Apple announced the release of the iPhone 4S on Oct. 4, and to many people’s surprise it was not an iPhone 5. It may not look different on the outside from the iPhone 4, but the inside is completely different.
The iPhone 4S is powered by a dual-core A5 processor and also has a dual-core graphics processing unit. With the new processor the phone is faster, but the little extra speed is not that noticeable compared to that of the iPhone 4.
One of the biggest differences in the new phone is the camera. It has eight megapixels, with a flash, and f/2.4 aperture, which means photos taken in lower light still have good quality. The images that come from the phone are surprisingly sharp. For a cell phone camera, it is very impressive.
Another noticeable difference is Siri. It’s a voice assistance program that lets you talk to the phone to perform tasks like asking for the weather forecast, making a calendar appointment, setting your alarm, getting directions or completing a math problem. Siri, who speaks with a woman’s voice, is impressive in her ability to understand and complete tasks she is asked to do.
“[Siri] is far more than what I thought voice recognition was capable of,” said senior Spencer Hamm, who owns the new iPhone 4S.
Siri makes working on the phone faster. There is no need to find the reminders app or the alarm app; just tell Siri what you want to be reminded of and she will do all the work for you. Siri can also text or e-mail someone for you, and that is especially nice while driving because you can get your work done without ever looking at your phone and endangering others on the road.
Siri is also fun to play around with because you can almost have a conversation with her. Most of the time she has witty responses to questions like “What is your favorite color?” For example , she might say back, “My favorite color is … well, I don’t know how to say it in your language. It’s sort of greenish, but with more dimensions.” Or if you said, “Testing 123,” she may respond, “Mission Control, I can hear you loud and clear.”
The iPhone 4S is a great new addition to the Apple family of electronics. Yes, it is a great phone, but it still is not perfect. Siri could use some work, but for the first generation of a programmed voice assistant in the iPhone, it is definitely a good start.
