iPhone 5 & new iPod touch hands-on previews roundup - and where to buy

Unless you just crawled out of a cave, you know that Apple revealed the iPhone 5 — and also its new iPods — today in San Francisco. The new iPhone is the first new iPhone design in two years — it’s taller, thinner at 7.6mm, and 20 percent lighter at 112 grams (just under 4 ounces). And unlike the fragile glass casing of the iPhone 4 and 4S, the phone now has a sleek aluminum backplate flanked by glass panels. Other new features include:

Bigger, better display: The iPhone 5’s larger 4-inch, 1136 x 640 pixel (326 ppi) Retina display makes the phone a longer than previous iPhones. Apple has added an integrated touch layer and touts the new iPhone’s display as the “world’s most advanced.” We’ll wait for the experts to judge that one, but it does claim better color saturation with full sRGB rendering. The longer screen allows for an extra set of icons to be displayed on the home screen.

Improved camera: Apple’s new iSight camera has been bumped up to 8-megapixels with a 3,264 x 2,448 backside-illuminated sensor and five-element lens with f/2.4 aperture. The lens is the same as the iPhone 4S, but 25 percent thinner. The camera now offers a panorama mode for attaching multiple shots, photo sharing, and more social functionality. The rear camera remains at 30fps 1080p HD capture, but claims improved image stabilization. The front facing camera now features 720p video.

Faster processor: Inside, the iPhone 5 has Apple’s new A6 chip, which is 22 percent smaller and runs a bit faster than the A5 chip in the iPhone 4S. In battery life terms, that helps the new iPhone cranking at up to 8 hours of active use, and 10 hours if you only use Wi-Fi for your data.

Updated ports: Apple moved the iPhone’s headphone port to the bottom, and more importantly, it shrunk the Dock Connector — now called Lightning Connector — down by 80 percent. So if you already have an iPhone or iPod touch speaker dock or similar accessory that you want to use with the new iPhone, you’ll need to buy Apple’s adapter, which is now for sale in the Apple Store for (gulp) $29. Sorry.

iOS 6: The iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, which includes new features such as Siri-enabled Maps, direct Facebook integration, FaceTime over cellular, iCloud Tabs (Safari tab syncing), and Apple’s Passbook flight e-ticketing service. Apple will roll out iOS 6 for existing phones, tablets and media players on September 19, but some features won’t be available in some countries. To see if certain features will be available in your country, see Apple’s feature availability list.

LTE: A bit late to the party on this one, but we knew it was coming — the addition of “4G” LTE capability, HSPA+, plus EV-DO rev. B, EDGE, and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. Apple did not include NFC (near-field communication) capability, which was also rumored to be coming and is already becoming a standard feature in new Android and Windows Phone 8 devices. Apple’s Senior VP Phil Schiller explained to AllThingsD that NFC was left out because it’s not yet globally accepted, it doesn’t solve an immediate problem, and Apple feels that its Passbook application “does the kinds of things customers need today.”

Pricing: Apple has stuck with two color choices for the iPhone 5: white (with raw aluminum back), or black (with dark anodized body). Pricing remains the same as last year: US $199 for the 16GB model, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399 on contract.

Hands-on Previews:
We’ve listed 11 of the best photo and video previews at the bottom of this article.

Availability:
You can pre-order the iPhone 5 on Apple’s website beginning September 14. Apple says it will start shipping in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore on ~~September 21~~, with 20 more markets in the coming month. UPDATE: Except for those who pre-ordered within the first hour or two, shipping for all other pre-orders is now delayed until September 28 or later.

In the US, AT&T, Sprint,Verizon, and certain retail stores that sell cellular plans will also offer the phone starting September 14, and prepaid carriers Cricket and C-Spire will sell it starting September 28. Some bad news, though: Sprint and Verizon say they will not allow simultaneous talking and data use, unless you are using Wi-Fi.

In the UK and Australia, all major operators will carry the iPhone 5, but in the UK only EE will initially offer LTE 4G service, with the carrier Three expected to follow by next year. Pocket-Lint compares all UK carriers’ iPhone plans here.

If you are trading in your old iPhone, check out these resources from ReadWriteWeb.

iPhone 5 alternatives
If all of that doesn’t bowl your over, wireless carriers are dropping the iPhone 4S to $99, and the iPhone 4 is free on contract. Apple is retiring the iPhone 3GS. Engadget has put together a chart that compares the iPhone 5 vs 4S, and Mashable has a chart that compares the iPhone 5 to the Samsung Galaxy S III, Motorola Droid RAZR HD, and Nokia Lumia 920. CNET has a similar chart, but then picks winners for each feature.

For links to the best iPhone 5 photo and video previews so far, scroll down below.

New iPhone cases

Pocket-Lint picked seven of its favorite new cases for the iPhone and iPod touch here.

New EarPods

Apple’s standard headphones have also gotten a long-awaited makeover and a new name — “EarPods.” Each EarPod has dual grills but less visible metal, and an all-plastic outer shell, with no rubber. The iPhone version has an in-line microphone built-in along the wire. Audio is pumped out of three separate ports — a design that Apple promises to deliver “overall audio quality so impressive, they rival high-end headphones that cost hundreds of dollars more.”

The EarPods will come with the new iPod Touch, Nano, and iPhone 5. If you have no plans to upgrade devices, you can buy the EarPods starting today on Apple’s website for US $29. For prices on other official Apple accessories, see Apple Insider.

New iPod touch & nano, new Shuffle colors

Also at Apple’s launch event, Apple showed off an updated iPod touch with a 4-inch Retina display, just like its iPhone 5 brother. And like the new iPod, the new iPod touch lost weight, now measuring 6.1mm and weighing 88 grams (3.1 ounces). The processor’s been upgraded to an A5 chip that Apple claims has seven times the graphics performance of the fourth-gen model. Battery life now averages 40 hours of music play, or eight hours of video.

The iPod touch’s rear “iSight” camera has been upgraded to 5-megapixels and a backside-illuminated f/2.4 lens that can shoot panorama shots and 1080p video. For clearer pics and steadier video there’s now image stabilization, and you can even attach a wrist strap. The front camera is 720p and supports FaceTime over WiFi.

Like the new iPhone, the 5th-gen iPod touch comes with iOS 6 and now includes Siri, the voice recognition feature that Apple introduced last year in its iPhone 4S. Built-in Facebook integration will let you post directly from Siri.

The iPod touch is available for pre-order on Apple’s website starting September 14, with the 32GB model retailing for $299 and a 64GB version for $399. You can choose from five colors: in blue, pink, yellow, white & silver, and black & slate. And if all of those features don’t win you over, you can buy the 32GB fourth-gen touch for $249 and the 16GB version for just $199.

Finally, Apple updated its iPod nano with a 38-percent thinner (5.4mm), bigger 2.5-inch screen and a physical home button. The new nano adds an FM tuner with playback control, Bluetooth radio for wireless streaming, built-in pedometer, and the smaller Lightning dock connector also found on the new iPod touch and iPhone. Apple claims the new nano can play music for up to 30 hours. It comes in seven colors. and will go on sale in October for $149.