Apple held an event to formally introduce the phone on September 12, 2012.[9] After Apple began taking pre-orders on September 14, 2012, over two million were received within 24 hours.[10] Initial demand for the iPhone 5 exceeded the supply available at launch, and has been described by Apple as "extraordinary" with pre-orders having sold twenty times faster than its predecessors.[11]
While reception to the iPhone 5 has been generally positive, the new Maps application has been negatively received and was reported to contain many serious errors.[12][13] Several hardware issues have also received criticisms from consumers and reviewers, including an unintended purple hue in photos taken by the iPhone 5 and an issue with its coating being prone to chipping.[14] In addition, there have been a small number of reports claiming a light leak around the bezel near the top of display.[15] Also, some incompatibilities with certain LTE networks are an issue, despite being the first Apple phone to support LTE.
History
The iPhone 5 was announced at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on September 12, 2012.
Speculation about the iPhone 5 and its specifications arose shortly after the announcement of the iPhone 4S. However, detailed rumours and leaks did not emerge until June 2012.[17] As early as July 30, 2012, reports pinpointed the exact date of unveiling and release of the phone along with some accurate predictions of features.[18]
On September 4, 2012, Apple invited the media to an event scheduled for September 12, 2012, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Many sources speculated that this would be related to the next iPhone due to a shadow of the number 5 that featured in the design of the invitations.[9] Apple subsequently announced a number of new products including the iPhone 5, iPod Nano (7th generation), and iPod Touch (5th generation) at the event.[5] The phone was available for pre-order on September 14, 2012.
A few days after the iPhone 5 was announced over two million orders had been taken just on September 14 and five million in the first three days of its release, beating the iPhone 4S record of four million in first three days.
Litigation
Upon the release of the iPhone 5, Samsung begun investigating the device and concluded that Apple breached two standard patents and six features patent, the patents that were identified by Samsung are identical to the ones previously used as their basis in cases regarding previous iPhone models.[20] In a statement, Samsung said, it had "little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights".[21] The trial in which the iPhone 5 is involved is schedule to begin in 2014.
Production
The components and labor required to construct the most basic iPhone 5 is estimated to cost US$207, which is US$19 more than the cost of components for the corresponding iPhone 4S model. The 4G LTE module in the iPhone 5 alone costs $34, $10 more than the cellular module in the iPhone 4S. Similarly, screens used in the iPhone 5 costs $44, which is $7 more than the screen of its predecessor. Mashable noted that the profit margin of selling each device is "huge" as the iPhone 5 generally retails for US$649.[22]
Subsequently after the announcement of the device, a lack of supply of the iPhone 5 was evident. This was due to a shortage of components such as the screen; reports emerged, stating that Sharp was unable to ship the screen before the debut of the iPhone 5 and other manufacturers reported that it was difficult to keep up with demand. As a result, the number of pre-orders rose due to the uncertainty of stock at retail stores and the delivery dates for pre-orders were postponed to dates that were after the initial release date of the device.
uality control inspectors strike
China Labor Watch reported that “Three to four thousand” Foxconn workers who work at iPhone 5 production plant in Zhengzhou stopped working on October 5, 2012.[24] Since many iPhone 5 users complain the coating chipping off of iPhone 5, Apple has imposed a stricter quality standard on their products. During the national vacation, some quality control inspectors got hit by workers whose products were below the standard, but the administration of the plant did not responded the conflicts in time. On the other hand, quality control inspectors felt that they did not get enough training to adapt for the new standard. Finally they chose to strike.[clarification needed] Foxconn spokesman admit the problem of the micromanagement, but he said that there were only 300 to 400 workers absent and the conflicts did not influence the production at all.
