Acer all-in-one will run Android

Update: Acer's all-in-one sports a 21.5-inch screen and runs Android. Note that the chip inside is from ARM not Intel. Pricing is expected to be under $500.

The Acer DA220HQL AIO will be priced just above $400 at most resellers. Note: That's an Android -- not a Windows 8 -- screen.

(Credit: Acer) 

Though the system as listed on reseller sites was confirmed with Acer on Thursday, those specs are incorrect. Resellers are incorrectly showing the AIO with an Intel 4430 processor. It is a Texas Instruments 4430 ARM chip. 

 Less Windows, more Android. Acer is about to give us a taste of this trend, as Android PCs begin to creep onto the market.
The Acer DA220HQL, which is already live on Acer's site, comes with a 21.5-inch multi-touch display 1,920x1,080 display, Android 4.0, and a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 dual-core ARM Coretex-A9 processor.
It also includes 1GB of memory, 8GB internal storage, front-facing camera, built-in speakers, Wi-Fi, Micro-HDMI, Micro USB 2.0, and wireless keyboard and mouse.
The new AIO will go for less than $400 at some resellers, though most listings put it about $425. Some are higher than $425.
And that's the appeal of Android. Systems sans Windows 8 can be priced lower and require less hardware.

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Camera compromise makes Apple's new 16GB iPod Touch a mixed bag

Hey kid, I hope you don't like taking photos.

(Credit: Apple)

If your kid's been begging for an iPod Touch, I've got some bad news. Apple has quietly discontinued the most affordable entry point into the world of iOS, the $199 16GB 4th-generation iPod Touch, an update of the 2011 model with a 3.5-inch screen. It's just as well since little Junior would have suffered some peer humiliation for not sporting one of the latest, greatest 5th-gen iPod models -- clearly distinguished by their bigger screens and candy-colored aluminum casing. Those models start at $299 for 32GB, or $399 for double the storage.
Until now, anyway. Apple has conceded a new 16GB model of its iPod Touch, available now for $229. This latest entry-level option looks and behaves exactly like the rest of its 5th-generation kin, except that the rear camera has been removed and your only color option is black (with the bare aluminum backside). Also gone is the loop hand strap -- presumably, since you won't be using this as a handy point-and-shoot camera.
Those subtractions notwithstanding, the new iPod model does introduce several improvements not previously available in a 16GB configuration. You get the latest dual-core A5 processor, the larger 4-inch Retina display, Siri-compatibility, and the inclusion of Apple's Lightning Connector in lieu of the classic 30-pin port, which has now disappeared on all iProducts, save a handful of legacy models (iPod Classic and iPad 2, we're looking at you).
And in Apple's defense, you can still take all the self-portrait photos, videos, and Facetime chats you want with the iPod's front-facing camera. If you can live without the 5 megapixel camera and 1080p video recording found on the $299 32GB iPod Touch model, then why not save the money?
OK, even I have a hard time saying that with a straight face. With only $70 separating the drab, one-eyed 16GB iPod Touch from the colorful 32GB model, choosing the lesser of the two is not only cheap, but foolish. Doubling the storage capacity alone is worth the extra $70; the camera and the 1080p video recorder merely sweeten the deal.
It's your classic movie theater soda dilemma. You just want a small soda, but the larger options are a much better value. Even if you buy the small one on principle or to save money, you then have to walk around publicly as the sucker who overpayed for a thimble of sugar water.
So, would I personally recommend buying Apple's 16GB iPod Touch? Not a chance. The extra $70 to buy the 32GB model with the rear camera is money well spent. And even then, you might be foolish not to spend another $30 ($329 total) for an iPad Mini.

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Android now owns half of China's smartphone market

During the first quarter of 2013 Android topped 50 percent of all installed smartphones, says research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

 

Android has upped its lead in the growing Chinese smartphone market.
Google's mobile OS reached a milestone at the end of the first quarter as it gobbled up a 51.4 percent slice of all smartphones owned in China, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said on Friday. That figure showed a gain of 2.8 percent over the fourth quarter of 2012.

