iPhone 4S Confirmed

CHANG3D said:
But I can do most of what you do without needing to root. That's the big difference.
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That and you honestly can code yourself a version of Android to fit your needs if you so desire. Thus why we have the wonderful world of ROM's with none of them being the same (unless kanged ;) ).
 
I'm disappointed about with the same screen size. It also would have been nice to see 4G support and NFC but I can't say I'm surprised they didn't make it. 4G coverage is still spotty and it eats battery life. NFC is just not there yet.

I was glad to see the increased storage room, faster processor/gpu, better camera and more RAM.
 
As much as I abhor Apple, kudos for them killing the need for iTunes in iOS5. What a SHIT-TASTIC piece of software!
 
get quad said:
As much as I abhor Apple, kudos for them killing the need for iTunes in iOS5. What a SHIT-TASTIC piece of software!
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As someone who thinks the iPhone and iPad are decents pieces of equipment, but hate iTunes as well, this may be a bigger selling point than we realize.

On the flip side, you now rely on big brother Apple to handle all your needs instead of locally on your PC. I wonder if Apple will affect (or recognize) jailbroken phones easier now.
 
My mother is gonna love the $99 iPhone 4 upgrade from her 3GS. Heck, even the $199 16GB 4S might be good for her. That's probably the only good thing about this keynote.
 
MrCrispy said:
I agree, the 'millions' was more of a hope. Many people do buy the iPhone because of the name, and that will take a lot to change. I don't think Android is that different from iOS in simplicity, and its far more functional. What exactly does iOS execute on better? The issues with Android most people talk about start when you put on a custom rom, none of which are finished, and start tweaking the hell out of it.

Out of the box, any decent Android phone released in the last year is arguably better than the iPhone 4 on specs, performance (except battery life), screen size, cost to run (plan and apps), and functionality. You simply get a lot more for your money with Android. But yes, it will never be as cool or funky, which is what most people care about.

e.g. the new Cards service is genius marketing. Take something that other apps like Postagram do, charge 3x, make it seem cool, and mint money. Or the Siri tech - there's no reason at all it can't run on existing devices, but you have buy the 4S for it.
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The biggest thing iOS is great about is that with very little prior exposure, smartphone savvy, general tech savvy, or inclination to experiment, it is staggeringly simple to learn to use ably. Android is getting better and better in that regard (hampered by different skins from different handset makers), but whether that's a feature that appeals to a techie or not is irrelevant. The mainstream wants simple, idiot-proof, and intuitive. With a few small exceptions, iOS delivers that in spades.

I would argue that battery life has more real impact on the "vanilla" or "standard" modern smartphone user than does slight differences in data throughput (note: not talking 3G versus LTE here), superior specs on paper, or even screen size. More screen real estate on an iPhone would certainly be nice, provided the pixel density of the Retina display wasn't sacrificed for it. Ultimately, though, getting through a whole business day on a charge, with multiple calls, significant data usage (e.g. dozens to hundreds of emails, many with attachments/images), etc. without having to swap batteries or do a midday top up is worth its weight in plutonium. Several of my Android-using friends readily admit that can be a crapshoot, while I can nearly always guarantee that if my phone is fully charged in the morning, it won't die on me before bed.

Data plan prices I fully agree with. The original "justification" (in reality, it's simply a cool tax) that iPhone users would consume vastly more data than everyone else was valid when the main competition was a Blackberry, but usage patterns on Android devices are rapidly mirroring those of iOS devices, but tend not to carry a data plan premium with them.

I am not an Apple evangelist by any stretch of the imagination, and I fully believe it's a "when" not an "if" that iOS takes a backseat to Android. I don't think that "when" has happened yet, but lame product announcements like today's 4S one certainly accelerate the timetable of Apple being left technologically in the dust, and ultimately if their phones are slow and crappy, the cool factor will wear off.

Oh, and despite the mockery, Siri looks genuinely pretty awesome (if lame that it's tied to the 4S only), if it actually ends up working well and being as flexible as they demo'd it to be. Natural language parsing is a devilishly tricky problem to solve, and even from a technologist's standpoint, it's pretty impressive what Apple's done. Sure, it'll look dorky when you're standing around talking to your phone (rather than talking to someone via your phone), but it could certainly be a powerful tool.
 
