It’s like having a mobile video production truck in your pocket. Need to shoot video? The iPhone 5 can shoot at 1080p. Need pictures as well? It can now snap shots while recording video. The new A6 processor lets it run video editing software twice as quickly as before, and the LTE support lets you upload your creations faster than you could over some Wi-Fi connections.

So is the iPhone 5 the only video hardware you need?

The iPhone is getting a redesign, Apple ^[1] executives announced this afternoon. The iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order Friday, September 14, and will begin shipping one week later. This latest iPhone will be thinner and lighter than the previous iPhone 4S, but with a taller display. It will measure 7.6mm thick (18 percent thinner than before) and weigh 112 grams (20 percent lighter), but will offer an expanded 4-inch screen with a resolution of 1136 by 640 pixels.

That puts the new screen close to 16:9 widescreen resolution, so Apple is playing up its movie abilities. Menu screens will now offer five rows of apps, plus the shortcut row.

• The screen will offer improved color saturation — 44 percent better, Apple says — and the touch sensors are integrated into the display, making it thinner and sharper.
• The iPhone 5′s camera gets a boost. It’s still an 8 megapixel camera, but the five-element lens is thinner than before. A new dynamic low light mode should help with indoor shots. Apple claims it will deliver 40 percent faster image capture. The camera is gaining a panorama mode, and a cloud feature will let users share photos with family and friends.
• For video, the camera can record at 1080p, as before, but includes better video stabilization and facial recognition. Users can grab photos while recording a video. The front-facing camera records at 720p, as before. FaceTime now works over cellular connections, but we’ll have to wait and see if some cellular carriers place restrictions on it.
• The iPhone 5 will support LTE, DC-HSDPA, and HSPA+ cellular connections, resulting in dramatically faster cellular speeds. Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon all support LTE in the United States.
• The iPhone 5 is powered by an A6 chip, which Apple says will deliver double the speed and graphics performance of the A5 chip. It’s also smaller and more energy efficient: Apple claims the iPhone 5 will offer 8 hours of LTE browsing time, 10 hours of video playback, and 225 hours of standby.

If your video needs are light, the iPhone could absolutely be an important member of your team, letting you record video from events and shape it on-the-fly.

The iPhone 5 will list for $199 for the 16GB version, $299 for the 32GB, and $399 for the 64GB (with contract).