iPhone 5 is Finally Announced–Here’s Everything You Need to Know!

The long wait for the iPhone 5 is now over. After dozens of rumors and months of speculation, Apple has finally unveiled their next-generation smartphone for the whole world to see. But enough with the small talk--let's get right down to business.

The challenge is to make it better and smaller.

-- Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief

I think Apple managed to do all that and more with the iPhone 5. We've got a gallery of awesome images, the specs you're probably dying to know about, and the pricing and availability of Apple's next-generation smartphone right here for you--right after the jump!

Specs. It looks like a lot of the iPhone 5 rumorsreported earlier are true: the iPhone 5 is lighter, it's thinner, and it's a whole lot faster than the 4S. Here's a quick recap of the specs:

• Colors: Available in black and white
• Weight: 112 grams (20% lighter than the 4S)
• Thickness: 7.6 mm (18% thinner than the 4S)
• Display: 4 inches (up by 0.5 inches), can fit a fifth row of icons on screen
• Resolution: 1136x640 (up from 960x640) and 44% more saturation
• Connectivity: LTE compatible
• Processor: A6 chip (two times faster than the 4S!)
• Battery:  8 hours talk time, 8 hours browsing, 10 hours wifi browsing, 10 hours video, 40 hours music, and 225 hours standby
• Camera: 8-megapixels, 264x2448 resolution, f/2.4 aperture, improved low-light quality, panorama feature, 1080p HD video recording, updated front-facing Facetime camera with face detection
• Dock: 8-pin Lightning connector

Pricing. Here are the prices for the iPhone 5 on contract:

• $199 for 16GB
• $299 for 32GB
• $399 for 64GB

Availability. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T will be carrying the iPhone 5. Pre-orders open on September 14th, while the phones ship out on September 21st. 

Weigh in. Does the iPhone 5 exceed your expectations? As far as we're concerned, it definitely takes off from the iPhone 4S and all of the previous iPhones Apple has released.  But what do you think? Sound off in the comments below and let us know!

via: Y! Tech