Apple emphasized the improved build quality at its press event. The case used in previous versions was changed to an aluminum composite case, which (while scratches easily due to its thin anodized coating) allows the phone to resist shattering more effectively.[26] Shortly after the release of the iPhone 5, Android Authority carried out a drop test comparing the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5. The results showed that the SGS3's screen shattered on its second drop test with the battery cover popping off on the third drop, while the iPhone only received minor scuffs on the metal composite frame after its three drop tests. In a separate drop test released the same day by iFixYouri, the iPhone 5 withstood 11 drops of increasing heights before cracking from being purposely thrown against the floor.
Operating system and software
Main articles: iOS and iOS 6
The iPhone 5 uses iOS, Apple's mobile operating system.[28] The user interface of iOS is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons.[29] Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, all of which have specific definitions within the context of the iOS operating system and its multi-touch interface. Internal accelerometers are used by some applications to respond to shaking the device (one common result is the undo command) or rotating it vertically (one common result is switching from portrait to landscape mode).[29]
The iPhone 5 uses iOS 6, which was released on September 19, 2012.[28] It can act as a hotspot, sharing its internet connection over WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB,[30] and also accesses the App Store, an online application distribution platform for iOS developed and maintained by Apple. The service allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with Xcode and the iOS SDK and were published through Apple.
Many of the iPhone 5's features that work specifically with the included new iOS 6.0 operating system, will only work in certain territories on release.[31] Apple has said this is a rolling program, which will take longer to implement across more regions.[32]
The iPhone 5 can play music, movies, television shows, ebooks, audiobooks, and podcasts and can sort its media library by songs, artists, albums, videos, playlists, genres, composers, podcasts, audiobooks, and compilations. Options are always presented alphabetically, except in playlists, which retain their order from iTunes.[33] Users can rotate their device horizontally to landscape mode to access Cover Flow. Like on iTunes, this feature shows the different album covers in a scroll-through photo library. Scrolling is achieved by swiping a finger across the screen. Alternatively, headset controls can be used to pause, play, skip, and repeat tracks. On the 5, the volume can be changed with the included Apple Earphones, and the Voice Control feature can be used to identify a track, play songs in a playlist or by a specific artist, or create a Genius playlist.[33]
Like the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 has Siri,[33] that allows the user to operate the iPhone by spoken commands. For example, "What is the weather going to be like?" will generate a spoken response like "The weather is to be cloudy and rainy and drop to 54 degrees today". Application software cannot respond to voice commands, for security reasons.[34] The commands given do not have to be formulated using rigidly determined wording; natural language can be used. Siri is accessed by holding down rather than tapping the home button.
On the iPhone 5, texting can be aided by the voice assistant, which converts speech to text.[33] In addition to regular texting, messaging on the iPhone 5 supports iMessage, a specialized instant messaging program and service that allows unlimited texting to other Apple devices running iOS 5 and 6. This supports the inclusion of content such as images and sound in text messages, integration with the device's voice-controlled software assistant, and read acknowledgements for sent messages. Input to the device comes from a keyboard displayed on the multi-touch screen or by voice-to text by speaking into the microphone. Entered text is supported by predictive and suggestion software; there is a multi-language spell-checker which recognises many regional accents of different languages.[33]
The built-in Maps has been universally derided, and lacks many features present in competing maps apps. It is also known to give inaccurate directions.[12][35] It uses Apple’s new vector-based engine that eliminates lag, making for smoother zooming. New to Maps is turn-by-turn navigation spoken directions, 3D views in some major cities and real-time traffic.[36] Turn-by-turn navigation is only available for iPhone 4S or later and iPad 2 or later with cellular capability, while 3D views are only available for iPhone 4S or later, iPod touch 5th generation, and iPad 2 or later.[37]
iOS 6 is able to retrieve documents such as boarding passes, admission tickets, coupons and loyalty cards through its new Passbook app. An iOS device with Passbook can be scanned under a reader to process a mobile payment at locations that have compatible hardware. The app has context-aware features such as notifications for relevant coupons when in the immediate vicinity of a given store.[36][38]
Apple’s Siri intelligent personal assistant was improved to include the ability to make restaurant reservations, launch apps, dictate Facebook or Twitter updates, retrieve movie reviews and detailed sports statistics.[36] Facebook comes integrated through Apple’s native apps with iOS 6. Facebook features can be directly accessed from within native apps such as Calendar which can sync Facebook events, or use Facebook’s like button from within the Apple App Store.[36]
New privacy settings are available to the user. In addition to location services, the following have been added in iOS 6: photos (already partially restricted in iOS 5), contacts (address book), calendars, reminders, bluetooth sharing, Twitter, Facebook, and Sina Weibo. iOS 6 also comes with a “Limit ad tracking” user control in the general settings menu to allow users the option to prevent targeted advertising. Apple’s Advertising Identifier replaces the company’s existing Unique Device Identification (UDID) standard. Advertising networks not yet using Apple’s Advertising Identifier device identifier standard would not be affected, although Apple will require the standard in the future.
