Apple Inc. has issued invites for an Oct. 4 event that will showcase the highly anticipated fifth generation iPhone. Since January, tech sites and news agencies, all citing suppliers, insiders, or their crystal balls, have reported about the release date and the new features of the iPhone 5. Rumors will finally end on Tuesday when Steve Jobs will be handing over the reins to new chief Tim Cook in touting new devices. The show in Apple's campus will tell you if the iPhone 5 will have a design overhaul or have minor cosmetic changes and help assess how far off or accurate are the Internet's daily servings of iPhone 5 stories.

For the meantime, before you can complete the report cards come Oct. 4, we're sharing the "as reported" features of the iPhone 5 and our brief assessment.

Release date: Sept. 7 unveiling (Japanese site Kodawarisan, reported August). Second week of September (China Times, July) Last two weeks of September (Gizmodo, citing AT&T vacation ban for employees, August). October (Japanese Mac blog Macotakra, March). Oct. 7 release date and pre-orders Sept. 30 (9To5Mac, August). First week of October (Boy Genius Report, citing a leaked document from retailer Best Buy, August). Mid-October (Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, August). Oct. 21 (This Is My Next, citing another Best Buy leak, August). -- Macotakra gets an "A" for anticipating an October release six months before everyone else. Everyone else flunks for reporting in August a September release, and then reporting in September an October release.

Operating system: iOS5 (everyone). -- Of course this would be a give-away. Steve Jobs unveiled the new operating system for Apple's mobile devices at an Apple developers' conference in June. And Apple had announced that the new OS, which will have 200 new features, will arrive "by fall".

Power: built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery to have longer battery life (everyone). -- While reports have indicated that there will be more updates to software than hardware, a longer battery life is a must. Apple doesn't support Adobe Flash. But there are just so many things to do that drains the battery.

CPU: A5 processor, same as iPad 2 (Bloomberg, June). -- The iPad 2 was released in April 2010. After the A4 processor (ARM Cortex-A8) for the iPhone 4, Apple wouldn't jump to A6, would it?

Storage capacity: No reports. The iPhone 4 had 16 GB or 32 GB flash memory. -- Everyone has 5 GB of free space and more for a couple of dollars via the iCloud.

Memory: iPhone 5 will have 1 GB of RAM compared to just 512 MB eDRAM from the previous (TUAW, citing "reliable source"). -- This is really a no brainer. An improved processor doesn't work without a bigger RAM.

Form factor: Similar design to iPhone 4 (Bloomberg News, June). Not just a simple update, but an overhauled design (BGR and This is my next, June). Completely different form factor, rounded aluminum backing, (based on renderings by accessory maker Case-Mate, September). Curved glass screen (DigiTimes, May). "Fairly different" from previous generation iPhone (New York Times, citing unnamed Apple employee, August). -- iPhone 4 is ringing cash registers for Apple, so why fix it when it ain't broken. But Apple is the queen of aesthetics. And rivals like Samsung already have followed the design of the iPhone 4, according to documents filed by Apple in courthouses across three continents. The iPhone 5 should have changes in design. But the right description should be "minor", not "radical."

Screen size: 3.5 inches (89 mm), same as the iPhone 4, or "slightly" larger (DigiTimes said at the end of August). Larger display (China Times, March). -- Android phones now have 4.3-inch screens. Apple needs to upgrade.

Audio: iPhone 4 had single loudspeaker and dual microphone.

Camera: 8-megapixel rear camera (Bloomberg, others, including PocketNow [citing "test photo" from Apple employee posted in a social networking site]). Dual-LED flash rear camera (DigiTimes, June). No flash on front camera (9to5mac, citing a leak in the parts distribution chain, August). iPhone 4 had a 5 MP HD video (720p) rear camera and 0.3 MP (VGA) front camera. -- The 8-mp camera is already a standard for high-end Android devices like the HTC EVO 4G, the Motorola Droid Bionic, and the Galaxy S2. The ultimate question is how "advanced" is the iPhone 5's camera.

Connectivity: GSM "and" CDMA (compared to "or" for the previous model), suggesting that the new device will be a world phone (TechCrunch, citing anonymous developer, said in August). LTE support being tested by one carrier (BGR, August). Like the previous, iPhone 5 will also have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G compatibility (from just 3G for previous). -- The one million dollar question is if iPhone 5 could accommodate LTE. Samsung and other rivals already have handsets that have LTE technology. Do we have to wait for another 12 months to have 12 Mbps of downloading on an iPhone? Icloud will be attractive if the iPhone has 4G LTE.

Dimensions: Wider and thinner than iPhone 4 (Case-Mate renderings, September). iPhone 4 has dimensions of 115.2 mm x 58.66 mm x 9.3 mm.

Weight: Lighter than iPhone 4's 137 g (4.8 oz) (Most sites). -- Does anybody need a lighter iPhone?

Mobile payments. To have near field communication chips (China Times and New York Times, March). No NFC for mobile payments (The Independent, March). -- Apple needs NFC. Google has just announced that it has signed deals with Visa, Mastercard and others for NCF readers at stores. More people will flock to Android devices for Google Wallet if the iPhone 5 can't be a virtual wallet.

Slide-Out keyboard: One of three models considered for production an iPhone 5 with slide-out keyboard (Taiwanese blog Apple.pro, February) -- Source must have spied on a BlackBerry plant, not Apple's. Steve Jobs has expressed dislike for physical keyboards.

Home button: Elongated Home button (MacRumors, August). No Home button (BGR, citing anonymous source, January). -- While the lone button on the iPhone will wear out, some would just prefer to double tap on the button rather than swiping or doing a gesture to reach the multitask bar.

* Production delay: Apple supplier Wintek is finding a "delayed bubble" defect in some of the iPhone 5 panels it has produced (DigiTimes said Sept. 23). -- True. Something went wrong. Otherwise, Apple would have maintained tradition of unveiling a new iPhone in June each year.

* Two iPhones: Apple to release a budget-priced, 8-GB model of the iPhone 4 along with the iPhone 5 (Reuters, Bloomberg, and others). Analysts like JPMorgan's Mark Moskowitz and Apple board member Al Gore said there will be more than one iPhone in October. -- Probably true. Apple couldn't compete in emerging markets with the pricey iPhone 4. Samsung and Nokia made money in emerging markets by selling cheap phones.