Apple’s newest
iteration of the iPhone was greeted with mixed reactions from the
market. A lot has been said, both praises and disappointments, about
what it should have been in the first place. Since the local launch of
the iPhone 4S with Globe and Smart is just a couple of days away, let me
share with you what I think of this phone. Check out our iPhone 4S review after the jump.
Prior to this, I was using an iPhone 4 and have actually decided not to get the iPhone 4S (was able to get the iPhone 4 free last year with Globe in exchange for a 3-year contract). Do read on our iPhone 4 review from last year to get a better perspective before reading on.
Frankly, I did not see any significant compelling reason to upgrade. I
share this same advice to folks who asked me and even on TV guesting
and interviews. The opportunity to upgrade came by accident so I
accepted it thinking I also needed to actually use and review the
handset in order to be more reasonable with my earlier conclusion.
But before I go there, let me walk you thru what the iPhone 4S offers and how is it different from the iPhone 4.
Better Hardware Configuration.
Twice the processor, more storage, better camera and faster
connectivity — that’s what the iPhone 4S added to the table. It now
sports dual-core processors that was used on the iPad 2 as well as
options for a 64GB storage (with 16Gb and 32GB still in the menu) and
HSDPA connectivity that can do up to 14.4Mbps.
There’s no LTE or even HSPA+ here so the iPhone 4S will not really maximize the speeds of the HSPA+ network of Smart and Globe.
Apple also bumped up the camera on the phone to 8MP with option to
record video up to 1080p full HD. More on the camera quality and HD
features later.
For good measure, they also added Bluetooth 4.0. No NFC support here, a technology that seems to be the trend now.
Still Same Old Design.
The iPhone 4S sports the same old design as its predecessor so
there’s nothing to really worth mentioning in the design department.
Yes, the design and solid construction of the iPhone 4
and iPhone 4S is already impressive but folks like me still want bigger
screen. A 4.3-inch display seems to be the minimum size when it comes
to flagship handsets so the 3.5″ on the iPhone 4S feels like in the
mid-range category already.
And while the design of the iPhone 4S already screams premium
craftsmanship, a little bit more screen real estate would have been
great (catching up to the times, eh?). Nevertheless, the 960×640 screen
resolution is among the best resolution we’ve ever seen on most handsets
(which normally is in the 480×800) this size.
Well hello there, Siri!
One of the purportedly best features of the iPhone 4S is the personal
assistant function that’s built into the OS which is called Siri.
What makes it different from any other dictation, voice control or
voice recognition software is Siri’s ability to understand semantics a
little bit better than the rest. That means, you don’t have to say
commands in a specific structure so it can understand you. The best part
is that Siri actually has a sense of humor and personality.
Siri isn’t new either. It’s been a stand-alone app for about a year
in the iTunes App Store (where few people noticed or ever used it).
Apple bought the company and yanked Siri from the Store to make it part
of iOS5. It’s curious though that Apple would not make Siri available to
the iPhone 4.
There’s also a catch here though — you will need to be connected to
the internet to be able to use Siri. This is because the commands are
processed in the cloud (Apple servers) and other related services like
Wolfram Alpha. That means activating and using Siri entails data charges
and also contributes to faster battery consumption.
My other beef is you’ll have to talk clearly with a little bit of an
America accent when talking to Siri. Otherwise, you’ll just end up
repeating yourself and be frustrated in the process.
I’ve been using the iPhone 4S for a couple of weeks now and have not
gotten used to telling Siri to execute commands. The only time I whip it
out is to demonstrate to people how it works or how funny some of the
answers are.
For the most part, I don’t see Siri as an essential feature for my daily use.
Still the Best Camera.
When iPhone 4
first came, it had the best camera in any handset that I’ve used. It
was so good I am comfortable not bringing my Canon S95 with me and use
it to take photos instead. Same with the HD video.
The iPhone 4S brings it up a notch and brought it an 8MP camera with full HD 1080p video recording capabilities.