Among all Android vendors, Samsung proved the fastest growing with a 15.2 percent share among Chinese smartphone owners. And Kantar expects more growth on the way.
"Samsung has recently launched the Galaxy S4, selling over 10 million units globally in less than one month," Craig Yu, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement. "We predict the launch of Galaxy S4 Mini in the not too distant future will greatly increase its product reach in urban China."
Nokia's Symbian took the No. 2 spot in China last quarter with a market share of 23 percent, down 2 percent from the prior quarter. As Nokia phases out its older mobile OS, Kantar expects Symbian to drop to third place sometime in the next two quarters. Apple's iOS came in third with a 19.9 percent share.
Smartphones in general continue to see heavier demand among Chinese buyers. Smartphone ownership reached 42 percent in China last quarter, up 1.2 percent from the prior quarter. Much of that growth came from owners of feature phones upgrading to smartphones. Almost half of feature phone owners who changed their devices last quarter opted for a smartphone.
"Feature phones are losing their price advantage as Android smartphones are rapidly becoming more affordable and delivering better value," Yu said. "We expect to see accelerated smartphone adoption in China in the coming months."

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Eight things the Moto X needs

Everything Motorola's next flagship phone must have to succeed.

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Motorola needs a smartphone hit badly, and it should have happened already. Its last innovative smartphone was the Droid Razr Maxx, way back in January 2012. While its battery lasted a phenomenal 15 hours, a number that newer handsets can't yet match, this is an inexplicable handset drought for the company. Motorola has a long and storied history of shaking up the market with earth-shattering products. That's why I know the company has what it takes to craft the Moto X, now officially due by October, into a hit. And with such stiff competition in the mobile space, here's what Motorola's next handset needs to have to grapple with the likes of HTC and the Samsung giant and be a leader again.

Design
Samsung's Galaxy S3 and subsequent Galaxy S4 prove you don't have to use pricey materials to make a successful and trend-setting smartphone. With an ultrathin chassis (although molded from plastic) and huge 5-inch screen, the Galaxy S4 is Samsung's most formidable device yet.
HTC went the luxury route with the HTC One. Its chassis is honed from a single block of aluminum, giving top-tier phones builders a tough act to follow. Sony's splash- and dust-resistant Xperia Z also proves you don't have to sacrifice luxurious materials to boast a rugged pedigree.

Motorola does have the chops to design a great phone.

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

To set the Moto X apart, Motorola should steal a design page from HTC, such as featuring an all-metal (or mostly metal) body yet offer both a removable battery and a microSD card slot. Combining a premium enclosure with expansion and battery-swapping options is a trick neither the Samsung nor HTC models have pulled off. It wouldn't be a huge stretch for Motorola, since the Droid Razrs all had excellent build quality, supertrim chassis, plus a distinctive Kevlar backing and water-resistant coating.

The screen is where it's at
I think Motorola had a good thing going with the Droid Razr M and its lovely edge-to-edge screen. It tricked the eye into believing the handset was thinner than it actually was. I'd love to see that same approach on the Moto X, especially with a full HD (1,920x1,080 pixels) 5-inch AMOLED screen. Now that would really turn some heads and put the phone on the same pedestal as the Galaxy S4 in terms of display bragging rights. Both the Galaxy S4 and HTC One feature screens with the same sharp full HD resolution.

A beautiful, fresh interface
The worst thing to do to an Android, in my view, is to clog its air vents, so to speak, and bog down the machine's performance. It's an especially egregious crime when the offending culprit happens to be useless bloatware or unwanted features.
Samsung is known for throwing everything but the kitchen sink into its phones. The Galaxy S4 suffers from this virtual feature-creep mentality, and HTC's unremovable BlinkFeed is almost as offensive.
Now I'm not arguing for the Moto X to use stock Android (I realize that's the dream of few). Actually, I liked some of the last software tweaks Motorola added to its previous Droid phones. The quick settings screen, swiping left of the main home screen was particularly handy, as were the nifty widgets for time, weather, and battery status.
When I first heard what Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside said this week at the D11 conference when he officially outed the Moto X, I feared the worst. He explained that the new handset will be contextually aware of what you and the phone are doing. So if you're driving in a car or sitting on the couch at home, the handset will alter its behavior accordingly.
Initially, I was worried that such a feature would overpower the phone and allow for little control by the user. On second thought, though, that really sounds to me like more of an extension of Motorola's Smart Actions app than a full-blown Android redesign. Smart Actions on previous Motorola handsets acted as core directives or rules that kicked in under predefined circumstances.
For example, you could have your Droid Razr shut off cellular data and fire up the Wi-Fi antenna when the GPS sensor detects you're at home. Likewise, you can engage rules to dim the screen automatically when the battery runs low. Though I wasn't a huge fan, you could always choose to ignore or not use the application. Hopefully what Motorola has planned for the Moto X will be equally unobtrusive.

