The iPhone 5 is alive! But what’s different? What’s noteworthy? Allow T3 to strip the specs back into easily an digestible form. In a small auditorium in San Francisco, Apple has shown us its latest handset, and if you want to know what the iPhone 5 features are, read on…

1/ Apple iPhone 5 body and design

Calling it the most beautiful product the company has ever made is some bold statement. So what makes it so stunning? The iPhone 5 is made from glass and aluminium and will be the thinnest iPhone smartphone at just 7.6mm thick, but not the world's thinnest as Apple claims with the Huawei Ascend P1 S measuring in at 6.7mm and the 6.2mm ZTE Athena which has not been officially announced. In the measurements department the iPhone 5 weighs in at 112g which is significantly lighter than the 4S (140g),
 

2/ Apple iPhone 5 display

So we've got our bigger screen and at 4-inches as had been long rumoured, it's a drastic jump from the iPhone 4S which now means you can have five rows of apps on the homescreen. The Retina display promises the same 326ppi as the 4S with a screen resolution jump to 1136 x 640, but essentially you can expect in terms of look and feel it will be the same width but a bit taller.

3/ Apple iPhone 5 camera

Already a pretty capable of taking great snaps, the same 8-Megapixel camera sensor and f/2.4 aperture is included in the iPhone 5, with the addition of a dynamic low light mode to benefit night-time snapping with a new more durable sapphire crystal lens. Additionally, a new image processor includes a smart filter and should reduce noise in images. In terms of new camera modes, you can now take panoramic photos and with the Share Photo Streams feature share pictures with friends and families where they can comment on your pictorial efforts. It's good news for regular FaceTimers as the front-facing camera is now capable of 720p video
 

4/ Apple iPhone 5 processor

Moving from the A5 processor found in the 4S and the iPad 2, to a new A6 chip, Apple claims it will deliver a CPU two times faster than the A5 and up to times better graphics. So, expect apps to launch quicker, browsing to speedier and overall performance to step up significantly from the 4S.

5/ Apple iPhone 5 connectivity and nano SIM

The big news is that the iPhone 5 will be available on LTE which means 4G goodness for those who decide to invest in the new Apple smartphone. Apple is also introducing it is referring to as 'ultrafast wireless' as well as 802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4GHz, dual channel 5GHz Wi-Fi technology which is the same components nestled inside the recently announced Amazon Kindle Fire HD. It is probably worth noting, that while most smartphones are coming packed with an NFC chip, it looks like there is no sign of Near Field Communication for the iPhone 5.

Talk of Apple cutting the size of its SIM cards once again was accurate as the iPhone 5 will see the introduction of a new nano SIM which means you will unfortunately have to get rid of the micro SIM when upgrading to the new iPhone.

6/ Apple iPhone 5 battery

While the iPhone 4 made a big jump from the previous iPhone 3G and 3GS, The iPhone 5 battery is generally the same as the 4S so it should see you through 8 hours talk time on 3G or LTE, and 10 hours of Wi-Fi which an extra hour more than the 4S.

7/ Apple iPhone 5 microphones

There's three (yes, three) microphones situated on the front, bottom and back of the iPhone 5 handset which has been included for enhanced voice recognition and a noise cancelation earpiece. No doubt it should benefit the smart Siri functionality introduced in iOS 6 which is next up on our list.

8/ Apple iPhone 5 operating system

New phone, new operating system. iOS 6 which will be available to download from September 19th could be the real star of the show. Promising a slightly tweaked user interface with a new look App Store and iCloud support, a smarter Siri that will launch apps, FaceTime over 3G and TomTom-powered Apple Maps, ti's still one of the best mobile operating systems and the new features have certainly enhanced the capabilities of the iPhone,

9/ Apple iPhone 5 new connector

So we've got a new charging cable folks, and it's called Lightning, which means Apple now have Thunderbolt and Lightning ports. 80% smaller than the current cable, Apple says it can be plugged in either way and aims to keep the overall design more slender and compact than the iPhone 4S. If you are worried about support for the original charging cable, Apple will be making a adapter so the iPhone 5 can be hooked up to 30-pin accessories.

10/ Apple iPhone 5 release date and price

The iPhone 5 release date has been confirmed for the 21st September with the handset to be available in an aluminum black and white version which will hopefully make it out at the same time. EE (previously Everything Everywhere), Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3 are amongst the network operators expected to offer the iPhone 5 on contract. If you want to buy the iPhone 5 outright, prices start at £529 for a 16GB, then £629 for the 32GB and £729 for the 64GB version. That's an increase of £30 on the starting price of the iPhone 4S, so it looks like Brits will have to spend big to get one.

Let us know what you think of the iPhone 5 in the comments section below, or answer the poll to tell us what's missing: