Τα πρώτα hands-on reviews του iPhone 4S ξεκίνησαν να δημοσιεύονται από μεγάλα websites του χώρου και media που έχουν πρόσβαση στο τελευταίο δημιούργημα της Apple πριν αυτό γίνει επίσημα διαθέσιμο στο κοινό (14 Οκτωβρίου σε Αμερική, Καναδά, Αυστραλία, Αγγλία, Γαλλία, Γερμανία και Ιαπωνία). Μέχρις ότου να έχουμε στα χέρια μας το iPhone 4S ώστε να το δοκιμάσουμε διεξοδικά, ας ρίξουμε μία ματιά στα όλα αναφέρει ο ξένος τύπος:
The iPhone 4S is a great device for some, but what if you’re thinking of upgrading from an iPhone 4? That’s a tougher call.
The phone is faster, to be sure, and has an amazing camera. And
of course, you can’t get Siri unless you have a 4S… but I just don’t
know if any of those reasons are compelling enough to convince previous
buyers to upgrade. The concept is a particularly hard sell for Verizon
customers. The gap between this year’s model and last year’s model isn’t
as wide as Apple would probably like. For this review, I returned to
the iPhone after a fairly long period of using and testing other
devices. Spending a week with Apple’s newest phone, I’m reminded again
of just what makes the company’s products so special. It’s not specs,
services, or apps. This phone is not perfect. Certainly it can be
improved. But there is something here, beyond the screen and CPU, beyond
iCloud, something under the surface. Some intangible spark. Is this the
best phone ever made? That’s debatable. But I can tell you this: the
iPhone 4S is pretty damn cool.
In the end, the iPhone 4S follows Apple’s recent trajectory of
iPhone releases: It’s an object of some appeal to people who last
upgraded their phones a year ago, and over the next year a great many of
them will find it worthwhile to upgrade to the iPhone 4S. But to all
those people who’ve been hanging on to their iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS,
the wait is over: It’s time to upgrade without any hesitation
whatsoever. The iPhone 4S has speed, a great camera, some cool
voice-recognition features, and the same beautiful industrial design
that was introduced in the iPhone 4. It’s destined to be immensely
popular. The S, in this case, seems to stand for “sure thing.”
Leading up to last week’s event, like everyone else, I kept
reading the rumors about a new iPhone with a larger screen and
completely different form factor. Quite frankly, I was hoping they were
wrong. (For the record, I stated that I heard the screen size rumor was
wrong weeks ago.) The iPhone 4′s design is the pinnacle of smartphone
design in my opinion. I simply could not imagine how they could alter it
to make it better. Even making it thinner would mean that it wouldn’t
fit as nicely in your hands for taking pictures. Android fanboys are
going to love that statement. I’m happy that Apple decided not to change
the form factor even though they had to know there would be some
backlash from a certain segment of the population (read: idiots).
Instead, Apple focused on the other thing they do best: refining already
great products to make them better. The iPhone 4 was a great product.
The best smartphone ever made. Now it cedes that title to the iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S is one of Apple’s less dramatic updates, but, when combined with the Siri, iOS 5 and iCloud features, it presents an attractive new offering to smartphone users. Some may be content to skip the new hardware and just enjoy the software and cloud features with older models. But those buying the phone will likely be happy with it.
Android phones seem to come out every Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. Apple
updates iOS and the iPhone only once a year. So Apple had a lot of
catching up to do, even some leapfrogging. There are some rough spots
here and there; for example, every now and then the 4S’s camera app gets
stuck on its startup screen. And while the battery still gets you
through one full day, standby time is shorter than before (200 hours
versus 300). But over all, Apple has done an excellent job. The question
isn’t what’s in a name — it’s what’s in a phone. And the answer is: “A
lot of amazing technology. And some of it feels like magic.”
Apple concedes that Siri isn’t a finished product; she is in beta. But even with her blemishes, Siri is pretty darn cool. And she helps make the iPhone 4S pretty darn cool, too.
Pro. Siri, good camera, iOS 5, iCloud, half-million apps. Snappy. World phone.
Con. No LTE version. Photo Stream glitch.
The iPhone 4S looks exactly the same as its predecessor — but who
cares? If it was shaped even slightly differently or came in a new
color, people would still go nuts over the stuff that’s more important
anyway: the insides. And both inside and out, this is a magnificent
smartphone. The late Steve Jobs once called the computer the equivalent
of a bicycle for our minds. I think of the smartphone as the rocket ship
for our minds. With increasingly powerful sensors and technologies, and
access to hundreds of thousands of apps enabling us to do just about
anything, the iPhone keeps soaring to incredible heights and taking us
to places with limitless potential. I guess that’s what you have to do
to create a ding in the universe. WIRED Siri is the best androgynous
unpaid intern you’ll ever meet. Dual-core guts make for faster apps and a
smoother interface. Camera is much-improved. Call quality gets a boost.
TIRED Siri is limited in what it can do and understand. Looks the same
as the iPhone 4 — what’s up with that? A 2-year contract means you may
not be eligible for the best upgrade pricing.
Wisely resisting the urge to change design for the sake of
change, Apple has focused its attention where it will count the most:
creating a longer-lasting smartphone that takes better photos, runs apps
more smoothly and helps people efficiently manage their mobile lives
whether they’re within cable’s reach of their home or office or
otherwise. Meanwhile, Siri proves that the company still has what it
takes to deliver game-changing functionality. There will undoubtedly be
smartphones with faster processors, or more megapixels to their cameras,
or high-speed 4G connectivity, or bigger, better resolution displays,
but it’s difficult to imagine any of them competing with the joined-up
ecosystem Apple now offers. Challenging the iPhone isn’t just about
creating one single, better smartphone, but a portfolio of consistent
products and services. The iPhone 4S may look the same as before, but it
arguably represents just as much of a shift in the industry as the
original iPhone ever did.
The phone’s new antenna design seems to have reduced the number
of dropped calls over AT&T’s much-maligned network, though my sample
was admittedly limited. With the iPhone’s continuing advantage in
number of apps (500,000 and counting), its arrival on the Sprint network
and its ability to function as a world phone, the 4S doesn’t leave many
holes for the competition to plug. And then there’s this: The 4S is the
first phone you’ll ever be tempted to ask for the secret of life. Go
ahead — you’ll get an answer, too. It isn’t from “Star Trek,” though
science-fiction readers will recognize, and get a chuckle from, the
response.
[via iphonehellas.gr]
[via iphonehellas.gr]