Apple iPhone 4S - Smarter Than Before

Evolutionary or Revolutionary?

Being the fifth generation of iPhone from Apple, expectations were rather high on the Cupertino-based company to introduce something "magical". As many of you would know by now, the Apple iPhone 4S wasn't the phone that many wanted to see. Rumors were on the rage about a slimmer iPhone with bigger screen and game-changing features.

What the world saw instead was an exact replica of the iPhone 4, one that is hardly distinguishable from its predecessor - unless you are sharp enough to notice some slight changes to its design. So was it a huge disappointment? Not really; as the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover. While the iPhone 4S looks identical to the iPhone 4, what's more important is the changes that Apple made on the inside. Similar to the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4S is more evolutionary than revolutionary. The upgrades are ample to keep Apple in the increasingly competitive playing field. Here's a quick summary of the upgrades you will see in the iPhone 4S: - 

Notable Features and Upgrades on Apple iPhone 4S Apple A5 dual-core 1GHz processor 8-megapixel camera with f/2.4 aperture 1080p HD video recording Siri (intelligent voice command system) Supports HSDPA 14.4 Mbps New antenna design Bluetooth 4.0

Seeing Double?

If there is one saying  to describe the design of the iPhone 4S, it would be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." By leaving the bulk of the design intact, the iPhone 4S remains one of the best-looking mobile phones in the market today. Its design still ranks among the top in terms of quality and finish, which we have grown to appreciate after handling plasticky phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S II. The iPhone 4S retains the excellent Retina display, which has the eye-popping pixel density of 326ppi. 

Another change you can see from the above photo is the position of the silencer switch on the iPhone 4S. It is shifted down slightly, which means that you cannot use existing iPhone 4 cases for the iPhone 4S. That's probably good news for the accessory retailers, but an annoyance for upgraders. Still, if you're using a soft cover based case, you could perhaps get creative to enlarge the opening on the case for the silencer switch.

A More Complete Apple Experience 

Apple asked the same question as we did asked ourselves - how do you make a product that is a hit, even better? The iPhone 4, as with all other Apple products, enjoy a strategic advantage over its competitors with its rich ecosystem of services and apps. Coupled with one of the slickest mobile operating systems (OS) in the industry, it leaves no doubt as to why Apple products are so sought after worldwide. So what did Apple focus on in the iPhone 4S? Two words - user experience. 

The iPhone 4S ushers in a new era for Apple with the new iOS 5. The iOS user interface is well-known for its user friendliness, seamless experience and smooth transitions. However, as with virtually anything in the world, it is not perfect. Compared to other mobile OSes' interfaces, the iOS lagged behind in certain aspects. For example, iOS users had always complained about the intrusive notification pop-ups on their devices. In addition, unlike Android users who enjoy the tight integration of Gmail, Google Calender and other suite of features, iOS users lack a native app or service on their devices. 

With iOS 5, Apple will address these shortcomings and strengthen iOS to bring the user experience to a whole new level. According to Apple, iOS 5 boasts over 200 new features. As it will be exhaustive to go through all of them, we have carefully selected ten features of iOS 5 that we felt are the most significant. Here's a quick overview of the top ten features of Apple iOS 5: 

• Camera 
• Notification Centre 
• Reminders 
• Twitter Integration 
• iCloud 
• Improved Safari Browser 
• iMessage 
• iTunes Wi-Fi Sync 
• Keyboard Shortcuts 
• Over-the-air Updates

One of the key highlights of the iPhone 4S is the highly advanced voice command feature, Siri. While the concept of voice command apps is not new, Siri on the iPhone 4S takes on a more polished approach. It has artificial intelligence built into the system, which understands what you say, learn and adapt over time. While Siri is currently still in beta version, its ability to contextualize and accomplish certain tasks such as checking your calender for appointments are simply impressive. At the moment, Siri is only able to understand three languages, which are English, French and German. 

As stated above, Siri is limited to understanding three accents of the English language. As there are different English accents used by communities around the world, it is no wonder that our local English variant may be a little too tough for Siri to handle. The basic rule of getting Siri to understanding your voice commands is to speak in a controlled and concise manner. Here's a video of the HardwareZone editorial team testing out Siri if you missed out the fun earlier: - 

S for Speedier  

The one-year old iPhone 4 is getting outpaced by some of its competitors which sport dual-core processors with higher clock speeds. Therefore, it was a no-brainer that we would have come to expect a dual-core processor on the iPhone 4S.

First seen on the iPad 2, the Apple A5 processor chip makes its second debut on the iPhone 4S. An important finding by AnandTech revealed that the iPhone 4S's processor is actually underclocked at 800MHz. Nevertheless, Apple claims that the it can deliver up to two times more processing power and seven times the graphics performance compared to the iPhone 4. Well, we put the iPhone 4S up against the iPhone 4 to determine whether Apple's claims are valid for some basic tasks where people are most likely to appreciate speed gains, if any, from a newer processor. Both phones were run on Apple iOS 5 and were rebooted before the test. We also ensured that no apps were running in the background. Note that the phones were connected to the internet via our internal Wi-Fi network.