Omophorus said:
Oh, and despite the mockery, Siri looks genuinely pretty awesome (if lame that it's tied to the 4S only), if it actually ends up working well and being as flexible as they demo'd it to be. Natural language parsing is a devilishly tricky problem to solve, and even from a technologist's standpoint, it's pretty impressive what Apple's done. Sure, it'll look dorky when you're standing around talking to your phone (rather than talking to someone via your phone), but it could certainly be a powerful tool.
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They should have really tried to impress by using 3 people each with their own respective heavy accent use the Siri feature if they really wanted to impress. I'm gonna have to call BS on your claim of iPhone guaranteeing a full day battery while Android is "Up in the air" if it will last all day though :rolleyes:
 
brownkc said:
I'm disappointed about with the same screen size. It also would have been nice to see 4G support and NFC but I can't say I'm surprised they didn't make it. 4G coverage is still spotty and it eats battery life. NFC is just not there yet.
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It would have been nice to see them simply use more of the top/bottom space the current size iPhone takes. I would not personally have wanted a bigger phone. The HTCs and Motorolas of the world making 4.3" behemoths do so because they not only make these but also the smaller 3.5"ish types. Apple only releases a single style of phone per generation, and I don't think they want to try to convince *EVERY* iPhone 4 owner to switch to a larger phone.

The 4G stuff was covered in the media event. Instead of playing with 4G they went back and optimized the heck out of 3G. Apple is known to stay away from some technologies until they can totally nail it, and in 4G's case maybe they don't feel they can do that yet.
 
The ONLY thing I was hoping for was a larger screen, but I guess this is enough to warrant an upgrade from my 3GS. I just have to wait until December to be eligable for an upgrade :(
 
SuperSubZero said:
It would have been nice to see them simply use more of the top/bottom space the current size iPhone takes. I would not personally have wanted a bigger phone. The HTCs and Motorolas of the world making 4.3" behemoths do so because they not only make these but also the smaller 3.5"ish types. Apple only releases a single style of phone per generation, and I don't think they want to try to convince *EVERY* iPhone 4 owner to switch to a larger phone.

The 4G stuff was covered in the media event. Instead of playing with 4G they went back and optimized the heck out of 3G. Apple is known to stay away from some technologies until they can totally nail it, and in 4G's case maybe they don't feel they can do that yet.
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You do realize that there is QUITE a big difference between 3.5" and 4.3" right? I mean, all I'm saying is you don't have to go directly to 4.5" don't pass go, don't collect $200... right? There's like a middle ground you can shoot for :rolleyes:
 
I must say, I like the screen on my evo 4g when I'm say watching espn mobile, but there are times when the phone is just a little too wide. I'm imagining a future where people have these tablet sized phones that have a special handle so they can hold them next to their face. Exageration I know, but there has to be an upper limit on the screen size. It can't just keep getting bigger and bigger. Eventually someone needs to find a new interface that allows people to do more with the existing screen size.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?
 
SuperSubZero said:
It would have been nice to see them simply use more of the top/bottom space the current size iPhone takes. I would not personally have wanted a bigger phone. The HTCs and Motorolas of the world making 4.3" behemoths do so because they not only make these but also the smaller 3.5"ish types. Apple only releases a single style of phone per generation, and I don't think they want to try to convince *EVERY* iPhone 4 owner to switch to a larger phone.

The 4G stuff was covered in the media event. Instead of playing with 4G they went back and optimized the heck out of 3G. Apple is known to stay away from some technologies until they can totally nail it, and in 4G's case maybe they don't feel they can do that yet.
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4inch screen would be a good middle ground. I think the real issue is the retina display on bigger screens. Increasing screen size while keeping the Retina Display quality will be hard to do.

As for 4G did you notice that LTE wasn't even shown on their slide? Verizon iPhone 4S users only get 3G data. Apple can't claim doubling the download speed as magical if they talk about the fact that LTE destroys HSPA+. ;) Not a good time to be a Verizon user and want an iPhone and 4G.
 
They'll lineup days before the release so they can sign a new contract to get the same phone they already own. Then they'll drive everyone around them crazy by bragging about how magical it is for days until somebody tells them to stfu already.
 
Omophorus said:
The biggest thing iOS is great about is that with very little prior exposure, smartphone savvy, general tech savvy, or inclination to experiment, it is staggeringly simple to learn to use ably. Android is getting better and better in that regard (hampered by different skins from different handset makers), but whether that's a feature that appeals to a techie or not is irrelevant. The mainstream wants simple, idiot-proof, and intuitive. With a few small exceptions, iOS delivers that in spades.
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I would argue its no different than any other smartphone. Would be curious to see any studies on this - to a person with no prior exposure, is iOS really easier to use than Android/WP7? I think it takes a bit of training to learn any platform (e.g. how to switch apps, how to organize screens, notifications) and its the same learning curve. iOS isn't any more intuitive IMO.


