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Key Features
- 3.5in Retina (960 x 640) LCD display
- 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video
- Dual core A5 processor
- Dual antennae for better signal
- Same chassis design as iPhone 4
Apple iPhone 4S - Design and Hardware
The iPhone 4S was never supposed to be. At least not in the eyes of the public, the tech industry and journalists alike. The iPhone 4 had already been out for 17months – a lifetime in the mobile phone sector – reports of iPhone 5 cases and concept designs had been floating around for a while, and surely it was time for Apple to change the stylistic record? Not so. Instead we have an iPhone 4 with everything turned up to 11, or at least 9 anyway. Contrary to initial reactions from many, though, this shouldn't be cause for lamentation as where it counts the iPhone 4S is up there with the best. However, the list of meaningful hardware differences is rather short. There's a new CPU in the form of the same dual-core A5 CPU as used on the iPad 2 (though it's clocked at 800MHz rather than 1GHz), meanwhile the iPhone 4 has a single core chip running at 1GHz. The A5 chip also packs in seven times the graphics performance of the iPhone 4, according to Apple. Also new is an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, a redesigned antennae and the new Siri voice controlled assistant. All of which we'll be looking at in detail throughout this review.
But back to that design. The iPhone 4S is almost identical in appearance to the iPhone 4. The only visible difference comes courtesy that new antennae design. On both phones the antennae is incorporated into the stainless band that wraps round the edge, and famously on the iPhone 4 this lead to problems when the phone was held such that your hand or fingers covered the thin strips of black plastic that seperated the aerial into segments.
On the iPhone 4S these black strips have doubled in number, indicating the phone's use of two antennae. Thanks to having to incorporate these extra black strips, the mute switch on the left edge has had to move closer to the volume buttons. This slight change in button placement could actually be one of this phone's first major problems as many iPhone 4 cases that otherwise would've fit may not do so now. If you've invested in a decent case, that it is incompatible may be enough to put you off until the iPhone 5 arrives.
Otherwise it's same old, same old. The front and back are formed of two slabs of toughened glass that are incredibly resistant to everyday scratches though prone to shattering if dropped. That said, in the 17months we've been using an iPhone 4 it has taken three pocket height drops (two onto tarmac and one particularly unfortunate one right onto a thick metal strip than run along a doorway) and it has only a couple of scratches to the metal band and a nick in the thin plastic strip that sits between the metal and glass.
While the toughness debate will no doubt rage on, what can't be denied is how horrendously slippery the glass surface is. It may sound like an odd complaint but whether you're wearing gloves or resting the phone on the arm of a sofa, it has an incredible ability to slide on fabric. We appreciate the logic of this minimalist design but do hope a more practical finish graces the iPhone 5.
Set into the front pane of glass is the phone's single Home button, which now serves a number of purposes we'll cover throughout the review. Also on the front is the front-facing camera, which hasn't increased in resolution from the miserly 640 x 480 pixels of the iPhone 4 - it's just about enough for face to face video chat.
The back is home to the all important new camera (the increased lens size of which is just about discernible) with its accompanying LED. Addng a second LED, or even a Xenon flash, would've been a nice move but it's certainly not typical to find two in use.
As for those industrial steel edges, the right is feature free apart from the microSIM slot - despite reports suggesting these would become standard they still some to be the exception rather than the rule - while the left houses the mute switch and two volume buttons, the top one of which doubles as the shutter button for the camera. We still prefer the more pronounced volume rocker of the iPhone 3G/3GS as it was easier to locate by touch alone through a case or the fabric of a pocket. And while we're on the subject, we're reminded how much more comfortable to hold those handsets were.
The bottom is home to the standard Apple charging and syncing dock and it's flanked by the microphone and speaker, the latter of which remains one of the better ones available. Up top, meanwhile, is the headphone socket, noise cancelling microphone and power button/lock button. As ever, there's no HDMI socket, no easily accessible battery and no microSD slot for expanding the memory, though with 64GB handsets available the latter point is less of a concern than ever.
Screen and Interface
More than the lack of change in its overall design, what has really caused some people to spit out their dummies about the iPhone 4S is its unchanged screen. Even if you sensibly aren't tempted by the goliath 4.7in screens of the HTC Titan or Samsung Galaxy Nexus, there are plenty of circa 4in screen devices that are starting to make the 3.5in iPhone look a bit weedy.
Many people were expecting to see an iPhone of similar overall proportions but with a screen that filled more of the device, and we think there's some sense in that, particularly when it comes to watching videos or gaming where the aspect ratio of a taller screen would better fit the content. Also, if you're a power user, there is something to be said for having as big a screen as possible when you're browsing a document or text heavy webpage.
Still, what the iPhone 4 lacks in size it makes up for in quality. Its 960x640 pixel 'Retina' display is still best in class for sharpness and very near the top for colour reproduction and viewing angles. With Apple having released its iOS 5 update to iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners already, the difference of upgrading to an iPhone 4S will be somewhat underwhelming – aside from Siri you get exactly the same features. However, there's plenty of new additions in iOS 5 and iOS in general still has many, many charms.
The overall interface is still dominated by pages of icons for apps arranged in neat grids, with no sign of the widgets (mini apps that sit on your homepage) available to Android phones or the larger Live Tiles used in the Windows Phone interface. This 'keep it simple, stupid' approach can be a little frustrating at times but for the most part you seldom feel restricted, particularly as it's so easy to rearrange the icons into organised folders.
