The introduction of the iPhone 4S marks the introduction of iOS 5 as well. The new operating system is loaded with big improvements, from notifications to how your device connects to your computer.
Packed with major features like iCloud integration and an innovative, voice-activated "intelligent assistant" named Siri, it's not unfair to consider this one of the most meaningful updates to iOS we've ever seen. For a phone that's already being touted as one of Apple's fastest-sellers, it's hard to even suggest that the iPhone 4S won't be a success. But beyond pure market excitement, is there enough in this new device to stand up to a steady wave of competition — some which is awfully fierce?
I'll try to answer that question in my review below, so read on for the whole story. That said, the iPhone 4 design does stand the test of time or 16 months in this case. Compared with most if not all of its Android competition, this industrial design looms tall. Though enthusiasts might be bored of seeing the same hardware for more than a year, this still feels like the phone to beat in the looks department. The glass back — while incredibly prone to shattering on impact — feels as sleek and sexy as ever.
The metal antenna and solid, machined buttons feel high-end, expensive even. If this were a car, it would be a Mercedes. Competing phone-makers have had more than a year a lot more considering the leaked photos of the iPhone 4 prior to its release to best this design, and yet no one really has.
As frustrating as it is to say this, no other phone on the market comes close to this level of craftsmanship, materials, or considered design. The phone also touts a digital compass, GPS chip, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, and three-axis gyroscope. The iPhone 4S now has an 8 megapixel sensor and improved optics which the company claims delivers point-and-shoot quality photos.
The phone is also capable of handling p video. The front-facing camera remains unchanged from the iPhone 4, however, clocking in at a measly VGA resolution. One thing I did note, however, was how much less contrast-heavy the screen looks in comparison to the previous model.
The iPhone 4S has a noticeably different color tone, and blacks seem far less dark. Still, the newer screen definitely has a slightly more green-tinted, washed-out look compared with the older device.
Otherwise, the phone is unchanged. I wish there were more to say about the differences between this model and its predecessor, but the changes are simply very subtle. Still, the iPhone 4S is a gorgeous device with impressive specs. On paper, it may not stand up to the latest and greatest Android phone with 4G radios, a massive screen, and a screaming 1.
Apple made a pretty big deal out of the new camera on the rear of the iPhone 4S, and after testing it for a few days, I understand why. The iPhone 4 has a 5-megapixel shooter which — when it was introduced — was touted as being superior to other smartphone cameras. This was thanks to a bigger sensor which let an increased amount of photon information pass through the lens a point Steve Jobs went to great lengths to explain at WWDC in The sensor is not only larger on the new iPhone, but Apple has further tweaked the optics to deliver better results, even in low-light settings.
The 4S produced crisp, balanced, colorful photos that were surprisingly low-noise and never over-saturated. The iPhone 4 sometimes seemed to be compensating for its limitations by exaggerating colors, but the iPhone 4S looks and feels like a real camera capturing true images.
The macro focus on the lens was particularly impressive, allowing me to grab subjects including really gross insects at extremely close ranges. I did have some minor issues with the focus not wanting to take in some situations, but that may have had more to do with the focal limitations of the small lens than anything else.
As far as video is concerned, it should come as no surprise that Apple has done a similarly excellent job here too. The iPhone 4S captures full p content, and does so with the same crispness and polish that it lends to its still photos.
During the announcement in Cupertino, Apple made a point to call out the new or rather, improved antenna design on the iPhone 4S. The company claims the phone can "intelligently" switch between its two antennas providing better call quality and presumably fewer dropped calls. In terms of "death grip" worries, I was able to get the phone to start dropping bars if I tightly held it on both the bottom and top of the device along the notches in the antenna.
This is, of course, a totally absurd way to grip a phone. When I thought of buying the iPhone 4s, in my head I knew its shortcomings. But I was surprised to find out how capable the iPhone 4s is even today. Browsing the web on the iPhone 4s is as good as on any other phone. Many news websites such as Indianexpress. But running modern apps on the iPhone 4s is entirely a different story altogether.
But running iOS 9. But I must say the iPhone 4s still performs better than many Android smartphones that have been introduced much later. And I must say I can clearly see the progress Apple has made in improving the camera on its iPhones. But the phone suffers a lot in low-light and comparing the iPhone 4s and iPhone 12 is like comparing two different planets.
There are some shortcomings of using a small-screen phone: the small form factor means the iPhone 4s has a smaller battery, which translates to not-so-great battery life. My phone lasted about four and a half hours before it died completely.
We've embedded a short test video clip here so you can see how the iPhone 4S fares for yourself, but in our opinion, the footage this phone captures is very impressive. There's a hint of rolling shutter, which is the effect that makes your video look wobbly when the camera moves. It's something we noticed on the iPhone 4 as well, and it's not too bad here. All things considered we think this could easily fill in for a proper camcorder when you go on holiday.
Anyone who's held an iPhone 4 will be au fait with the iPhone 4S' design, because it looks almost exactly the same as its predecessor. While it makes the iPhone 4 and the 4S hard to tell apart, the lack of a new look is not necessarily a bad thing, because this classy slab of gadgetry is still one of the best-looking phones in the business.