 The quick settings screen was a nice Motorola software touch.

                    

Camera props
Like it or not, a smartphone today absolutely must have a reliable and feature-packed camera. The Galaxy S4 and HTC One have raised the camera phone bar with powerful and responsive imaging systems. So at the very least the Moto X needs to match them. It needs a camera, lens, and sensor combo that snaps quality images and video quickly, particularly while under challenging lighting. None of the Droid Razrs could do this properly, and I feel it's Motorola's real Achilles' heel.

Battery that goes the distance
Boy, is battery technology ever Motorola's wheelhouse. In the almost two years since the Droid Razr Maxx first demonstrated its uncanny battery life, no other smartphone has come close to the Maxx's run time. Equipped with massive 3,300mAh batteries, both the Droid Razr Maxx and Droid Razr Maxx HD lasted for essentially 15 hours on the CNET Labs video playback test.
Absolutely, Moto can't slip from the standard that it alone set. Even better, if the Moto X can deliver improved stamina, then the phone has nothing to fear from any challenger in this arena. Now if the Moto X's megabattery were removable, it would usher in a whole other level of smartphone greatness. I'd even settle for a thicker device for that capability.

Worldwide, multiple carrier release
I've said this about BlackBerry, Sony, and any smartphone maker hoping to swing for the fences. To score a home run with consumers, a flagship must...well...be a flagship. It should hit the market with the impact of an asteroid sending disruptive shockwaves in its wake.
I advise Motorola to pick one unified global launch date for the Moto X and try and secure as many carrier agreements as possible -- especially the thorny U.S. providers. So no more of this Verizon-only business. I know that's a hefty load to lift, and also not a decision that's typically in the hands of mobile device makers. That said, somehow Apple, Samsung, and now HTC have managed to negotiate similar high-stakes deals. All I'm saying is that it's in Motorola's interest to do the same.

A Motorola retrospective (photos)

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Money and marketing
To be fair, Apple and now Samsung have practically bottomless coffers to draw from for marketing purposes. Let's face it: Samsung has the bankroll to run Galaxy S4 ads for years in every corner of Earth. Phone companies with much less lushly lined pockets, such as HTC and Motorola, aren't so lucky.

Great call quality
No matter how much we rely on our smartphones for texts, e-mail, Web surfing, and social messaging, it still is a phone. For that reason it must make pristine calls, hopefully aided by dual microphones to cut down on background din.

How will it play out?
If the phone turns out to have most of these criteria I've laid out, then I feel the device has a good shot. If Motorola fumbles, though, we could very well see a debacle to equal, or even exceed the woes of HP, RIM, and Palm.
Motorola has the chops to make the Moto X work. After all, this company gave birth to the cell phone and launched a string of innovative products. It created the iconic Razr, the StarTac flip phone, and the Q -- remember? In the past year, however, Motorola hasn't continued to push boundaries and use its history to its advantage. What's more, its poor financials have been a drag on Google.
Even so, Motorola, I have faith that you can do this. It would be truly tragic if such a cell phone pioneer faded away into irrelevance.

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Finally, the iPhone we've always wanted

The good: The iPhone 5 adds everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S: 4G LTE, a longer, larger screen, free turn-by-turn navigation, and a faster A6 processor. Plus, its top-to-bottom redesign is sharp, slim, and feather-light.

The bad: Apple Maps feels unfinished and buggy; Sprint and Verizon models can't use voice and data simultaneously. The smaller connector renders current accessories unusable without an adapter. There's no NFC, and the screen size pales in comparison to jumbo Android models.

The bottom line: The iPhone 5 completely rebuilds the iPhone on a framework of new features and design, addressing its major previous shortcomings. It's absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its place in the top tier of the smartphone universe.

The iPhone 5 is the iPhone we've wanted since 2010, adding long-overdue upgrades like a larger screen and faster 4G LTE in a razor-sharp new design. This is the iPhone, rebooted.
The new design is flat-out lovely, both to look at and to hold, and it's hard to find a single part that hasn't been tweaked from the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5 is at once completely rebuilt and completely familiar.

