Apple iPhone 5 and a Christmas Surprise

I’m in a rhyming kind of mood today.  If you haven’t heard, a company named Apple launched a new phone this afternoon.  It was a pretty big deal.  iPhone 5 is the device name.

A story about the Apple iPhone on the front page of TeamUSCellular blog you ask?  Uncharted territories, I know.  I’m feeling a little courageous.

First, the continuous leaks pretty much nailed it on the head. Not much was a surprise at this afternoons unveiling.  Tim Cook, Apple CEO, stated at D10 conference that “we’re [Apple] is going to double down on secrecy on products.”  Obviously he meant after the iPhone 5 was revealed.

Let’s get to the specs for those technical geeks!

External:

• Glass and Aluminum outer body in Black/Slate or White/Silver.
• 7.6mm thick; a full 18% thinner than the iPhone 4s.
• 112 grams; 20% lighter than the Galaxy S III.
• 4” Retina Display – width is still the same, but the phone is a tad taller to   accomplish this.
• Retina Display at 1136x640, this translates into 326ppi
• Longer screen = additional 5^th row of apps
• The ratio puts the display as close to 16:9 when held horizontally

Internal:

• A6 processor; 22 percent smaller than the dual core A5
• 1GB RAM
• 802.11 a/b/g/n (dual band 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• LTE (we’ll have more on this in a moment)
• nanoSIM card (yes, Apple is redefining the SIM card)
• 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage options

Other features:

• Primary Camera: 8 megapixel sensor with a 5 element lens and f/2.4 aperture for you camera nerds!

o   Panoramic Shooting (effectively providing a 28 megapixel photo)

o   40% increase in shutter speed

o   1080p video recording

• Secondary Camera: 1.2 megapixel  at 30fps (720p and hi res Facetime chats)
• Facetime over cellular
• Microphone upgrade which should improve voice quality on networks that support it.
• New dock connector called…wait for it….Lightning!! (Apple will be charging $29 for an adapter for devices using the older connection….Apple sure does know how to suck every last cent out of their customers.)
• 8 hours talk time on 4G (LTE); 10 hours using WiFi

What the phone didn’t have:

• NFC (Apple says it’s not clear that this will be the standard going forward. AKA we can add this to the next iteration)

Phil Schiller, Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing said, “iPhone 5 is the most beautiful consumer devise that we’ve created.  We’ve packed an amazing amount of innovation and advanced technology into a thin and light, jewel-like device with a stunning 4-inch Retina display, blazing fast A6 chip, ultrafast wireless, even longer battery life; and we think the customers are going to love it.”  Android users just puked (and I know there are a lot of you in the forums). Can't we all just get along?

I’d like to touch on the LTE a bit.  Back in November, 2011, US Cellular turned down the Apple iPhone 4s.  At the time it did not make economical sense to the company.  Later, in December, it was learned that the iPhone would be considered if it had ”cutting edge” technology (interpret as LTE).  Today, we have the iPhone 5, which will offer LTE on various bands.  I was curious to see if any of those bands are what USCC currently utilizes, 700/850/1700/1900MHz.  Here is what I found:

iPhone 5 CDMA Model

• 2100MHz
• 1800MHz
• 850MHz
• 700cMHz
• 1900MHz

I believe that the 700MHz that USCC utilizes is of the A variety, but 850MHz matches up.  Does it prove anything? No.  Does it put a little hope out there?  Absolutely.

So what does Christmas have to do with this?  A lot actually.  An anonymous little birdie tipped TUSCC  with some tantalizing information. Remember, it isn’t official till USCC says so.

• Expect a launch of the iPhone 5 on USCC!!
• When:  expect it around the holidays (Santa will be busy)

The next details are sketchy and, from a business perspective, would alienate a whole lot of customers.

• Initial launch in 4G areas only with Iowa being first as this is where most of the testing occurs.

Honestly, I can’t see that last tidbit happening.  Customers in areas where 4G is not expected soon (Chicago I’m talking to you) would be outraged!  USCC would benefit from launching in 3G only areas as well.

Thanks Anonymous for that information, I’m sure there are a few happy USCC customers out there that have been flooding USCC’s facebook page with nonstop “When is the iPhone coming to USCC?” comments.