iPhone 4S review.
Another year, another iPhone. I finally have got my hands on apple’s latest and greatest handset, the iPhone 4S. Apple took many by surprise by not announcing an all new designed ‘iPhone 5’, instead opting for the same design, but with major improvements inside, not forgetting adding an S to its name. It will shock none, but give that little S half a chance and it’s sure to impress. What we now have is an 8mp sensor with 1080p video recording, a faster dual core A5 processor, improved antenna design with HSPDA+ networking and perhaps the most exciting of all, Siri, apples voice recognition feature. So is the phone any better, and more importantly is it worth upgrading? I have been living with the 4S for a while now and here’s what I think.

Hardware:
The design is practically identical to its predecessor, the iPhone 4, with the only a tweaked antenna design to set it apart. The 4S now has a dual-band aerial design, with 4 black lines, one for each corner, eliminating the chance of another embarrassing antenna-gate issue. Annoyingly for those who own iPhone 4 cases, the mute button is now a lower down, meaning these cases will no longer be a perfect fit. Although identical to the iPhone 4, it doesn’t mean I am going to criticise its design, as this is still in my opinion the one of most impressively crafted, attractive and pocket friendly handsets on the market today. The glass on the front and back held together with the stainless steel band makes this feel like a really high end device and add a little more weight, which I personally prefer to feel than the feather light plastic designs we see on some high end android devices. The screen still has the incredibly crisp 960×640 retina display we sore on the iPhone 4, but it is a bit disappointing to be 5 generations down the line, and still have a measly 3.5 inch display. The speakers are clear and great for playing music allowed, and a bit louder than the 4’s, a nice surprise.

Performance/battery life:
The device now utilises Apples dual core A5 chip (the same as in the iPad 2), and is still clocked at 800mhz. Don’t let the clock speed fool you though, although many android devices run at up to 1.5 GHz, in practical use I feel none are as slick and speedy as the 4S. Comparing it with the A4 chip powering its predecessor is not like comparing the 3G to the 3GS, as the speed jump isn’t as significant. However it still opens up apps noticeably quicker, renders web pages up to twice as fast, and reduces any lag experienced while operating iOS 5. However where this chip really shows off is with gaming. Developers were often held back by the relatively slow speeds of the A4 chip, but here they have a whole extra core to play with, and it sure makes a difference. Real racing 2 now has much improved graphics when it comes to lighting and textures and infinity blade 2 takes mobile gaming to a whole other level with its console like graphics Any lag whilst using powerful apps on the 4 is now non – existent, thankfully resulting in a much more smooth operation. As for battery life, it holds up well as did its predecessor, although it houses a slightly larger battery allowing for more talk time, unfortunately in my experience the battery does drain slightly faster than on the 4. A speedier processor however does mean you may get marginally more done in that time, if that’s any consolation?

Software:
The IPhone 4S now comes with apple’s latest version of iOS built in; with iOS 5 we see welcome additions to already elegant but solid software. It’s very much personal preference when it comes to comparing IOS 5 with other platforms such as android and windows mobile, so I won’t go into comparing them too much, but I defiantly feel Apple’s marriage of its hardware with its own software sets the iPhone apart. Here’s what’s new in iOS 5:

Notification centre:
One of the most obvious improvements straight away is its improved notification system that was rather lacking in IOS 4. Scroll down from the top of the screen and an attractive notification centre will follow your finger. Widgets include weather and stocks, both with links to the app when touched. Any un-read text messages and messages from applications are also present and can be opened when touched.

iCloud:
More and more people want to store their documents in the cloud and apple is now taking advantage of this. Apple are now allowing iOS 5 users to backup to the cloud meaning if your devices freezes you can reset it and run it from a backup in the cloud. Other things that can also be in the cloud also include Mail, Contacts, Callendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, Documents and data, Photostream, iCloud also has features from mobile me such as mail and find my iPhone. Another feature also includes Photo stream, this is a useful feature for those who own other apple devices as when you have Photo Stream enabled any pictures you take will be pushed to other devices who have Photo stream enabled.
With regards to storage, everyone who runs an iOS 5 device can get access to iCloud. Everyone gets 5GB of storage for free but then you have the option to upgrade. The upgrades are 10GB, 20GB and 50GB. These can be purchased yearly. The 10GB costs £14 a year, 20GB is £28 a year and the 50GB is £70 a year. The free of charge storage is also kept after an upgrade.

