iPhone 4S review
So it’s arrived. Or rather it hasn’t. Not iPhone 5, instead the world is presented with the Apple iPhone 4S. The new version lives up to its name by being virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor – 3 grams heavier, exactly the same size, the same 3.5″, 960 x 640 pixel Retina Display.
But appearances can be deceptive, and under the covers Apple has upgraded a few components – notably the processor and camera. At long last there’s a 64GB version. Oh and they fixed ‘the antenna thing’.
The Apple iPhone 4S will boast all the features of iOS 5, the latest version of Apple’s operating system.
The iPhone 4S sports Apple A5 dual-core 1GHz processor paired with a dual core GPU. The processor is only average for high-end phones, but with the revolutionary GPU Apple claims the iPhone 4S works twice as fast as the iPhone 4, with graphics performance seven – yes seven!! – times faster. And the powerhouse spec won’t drain the battery – Apple claims their new smartphone will deliver 8 hours of talk time on 3G, or 14 hours on 2G. The 4S will provide 6 hours of 3G browsing (9 hours on WiFi). Or a mammoth ten hours of video playback. And for music buffs, 40 hours of playback.
So are these just empty boasts or will Apple be able to deliver?
The Samsung Epic Touch 4G and Motorola Droid Bionic promised 8 and 10 hours of talk time respectively, but each delivered only seven.
Demonstrations show the iPhone 4S works smoothly and quickly, with a definite improvement over the iPhone 4. Apple itself seems to be promoting the new voice assistant – Siri – as the flagship feature of the new phone. The current Voice Control feature remains, but Siri adds a great deal more functionality. Siri provides information or follows voice commands. Thus using iPhone 4S you can check the weather forecast or ask for the address of a contact, get directions, or set up a reminder, but best of all you can ask for obscure facts, such as the height of the Empire State Building. The voice that answers you is a slightly robotic female voice. It’s a very good feature that will prove very useful, and maybe it’ll be another Apple game-changer as people make the leap from text-based to voice-based input. Though not yet; for now a Bluetooth headset is required, so officially Siri is in beta mode, though a completely integrated, headset and hands-free version is expected to follow. The current version has support for English, German and French, with others to follow.
The 5-megapixel camera on the iPhone 4 was very impressive, but Apple have pushed the boat out on this one. The iPhone 4S has an 8mp camera with autofocus, flash, f/2.4 aperture lens, and a backlit CMOS sensor permitting 73% more light than the previous sensor, thus ensuring improved low-light snaps. There’s even a built-in hybrid infrared filter for superior color accuracy. Users should notice the 33% faster camera operation too. The A5 processor’s built-in image processor now incorporates face detection and 26% better auto white balance.
Overall, the iPhone 4S now gives sharper detail and brighter colours. Not just a mobile phone, internet browser, camera, voice-controlled assistant, mobile workstation, document store, and multimedia player, the iPhone 4S can shoot 1080p HD video at 30 fps, and with video stabilization, naturally.
As we reported a couple of months back, the iPhone 4S is a dual-band world phone, i.e. it supports both GSM and CDMA, allowing the phone to be used overseas, though it’s unclear whether carriers will unlock the preloaded SIM card so it can be swaped for a prepaid international SIM card at their destination. For GSM For GSM customers, the iPhone 4S supports HSPA+ 14.4, so the phone should be capable of 14.4 MB/s download speeds, an improvement on current speeds.
iPhone 4S will be available from October 14, in black or white, 16GB $199, 32GB $299, 64GB for $399.
Here is a quick run down cnet review video of iPhone 4S:
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