The camera is one of the fastest I’ve used on a phone. From
experience, I think it can do something like 2fps when taking stills.
Images are a bit saturated so colors look deeper and more prominent.
Over-all sharp and clean images even at low-light conditions.
Video recording at 1080p is fast and focused with very minimal
dropped frames. The microphone picks up a lot of unwanted noise though.
The Network: #globeiphone4s or #smartiphone4s
This is the first time that the iPhone 4S will be offered on more than one network in the country. After being exclusive to Globe Telecom
for the past 3 years, Smart Communication will also offer the iPhone 4S
both on prepaid and postpaid plans this coming December 16, 2011 (both
networks have invited us to attend their launch party).
This offers more option for subscribers to choose the network that
works best in their location. I believe it’s the type of postpaid
package that will play a huge factor when people pick the network.
We still don’t have the details of the postpaid plans form Globe and
Smart so we can’t say much in that aspect (will update come December
16).
As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 4S only comes with an updated HSDPA
chip that has a theoretical speed of up to 14.4Mbps. Unfortunately, the
HSDPA and HSPA network of both telcos are somewhat congested compared to
their newer and faster HSPA+ network so don’t expect really great
mobile internet connections compared to the ones that use the Galaxy S2
or Galaxy Note.
It’s in the OS.
Apple has also rolled out the latest version of their mobile OS.
While iOS5 is also available on earlier models of the iPhone (3GS and
iP4) and other iDevices, Siri only natively works on the iPhone 4S. You
can read more about iOS5 in our earlier post here.,
The dual-core processor helps improve performance of multi-tasking
and 1080p video encoding. Twitter is heavily integrated into the OS and
Notification looks Android-ish.
iCloud is best used to synchronized all your iDevices and back them
all up in the cloud (does not sync and backup SMS messages though). It’s
not perfect but it works. iMessage is great as a compliment to regular
SMS especially when your contacts are using an iPhone, iPod Touch or
iPad on iOS5.
Battery life is something that’s always an issue with the iPhone 4
since it was first introduced. The iPhone 4S had some problems with
iOS5 with batteries draining really fast but a fix was rolled out to
address this. Expect a good whole day of normal use, a day and a half if
you’re lucky and around 12 to 18 hours if you’re a heavy user.
What’s the Bottomline?
The iPhone 4S is a great phone over-all. If you haven’t switched to
an iPhone, this is the best time to convince you to get one. It’s not a
big deal if you’re coming from the iPhone 4 but will surely get the benefits if you’re using the older 3G or 3GS.
Siri doesn’t contribute much to the over-all user experience. You won’t miss it even if you turn the feature off.
Apple iPhone 4s specs:
3.5″ display @ 960×640 pixels
Apple 1GHz A5 dual-core chip
16GB, 32GB & 64GB internal storage
512MB RAM
HSDPA or EVDO 14.4Mbps
WiFi 802.11b/g/n
GPS w/ aGPS
Gyroscope
8MP camera with LED flash
1080p video recording
2nd front-facing camera
2 mics w/ noise-canceling
Bluetooth 4.0
iOS 5
Apple did a bit of re-engineering with the internal circuit to
provide better antenna reception for better call quality and 3G signal.
So, if you’re thinking about that “grip-of-death” issue that plagued the
old iPhone 4, it’s no longer an issue here.
The iPhone 4S may not be the top choice for a lot of people this year
because of the large number of competing handsets that is at par in
terms of performance and hardware configuration.
Where the iPhone 4S excels is the smooth integration of the OS and
the complementing hardware. It may not have the fastest processor, the
biggest screen, or the fastest 4G chip but that’s not the game that
Apple plays. The iPhone 4 is already a great smartphone. Apple just made it a little better with the 4S.
Author: Abe Olandres
Source: Yugatech (Philippine News & Technology Review)
http://yugatech.com
Reprinted with Permission
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