Introducing the Apple iPhone 4S, A World Phone With Both GSM and CDMA
After much anticipation, we can now welcome into the world the Apple iPhone 4S.
So what can we expect with this device? To start, the handset shows off a retina display, glass in front and back, with the same form factor as the iPhone 4, but “inside, it is all new.” It houses an A5 processor, which is an Apple designed chip, dual core processor, dual core graphics and it is up to 7x faster than previous iPhone. Apple also uses that A5 chip, to store an Apple designed image processor. This is where the face detection lies, and it has 26% better auto white balance than the iPhone 4, and the chip takes super fast photos.
The iPhone 4S has a five element lens (there were four in the iPhone 4), this provides a 30% sharper image. It’s got an f/2.4 aperture, which lets in more light. Which brings us to the camera system.
The iPhone 4 is the most popular camera used on Flickr. “We set our sights on competing with great point and shoot cameras,” Apple says. So what can we expect from the new camera? It rocks an 8 MP sensor, so you can take photos that are 3264 by 2448, which is 60% more pixels than the iPhone 4’s camera sensor. Additionally, the new sensor is backside illuminated, which gathers 73% more light than the iPhone 4’s sensor. It’s 33% faster than the iPhone 4’s camera as well. On top of that, it’s got a hybrid IR filter for better color accuracy and more color uniformity.
More importantly the iPhone 4S is a world phone. Where the original iPhone 4 came in two options, either GSM or CDMA, users had to choose one over the other- without the flexibility that a true world phone provides. GSM lets you roam around the world, and the iPhone 4S (with both GSM and CDMA) intends to allow you to do both.
*Editor’s note – this also probably means that an unlocked iPhone 4S will work on multiple carriers around the world and be more valuable (for you iPhone exporters out there). We will however have to see what 3G/4G frequencies/technologies it supports though to determine how fast it will be on these different networks.
So now that we know the iPhone 4S will in fact be a world phone, how fast will the handset be? We’re glad you asked. The iPhone 4S will switch between two antennas to both transmit and receive. It can do this in the middle of a call. Essentially, this alone improves call quality and enables the device to download data twice as fast as before. It can achieve 14.4 down and 5.8 up (that’s Mbps). To put it into perspective it’s the same 4G performance as the Motorola Atrix 4G, HTC Inspire 4G, LG Thrill 4G.
The last feature that was unveiled was Siri. Siri is Apple’s new voice command feature that mimics a “personal assistant”. So rather than saying commands as you would with other voice command enabled device, with Siri you can say things like “Will it rain today?” and Siri will respond with “Today’s forecast shows sunny skies”. If you say, “read message”, it will read your text message out loud then ask you if you want to reply, etc. Nice little touch.
Overall the iPhone 4S will feature an improved processor, wireless technology, 8mp camera, AirPlay (which allows you to share your iPhone screen with your Apple TV product), iCloud, and Siri (the “personal assistant”). All of this, wrapped up in iOS 5. Who’s sitting at their computer, staring at Apple’s website, counting down the hours till the 7th when you can preorder your new iPhone? Go ahead, be honest.
For the slightly more patient out there, the iPhone 4S will officially launch in stores on the 14th of October.
