Last night, the entire world waited with bated breath as Apple Inc indulged in its yearly ritual of launching a new iPhone.
The rumour mill set in motion weeks before the event finally quieted, giving Apple Inc a chance to talk about the new iPhone 5, among other products.
After manufacturing smartphones with the same screen size – 3.5 inches – since the first iPhone in 2007, the company seems to realise that the consumer wants to use bigger screens. The new 4-inch Retina Display, however, still remains smaller than the massive 4.8-inch Super AMOLED of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ of the newly announced Nokia Lumia 920.
The iPhone 5 has also caught up with these two competitors with its inbuilt 8-megapixel iSight camera. When it comes to video, consumers will be able to record motion videos in high definition at 30 frames per second.
What makes the trio interesting is that all the super smartphones in the market are based on three different operating systems. The Apple iPhone 5 will run on iOS 6. Although the OS packs in several interesting features including maps in 3D, Dictation, advanced Siri capabilities and Passbook, most of the features will not be available in India. This is where the Nokia Lumia 920 (based on Windows Phone 8) and Samsung Galaxy S III (based on Android Ice Cream Sandwich) might gain more popularity with users by making relatively more features available in the Indian market. Being a super-smartphone also entails having a powerful processor to take care of all the multi-tasking.
Apple has designed a new A6 system-on-chip to maximise performance and power efficiency. The company says the processor makes for twice the CPU and graphics performance.
Galaxy vs iphone
When it comes to building quality, the Apple iPhone again trumps Samsung’s flagship, the Galaxy S III. The entire body crafted out of aluminium and glass is designed to be sturdier than the all-plastic S III. However, Nokia has also made sure, with the anodised aluminium and glass body on the Lumia 920, that consumers do not have to compromise on strength or aesthetics. While there has been no date specified for an India launch for the Apple iPhone 5 (or the Nokia Lumia 920), it would be quite interesting to see how the super-smartphone wars play out while offering a varied range of experiences to the user.