iPhone 5 pre-orders may begin in India on October 19

Apple had announced the iPhone 5 last month and as of yet, only a handful of countries have received the device. The iPhone 5 is rumoured to be officially launched in India on October 26. A reliable source of ours has recently informed us that Apple will officially begin pre-orders of the handset in India on October 19.

The pre-orders will be taken at official Apple resellers, and the price range would be similar to that of the iPhone 4S at launch. The price of the 16GB version of the iPhone 5 is speculated to be Rs 45,000, while that of the 32GB variant Rs 50,000. There is no word yet on the pricing of the 64GB version.

Preorders beginning soon

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 112 grams, and is 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S, and is the thinnest iPhone yet at 7.6mm. Apple has chosen to debut iOS 6 with the iPhone 5. 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. 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.

The handset is already selling quite freely in the grey market in India, but at a premium.