Apple’s new iPhone 5S – which has a fingerprint touch ID sensor and an even faster processor – will be go on sale in Australia on September 20.
Announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook at a special media event at the company’s Cupertino headquarters near San Francisco, the iPhone 5S might look like the previous model but there are plenty of changes under the shiny chassis.
Also unveiled today was the iPhone 5C – a cheaper device that is available in five colours – green, blue, yellow, red and white.
The new hero feature of the iPhone 5S is no doubt the Touch ID sensor that is now part of the home button below the screen.
WATCH THE APPLE iPHONE ANNOUNCEMENT HERE
It can read a user’s fingerprint to unlock the device and even authorise purchases on iTunes, the App Store and the iBookstore.
Combining laser-cut sapphire crystal and a capacitive touch sensor, Touch ID can accurately read your fingerprint to unlock your device.
Apple was also quick to point out that fingerprints would be stored in encrypted form locally on the device and will never be stored on Apple’s iCloud so you can rest assured the company is not setting up a fingerprint database.
The new iPhone 5S will be available in three colours – gold, silver and space gray – and has the same 4-inch screen size of the previous model.
Under the hood is an A7 processor that brings 64-bit processing to the smartphone for the first time.
The result is up to twice the speed of the previous processor and even smoother graphics.
Also on board is an all new M7 motion processor that can measure and collect data from the accelerometer and GPS receiver.
As a result developers will now be able to access even more information to allow them to create the next generation of health and fitness apps.
Another big improvement of the iPhone 5S is the camera. The resolution has remained at 8-megapixel but has a 15 per cent larger sensor.
When combined with the all-new A7 processor, the new iPhone 5S camera has faster auto-focus and image capture.
There’s also a new flash called True Tone that can solves problem of clashing colour temperatures in images and capture more natural colour.
New camera features also include Burst mode and Slo Mo. In Slo Mo users can capture video at 120 frames per second and then select the parts you want to show in slow motion and the parts you want at normal speed.
What you won’t find aboard the iPhone 5S is the latest 802.11ac wi-fi standard which is unusual considering the recent MacBook Air and Time Capsule were upgraded to the faster wireless connection.
Instead the iPhone 5S has support for dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n wi-fi.
On the battery side Apple is saying there will be up to 40 hours of audio playback and 10 hours video playback along with 10 hours web browsing and talktime.
The pricing of the iPhone 5S is higher than last year’s iPhone 5 starting at $869 (16GB), $999 (32GB) and $1,129 (64GB).
The falling value of the Australian dollar might have something to do with this price increase.
The iPhone 5S will be released on September 20.
Stay tuned to Tech Guide for news on the iPhone plans and a full review of the iPhone 5S as soon as it is released.
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