Apple iPhone 5 Features and Price

It is the thinnest, lightest and fastest iPhone that Apple has ever come up with. Technically the sixth model in the iPhone lineup and named as the iPhone 5, this smartphone looks similar to the leaks we reported a couple of days ago. It has got a bigger display, better processor, enhanced camera, an 8-pin connector and improved battery. We take a look at its features:

Display: Geared up to battle against the competition, the iPhone 5 has got a 4-inch Retina display with 1136 x 640 resolutions. With 326 pixels per inch, it also has a 16:9 aspect ratio. Apple has even used the thinnest display ever, almost 30 per cent thinner than before by eliminating a separate layer of touch electrodes between display pixels. Now, the pixels do double duty - acting as touch-sensing electrodes while displaying the image at the same time. This even offers more clarity than ever before. Enjoying the dominance of using the iPhone with a single hand, Apple has just made it taller, without touching the width. Interestingly, Apple has even modified the iOS apps to take benefit of the extra pixels and adding one extra row of icons to the screen.
Design: The taller iPhone is 18 per cent thinner and 20 per cent lighter than the iPhone 4S. It has got an all glass front with an aluminium back casing. It is 7.6mm thin and only weights 112 grams. In effort to achieve the design, the company had gone ahead with a nano-SIM card, which is 44 per cent smaller than the micro-SIM card.
Processor: The iPhone 5 has a new A6 chipset. Apple claims that the CPU and the GPU are twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. The company hasn't mentioned whether it is a quad-core processor but we believe it can be.
Camera: Although the camera remains at 8 MP, Apple has worked on this front as well. The camera now has a backside illumination, a f2/4 aperture, sapphire crystal and dynamic low light mode along with a panorama mode and ability to click images while capturing videos. There will be some cool editing features as well.

Connectivity: As expected, LTE connectivity has made its way to the iPhone 5 as well. To support the latest LTE technology, Apple has pioneered a unique single-radio LTE solution that provides blazing fast speeds and also features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for a wireless experience.

Connector: As speculated, Apple has introduced a 8-pin connector named as Lightning. The eight-signal design with an adaptive interface is said to got improved durability, works using either side and is 80 per cent smaller than its predecessors. For older iOS device users, Apple has also worked upon an adapter to accommodate the 30-pin connectors.

Battery: Even with a bigger display, faster processor and connectivity options like LTE, Apple claims that the battery on the iPhone 5 will be better than the iPhone 4S. As per Apple, the iPhone 5 can do 8 hours of talking or web browsing over 3G, 10 hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi, 10 hours of videos, 40 hours of music or 225 hours of standyby.

Announced on September 12, the iPhone 4 pre-booking begins on September 14 and will go on sale on September 21 in USA and eight other countries. This will be followed by a few more countries on September 28 and 100 other countries by the end of 2012.

Hopefully, India should be on this list. While the starting price of the iPhone 5 is $199 (bundled, two year contract with the operator), the unlocked version will start from Pound 529 in UK. Considering the current value of INR and looking at the previous iPhone pricing, we expect the Indian launch price to be touching Rs 50,000.

Will the iPhone 5 come with a fingerprint scanner? Apple makes rare takeover bid of security firm for £230m

Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm - meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security.
There are even suggestions that the iPhone - due to be unveiled on Wednesday - will already have a fingerprint scanner built in, stopping anyone from reading your messages and data without your fingerprint authorisation.
If AuthenTec agrees to the $365m (£228m) purchase by Apple on October 4, it will be one of the largest sums paid in a takeover by the tech giant.

Other than the purchase of a 'flash memory' supplier last year, this is believed to be Apple's biggest acquisition since the pre-iPod days of 1997, showing how serious Apple is about the technology.
Apple is also unveiling a new service called PassBook, which allows users to store store coupons, loyalty cards and other items such as airport boarding passes, with the release of iOS6 - the sixth-generation of its iPhone software - this Autumn.
Airlines in the U.S., such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Australia will all allow Apple users to store their documents on their phone, meaning a quick swipe will get you to the boarding gates.
AuthentTec creates mobile phone security and, according to the merger documents, has already been developing 2D fingerprint sensors for Apple.
The technology could see a fingerprint scanner built behind the screen, requiring your thumbprint to unlock the phone, or it could be a sensor on the back of the device, across which you roll your thumb to allow access.
Technology writer Matt Brian, for the site My Next Web, said: 'Will we see fingerprint technology in the new iPhone (or iPad)? It seems almost certain.
'Details are scarce but [Apple's] desire to use the technology and see it developed quickly leads us to speculate that we could see it in just a matter of weeks.'
If Apple comes with NFC, which allows contactless authorisation or payments, it could make the iPhone a wallet-replacements, allowing secure payments for small orders.