A slab of glass adorns the back of the 4S, while a rounded metal band along the edges lends this phone an industrial, modern look. Once the iPhone's button selection looked sparse -- the big 'home' button bang in the middle, circular volume buttons, a switch to turn the phone to silent and a lock key on the top are still all you get.
In the last year rival manufacturers have opted for a similarly minimalist style, so the 4S doesn't look as singular as previous iPhones did at the time. The volume buttons and mute switch have been altered slightly from the iPhone 4, with all three buttons moved down a few millimetres. As a result it's possible that iPhone 4 cases won't all fit the iPhone 4S, if the case is particularly snug around these keys.
Most cases have a gap for all the buttons, so should be fine. One gripe we'd level at the 4S is that it's very fragile.
We've had over a year with the iPhone 4, and in that time we've seen more than our fair share of cracked casings and shattered screens. With the same design, the iPhone 4S will suffer just as much if you knock it off a table or leave it in the hands of a destructive toddler. In conclusion, it's a shame that your mates and jealous commuters won't be able to tell immediately that you're carrying the latest tech, and the fragile casing could lead to tears, but this is still a deliciously classy phone, and one you should be proud to fill your pockets with.
Even the most sophisticated smart phone isn't much cop if it can't survive without sucking on its charging cable, so how does the 4S fare away from the mains? With what we'd consider normal-to-heavy usage -- that is, brightness turned to full, intermittent Web browsing over both 3G and Wi-Fi, some time spent downloading and playing games and about 50 minutes of streaming YouTube video -- the 4S' battery ran down to 27 per cent from a full charge after 6 hours and 18 minutes.
We don't expect you'll end up using your 4S that much every day though. Based on our experiences, with moderate use the 4S will likely last you through to the end of the day. If you find the battery is draining too quickly, try turning off services you don't use, and checking which apps are monitoring your location in the settings menu, as this could be guzzling through your reserves.
We tried to burn through the 4S' battery as quickly as we could, by running graphically intensive 3D games Infinity Blade and Real Racing 2. The battery died after a little more than 3 hours, so consider that an approximate minimum life expectancy. We also noticed the 4S got very warm while it was running these games -- a sign that its processor is working hard.
These results are in line with our expectations -- we've yet to see a high-spec smart phone that can last more than a day or two away from the mains. We expect you'll need to charge the iPhone 4S every night to ensure it makes it through a full day, particularly if you're fond of downloading things or playing intensive games. So far the 4S' battery appears to offer similar survivability to the iPhone 4. Indeed, the battery unit inside the 4S is very similar to that of its predecessor.
When the iPhone 4 was released it blew our socks clean off our feet, and caused rival manufacturers to scrabble frantically back to the drawing board, desperate to conjure up something equally cool and impressive. We remain continually impressed by the performance of the iPhone 4 — despite its aging assets, it still performs like a young smartphone in its prime.
In other words, we're not seeing a particularly strong difference between day-to-day usage of the two devices. Yes, your apps will load a little more quickly and react more responsively and your webpages will render more snappily, but Apple already did such a good job of ensuring solid performance on the 4 that this upgrade seems rather less than necessary. Of course, that could all change when we start to see some games able to make use of the extra firepower the iPhone 4S has at its disposal.
At the phone's coming out party Epic showed off Infinity Blade 2 and wowed us with very impressive graphics. The problem is, that game isn't due out until December, and we're not aware of other similarly eye-popping 4S-exclusive titles in the pipeline that will be dropping before then. The final aspect of performance is network speed and, as ever, your mileage can and will vary greatly depending on the relative strength or weakness of carriers in your area.
But, regardless of carrier, the lack of LTE here is a definite disappointment. Its omission surely helps battery life but hurts this device's status as a world-conquering wunderphone. We tested a Sprint version of the phone and found that, with full bars on 3G, download speeds were averaging about 1Mbps down and. Signal strength between the two phones was comparable as well. Apple is quite proud of the iPhone 4's status as the most popular camera on photo sharing sites like Flickr, and now the company is finally giving all those guerilla photogs something good to capture pictures with.
More megapixels certainly don't equate to better pictures, but it's safe to say the new camera package here impresses. But, what will impress you first is the speed. Apple is quite proud of the speed improvements for bringing up the camera app and taking the first picture, and it is a noticeable improvement over the 4 — except when using the HDR mode that was introduced in iOS 4. Here it doesn't seem to be much if any quicker at all. Leave that off, though, and you'll be hopping from one shot to the next like someone who hasn't got time for shutter lag.
In our initial camera testing, we put ourselves into tourist mode: walking around, taking random pictures of things that tourists would.
The quality of the resulting shots is definitely good, among the top top tier of shooters we've tested. The phone doesn't seem to be bothered by big differences in contrast like the Galaxy S II and does a good job focusing quickly and accurately — we only had one or two missed macro shots.
The iPhone 4S will record at p30 and we found the footage to be clear and bright. Auto-focus happens quickly and we didn't detect any obnoxious focus-hunting. Overall the improvements on the camera are tangible and appreciated, but there's one thing Apple sadly failed to fix here: its location.
The peep-hole for the lens is still too close to the edge of the device for our tastes, which resulted in many a stray finger sneaking into our shots.
We'd have liked to see it sneak its way a little further toward the center of the phone.
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