9t05mac has an interesting read on what the next generation iPhone will bring. They say that the biggest new feature is actually in the software, where Apple will use a system called Assistant. To let new background processes, like Assistant,  run fast enough, the phone also features 1GB worth of RAM and a dual-core Apple manufactured A5 CPU. An 8 megapixel backlit camera sensor will produce quality pictures in both light and low-light conditions. A Qualcomm Gobi Baseband chip will ensure that the device works on both GSM and CDMA networks.

So Assistant is the biggest thing on the new iPhone 5? But how does it work? It is basically a drastically improved Voice Control application, that we saw introduced with the iPhone 3GS. The new Assistant will enable you to actually talk with the phone. If it doesn’t understand all of it, or it requires more information, it will ask it from you. You’ll also see a ‘conversation log’ of what you’ve been actually discussing. You can for instance ask directions, like “How do I get to Helsinki, Finland?”, and the phone should open the Maps application with directions to Helsinki, Finland. If you’d like to make a new appointment, you could just say “make appointment with Jay at 16:00.” Also the new Reminders are accessible via Assistant, enabling you to say “remind me to wash clothes when I arrive home.”

What I found really cool is that Assistant is linked to Wolfram Alpha! I use Wolfram Alpha constantly to count how many days there are left to some event. So for instance if I now type ‘Days till October 4th”, it will show me that it’s 7 days until we should see the next-gen iPhone released. Head over to wolframalpha.com to check it out for yourself! With this integration a user will be able to ask the phone to do almost anything, including unit conversions, currency conversions, history related questions, scientific questions, dictionary lookups and so forth. I would go crazy with a feature like this! It’s like having Wikipedia in your pocket :)