Omophorus said:
Several of my Android-using friends readily admit that can be a crapshoot, while I can nearly always guarantee that if my phone is fully charged in the morning, it won't die on me before bed.
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How old is your phone? I know plenty of people with old iPhones (2+ years) and the batteries are all shot to hell, don't last >1/2 day with decent usage, and it costs a lot to replace the battery.

Omophorus said:
Data plan prices I fully agree with. The original "justification" (in reality, it's simply a cool tax) that iPhone users would consume vastly more data than everyone else was valid when the main competition was a Blackberry, but usage patterns on Android devices are rapidly mirroring those of iOS devices, but tend not to carry a data plan premium with them.
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Tell that to Sprint and their bogus $10 premium fee for my Evo 4G :mad: But at least I get true unlimited data.

Omophorus said:
Oh, and despite the mockery, Siri looks genuinely pretty awesome (if lame that it's tied to the 4S only), if it actually ends up working well and being as flexible as they demo'd it to be. Natural language parsing is a devilishly tricky problem to solve, and even from a technologist's standpoint, it's pretty impressive what Apple's done. Sure, it'll look dorky when you're standing around talking to your phone (rather than talking to someone via your phone), but it could certainly be a powerful tool.
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I expect a similar upgrade for google voice actions. And I'm curious if Siri can match the new voice features in Mango. The biggest practical change would be the ability on iOS to finally dictate with voice whenever the keyboard is shown, which the other 2 platforms have had for a while.
 
Say what you will about the iPhone 4S (I personally am disappointed), at least Apple had the good sense to *NOT* call it the iPhone 5....

THAT would have been a PR disaster for them...

I have to say though.... its been a year and a half since the iPhone 4, does Apple really want to tell me that with their size and talent they can't crank out a true successor in that amount of time?

Apple, I am disappoint.... I really wanted your iPhone 4S/5 to suck all the air out of the room and drop prices on current phones on eBay... :(
 
This update really bothers me. Not that I was an apple fan or was ever considering buying an iphone, but now when I argue against the apple fanboys, its going to be TOO easy.

I wanted them to have a fighting chance, but now I kind of feel like I'll be picking on the crippled kid, it just seems wrong.
 
MrCrispy said:
I would argue its no different than any other smartphone. Would be curious to see any studies on this - to a person with no prior exposure, is iOS really easier to use than Android/WP7? I think it takes a bit of training to learn any platform (e.g. how to switch apps, how to organize screens, notifications) and its the same learning curve. iOS isn't any more intuitive IMO.

How old is your phone? I know plenty of people with old iPhones (2+ years) and the batteries are all shot to hell, don't last >1/2 day with decent usage, and it costs a lot to replace the battery.
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The difference is that iOS at least makes an effort to show that something happened, or that things are placed in a logical consistent place. I was just talking to someone today who was thinking about going back to iOS from a EVO and while she didn't contest that android was a great OS, she really finds it unintuitive and forces her to think about how to do something too much.

A perfect example is contacts. She was out of memory today and while looking around to see what was taking up the space she had a something like 50 megs of contacts. Turns out when she accepts contacts she tends to click accept several times because she didn't realize the phone took it, while the iphone prompts that the contact was saved. She also had no idea that you can manage apps from the web, nor did she really understand how to move some apps from system memory to SD.

being fair too, when she had her iphone she almost never synced it so she was always behind OS wise and wasn't really a power user there either, but at least she understood where everything was.

Not everyone is excited about choice, customizations and on and on. they just want something that works or at least something where they don't have to manage resources like a computer.
 
The 4S is definitely a compelling upgrade for 3GS owners (for whom the iPhone 4 was too costly) as well as current Sprint users. I've talked a to a number of friends who have the iPhone 4 and the reaction was 'meh' - most don't see a reason to get locked into another 2 year contract, esp when iPhone 5 could be released within 6 months.
 
Ryokurin said:
Not everyone is excited about choice, customizations and on and on. they just want something that works or at least something where they don't have to manage resources like a computer.
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I think that hits the nail on the head. Geeks find Android to be a nifty computing platform first, and a smartphone second. iPhone users see it has a smartphone first. The fact it runs an OS underneath is irrelevant. eg. How many people know or care that Tivo runs Linux? It does what it is supposed to do, that's all.

As for business users, schools or hospitals, the fact it is not completely customizable by the end-user is a plus, not a negative. Consistency is key, something Android and Linux users abhor. And as somebody who has to support smartphones at work, I'd much rather deal with Blackberry or iPhones. There are too many flavors of Android to deal with. I'm sure Apple support personnel agree with me.

iPhone users tend to be excited about what it can do out of the box. Droid users tend to be excited about what they can make it do by bending it to their will.
 