I've had the chance to use the iPhone 5 for nearly a week, and have been using it for nearly anything I can think of. Is it as futuristic or as exciting as the iPhone 4 or the original iPhone? No. Does this change the smartphone game? No. Other smartphones beat it on features here and there: if you want a larger screen, go with a Samsung Galaxy S3. If you want better battery life, go with a Droid Razr Maxx.
But, if you want a great, all-around, beautifully engineered smartphone that covers all bases, here it is. Just like the MacBook is to the world of laptops, the new iPhone is one of the top three, if not the best-designed, smartphone around. It's better in all the important ways.

Editors' note: We are continuing to update this review with additional observations and test results. Among the latest additions (October 4, 2012) are the inclusion of 4G LTE speed tests (see "4G LTE: Faster, at last" section); detailed comparisons to camera quality between the iPhone and rival smartphones (see "The camera" section); and detailed battery test results for both video playback and talk time (see "Battery" section). 
 

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

What's different?
Look at our review of last year's iPhone 4S, where we said, "Even without 4G and a giant screen, this phone's smart(ass) voice assistant, Siri, the benefits of iOS 5, and its spectacular camera make it a top choice for anyone ready to upgrade."

 

Well, guess what? Now it has 4G LTE and...well, maybe not a giant screen, but a larger screen. That's not all, though: the already great camera's been subtly improved, speakerphone and noise-canceling quality has been tweaked, and -- as always -- iOS 6 brings a host of other improvements, including baked-in turn-by-turn navigation, a smarter Siri, and Passbook, a location-aware digital wallet app for storing documents like gift cards, boarding passes, and tickets.
The question is: a full year later, is that enough? For me, it is. I don't want much more in my smartphone. Sure, I'd love a new magical technology to sink my teeth into, but not at the expense of being useful. Right now, I'm not sure what that technology would even be.

 

Like every year in the iPhone's life cycle, a handful of important new features take the spotlight. This time, 4G, screen size, and redesign step to the top.
You've gotten the full rundown already, most likely, on the various ins and outs of this phone, or if you haven't, I'll tell you about them below in greater detail. Here's what I noticed right away, and what made the biggest impression on me.

 

First off, you're going to be shocked at how light this phone is. It's the lightest iPhone, even though it's longer and has a bigger screen. After a few days with it, the iPhone 4S will feel as dense as lead.
Secondly, the screen size lengthening is subtle, but, like the Retina Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it. The extra space adds a lot to document viewing areas above the keyboard, landscape-oriented video playback (larger size and less letterboxing), and home-page organizing (an extra row of icons/folders). Who knows what game developers will dream up, but odds are that extra space on the sides in landscape mode will be handily used by virtual buttons and controls.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Third, this phone will make your home Wi-Fi look bad. Or at least, it did that to mine. Owners of other 4G LTE phones won't be shocked, but iPhone owners making the switch will start noticing that staying on LTE versus Wi-Fi might actually produce faster results...of course, at the expense of expensive data rates. I hopped off my work Wi-Fi and used AT&T LTE in midtown Manhattan to make a FaceTime call to my wife because the former was slowing down. LTE, in my tests, ran anywhere from 10 to 20Mbps, which is up to twice as fast as my wireless router's connection at home.
Using your iPhone 5 as a personal hot spot for a laptop or other device produces some of the same strong results as the third-gen iPad...and it's smaller. Of course, make sure you check on your tethering charges and data usage fees, but my MacBook Air did a fine job running off the LTE data connection at midday.

 

The look: Thin, metal, light as heck
You know its look, even if the look has been subtly transformed over the years: circular Home button, pocketable rectangle, familiarly sized screen. Can that design be toyed with, transformed a little, changed?

From left: The Lumia 900, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3.

The newest iPhone has a wide metal body that stretches above previous iPhones, but is also thinner; still, this isn't a massive phone like the Samsung Galaxy Note or HTC One X. The iPhone 5 rises above the iPhone 4 and 4S, but subtly.

 

From the front and sides, it looks very similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The same rounded metal volume buttons, sleep/wake button on top, and silence switch remain. The headphone jack has moved to the bottom of the phone, just on like the iPod Touch. Some will like it, some won't; it makes standing the iPhone upright and using headphones a virtual impossibility. Actually, the entire bottom is all new: the headphone jack, the larger, redesigned speakers, a different type of perforated grille, and a much tinier Lightning connector por
t.