Here's a summary of our findings from the video:

• The iPhone 4S starts up about two seconds faster than the iPhone 4.
• When activating the camera, the iPhone 4S is at most a second ahead. A nail-biting close race between the two! 
• The difference is more apparent when we ran the Angry Birds Free version app on both iPhones. The iPhone 4S left the iPhone 4 in the dust. 
• One of the key improvements we observed was the speed at which web pages loaded. Our HardwareZone website finished loading two seconds earlier on the iPhone 4S.

From our observations and experience using the iPhone 4S, the experience was definitely snappier, even if it meant the difference was just merely milliseconds apart. Many folks, including ourselves thought the user experience on the iPhone 4 was already very good. Well, the iPhone 4S is even better. No lags were noticed when using the iPhone 4S. Some of the apps opened and loaded significantly faster such as YouTube, Camera and Maps.

This is even more surprising when you take into account that the iPhone 4S ships with the same amount of RAM (512MB) as the iPhone 4. This is in contrast to the 1GB of RAM you would find in the top range Android smartphones today. Theoretically, more RAM would mean that multitasking would be more effortless since the phone is able to run smoothly with the extra memory buffering whatever apps and services needed to be run simultaneously. However, Apple proved that it is not just about hardware and was able to integrate both hardware and software aspects of the iPhone 4S to run as smooth or even better than other smartphones with more RAM.

The Best Camera Phone? 

The other key hardware feature of the iPhone 4S is the new 8-megapixel camera. It also has a backside illuminated CMOS that is able to take in 73% more light. Apple states that the new camera incorporates a five element lens with f/2.4 aperture that produces images which are 30% sharper than before. Coupled with the A5 processor is an in-house designed image signal processor that enables the iPhone 4S to have face detection and better auto white balance. Now that you know about the specifications of the camera, we put the iPhone 4S through our camera test to assess its performance.

Truth be told, we are really impressed with how Apple consistently improves the camera quality and capabilities on its iPhones. What was once upon a time its weakness, it has been improved to become one of its leading features. The iPhone 4 is a good testament as it is the most popular camera for uploading pictures on Flickr. Don't be surprised if the iPhone 4S quickly ascends to the top of the chart in the months ahead since it is a better camera phone. We also particularly liked how fast the camera captures images. There is very little shutter lag between shots, which we felt that consumers will appreciate. Last but not least, the iPhone 4S catches up with the competition with its 1080p HD video recording. You can bid farewell to low resolution or shaky video recording as the iPhone 4S takes remarkable videos.

Since Apple claimed that the iPhone 4S might have the best camera ever on a mobile phone, we decided to pit it with the other 8-megapixel powerhouses to see how it fared. As the article is not a shootout of the camera capabilities, we did not declare a winner and let the pictures speak for themselves as to what people can expect out of the box.

Probably the next most important aspect of the iPhone 4S is the battery life. During the launch event, Apple declined to comment much on the battery performance of the iPhone 4S. These are what we know from its website:

• 8 hours talk time with 3G enabled (one hour more than the iPhone 4)
• 200 hours of standby time (a drop of 100 hours compared to the iPhone 4)
• 9 hours of internet use on Wi-Fi (the iPhone 4 specifies 10 hours)

Looking at the statistics provided by Apple, it appears that Apple managed to maintain a decent standard of battery performance for the iPhone 4S despite equipping it with a dual-core processor and more powerful camera module. Unfortunately, reality tells a different story. 

iPhone 4 users have voiced out their concerns on the Internet about the poor battery mileage of the phone. Some users blamed it on the Setting Time Zone function in iOS 5 that kept the location tracking system running in the background, leading to a shorter than expected battery life. Others reported that the Calender application was in hyper drive mode, causing it to reorganize events and meetings constantly when it is turned on in the Notifications Center. It took close to a month before Apple formally acknowledged that there was indeed a battery drain problem and promised iOS 5 bug fixes in the coming weeks. 

With this in mind, we monitored our review set for a few days to check if it suffered from the same problem. Thankfully, we did not encounter such problems. Subsequently, we ran our battery test on the iPhone 4S and compared it with the Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Sensation XE. Both devices are easily among the top Android phones available in the market at the moment, and it will be interesting to see how they fare. The HTC Radar is also included in this test as it runs on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and we want to see how the latest Windows Phone device handles the competition. Last but not least, we also included the iPhone 4 into the mix to see whether it can trump its successor. 

Our intensive battery test involves looping a 480 x 800 pixels resolution video at full screen brightness and maximum volume. We also turned on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for constant data streaming.    

