With the release of the iPhone 4S Apple is taking a big bet.
Instead of going with an all new design, they chose to stick
with largely the same 16 month old iPhone 4 with internal
upgrades. At first glance the phones are nearly
indistinguishable with the same 3.5 inch Retina Display.
Everything is housed in between two sheets of glass held
together with a metal band that doubles as the antenna.
While most phone designs become stale after a few months
there’s no denying that the iPhone 4S still looks and feels
like a truly premium product.
One of the major new features is the Apple A5 dual core
processor. Coupled with the iOS 5 operating system the
4S is very quick, opening apps and multitasking with ease.
The responsiveness and little touches have always been one
of the best reasons to go for an iPhone and the feeling of
using a well oiled machine is alive and well in this latest
iteration. Another major upgrade is the new 8 megapixel
camera. Armed with backside illumination and an F/2.4 aperture
the photos you can grab are very impressive for a phone.
The depth of field is quite reasonable and there is lots of
detail in most lighting situations. Video is another upgrade
in the 4S. You can now shoot full 1080p video at 30 frames
per second and as you can see here the results are quite good.
Will I need a raincoat tomorrow? There's no rain in the
forecast for tomorrow. Siri is arguably the biggest new feature.
By holding the home button for a few seconds you can ask Siri a
wide range of questions. Schedule a meeting for tomorrow at 10AM.
It’s not quite perfect, for example it can’t open an app or do
anything too complicated. It also requires a data connection
but overall Siri is one of the best new features of
the iPhone 4S. It’s not all good news though. While the 4S did
gain a slightly larger battery between iOS 5, the new dual core
CPU and Siri the battery life seems to have fallen off in
comparison to the iPhone 4. While you still should be able to
get through a full day of moderate usage if you are a heavy user
more than likely you’ll run the phone out before the end of the
day. iOS 5 comes with the iPhone 4S and has several nice new
features. There is now a slide down notification tray, similar
to Android that allows you to take a look at your new
notifications at a glance. You’ll also find a new Reminders app
which works well with Siri in helping you keep track of
everything you need to do. The addition of wireless syncing with
iTunes, iCloud backups and over the air firmware updates are all
very nice additions but on the whole of it iOS remains largely
the same as in previous versions. It should surprise no one that
this is the best iPhone yet. It also shouldn’t be a surprise that
it really isn’t a huge upgrade. There is no 4G support, no larger
display, no new design and worse battery life. For some this may
be a deal breaker however personally I’m quite happy with the 4S.
It might not be the absolute best phone in all categories but it’s
still an iPhone. The speed and responsiveness is very solid, the
new camera is excellent and the design has really stood the test
of time. Now as a world phone available on several new carriers
and with up to 64GB of capacity, I think the iPhone 4S remains
to be one of the best phones you can buy.
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