iPhone 5 Launch: TechWeekEurope Live Blog

After a summer of rumour and speculation about everything from the important to the trivial, the iPhone 5 will be revealed in San Francisco this evening.

Among the features expected to be announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook are support for European 4G networks and Near Field Communication as well as a larger screen and a new, smaller connector dock.

It will run the latest version of Apple’s iOS mobile operating system, iOS 6 and it is believed that it will hit shelves on 21 September.

TechWeekEurope will be here to guide you through all of the details announced at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts from 18:00 UK time.

iPhone 5:

REFRESH PAGE

19:59: Thanks for joining us tonight and you can recap all the major announcements here.

19:47: The Foo Fighters are playing and looks as though proceedings are coming to an end.

1940: Apple has apparently spent three years designing new headphones called HeadPods and the iPhone 5 will shop with new earphones called EarPods.

19:32: Unless Apple has a surprise up its sleeve, this could be it for tonight.

19:27: Another new iPod, this time the new iPod Touch, which has the same size screen as the iPhone 5.

19:25: The new Nano is more rectangular than its predecessor, has a 2.5-inch display, can play video and features Bluetooth support.

19:20: However, it won’t be released until October – after the launch of the iPhone 5. Apple is now showing off some new iPods, specifically the iPod Nano.

19:17: The new iTunes will have iCloud built in

19:09: It seems that we might be finished with the iPhone 5 as we’re now discussing music and iTunes. There will be updates for the Apple music store on iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC

19:08: Oh and reports of the death of the iPhone 3GS have been confirmed.

19:04: The important bits of inormation are here. The 16GB version will cost $199, the 32GB $299, the 64GB $399 ,and it will arrive in the UK on 21 September, the same as the US. Pre-orders start on 14 September and iOS 6 will be rolled out next week on 19 September.

19:01: Sir Jonathan Ive is discussing the design of the device.

18:58: For those of you playing iPhone 5 bingo, there’s still no mention of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

18:55: Hardly the most shocking of news, but the iPhone 5 will be available in black and white varieties.

18:52: Passbook will keep your e-tickets in one place, and updates to Siri are shown. It now knows about sports but will it understand different British accents a bit better this time round?

18:47: It’s time to look at the software features in iOS 6. You can now tweet anywhere and Safari will remember your tabs across your Apple devices. Apple has ditched Google Maps in favour of its own application, which is shown off.

18:44: But fear not for your old accessories as there will be a Lightning adaptor.

18:43: There has been a lot of speculation about the iPhone 5 connector and we can now confirm that there is a new, 80 percent smaller connector that can be used either way up. It will be called Lightning and is another rumour that turned out to be true.

18:41: Audio features have also been upgraded. There are now three microphones; one on the top, one on the bottom and one on the back.

18:39: There’s a new panorama feature as well. The rear camera can take 1080p video and take photos while recording, just like the HTC One X. The front facing camera is now 720p, which will be music to the ears of FaceTime users.

18:36: An eight megapixel camera is on board, which is par for the course, and is 25 percent smaller. It also has a new low light mode and the A6 chip is used to process images. It will apparently take photos 40 percent faster.

18:34: Some details about the battery life. Apparently it will last for 225 hours on standby, 4o hours if you’re listening to music, 10 hours on LTE, 8 hours on Wi-Fi and 8 hours on 3G.

18:30: A new Apple A6 chip will mean the iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the iPhone 4S and offer doubly fast graphics, which will have an impact on gaming on the machine. A demo for Real Racing 3 is shown off and it is revealed that the iPhone 5 will offer time-shifted multiplayer through its Game Center service.

18:27: That will be a huge boost for EE’s fledgeling network and quite the blow for its rivals.

18:25: We have confirmation of the widely expected support for 4G Long Term Evolution networks. Apple lists a number of network partners, including, you guessed it, EE in the UK.

18:23: Older applications will have black borders at the top and bottom of the screen, while newer apps will be updated to take advantage of the taller screen.

18:20: The iPhone 5 is taller than the iPhone 4S, but also thinner and lighter at 7.5mm thin and 20 percent lighter. The four inch screen boasts a 1336 x 640 resolution and allows for a fifth row.

18:16: After all that, we’re getting down to the meaty stuff. Apple’s new smartphone will be called the ‘iPhone 5’, and mercifully not the ‘new iPhone’.

18:14: Apple claims to control 68 percent of the tablet market and has sold its 400 millionth iOS device. That’s comparable with the 500 million Android devices Google was boasting about earlier today.

18:11: Cook is now talking about the “post-PC revolution” and reveals that Apple has sold 17 million iPads in the last quarter.

18:08:Tim Cook is on stage giving his State of the Union address and discussing Apple’s retail store in Barcelona

18:00: Hello and welcome along to our live blog for what should be the unveiling of the iPhone 5. Has Apple got any surprises in store for us, or has everything leaked already?

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