does not support all of them. If you are planning to use the iPhone5 outside of the US, and want to use LTE, check carefully. And of course the build-out of 4G is nowhere near as complete as in the US.
-
The final issue with 4G is economic, not technical. Since data usage is what gobbles up network capacity (as opposed to voice/text), the plans that the carriers sell to their users are rapidly changing to offer either high limit or unlimited voice/text at fairly reasonable rates, with data now being capped and the prices increasing. While a typical data plan (say 5GB) allows that much data to be transferred, regardless of whether on 3G or 4G, the issue is speed. Since LTE can run as fast as 100Mb/s (again, your individual mileage may vary…) – which is much, much faster than 3G, and in fact often faster than most Wi-Fi networks, it is easy for the user to consume their cap much faster. If you have ever stood on a street corner and s-l-o-w-l-y waited for a single page to load on your iPhone4, you are not really motivated to stand there for an hour cruising the web or watching sport. But… if the pages go snap! snap! snap!, or the US Open plays great in HD without any pauses or that dreaded ‘buffering’ message – then normal human tendancy will be to use more. And the carriers are just loving that!!
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As an example, (just to be theoretical and keep math simple) if we assume 100Mb/s on LTE, then your monthly 5GB cap would be consumed in about 7 minutes!! Now this example is assuming constant download of that data rate, which is unrealistic – a typical page load for a mobile device is under 1 MB, and then you stare at it for a bit, then load another one, and so one – so for web browsing you get snappy loads without consuming a ridiculous amount of data – but beware video streaming – which DOES consume constant data. It will take users some time (and sticker shock at bill time if you have auto-renew set on your data plan!) to learn how to manage their data consumption. (Tip: set to lower resolution streaming when on LTE, switch back to high resolution when on WiFi).
GPS
Global Positioning Service, or “Location Services” as Apple likes to call it, requires yet another radio and set of antennas. This is a receive-only technology where simultaneous reception of data from multiple satellites allows the device to be located in 3D space (longitude, latitude and altitude) rather accurately. The actual process used by the underlying hardware, the OS and the apps on the iPhone is quite complex, merging together information from the actual GPS radio, WiFi (if it’s on, which helps a lot with accuracy) and even the internal gyroscope that is built in to each iPhone. This is necessary since consumers just want things to work, no matter the laws of physics (yes my radio should receive satellite signals even if I’m six stories underground in a car park…), interference from cars, electrical wires, etc. etc. The bottom line is we have come to depend on GPS to the point that I see people yelping at their Yelp app when it doesn’t know exactly where the next pizza house is…
Bluetooth
Again, we have become totally dependent on this technology for everyday use of a cellphone. In most states now (and countries outside the US), there are rather strict laws on ‘hands-free’ cellphone while driving a car. While legally this can be accomplished with a wired earplug (know your laws, some places ONLY allow wireless [Bluetooth] headsets! – others allow wired headsets but only in one ear, and it must be of the ‘earbud’ type, not an ‘over the ear’ version), the Bluetooth headset is the most common.
There are other uses for Bluetooth with the iPhone: I frequently use a Bluetooth keyboard when I am actually using the iPhone as a little computer at a coffee bar – it’s SO much faster than pecking on that tiny glass keyboard… There are starting to be a number of interesting external ‘appliances’ that communicate with the iPhone via Bluetooth as well – temperature/humidity meter; various sports/exercise measuring devices; even civil engineering transits can now communicate their reading via Bluetooth to an app for automatic recording and triangulation of data.
And yes, it takes another radio and antenna…
And last but certainly not least: iOS6
A number of new features are either totally OS-related, or the new hardware improvements are expressed to the user via the new OS. The good news is that some of these new features will now show up in earlier iPhone models, commensurate of course with hardware limitations.
A few of the new features:
- Improvements to Siri: open apps and post comments to social apps with voice commands
- Facebook: integrated into Calendar, Camera, Maps, Photos. (yes, you can turn off sharing via FB, but in typical FB fashion everything is ‘opt out’…)
- Passbook: a little digital vault for movie tickets, airline boarding passes, etc. Still ‘under construction’ in terms of getting vendors to sign up with Apple
- FaceTime: now works over 3G/4G as well as WiFi (watch out for your data usage when not at WiFi – with the new 720P front facing video camera, that nice long chat with your significant other just smoked your entire data plan for the month…)
- Safari: links open web pages on multiple Apple devices that are all on same iCloud account. Be careful… if you are bored in the office and are cruising ‘artistic’ web sites, they may reflect in real time in your kitchen or your daughter’s iMac…
- Maps: Google Maps kicked out of Apple-land, now a home-grown map app that finally includes turn-by-turn navigation.
Summary
It’s a nice upgrade Apple. As usual, the industrial design is good. For me personally, it’s starting to get a bit big – but I’ll admit I have an iPad, so if I want more screen space than my 4S I’ll just pick up the Pad. Most of the improvements are incremental, but good nonetheless. In terms of pure technology, the iPhone5 is a bit behind some of the Android devices, but this is not the article to start on that! Those arguments could go on for years… I’m only commenting here on what’s in this particular phone, and my personal thoughts on upgrading from a recent 4S to the 5. For me, I won’t do that at this time. A lot of this is very individual, and depends on your use, needs, etc. I tend to almost always be near either my own or free Wi-Fi locations, so 4G is just not a huge deal. The improved speed sounds very nice, but my 4S currently is fast enough – I am an avid photographer, and retouch/filter a lot using the iPhone4S, and find that it’s fast enough. I love speedy devices, and if the upgrade were free I would perhaps think differently, but at this point I am not suffering with any aspect of my 4S enough to feel that I have to move to the 5 right away.
Now, I would absolutely feel differently if I had anything earlier than a 4S. I upgraded from the iPhone4 to the 4S without hesitation – in my view the improvements were totally worth it: much better camera, much faster processor, etc. So in the end, my personal recommendation: a highly recommended upgrade for anything at the level of iPhone4 or earlier, for the 4S – it’s down to individual choices and your budget.