Safari/ Reminders/wireless sync/photo editing/iMessage/Twitter
Safari on iPhone has always been the best way to surf the web on a mobile in my opinion, and it now has many new useful additions. Reading list allows users to gather up a list of web pages they would like to view at a later date. With all the clutter we see on many websites today (apart from iGadgetOS, of course), reader is really great in cleaning out the page so articles can be read without anything getting in the way. Apple’s new reminders app is really useful in reminding you of all your tasks that need to be done. Although it doesn’t present anything special in the looks department, it features location based reminders and may just save you from a few difficult situations. Wireless sync means you now may not need to un plug that USB cable in you mains charger again in order to sync content from ITunes, as it now does it wirelessly over Wi-Fi, although you may need a fast broadband as I found it difficult for my connection to hold up a during a whole sync, that’s Talk Talk broadband for you. The new photo editing options are relatively basic, and in my experienced a little bit pointless as there are numerous free apps on the app store that can do a better job. However it’s great if I want to quickly enhance, crop, rotate or remove red eye from any photo. iMessage now means any device running IOS5 can now communicate with each other, with messages to other iMessage users now sending over your internet connection in front of a blue background. Although not on par with the BBM service blackberry users can enjoy, it’s a great new addition to open up more ways to communicate easily. Twitter has integration into iOS 5 now; you can navigate your way to settings to set it up. With this integration you can now tweet pictures on to go and share the location.

Camera:
The IPhone’s camera has always seemed to be playing catch up with rivals such as Sony and Nokia, but the 4S changes all that, packing a sensor with 8 megapixels and all-new optics. As the iPhone 4S boasts an 8MP Camera this now means it has 60% more pixels per picture, as a result of this, the images look stunning when enlarged on a bit screen. The all-new optics in the lens mean that the photos look great under lots of circumstances. The lens uses 5 precision elements’ to make the images look sharper under all light. The larger aperture (f/2.4) Lets in more light so photos are shaper and better than ever. The 4S’ Camera also has face detection and HDR (High dynamic range), which is found on the iPhone 4 as well.

1080p video:
Keeping up to date with many other smartphones, Apples has bumped up the resolution of the video camera from 720p on the iPhone 4 to 1080p with the 4s. This results in the footage looking remarkably clear and detailed, especially when views on a larger 1080p display. The video light is nice a bright too. On top of this, the A5 chip allows for video stabilisation, it’s a surprisingly effective addition, reducing the shake that is far to present on many mobile sensors. So long, shaky shots; as Apples website proudly points out. Add to this video editing with IMovie for iPhone (£2.99 on the app store), that now runs a lot smoother thanks to the faster processor, and Apple makes a very compelling offer for mobile film lovers.

Siri voice recognition:
We were feeling a little disappointed during Apple’s press conference, but to save the day, Apple announced Siri, it was a peak into their vision of how we should interact with our devices in the future, and seeing what Siri can do, it’s a very exciting future indeed! Long gone are the days of apple old voice recognition service, which allowed you to do very little other than call your friend, if you were lucky. Siri takes things to a whole other level, not only is the dictation surprisingly accurate (excluding a few accents, more on that later), it seems to understand what you mean, even if you don’t say the exact words. You can say things like ‘will I need an umbrella tomorrow’ and it will understand your talking about the rain forecast. It even has a bit of a humorous side, tell Siri you love him (her in the US), and it may reply with a witty line such as ‘I bet you say that to all your Apple products’. It’s also useful in following a list of commands and being able to change them as you go along; I can arrange a meeting, it will tell me I’m busy, I can ask it to change it, and it will, clever, huh? Although the novelty soon wore off, I have found it very useful to send messages, check the weather, currency rates, and find other bits of information. However it’s not perfect, those outside of the US will find it can’t look for businesses in their country, so don’t buy the 4S if you think it will find you the nearest Chinese restaurant. As well as this those with strong accents may find it struggles to understand you, for example strong southern American accents and Scottish accents. However Apple is into these issues, recently updating Siri to understand those of you down under better, and has said the ability to look for businesses outside the US will be added in 2012.

Wrap up:
Another year, another iPhone. Every time we have asked whether Apples new handset is worth buying, or worth upgrading, this time around the latter question there has never been so hard to answer. Confidently I can say this is this is the best iPhone yet, and those looking to buy and iPhone should defiantly pick the 4s over its cheaper predecessors. The camera is now astonishingly approaching DSLR standards, video recording has never looked so good, it’s more powerful and users now have Siri to play with, all along with the slickest version of IOS yet. Weather that is enough to upgrade from the 4 is largely down to personal preference. Those who don’t fancy talking to their phones should probably give this one a miss, even if they are into mobile photography and IOS gaming, as the 4 still managed these takes admirably, and can also run the same software, IOS5. There’s not LTE here or a large screen, so android users can breathe a sigh of relief as this iPhone doesn’t put it ahead in those terms. However in my opinion the incredible design, software and array of new features the 4S brings to the table keeps Apple on top, for now.

By Max and a bit by kieran