  

The Gorilla Glass back of the last iPhone is gone, replaced with metal. The two-tone look might seem new, but it's a bit of a reference to the silver-and-black back of the original iPhone. The very top and bottom of the rear is still glass. That anodized aluminum -- which Apple claims is the same as that on its MacBook laptops -- feels exactly the same, and is even shaded the same on the white model. So far, it's held up without scratches. I'd say it'll do about as well as the aluminum finish on your 2008-and-later MacBook. On the black iPhone, the aluminum matches in a slate gray tone. On my white review model, it's MacBook-color silver. That aluminum covers most of the back and also the sides, replacing the iPhone 4 and 4S steel band, and lending to its lighter weight. The front glass sits slightly above the aluminum, which is cut to a mirrored angled edge on the front and back, eliminating sharp corners.

 

Why the move away from a glass back? Is it about creating a better, more durable finish, or is it about weight reduction? Apple's proud of its claims of how light the iPhone 5 is, and the new aluminum back is part of that. So is the move to a Nano-SIM card (making SIM swaps once again impossible and requiring a visit to your carrier's store). So is the thinner screen and the smaller dock connector. You get the picture.
Hold an iPhone 4S up to the new iPhone, and I could see the difference in thickness. It's not huge, but it feels even slimmer considering its expanded width and length. What I really noticed is how light it is. I still feel weirded out by it. The iPhone 5's 3.95-ounce weight is the lightest an iPhone's ever been. The iPhone 4S is nearly a full ounce heavier at 4.9 ounces. The iPhone 3G was 4.7 ounces. The original iPhone and iPhone 4 were 4.8 ounces. This is a phase-change in the nearly constant weight of the iPhone -- it's iPhone Air.
Yet, the iPhone 5 doesn't look dramatically different like the iPhone 4 once did. Actually, it seems more like a fusion of the iPhone with the iPad and MacBook design.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

And, of course, there's the new, larger screen. You may not notice it from a distance -- the screen's still not as edge-to-edge on the top and bottom as many Android phones, but extra empty space has been shaved away to accommodate the display. There's a little less room around the Home Button and below the earpiece. The iPhone 5 screen is just as tall as the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S 2, but it's not as wide. That thinner body design gives the iPhone the same hand feel, and what I think is an easier grip. The extra length covers a bit more of your face on phone calls.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Over the last week with the iPhone 5, I started to forget that the phone was any larger. That seems to be the point. And, the iPhone fit just fine in my pants, too: the extra length has been traded out for less girth, so there's little bulge. And, with that awkward statement having been uttered, I'll move on.

That 4-inch screen: Going longer
The iPhone 5 finally extends the 3.5-inch screen that's been the same size on the iPhone for five years, but it does so by going longer, not wider. A move from the iPhone 4 and 4S' 3.5-inch, 960x640-pixel display to a 4-inch, 1,136x640-pixel display effectively means the same Retina Display (326 pixels per inch), but with extra pixel real estate versus a magnified screen. All the icons and app buttons are the same size, but there's more room for other features, or more space for videos and photos to be displayed.
The iPhone's interface is the same as always: you have app icons greeting you in a grid, and a dock of up to four apps at the bottom. Instead of a grid of four rows of four apps, the longer screen accommodates five rows of four apps. More apps can fit on the home screen, but that's about it as far as user interface innovation. Extra screen height means pop-up notification banners are less intrusive at the top or bottom.

 

It's odd at first going longer versus also adding width, and it means a shift away from the iPad's more paperlike 4:3 display ratio. Pages of e-books could feel more stretched. In portrait mode, document text may not seem larger, but you'll see more of it in a list.

 

In landscape mode, text actually seems bigger because page width stretches out (so, you can fit more words on a line). The virtual keyboard in landscape mode also ends up a bit more spread out, too, with a little extra space on the sides, which took some getting used to.

 

I preferred portrait typing because the keyboard size and width remains the same, while the extra length allows more visible text above the virtual keys.
The screen difference isn't always dramatic, especially compared with some ultra-expansive Android devices: the Samsung Galaxy S3 beats it both on overall screen size (4.8 inches) and pixel resolution (1,280x720). In the iOS 6 Mail app, with one line of preview text, I fit six and a half messages on the screen at the same time on the iPhone 5 versus five and a third on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Other apps toy with the layout more; I fit eight tasks on one screen in the new iOS 6 version of Reminders, versus five on the iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1.1.

Infinity Blade II, before iPhone 5 optimization. Note the black bars.

Of course, you'll need new apps to take advantage of the longer screen, and at the time I tested the iPhone 5, those weren't available because iOS 6 hadn't formally launched. Older apps run in a letterboxed type of mode at the same size as existing phones, with little black bars on the top and bottom. Apps work perfectly fine this way, especially in portrait mode, but you definitely notice the difference. App-makers will be scrambling to make their apps take advantage of the extra screen space, and my guess is it won't take long at all for most to be iPhone 5 (and iPod Touch) ready.

 

I tried iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, iCards, and all of the iPhone 5's built-in apps (Maps, Reminders, Messages, Photos, Camera, Videos, Weather, Passbook, Notes, Stocks, Newsstand, iTunes, the App Store, Game Center, Contacts, Calculator, Compass, Voice Memos, Mail, Safari, Music, and, of course, Phone), and they all take advantage of the extra space in a variety of useful ways. How others will adopt the extra real estate remains to be seen.

 

I'm looking forward to killer apps that will take advantage of the larger screen. So far, I haven't found any that do it in surprising ways. My guess is that games will benefit the most, along with video and photo apps, and, to some degree, reading/news apps.

Video playback, of course, has a lot more punch because the new 16:9 aspect ratio reduces or removes letterboxing across the board in landscape mode. An HD episode of "Planet Earth" filled the entire screen, while the available viewing space shrank down even more on the iPhone 4S because of letterboxing. YouTube videos looked great. Some movies, of course, like Pixar's "Wall-E," still have letterboxing because they're shot in the superwide CinemaScope aspect ratio (21:9), but they look a lot larger than before -- and you can still zoom in with a tap on the screen.
I think that, much like the Retina Display, you'll miss the iPhone 5's new screen more when you try to go back to an older phone. The new display feels like a natural, so much so that to the casual eye, the iPhone 5 doesn't look entirely different with the screen turned off. The iPhone 4 and 4S screens feel small and hemmed-in by comparison.

iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S video playback of the same 1080p nature video.

The new iPhone 5's display also has a layer removed from the screen, creating a display that acts as its own capacitive surface. I didn't notice that difference using it; it feels as crisp and fast-responding as before. Apple promises 44 percent extra color saturation on this new display, much like the third-gen iPad's improved color saturation. The difference wasn't as dramatic in a side-by-side playback of a 1080p episode of "Planet Earth," but the iPhone 5 seemed to have a slight edge. It was a little too close to call in game-playing, photo-viewing, and everyday experience with the phone, even held side-by-side with the iPhone 4S. The real difference, again, is the size. Autobrightness adjustments have also been tweaked a little, and I found on average that the iPhone 5 found more-appropriate brightness levels for the room I was in.

 

This seems like a good time to discuss thumbs. As in, your thumb size and the iPhone 5. Going back to the iPhone 4S, I realized that the phone's design has been perfectly aligned to allow a comfortable bridge between thumbing the Home button and stretching all the way to the top icon on the iPhone's 3.5-inch display. That's not entirely the case, now. I could, with some positioning, still thumb the Home button and make my way around the taller screen, but the iPhone 5's a little more of a two-hander. It might encourage more people and app developers to switch to landscape orientation, where the extra length and pixel space provide finger room on both sides without cramming the middle.

 

Game developers are likely to lean toward the landscape 16:9 orientation, because it more closely matches a standard HDTV's dimensions, and most console games. The extra width allows useful virtual button space, too.

4G LTE: Faster, at last
Last year's iPhone 4S had a subtle network bump to 3.5G (listed as "4G" on the iPhone 4S following iOS 5.1), offering faster data speeds on AT&T. The iPhone 5 finally adopts faster LTE, joining most other smartphones on the market and even the third-gen iPad, with the leap to LTE back in March. (On the top corner of the iPhone, the service indicator reads "LTE" when it's up and running.) However, the presence of LTE doesn't mean a world LTE phone; currently, LTE roaming between carriers overseas is impossible.

