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Sunday 9 October 2011

Iphone 4S Review


On Tuesday, October 4, Apple launched its new IPhone 4S, contrary to popular expectations for a new IPhone 5. 

The all new Iphone 4S, in my opinion could have been called  IPhone 5 but Apple called it 4S raising the bar once again and yet keeping people at tenterhooks for an improved Iphone 5. The 4S looks just the same as IPhone 4 (same dimensions, retina display and glass back) except it's now packed with some great new features. Let’s see them one by one:

1) Dual core A5 processor vs. single core processor in IPhone 4

Apple said in it's Key Note that with new "Dual core A5 processor" IPhone will run 2x faster and graphics will be 7x faster which means better gaming and Internet browsing experience. The apple employees also displayed to the audience the faster speeds by playing the much popular "Infinity blade" game during the presentation and some of the graphics seen on the video were mind blowing and awesome!!

2) Siri - "Humble Personal Assistant" 

With 4S, Apple launched a voice recognition software named SIRI, which can interact with users and do many things including sending message, typing mails, asking weather reports, setting reminders etc all through your voice. The great thing about SIRI is that it's intuitive for e.g. If you ask SIRI to set a meeting with your friend at 2pm it will tell if you have a conflicting meeting with somebody else or not. Another instance would be that when you ask this device of yours (personal secretary without any additional charges and tantrums) to "remind me to call mom when I leave work", SIRI would remind you (with the help of integration with maps) to call mom exactly when you are ready to leave your work place.

I expect this to be great innovation but I highly suspect it to be of great use in Asian countries especially in India where voice recognition can be difficult while travelling or out of home with lots of noise traffic and limited 3G connectivity at present. Nevertheless, the voice recognition and its capability to customise with its owners can bring a new revolution by the way we interact with our smart phones. Apple has this SIRI's version as Beta and will be providing updation in time.

3) New 8MP camera and HD capable video recording

The new 8MP camera captures images at a higher 3624 x 2448 resolution (than iPhone 4), while its new backside illumination lets in 73 percent more light. The camera flaunts 5 lenses packed in it (4 in IPhone 4) which gives sharper pictures. Furthermore, the camera is also 33% faster in taking photos, which Apple boasts to make it 0.9 seconds quicker than the Galaxy S2 and will be the fastest image taking handheld device. This camera is also capable of shooting 1080p HD videos.

4) Dual antennas

4S will have two antennas which will double its download speed to 14.4mbps (against 7.2mbps). Apple claims that 4S will be a “world phone” as both CDMA or  GSM subscribers will be able to roam on GSM network in other countries.

5) iCloud

With iCloud one will be able to easily sync all the data on all the Apple products that one own. The good thing is that one does not need to synchronise new data every time it is added to one product. iCloud will do it automatically for your. So for e.g. if you have just taken a picture on your Iphone, it will be automatically added to your Ipad, Mcbook or Apple TV, as the case may be. Apple will be providing 5GB of storage free for the users. 

6) iOS 5

Apple has launched its new operating system iOS 5 with 4S which will also be available to other users on its app store on October 12 (free). There are excellent enhancements and new features launched with iOS 5. Some of them are notification center (one-place to see new texts, mails messages, reminders etc), imessage (free messaging between iphone users just like BBM in blackberry), twitter integration, newsstand (all newspapers and magazines at one place), safari enhancements and some camera and photo enhancements too.

Lastly, the new 4S will have 'airplay' capabilities meaning that one can connect it to one’s HDTV and can watch everything which one see on Iphone mirrored on the TV. 

In my opinion, All the above features listed above and few more (see the link http://www.apple.com/in/iphone/) have the abilities to make 4S as the greatest Smartphone ever.

Apple announced that Iphone 4S 8GB version will cost USD199 for a typical 2 year contract in US with either AT&T or Verizon. Whereas, in UK it will cost GBP499. Iphone 4S will be launched on October 14 in US, UK, Japan etc and on October 20 in several other countries including Singapore. It will be further launched in over 70 other countries (hopefully including India) by end-December. Apple has yet not disclosed the price for IPhone 4S for non-US countries. 

I am very excited and all set to buy this as soon as it is launched in India.


1 comment:

  1. now am sort of convinced to gift you this as ur next bdy present!!

    ReplyDelete