Probably the main annoyance is that you still have to go to the Settings 'app' to change everything, rather than having access to these from the app itself – even a link within the app that then opens the appropriate page in the Settings app would be preferable. New to iOS 5 are notifications, and what a difference they make. Drag down from the top edge of the screen and a list of your messages, calendar appointments and such like are shown alongside the weather and the stock ticker. Sadly there aren't yet any options to add to these widgets yet but we do hope Apple adds this in the future – it's altogether a much more elegant way of implementing widgets than simply slapping them on homescreens. Tap a notification and it will open the appropriate app for you.
Notifications also appear on the lock screen and you can jump straight to the message or update by swiping the notification off screen. Also, unlike the old interruptive notifications of old, if a new notification comes in it won't disturb what you're doing, and will instead appear in a thin strip at the top of the screen. None of this is revolutionary stuff but it does put the iPhone right back on par with the majority of handsets. Also accessible from the lock screen is the camera. Just double tap the home button and the camera icon will appear, ready for you to tap it and jump straight to the camera app.
One thing that hasn't yet been improved is multitasking, with apps still only appearing in rows of four along the bottom of the screen when you double tap the home button. You can swipe them along to access the other apps you've been using, but it's a laborious task. Both a move to having a larger grid of apps to choose from, and perhaps having the apps show a thumbnail of what the app is doing, would be improvements. Swipe left from the start screen and you get the universal search feature whereby you can start typing and straight away matching results will appear for contacts, calendar entries, music, messages, apps and such like, or you can perform a web or Wikipedia search.
Perhaps more important than all these interface features is interface performance, now that the 4S is bolstered with a dual-core chip. Sadly, the difference over the iPhone 4 is rather subtle. Yes, those moments where the phone will have a little think before opening an app are now gone, but they were only intermittent on the iPhone 4 anyway (if you kept if running in tiptop condition by restoring it from a backup every now and again). Otherwise, the clever little interface animations that look so snazzy haven't actually been sped up, so you still wait a couple of seconds for the camera app to load or a second to switch between apps. The result is a phone that's fast, but it doesn't quite feel as lightning quick as, in particular, some Android alternatives. Nonetheless, the iPhone still has the easiest interface going at the moment. While we do like some of the extra abilities of other platforms, the simple charm of the iPhone 4S has much wider appeal. However, it's when you start to look at some of the iPhone's core features that it does wobble a little
Multimedia and Camera
When it comes to viewing photos, listening to music and watching video, the iPhone range has always offered a very easy experience, but only if you stick to Apple's rules. This remains the same with the iPhone 4S. Although you can now setup an iPhone without connecting to a computer, you can't get any multimedia files onto it without using iTunes. If like us you wouldn't normally use iTunes, being forced to use it is a bit of a bind. It's not just that you have to use the software – as actually iTunes is quite good, even on PC, now – but that you can't do anything manually. With music it's less of an issue as iTunes is useful for managing that side of things anyway, but having to faff about with syncing pictures and videos is such a pain.
Most irksome is pictures, as iTunes actually resizes all your pics upon syncing, meaning that if you've got a great quality picture you want to show people, you can't add the whole thing – then use the zoom function to show everyone the fine details – but must have it shrunk. Yes, this makes it easy for people that don't know what they're doing when it comes to resizing images but at least make it an option!
Once you've loaded your media on the phone, it all looks superb thanks to that excellent screen. That said, watching video is one area where the smallish size of the screen does let it down – we wouldn't really want to watch a movie on it.
When it comes to capturing your own video and pictures, the iPhone 4S excels. Pictures pack in plenty of detail thanks to the 8 Mpixels on offer, while metering and colour reproduction is accurate. There is plenty of grainy noise in low light but there aren't any horribly distracting green or red flecks as you sometimes get, so images are still usable when viewed on the device itself or on Facebook.
Without HDR this picture looks washed out with blown out highlights.
With HDR it's still a bit dark overall but overall exposure is better.
Verdict
It's very easy both to dismiss the iPhone 4S as being a boring souped up iPhone 4 and to rejoice in its improved specs while dismissing the lack of change in the chassis design as a meaningless whinge. However, the reality of the situation is far more nuanced. While we agree that there's limited appeal in increasing the phone's overall size, there is room for it to be a tad wider and to use up some of the excessive bezel to fit a larger screen, without compromising too much on ergonomics. What's more, while the stark, angular glass design does have some advantages and puts most others to shame for build quality, it's not actually that practical. And, although on the performance front, Apple has given the iPhone 4S all it needs for the time being, new ground hasn't been broken on any front – there's still plenty of room to really go to town on the camera for instance.
There is of course Siri, which is a unique and impressive piece of software, but we simply don't feel it's very useful for the vast majority of people in the vast majority of everyday situations. In a car (dictating messages and setting reminders) or when you're working in an environment where you won't disturb people (or don't mind them hearing you're shopping list) we can see it being useful but until the whole system can be activated without requiring touch at all, it's only of so much benefit.
What's more, although iOS is still the slickest OS going, its limitations can't be denied; the lack of Flash is an issue (no matter how much you make excuses for it), not being able to do proper email attachments is a real bind, and there are plenty more little restrictions that are starting to feel just a little too un-smart. It all adds up to an easy experience but one that for more experienced users will feel too limiting – well, unless you jailbreak it of course.
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