The iPhone has swiftly become Apple?s most important product, and the company executives hit the stage today to launch their most impressive phone yet with the most impressive language they could muster. Descrambling the mix of company branding, technical terminology and acronyms can help you determine just how impressed you should be. So we?ve created our little iPhone 5 de-jargonator.
Integrated touchscreen: Also known as an ?in-cell? touchscreen, this technology integrates touch-recognition circuitry into the LCD panel itself. That means one fewer panel, and a thinner overall screen. There?s an Apple patent behind this technology (and we all know how protective Apple is of its patents), although it seems that Samsung?s Super AMOLED displays also use in-cell construction.
LTE: You?ve probably already heard of this by now. It stands for Long Term Evolution, and it?s the 4G network technology currently used by Verizon and AT&T, and swiftly being adopted by Sprint. Most newer smartphones support LTE networks that can operate at speeds up to 100 mbps (realistically, you should expect to see between 10 and 30 mbps). Apple was a little late to this party.
DC-HSDPA: There was a brief mention of the iPhone 5 working on a European ?dual-carrier? network in Apple?s presentation today. This unwieldy acronym stands for Dual Carrier High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (sometimes known as ?Dual Cell? HSDPA). It speeds up ordinary 3G HSDPA by combining the resources of two carriers. Imagine if AT&T and Verizon shared the resources of their networks to double the speed of data access. Currently, it?s like 3G doubling, but if networks cooperated, it could theoretically be used to increase the speed of 4G networks as well.
Next-generation ISP: This one was actually a bit confusing, since ISP can mean many things. But since Apple used this phrase in a slide about the new phone?s camera, we?re guessing Apple is referring to their ?image signal processing,? which is essentially just a better image processor.
Spatial Noise Reduction: Also from the discussion of the iPhone 5 camera. This is an algorithm used to reduce image noise (usually graininess) in video. Spatial means that the noise reduction is done frame-by-frame rather than across frames. Theoretically this should help with low-light video.
Sapphire Crystal: This refers to the surface lens of the back camera. Sapphire, whether natural or synthetic, is highly scratch resistant and hard, second only to diamond. That?s why is it often used for luxury wristwatches.
Wideband Audio: Cellphone voice audio is typically limited to a narrow frequency range, typically 300Hz to 3.4kHz. Wideband audio extends the range both lower (down to about 50Hz) and higher (to 7kHz and up). Not all carriers may support this, but those that do should dramatically improve voice quality.
Lightning Connector: As expected, Apple has shrunk down the iPod/iPhone connector on not only the iPhone but also the new iPod nano and iPod Touch. The company will sell an adapter to fit old accessories (for $30). The new Lightning connector is 80 percent smaller, according to the company. And despite the fact that Apple has stuck with its weather-based naming conventions, the Lightning connector does not connect to Apple?s high-speed Thunderbolt ports. For now, it?s strictly USB 2.0.
Loop: This isn?t an iPhone 5 improvement; the new Loop attachment comes with Apple?s redesigned iPods. Loop is a pop-up attachment for a new wrist-strap tether.
EarPods: Apple?s earbuds have long been the bane of audiophiles who otherwise love iPods and iPhones. The company has updated the earbuds that come with the iPhone to a new style and shape. Everyone?s ears are different, and Apple claims to have modeled various ear types and tested different earbud shapes on more than 600 people to find the shape that is comfortable for the greatest number of people.
Bluetooth 4.0 with LE: This is the newest Bluetooth standard designed for low power consumption (LE stands for ?low energy?) and low latency. That should (hopefully) reduce drain on the iPhone battery.
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