Here’s iPhone 4S Features, Release Date, Price, Buying Advices

Apple revealed the new iPhone 4S smartphone with same iPhone 4 design but with better performance, 8MP camera, iOS 5, iCloud, and Siri voice control assistant. Disappointingly, it is not the iPhone 5 as expected earlier.

Read on for Apple iPhone 4S features, release date, price and iPhone buying advices.

Dual-core A5 CPU

iPhone 4S has the same design as iPhone 4 but hardware has been upgraded. iPhone 4S is powered by dual-core A5 CPU (same chip found in iPad 2). Apple claims that the new CPU gives you 2x more power and 7x faster graphics than iPhone 4’s A4 CPU.

8-megapixel iPhone 4S camera

iPhone 4S build-in a new 8-megapixel(MP) camera with larger F/2.4 aperture. It is 60% more pixels than iPhone 4’s 5MP camera. Larger aperture means the lens can collects more light, good for taking photos in low light environment, example: restaurant, in-door.

iPhone 4S’s camera app supports face-detection up to 10 faces and allows simple photos editing: crop, rotate, enhance, remove red-eye.

With iOS 5, you can access the camera app on the Lock screen. iPhone 4S only takes 1.1 second for 1st shot, and 0.5 second for 2nd shot.

As for video recording, iPhone 4S records real 1080p HD video format with software video stabilization.

Siri, tell me about you.

Siri allows you to “talk” to your iPhone 4S to send messages, schedule meetings, make phone calls, find information, and more. You can talk to Siri naturally and it understands your words. Siri is your personal assistant in pocket.

Besides taking your voice commands, iPhone 4S can supports speech-to-text feature to convert your words into text and input into iPhone apps.

Siri is currently Beta only on iPhone 4S and requires Internet access. Current supported languages are English, French, and German. Read more about Siri on Apple website.

Check out the Siri video below:

iOS 5 and iCloud

iPhone 4S is the first Apple device comes with iOS 5 and iCloud. iOS 5 is the latest version of Apple mobile operating system with many new features, including notification center, iMessage, Twitter integration, Reminders, and more. iCloud is Apple’s version of online cloud storage which stores your data and auto sync across different iOS devices you own.

iOS 5 and iCloud are not iPhone 4S exclusive, both will available at October 12 as free software update and support other iOS devices too: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1, iPad 2, iPod Touch latest generations.

Pricing and Availability

iPhone 4S (black & white) will cost $199 USD for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB and $399 for 64 GB in US (requires contract). 64GB model is new for iPhone.

iPhone 4S will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on Friday, October 14 and customers can pre-order their iPhone 4S starting this Friday, October 7.

iPhone 4S will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Compare iPhone 4-no-S vs. iPhone 4S

Apple iPhone 4S is very similar to iPhone 4 and you can’t tell the different by looking at them. iPhone 4S has faster CPU, better camera, better video recording, support both GSM/CDMA… That’s all?! Check out Apple’s comparison of iPhone models.

LiewCF’s buying advice

Generally, Apple’s iPhone 4S announcement has disappointed many users. We were expecting for a brand new iPhone 5, but after 15 months, Apple only give us an iPhone 4’s upgrade.

If you are getting your first iPhone, iPhone 4S is a no-brainer. It is the best iPhone yet (2011, at least). The 8MP camera can replace your point-and-shoot camera and cheap video recorder. Better still, photos taken can be geotagged and shared online immediately.

If you are holding iPhone 3GS (me!), it is about time to upgrade your 2-year old smartphone to iPhone 4S. You have already skipped 1 generation. Buy iPhone 4S now, or you are thinking to switch to other mobile platforms?

For iPhone 4 owners, iPhone 4S doesn’t give you many new features. Only faster CPU, and better camera. Siri? It is still in Beta, probably doesn’t understand your accent yet. I’d say iPhone 4 users need not upgrade. Of course, nobody can stop your Apple fanboy’s purchasing power anyway.