Despite the fact that Android phones on the whole are shipping and being activated in greater volume than the iPhone, Apple's mobile device is still among the most highly anticipated singular releases of the year. Even those who have sworn allegiance to the Android Army still take interest in whatever the next iPhone has to offer -- it's good to know what the other guy is up to. Apple CEO Tim Cook and his team will soon be taking to the stage and showing off the next iPhone, and perhaps other closely related iPods.
Keep checking this space, as we'll be updating with the facts as we learn them.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook opens the event. As usual, he's got a lot of nice things to say about how well Apple is doing.
- Lots of hype about the new Barcelona store being made from local limestone.
- 380 stores in 12 countries. Country 13 will be Sweden, opening this Friday.
- 7 million Mountain Lion upgrades so so far -- fastest ever, but probably due to the ease of upgrade for Lion and Snow Leopard users.
- Apple had 27% of the notebook sales market in the U.S. in July. Pretty big for expensive machines.
- 17 million iPads sold April - June. Brings total to 84 million iPads sold through June.
- Apple says that iPad's tablet market share has grown to 68% despite competition. 91% of all tablet web traffic is from iPad.
- 700k apps in the store, 250k made for iPad.
- 400 million iOS device sold through June.
- It's called the iPhone 5.
- It's an elongated iPhone with a metal back. If you've been following the rumors, then you've seen it before.
- Obviously, it's the thinnest and lightest iPhone Apple has ever made.
- 122 grams and 7.6mm thick.
- Retina display again at 326 ppi, 1136 x 640 resolution. Widescreen movies will now fit better on the iPhone screen.
- Apple says it chose to keep it the same width as previous iPhones because it wanted the device to fit in your hand.
- Older apps that don't run in the taller resolution will run with black boxes on the sides of the screen, just like with movies.
- The screen boasts 44% better color saturation. Touch sensor integrated right with the screen -- so thinner and better looking.
- Apple boasts "Ultrafast Wireless" ... Yes, that means LTE, along with GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA.
- Same dynamic antenna technology that is in the 4S (which was born from the botched iPhone 4 antenna, not that Apple mentioned it).
- 802.11a/b/g/n - dual-channel - up to 150Mbps.
- New SoC: the Apple A6. Says it is 2x faster in CPU and graphics compared to A5. 22% smaller and more energy efficient.
- EA goes on stage to demonstrate Real Racing 3. The graphics are very impressive. I think it's time to stop thinking about these things as phones.
- Better battery life than the iPhone 4S -- not surprising, with a bigger form factor for more battery and a more efficient chip. 8 hours talk, 8 hours browsing, 10 hours Wi-Fi browsing and video, 40 hours music, 225 standby.
- 8MP camera, improved over the one in the 4S with a low light mode, sapphire crystal. Also better image processing in the hardware. 40% faster in taking pictures.
- As rumored, a new panorama shooting mode. Apple shows off a 28 megapixel photo of the Golden Gate bridge. Interesting that the resolution is retained.
- 1080p video in the back with improvements, and now 720p video in the front cam.
- FaceTime over cell networks. I bet U.S. carriers are pleased - and they may block it. It could be a feature like tethering.
- Three microphones for better voice recognition and noise cancellation.
- Wideband audio.
- As rumored, a new dock connector. Oh my, it's called Lightning... so yeah, Thunderbolt and Lightning (very, very frightening, etc etc.)
- All digital (old connector could carry analog signals) and fully reversible.
- Yes, this will be fun for accessory manufacturers, but there will be an adapter. Free? We don't know yet.
- iOS 6 was demoed on the iPhone 5 with the new maps app, plus turn by turn navigation with Siri. Seems that it's made more for cars than walking or mass transit, but few people need turn by turn for that.
- Siri is improved to understand questions about sports, movies. Also tighter integration with other apps, so asking Siri to find a restaurant and make a reservation will jump to OpenTable. Then it can give you an option to post about it on your Facebook.
- Like the other iPhones, the 5 will be available in black and white. White one has metallic aluminum back, and black has the black anodized Al back.
- Same prices as the iPhone 4S - ranging from 16GB to 64GB.
- The iPhone 4 will survive as the free one. The iPhone 4S will be the mid-range, and the 5 will be the top of the line.
- Preorders start September 14. Shipments start on the 21st in select countries, with a bigger rollout on Sept 28.
- iOS 6 coming Sept 19.
- Now Apple is talking about a new version if iTunes with a new design. Integrated Facebook Likes system too. I guess Ping is dead!
- iCloud integration so it knows your progress through, say a movie, across your iPhone, iPad and the computer.
- New iTunes coming late October -- so not with the new iPhone and iOS.
- iPod time. Apple has sold over 350 million of these, making it the most popular music player of all time.
- There's now a 7th gen iPod nano, and it too will use the new Lightning connector. 5.4 mm thick. 2.5" touch screen. It has a home button like the iPhone, but gone is the scroll wheel.
- Built in fitness software and pedometer, and it now has Bluetooth stereo!
- Now for the 5th gen iPod touch. Looks a lot like the iPhone 5 with the elongated screen, but it's 6.1 mm thick and weighs 88 grams.
- "Same display as the iPhone 5" - hopefully the same panel, not just in resolution.
- The iPod touch gets the A5 chip instead of the A6.
- It will get a new camera 5MP, five element, which sounds like it is similar to the "new" iPad.
- Bottom of the iPod has a little loop for a wrist strap. If the iPhone 5 had this, then little phone charms would be making a HUGE comeback.
- 720p FaceTime camera. The same Wi-Fi improvements as from the 5.
- iPod touch will come in five colors this time!
- iPod touch will also have Siri.
- New earbud designs, which Apple claims is 3 years in the making. They're calling them EarPods, and they'll be packed with the new models announced today.
- Apple claims that they sound great -- but anything would be an improvement over the original, crappy earbuds.
- New iPods coming in October. It's going to be a mad holiday season.
- And the Foo Fighters close out Apple's event.
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