Hardware
Apple's A6 chip is 22% smaller than the A5 and consumes less power.
The iPhone 5 features an improved system on chip (SoC), called the Apple A6, which Apple says achieves twice the performance of the A5,[8][40] the SoC comprises of a 1.3 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM.[41] The iPhone 5's operating memory (LPDDR2-1066 eDRAM) was doubled, from 512 MB to 1 GB. Storage capacities available are fixed at 16, 32 or 64 GB, the same as the 4S; plug-in memory cards are not supported. The two color options are black (with black glass and slate-colored metal trim), and white (with white ceramic and silver-colored metal trim); again the same color options (though differently implemented) as its predecessor the 4S had.[42] The iPhone 5 retains the 8 MP back camera on the iPhone 4S, but has improved low-light performance, and has a 40% faster photo capture[43] than its predecessors, while having a purple hue when a strong source of light is present in the photograph.[44] The front camera, which is accessible through the FaceTime and camera app has a higher resolution, at 1.2 megapixels. The rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery is built in and cannot be replaced by the user; it is rated at 225 hours of standby time and 8 hours of talk time. While not included in Apple's press conference announcement on September 12, 2012, there are actually three separate models of the phone available: one supporting CDMA and two GSM versions that differ only by the LTE bands they support.[45] This can have knock-on effects for which version of the device will actually work in which countries/regions.
The display is 1,136 × 640 pixels with an aspect ratio of exactly 16:9, (minus one extra row of horizontal pixels) . With a diagonal of 4" it has a display size of 6.7 square inches, compared to 5.7 in iPhone 4 and 4S.[46] The pixel density remains the same as the 4S model, which is 326 pixels per inch. Now, the matrix icons appear as a column 4 of 6 icons, including those located at the bottom. This gives an extra row of icons on the desktop. In-cell touch sensor technology from Sharp allows the screen to be thinner, allowing for a thinner phone. The screen's color saturation is 44% greater than its predecessor.[47]
The phone takes a nano-SIM, smaller than the micro-SIM of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.[48]
The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S had stainless steel instead of aluminium due to Steve Job's preference for the metal which he claims, "looks beautiful when it wears".[49][50] The decision to use aluminium however, generated complaints of scratches being observed on and easily inflicted upon the chassis of the iPhone 5, causing Apple to respond that this was normal for aluminium products.[51]
All versions of the iPhone 5 are 18% thinner, 20% lighter, and have 12% less overall volume than its predecessor, the iPhone 4S. The phone's aluminum body is 0.30 in (7.6 mm) thick. Apple at the conference claims it is the thinnest smartphone in the world at 7.6 mm, though that claim has been disputed as the Oppo Finder is thinner and some other smartphones can be considered to be thinner, depending upon where thickness is measured. The Oppo Finder measures 6.65 mm at its thinnest point and 7.1 mm at its thickest point making it overall thinner than the iPhone.
Source: Wikipedia.
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