First wave of iPhone 5 pre-orders starts on Apple's website

After the recent launch of Apple’s latest offering, the iPhone 5, the Cupertino-based company has finally started pre-orders of the phone on its website. According to UnleashThePhone, the first wave of pre-orders will be available for the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany and France.

According to an earlier report, the unlocked version of the iPhone 5 will cost $649 for the 16GB version, $749 for the 32GB version and $849 for the 64GB version, but the unlocked phones won't be available for a few weeks.

The iPhone 5 is available for pre-order on Apple's website

Here is a quick look at the highlighted features of the iPhone 5:

• 4-inch, 326ppi Retina display at 1136 x 640 pixels,
• GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA, LTE and Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD recording, 720p front-facing camera
• 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions

Made entirely out of aluminium and glass, the iPhone 5 weighs a mere 112 gm and is 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S, and is the thinnest iPhone yet at 7.6mm thick. Apple has chosen to debut iOS 6 with the iPhone 5 and the new OS includes Apple's own Maps app, an updated version of Siri and lots more. Overall, the new iPhone has been upgraded in almost all respects.

One of the biggest changes to iOS is the addition of Apple’s own Maps app in the place of Google Maps, which Apple has done away with. The new Maps app has a built-in search for local points of interest, with over 100 million possible suggestions. Other features of the Maps app include navigation, routing, 3D maps, satellite imagery – that wraps around the 3D maps – and the ability to get directions directly through Siri. Most of the standard features of the Maps app, including satellite view, are available in almost all countries the iPhone ships to.

Siri has also been updated and new features include support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings; Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari and Maps; and Shared Photo Streams via iCloud.

Safari has also received a major update – the ability to go full screen on the device by touching the arrows on the corners. Another major feature of the new Safari app is the ability to sync tabs between the desktop and iOS versions of Safari. This new feature is called iCloud Tabs. The new Mail app has also received some updates, including the ability to mark people as VIPs and the ability to flag certain mails for follow-ups.

Though, the biggest problem is that many of these features won’t be available in India at launch.