This is the night, millions of Apple fans were waiting for since weeks. Now it is time, the rumors are over as Apple introduced the new iPhone 5 to selected members of the press in London and San Francisco. Tech Crates presents the key facts of the new Apple smartphone here in the following.

Already known was the fact that the new iPhone will use the new operating system iOS 6. Here are the most important facts compiled. Apple will provide its new smartphone in black and white color. According to Apple, the new phone is entirely made out of glass and aluminium completely. It is 18 percent (7,6mm) thinner than the iPhone 4S. At 112 grams, it is one fifth lighter than its predecessor.

The new smartphone is powered by Apple’s new A6 processor technology which is such powerful that Apple promises twice the CPU and graphics performance compared to the built-in iPhone 4S A5X processor.

Thin four-inch display in 16:9 format

The retina display has been extended by 1.4 centimeters (176 pixels), the width and the relative resolution (326 ppi) remain unchanged. From my first impression, he screen is same sharp and easy to read as the iPhone 4S display – just that there are shining 1136 x 640 pixels on the new four-inch diagonal display. So apps have clearly more space in the vertical and a fifth app bar fits on the homescreen. Old apps retain their original size and are shown with black bars at top and bottom.

4G, LTE and Battery

The Apple iPhone 5 has a worldwide LTE chip – in addition to the major U.S. providers AT & T, Verizon and Sprint, and EE from the UK, three different LTE models also provide rapid international radio. For Germany only 1,800 megahertz frequencies are supported – which are exclusive to the Deutsche Telekom and only available in selected cities for now. DC-HSDPA and Wi-Fi n are unlike NFC on board – rumors promised more in this case. Even with a larger display and LTE, Apple promises that the battery life is the same and even longer because of the new built-in battery. Expectations are eight hours for LTE and ten hours of wireless surfing.

Audio, Video, Foto

Minor updates in iSight webcam: The image sensor of the iPhone 5 still takes pictures with eight megapixels, but has a thinner design than the 4S. In a first review test on the Apple event, the iPhone 5 was clearly brighter and more detailed in images than the 4S. Apple also brings a new photo feature: “Shared Photo Streams” to share photos without an additional app via Push Notification with friends and relatives, a panorama mode assembles wide-screen and panoramic views of up to 28 megapixels. The video function provides Full HD enables simultaneous photo snapshots and better image stabilization. The front camera with face detection provides 720p FaceTime chats and enables FaceTime chats in HD. The Speaker has shrunk by 20 percent and voice quality has been improved. Also the design of Apple’s EarPods is new.

New Dock Connector “Lightning”

New for all Apple iPhone users is the dock connector of the phone. Instead of the wide 30-pin connection cable, Apple uses an eight-pin cable with the name “Lightning” in their new iPhone. It is 80 percent smaller, more durable – and can be used with adapters for older Apple hardware.

iOS 6: Maps, Safari and Siri

Apple has already optimized all their Group’s own apps to adjust to the new aspect ratio, and the extra space of the iPhone 5. With Maps, Apple’s brings its own Maps App: Using GPS functions, route navigation and millions saved places it looks like a replica of the ousted Google Maps. By using the 3D button the user can see three-dimensional images of buildings and locations. New in Safari is iCloud Tabs, which allows the user to open websites on different devices – also this is known from Chrome and Firefox already. With iOS 6 the voice assistant “learns” Siri a few new tricks. On September 19, Apple releases the final version of iOS 6 on the following devices: iPhone 5, 4S, 4, 3GS, iPad 3, 2 and iPod Touch fourth generation.

First impression and conclusion: Apple iPhone 5

The new iPhone fits better into the users hand than the 4S. It is recognizable lighter and surprises iPhone users when holding it the first time. Thanks to the aluminum back, it also feels different, especially the black model: The rear anodized aluminum looks rougher than the white model. The big surprises are none so far, however: Who already had a look before on the rumors and saw my article on avinash.ws, already knew exactly how the new iPhone 5 would look like (iPhone 5 leaked). The main innovations are the carefully enlarged screen, the thinner case and the LTE function. Nothing similar to something that did not exist even in the competition, as the LTE-enabled HTC One XL or the great Galaxy S3. For those who crave technical superlatives, the competition offers even more. Stay tuned for the next more detailed iPhone 5 article here on Tech Crates.