MrCrispy said:
The 4S is definitely a compelling upgrade for 3GS owners (for whom the iPhone 4 was released 18 months before they could upgrade from the 3GS they just upgraded to 6 months earlier) as well as current Sprint users. I've talked a to a number of friends who have the iPhone 4 and the reaction was 'meh' - most don't see a reason to get locked into another 2 year contract, esp when iPhone 5 could be released within 6 months.
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FTFY
 
mattchapman said:
Wow - the iPhone 4S is breathtaking!
Once again the competition is scrambling to figure out how to top it!
I look forward to getting to know Siri and really bonding with her!

Gimme, gimme, gimme!
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mobusta1, need I remind you that multiple accounts are against the forum rules here at [H]?
 
Most of my friends were waiting for the new Iphone. They wanted to see it before either getting the samsung galaxy s2 or the Iphone 5 scratch that 4S. Well all 3 of them were very disappointed to say the least. They will all be going for the S2...
 
zod96 said:
Most of my friends were waiting for the new Iphone. They wanted to see it before either getting the samsung galaxy s2 or the Iphone 5 scratch that 4S. Well all 3 of them were very disappointed to say the least. They will all be going for the S2...
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both are fine choices but for me the better GPU and non-pentile higher res screen is preferable.
 
diehard said:
both are fine choices but for me the better GPU and non-pentile higher res screen is preferable.
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Galaxy s2 is RGB since its the super amoled+ display.

Now, there are rumors of 720p resolution oled with 300+ dpi. Those are probably pentile; however, at higher dpi, pentile and rgb will be visually the same (Note, i don't think this is the case at 320dpi as I can still visually see the subpixels. At probably 400dpi or above, pentile is probably the better solution).
 
I am still in shock that the new i4S is in the same exact shell as the current iPhone4, same screen size, same resolution, same thickness, same radio no 4G. I mean it looks exactly like the iPhone4, after 16 months this is the best Apple could come up with ? Are they serious, or is it April fools day ?
 
Zorachus said:
I am still in shock that the new i4S is in the same exact shell as the current iPhone4, same screen size, same resolution, same thickness, same radio no 4G. I mean it looks exactly like the iPhone4, after 16 months this is the best Apple could come up with ? Are they serious, or is it April fools day ?
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I am still confused as to why they needed to wait so long if this was the only thing being refreshed.

It's as if they seem to think the iphone 4 is some sort of pinnacle of design...

I think it makes poor use of its front surface. It had a big forehead with all that space above and below the screen just screaming to be used.

They did not need to change the resolution, they should have just made it bigger. Clueless people would have complained about it losing "retina" status with the loss of ppi as the screen size went larger, but so the hell what? It would still be a very high res display at say 4" or 4.3"

Lazy, and the fact that it will still sell like crazy makes lose faith in humanity. But maybe it won't sell as well as it could have if it was an actual refresh.
 
I'm a sad panda, people here are already praising the greatness of the Iphone 4S and none of them know what it has.

All I know is my smart phone is exactly what it is, a smart phone, cost me a whopping $100, is 4G, dual core, very large and beautiful screen. If this iPhone is revolutionary, what is mine? historical?
 
Trimlock said:
I'm a sad panda, people here are already praising the greatness of the Iphone 4S and none of them know what it has.

All I know is my smart phone is exactly what it is, a smart phone, cost me a whopping $100, is 4G, dual core, very large and beautiful screen. If this iPhone is revolutionary, what is mine? historical?
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Yes, it is historical cause the iPhone makes it look like it's from the stone age!!!!
/apple fanboy
 
Still thinking this is a bad dream, we wake up tomorrow, to an e-mail that says "Oh yeah, one more thing..." and the iPhone5 is coming instead.

But then I woke up, and realized Apple is a business to make money, and lots of it. They love iSheep, and koolaid drinkers. This takes balls of steel for Apple to re-release the iPhone4 as the 4S and call it new.

Innovation :(
 
Zorachus said:
Still thinking this is a bad dream, we wake up tomorrow, to an e-mail that says "Oh yeah, one more thing..." and the iPhone5 is coming instead.
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The real announcement tomorrow will be the unveiling of the "iphone shuffle", an iphone without a screen. The fact that it has no screen will be lauded as a "feature" by apple and their rabid fans.

I can see it now: "You'll be pleasantly surprised every time you make or receive a call, as you'll have no fucking idea who you're about to speak to. Inadvertently reconnect with people you know well and people you know vaguely, as your contact list is completely random, each and every time. The iphone shuffle: accidentally bringing people together on purpose."
 
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