Apple releases iPhone 5

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iPhone 5Apple has today released the iPhone 5.

Find out more here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

The iPhone 5 runs the latest Apple operating system, iOS 6, which has in recent days been rolled out to owners of 3G, 4 and 4S iPhones and iPads.

So what's new? Well the iPhone 5 is thinner and taller than the previous iPhone and has a different connector at the bottom to previous iPhones. The headphone socket is also now located at the bottom. That's about it, the rest of the features are part of iOS 6 although some won't work with earlier phones.

Known issues? So far we have heard of some iPhone users reporting of wireless problems in iOS 6 and the biggest complaint from users is the Maps application. Apple has decided to split from Google and build it's own maps application. What they have achieved in a short time is admirable but falls far short of the slick capabilities of Google Maps we have come to expect. As a result it tarnishes the potential of this device. I have had colleagues report of attempting to navigate in local suburbs in Australia of being directed to locations in the United States which were impossible to reach. One US city is shown as being a major hospital. Searching for various items such as hospital, gardens or emergency room produces varied results and nowhere near as many as using Google. Apparently Madison Square Gardens is a garden. Other cities have been reported as being underwater. To add the icing on the cake, Public transport is missing. Apple is working with third party app developers to integrate public transport capability into Apple Maps. Google on the other hand has already incorporated public transport of many cities, including Sydney, into it's search which is then used by the transport system's own apps. While Google has built it all, now Apple wants others to build it for them. Google has advised it is not yet developing a replacement app so if you desperately need to find your way around open your web browser to maps.google.com and you can still get the Google goodness, while Apple play catch up in the map making game.