From the results above, you can see that the iPhone 4S took a slight dive in battery life compared to its predecessor. Still, it clocked a rather good up-time of  421 minutes, which translates to about seven hours of battery life. Although it is about 22 minutes less than the iPhone 4, we are willing to trade that extra battery mileage for faster performance on the iPhone 4S.

The two Android smartphones fared on the extreme ends of the test, with the Samsung Galaxy S II still taking the lead. This is expected as it has a bigger battery capacity (1650mAh) than the iPhone 4S (1432mAh) and has lower power consumption. On the other hand, the HTC Sensation XE faltered badly despite having the biggest battery capacity (1730mAh). This is mainly due to its more powerful 1.5GHz dual-core processor which is also a source of bigger battery drain. HTC Radar, being the lone Windows Phone 7 device in this test, did not fare too well either.

As a result of the minor differences in battery life, the iPhone 4S exhibited a slight increase in power consumption compared to its predecessor. Nonetheless, it is still very impressive and is almost on-par with the Samsung Galaxy S II. 

Taking into account the dimensions, weight and battery performance of the iPhone 4S, it managed to score the third highest in our Portability Ratio Index. It only trailed behind the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S II. Looking at it from another perspective, the Samsung Galaxy S II took the crown because of its plastic build which contributed to its lightweight form factor. If you are looking for a smartphone with a more solid build and feel, the iPhone 4S is by far your best bet.

Smarter and Swifter iPhone

So, is the iPhone 4S a disappointment just because it looks the same as the iPhone 4? It would be only if you have been expecting the fifth generation of iPhone to be the iPhone 5 - as of now, still a mythical phone with a larger display, metallic back and tapered design. Well, if the fastest selling iPhone in the history of Apple doesn't convince any critics of its success, we don't know what will.

Despite sharing the same design as its predecessor, the iPhone 4S is still one of the most elegant and beautiful smartphones around. Even after a year, there's hardly a rival that can steal the limelight away from its signature metallic frame and glass casing (front and back). Furthermore, none of its competitors are able to match the resolution of its Retina display (yet), which is no doubt the gold standard for mobile screen technologies these days. Apple also redesigned the antennas on the iPhone 4S, ridding it of the 'Antennagate" issue. The redesigned antennas also enable the phone to boast HSDPA data speed transmissions up to 14.4Mbps, on-par with many of its competitors out there. 

Hidden within the body of the iPhone 4S is a speedy A5 dual-core processor. The boost in speed is evident in almost every aspect of the user interface, from opening apps to browsing the Internet. What's more surprising is that the iPhone 4S runs on the same amount of RAM as the iPhone 4 - 512MB of RAM and it still can deliver faster performance. Armed with an upgraded processor, Apple also decided to debut its latest iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S. Users will be treated to a more complete Apple experience on the iPhone 4S such as automatic syncing of files between iOS devices via iCloud and free instant messaging through iMessage. 

Apple clearly does not rest on its laurels even though its iPhone 4 is the most popular camera for uploading pictures on Flickr. By incorporating a five-element lens with f/2.4 aperture and throwing in an in-house designed image signal processor, Apple claims that the iPhone 4S might be the most capable camera ever on a mobile phone. Our camera test convinced us to a certain extent. Images turned out to be very impressive, with colors rendered accurately and no signs of artifacts. Less noise was also observed, though images were also a tad softer too. Overall, it's a marked improvement.

Perhaps the most hyped and well talked about feature is Siri, the intelligent voice command assistant residing in the iPhone 4S. Siri makes your iPhone4S work harder by helping you set alarms, schedule appointments, read and compose messages with a few voice commands. It also possesses a level of artificial intelligence that enables it to understand natural speech, learn and adapt along the way. However, you will be disappointed to know that Siri has its limitations. First and foremost, language barrier is one of the most serious issues we faced when testing Siri. It finds it hard to comprehend local English of this region (such as Singapore, Malaysia, etc.) as it can only understand three major English accents (Australia, United Kingdom and United States), along with French and German. Second, Siri is unable to locate businesses outside the U.S, hence making it useless in our local context if you plan to use it to navigate your way around. As it is still in beta and Apple promises support for more languages, the future seems positive for Siri (for now, you could supplement its local shortcomings with apps like these). We may even see it being implemented across Apple's devices. 

Now comes the important question: Should you upgrade to the iPhone 4S? If you are a current iPhone user (iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4), you may want to check out our break down of the iPhone 4S price plans and determine for yourself if it is worth the money you are forking out. From our analysis, an iPhone 3G or 3GS user would benefit the most. If you are an Android user, in all honesty, the iPhone 4S brings nothing new to the table except for Siri and the 8-megapixel camera. You may also want to consider these Android alternatives which offer similar features or unique features that the iPhone 4S lacks. 

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