Apple iPhone 4S review

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iPhone 4S review

The iPhone is one of the most anticipated devices to be released every year since 2007. Does the iPhone 4S live up to the hype?
 
Why is the review relative? It is not being review in its own right, but rather being put next to the 4 - and the 7 for software is the same as you gave the note. Surely, that can't be right - if anything iOS is the advantage over Android.

Waits for accusations from the fandroids.
 
no and no but it gets 85% WTF
 
Linoman said:
no and no but it gets 85% WTF
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just because its not as good as everyone anticipated doesn't mean its a crap phone. everyone was expecting the iphone 5 which turned out to be wrong so it was a huge disappointment. its a good review. the camera is amazing and the dual core processor makes the phone a dream to work on. but yes I agree it didn't live up to the hype and its not worth upgrading from the 4, but its an awesome phone none the less.
 
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MaximusZA said:
just because its not as good as everyone anticipated doesn't mean its a crap phone. everyone was expecting the iphone 5 which turned out to be wrong so it was a huge disappointment. its a good review. the camera is amazing and the dual core processor makes the phone a dream to work on. but yes I agree it didn't live up to the hype and its not worth upgrading from the 4, but its an awesome phone none the less.
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People were stupid. As if a different design would somehow make it better???
It already has the nicest design out there, but with new internals. That's pretty awesome. The A5 processor is amazing. Real Racing can now push the visuals over AirPlay to my AppleTV, while controling it with my iPhone. That is really amazing

The people that were talking about the bigger screen had to have been the stupidest of all. 3.5" has been shown to be the best size for most people's hand sizes. Apple will not change that dramatically in any future phone
 
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I think it was a rather fair review. Honestly, if I had a 4 I wouldn't have upgraded. But I had a BlackBerry and having used the BB for 2 years and the iPhone 4S for 3 weeks, I can honestly say the iPhone is the best phone I've ever owned.

What I especially enjoy is the fact that for the first time my e-mail gets handled correctly (i.e. mark it read in GMail and it immediately syncs in the iPhone). For an "e-mail" device the Berries have kinda gotten behind (I know it works very well when used with BES, but how many people in SA uses that?)
 
Good review.

We all know the iPhone 4S is a "stop gap" phone. The yields on the iPhone 5 were too high during the manufacturing process (pity they didn't stay with Samsung as their chipmaker, cos their own chips ran too hot), so they took a iPhone 4 & revamped it a bit.

The iPhone 5 will be released next year and I'm looking forward to see the spec sheet....hopefully with a bigger display than 3.5'', as that is now considered the screen size for budget phones.
 
kingrob said:
hopefully with a bigger display than 3.5'', as that is now considered the screen size for budget phones.
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Is it just me or does anybody else like the 3.5" screen? Makes the phone nice and pocketable, and since it is still a very high resolution, I don't lose out on the amount of info I can see at a time (when say browsing).
 
kingrob said:
Good review.

We all know the iPhone 4S is a "stop gap" phone. The yields on the iPhone 5 were too high during the manufacturing process (pity they didn't stay with Samsung as their chipmaker, cos their own chips ran too hot), so they took a iPhone 4 & revamped it a bit.

The iPhone 5 will be released next year and I'm looking forward to see the spec sheet....hopefully with a bigger display than 3.5'', as that is now considered the screen size for budget phones.
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Dont you mean the yields were too low? And those reports were for the iPad 3 and its Retina Display its getting. as well as TSMC for the A5 chip?

And the all the insiders have already stated they wont change the screen size in any noticeable way, as Apple have added 3.5" to their HIG as the optimal screen size for most hand sizes
 
iMessage is a new messaging application for iOS devices that’s integrated with the Messages app already present. The integration is good and bad: it’s good because it means that you don’t have two applications that do essentially the same thing; it’s bad because you’re not always sure if you’re sending an iMessage or an SMS.
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Huh? Has the reviewer even used iMessage? The iPhone checks if the contact has an Apple ID, speech bubbles then change from green to blue and all references to "message" become "imessage". They've even added blue speech bubbles to your contacts using iMessage.

I don't think they could've made it more obvious.
 
JStrike said:
Most people agree with you. And so does Apple - http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/10/will-the-iphone-always-have-a-3-5-screen/
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OMW that crap again :)

attachment.php

My finger has no problems reaching anywhere on a 4.3" screen using one hand.

If 3.5 was so perfect why do all and I mean all other OEM make devices with bigger screen sizes, Oh wait its because bigger screens don't sell and they are forcing people to use them.

Personally I believe Apple is doing this just to "force" iPad sales. Dont believe me try playing a game with 2 thumbs filling up 50% of the screen real estate. On Android you have less of an incentive to buy a tablet as you can get by with 4.3" screen most of the time.

Anyway, On topic now.

Great review and I am of the same POV that if you already have a 4 its not really worth it to upgrade. That said my iPhone 4 should still be perfectly fine and will definitely not be replaced with a 4S even if I just use it to test software. I still would have liked to see Siri in iOS 5 and I dont understand why they killed the app on 4S launch day as it worked just fine on my old 4.
 
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dames01 said:
Huh? Has the reviewer even used iMessage? The iPhone checks if the contact has an Apple ID, speech bubbles then change from green to blue and all references to "message" become "imessage". They've even added blue speech bubbles to your contacts using iMessage.
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I can confirm that the reviewer did indeed use iMessage, because he tested it with me.

Perhaps he didn't think that adding an "i" in front and a colour change was obvious enough.

If I reviewed the device I would've leveled similar criticism. Apple's designs have always been intuitive even for new users. If you didn't know to look out for the "i" and a blue speech bubble (not to mention having to turn on iMessage in Settings) then the indicators are far from obvious, I think.
 
JStrike said:
Dont you mean the yields were too low? And those reports were for the iPad 3 and its Retina Display its getting. as well as TSMC for the A5 chip?

And the all the insiders have already stated they wont change the screen size in any noticeable way, as Apple have added 3.5" to their HIG as the optimal screen size for most hand sizes
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Might be the iPad 3 as well, but the dual-core CPU on the iPhone 5 overheated & that's why you didn't see one last year. ;)
 
ebendl said:
Is it just me or does anybody else like the 3.5" screen? Makes the phone nice and pocketable, and since it is still a very high resolution, I don't lose out on the amount of info I can see at a time (when say browsing).
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Just you, I'm afraid.
 
Jan said:
I can confirm that the reviewer did indeed use iMessage, because he tested it with me.

Perhaps he didn't think that adding an "i" in front and a colour change was obvious enough.

If I reviewed the device I would've leveled similar criticism. Apple's designs have always been intuitive even for new users. If you didn't know to look out for the "i" and a blue speech bubble (not to mention having to turn on iMessage in Settings) then the indicators are far from obvious, I think.
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The fact that you have to turn it on increases your awareness of changes within the messages section, which really isn't as subtle as you make it out to be.

text.jpg
iMessage-Screen.jpg



The settings section also has a "learn more" link that describes how the functionality works. Also, it's probably off by default because iMessage uses a data connection. Users may not want this to happen for various reasons. If it were on by default, people would still complain. Potayto-Potahto. Point is, users do have a choice and this "off-by-default" business is really nit-picking in a review. I honestly don't see any other messaging app more intuitive.
 
dames01 said:
I honestly don't see any other messaging app more intuitive.
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You should try WhatsApp, mind-blowing app.

And it works on iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 & Android!

Crazy, I tell you. :p
 
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