Well, it is official. Apple has announced their new iPhone 5, along with the new iPod Nano and iPod Touch. But because the design (seen below) and a lot of the specs to the iPhone 5 were already leaked, it was not as exciting to watch the event. And the updates to the iPhone 5 were a bit of a let down. No new revolutionary update has come to the iPhone 5. It is basically minor advances making current aspects better.

The iPhone 5 now has a 4" display, versus its original 3.5", and a fifth row of icons. The colour on the back and sides of the black iPhone is called slate, and silver on the white model. I find the colours to complement the phone better then just the basic aluminum colour. The new "lightning connector" has replaced the current 30-pin connector, and is a lot smaller. An adapter is available for $29. 4G LTE is also here, but Apple needed to do that to keep up with competitors, so it's not much of a surprise. There have been updates to the camera, including: dynamic low-light mode, Panoramic mode, and front facing 720p HD video recording. A disappointment is that the battery life does not seem to be that it lasts longer on 4G than other smartphones, as not much was mentioned in that way.

The iPhone 5 will have iOS 6, and with the elongated screen, apps will be updated to fit the screen or black boxed top and bottom, and not stretched. Also, Apple's contract with Google to have the YouTube app has expired, so Apple is no longer default installing it. Google has released a free YouTube app in the App Store available now  thankfully it is not the ugly brown colour Apple has been using.


As mentioned above, Apple has released new versions of the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. Personally, I find the new iPod Nano to be unattractive. The colours used look like kids toys, and the home screen matches the colour of the iPod Nano itself. The screen bottoms are round, instead of the usual square Apple style, which causes some confusion as to why they have switched styles. The iPod Nano also uses Apple's new lightning connector.


The new iPod Touch has an elongated screen, matching that of the iPhone 5. The iPod Touch comes in 5 colours (colours?!), and has an odd silver screw at the back bottom left corner that allows for a wrist strap. The iPod Touch uses the lightning connector as well, which will seemingly be Apple's new standard on their products. Also, Siri will be available on the iPod Touch (over wifi of course), but I wonder how useful that will actually be on an iPod.

An update is coming to iTunes, and resembles the iPad's iTunes. It will be coming out later in October. But now let us move on to Apple's new earbuds called EarPods. I find the name a bit odd, and makes me feel I am sticking a pod (cocoon) in my ear, and that it will eventually hatch into an iBug. But the design is rather interesting, as they were designed to fit into the ear better. There's a side speaker on the EarPods that is the bass, to give you a richer sound when listening. They spent 3 years designing these, so let us hope they are as good as they say!

The iPhone 5 will undoubtedly sell, as people crave Apple. The iPod's market is getting smaller as more tweens and teens are getting smartphones, but there is still a market for them. I plan to buy the iPhone 5 when it is out, but that is because I personally prefer Apple products over competitors.

I wanted to thank CNET for the live updates during Apple's event, and the amusing commentary that took place.