The
iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a 3.5 inch (89 mm) touchscreen iPod, mobile phone, and internet communicator. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, the iPhone 4, but is host to a range of improved hardware specifications and software updates compared to the previous model. Integrated software and hardware changes support the introduction of new user interface and functions by Apple. Highlights include a voice recognizing and talking assistant called Siri, personal computer independence, cloud-sourced data (iCloud) and an improved camera system. A selection of the device's functions can be controlled by voice.
The iPhone 4S was unveiled at Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event on October 4, 2011 in Cupertino, California. Apple started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on October 7, 2011 in seven initial countries (United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan) with a first delivery date set for October 14, 2011, and available on that same day for direct store sales in those countries. It was released in 22 more European, American and Asian countries, including Ireland, Mexico and Singapore on October 28.
It will be available on 100 carriers in 70 countries overall, including AT&T, Verizon, and for the first time, also for Sprint and C Spire customers in the United States. In Japan it will be available for au (a KDDI brand) and Okinawa Cellular, for the first time.
For US customers, while pre-orders for purchasers buying contracts started on October 7, 2011, unlocked (contract-free) sales started on November 11, 2011. AP said that AT&T described early iPhone 4S demand as "extraordinary".
Power and battery
The iPhone 4S is stated to have 200 hours standby time (iPhone 4 300 hours), 8 hours talk time on 3G (iPhone 4-7 hours), 14 hours talk time on 2G, 6 hours 3G browsing, and 9 hours Wi-Fi browsing. However there are widely reported issues of rapidly decreasing battery level.The time of use depends on power from the lithium-ion polymer battery inside the device. It can be recharged by power from a USB port or power adapter. The battery is enclosed inside the device and is designed to be removed only by technical experts.
Processor, memory, and storage
The iPhone 4S has a dual-core Apple A5 processor, compared to the single core Apple A4 processor used in the iPhone 4. It has 512 MB of RAM, the same as its predecessor. Maximum available storage size increased to 64 GB whilst the 32 GB and 16 GB model options were retained. The screen is the same as the previous generation's iPhones; 3.5 in, 640×960 resolution (Apple's "retina" design). The improvement in interactive multimedia applications was obvious compared to its predecessor. However, applications that take more advantage of the new specs will take time to be developed and released. In one early review it scored 677 in a Geekbench benchmark speedtest compared to 380 for the iPhone 4, higher being better.
Operating system
iPhone 4S was announced with Apple’s iOS 5 operating system, which Apple claims as having 200 new features compared to the previous version. On the 4S, the Apple A5 processor and iOS 5 work together to support many subsystems of the device, such as data processing for the camera. Some major tasks performed include browsing the internet with Safari, voice assistance with Siri, cellular communications, media playback, and applications.
It supports PC and Mac freedom, where updates can be downloaded by over-the-air to the device.Another feature is the ability to have Apple send a real card in the mail with the Apple Cards application.
Gaming
See also: Game Center
The iPhone 4S uses the Apple A5 system-on-a-chip that uses an Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX graphics processing unit, which features pixel, vertex, and geometry shader hardware, supporting OpenGL ES 2.0.. The SGX is the same GPU used in the iPhone 4S’ predecessor, the iPhone 4. However, the iPhone 4S uses a dual-core model, the SGX543, that is integrated with the Apple A5 SoC in the same way as the iPad 2.
Apple’s claim that the iPhone 4S can process graphics up to “seven times faster” than the iPhone 4 was corroborated by Epic Games President Mike Capps. At the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event held by Apple on October 4, 2011, Capps demonstrated Epic Games’ Infinity Blade 2, the sequel to Infinity Blade, on an iPhone 4S. Capps boasted that the game uses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 and features the same graphic techniques used in the Xbox 360 game Gears of War 3.
Gaming on the iPhone 4S has been likened to the PlayStation Vita, that features the same SGX GPU only in a quad-core configuration, and the Nintendo 3DS handheld game consoles. Additionally, the iPhone 4S’ ability to process 30 million polygons per second has been compared to the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 home video game consoles that are capable of processing 700 million and 500 million polygons per second respectively.
CVG’s deputy editor Andy Robinson told TechRadar that the “[iPhone 4S] is certainly laying down some serious credibility for the iPhone as a core gaming device. Not only is it now pushing out games that simply eclipse the [Nintendo 3DS] visually, but features like cloud saving and TV streaming support are really exciting for gamers.”
Senior Gaming Analyst at Jon Peddie Research Ted Pollak believes the biggest improvement to gaming on the iPhone 4S is the voice control features, noting that “one of the features that Nintendogs players loved was the ability to talk to it. There’s no reason why a game like that couldn’t be done on the iPhone 4S, and much more sophisticated given the voice control shown.”