 

There's also support, depending on the iPhone 5 version you buy, for slower GSM (including EDGE and UMTS/HSPA) and CDMA/EV-DO networks. The iPhone 5's LTE uses a single chip for voice and data, a single radio chip, and a "dynamic antenna" that will switch connections between different networks automatically.
In the United States, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless will carry the iPhone 5. T-Mobile loses out. In Canada, it's Rogers, Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin, and Koodo. In Asia, the providers will be SoftBank, SmarTone, SingTel, and SK Telecom. For Australia there's Telstra, Optus, and Virgin Mobile, and in Europe it will go to Deutsche Telekom and EE. On carriers without LTE, the iPhone 5 will run on dual-band 3.5G HDPA+. I didn't notice any problems when switching between LTE and 4G, but I tended to find myself stationary in a place that had LTE service or a place that didn't, without much time to test the transition midcall.
There's a catch, though: there are now two versions of iPhone 5 in the U.S., one GSM model and another version for the CDMA carriers. You may not have your dream of a universal LTE phone, but international roaming is possible between 2G and 3G. Also, get ready to accept that Verizon and Sprint iPhone 5s still won't be able to make calls and access data simultaneously, even though many other Verizon/Sprint LTE phones can pull this off. That's because those other phones use a two-antenna system for LTE/voice (voice doesn't run over LTE yet), while the iPhone 5 only uses one plus a dynamic antenna for what Apple says is more connection stability.
Nevertheless, data access via 4G LTE is stunningly fast. This is no gentle upgrade. In my home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I tested both my AT&T iPhone 4S and the AT&T iPhone 5 at the same time. The iPhone 4S averaged a 2.4Mbps download speeds over "4G," whereas the iPhone 5 averaged 20.31Mbps. In comparison, my home wireless Internet via Time Warner averaged 9.02Mbps at the hour I tested (1:30 a.m.).

Phones tested	Download (average)	Upload (average)
iPhone 5 (AT&T)	20.44	9.39
iPhone 4S (AT&T)	6.77	1.66
Samsung Galaxy S3 (AT&T)	19.37	9.12
iPhone 5 (Verizon)	9.78	7.47
iPhone 4S (Verizon)	1.71	0.91
Samsung Galaxy S3 (Verizon)	8.87	13.55

The iPhone 5, in both instances, edged the Samsung Galaxy S3 in download speeds, but the Galaxy S3 was faster in upload speeds on Verizon.

 

The difference can be felt loading Web pages: the mobile version of CNET took 5.3 seconds over LTE, versus 8.5 seconds on the iPhone 4S. A graphically intensive Web site like the desktop version of Huffington Post took 16 seconds to load via LTE, versus 23.3 seconds on the iPhone 4S in 4G.
Those who already use 4G LTE may simply be nodding their heads, but to iPhone owners looking to upgrade, this is major news. For many people, LTE will be faster than their own home broadband.
Of course, that's a dangerous seduction: with fast LTE comes expensive rates and data caps. AT&T also requires a specific plan to even enable FaceTime over cellular. Make sure you don't fall down the rabbit hole of overusing your LTE, because believe me, you're going to want to. I tried setting it up a wireless hot spot for my MacBook Air, and the result was generally excellent.
Outside major cities, it's not quite as exciting if you don't have LTE coverage. Using the AT&T iPhone 5 out in East Setauket, Long Island, data download speed was merely 3.5Mbps because of a lack of AT&T LTE service. Verizon's LTE coverage map is larger, but Sprint's LTE network is small as well. My experience with AT&T and LTE may not necessarily be yours.
Wi-Fi has also gotten a bit of a boost via dual-band 802.11n support over both 2.5GHz and 5GHz. It should help in the event of interference with other Wi-Fi devices, although I never encountered that problem before, even with tons of Wi-Fi gadgets scattered about my apartment.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 
The camera
Something on the iPhone 5 has to not be new, right? Well, even the rear iSight camera's been tweaked, but not quite as much as other features. It's still an 8-megapixel camera, but there's a new sapphire-crystal lens, and improved hardware enabling features like dynamic low-lighting adjustment, image stabilization on the 1080p video camera, and the capability to take still shots while shooting video.

 

The camera takes excellent pictures, a bit more so now than before. The iPhone 5 takes far clearer low-light pictures, but the result, while more coherent, is grainier and lower resolution than the wonderfully detailed images taken in bright, direct light. I ran around in semi-darkness in my son's room taking pictures of his toys, and found that the iPhone 5 was able to make things out in places where the iPhone 4S couldn't.

Indoor shot with the iPhone 5.

I settled for some indoor house shots instead to show off how the camera works in dimmer conditions. Of course, you'll probably use flash in those instances, but it can't hurt to have it as a backup.

iPhone 5 camera, outdoors.

I took pictures outdoors and in, and the biggest differences I could appreciate were the awesome new panorama mode and the even faster picture-taking. One of these two features can be acquired on the iPhone 4S via an iOS 6 update. The other amounts to a bump up from the iPhone 4S camera.

 

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