GadgetDost.com: The iPhone 4S

The flight lands at Mumbai International airport. I am anxiously waiting to receive my ………… what are you thinking? My girl friend?? Wife?? It was none other than my latest and most loved phone – The iPhone 4s. My friend bought it from the USA…. As its little cheap there….

I know it’s too late to review as there are rumors that Apple is on the verge of replacing it but no confirmation for the same. So I couldn't resist myself. I decided to write a review of iPhone 4S on the 4S itself.

The best feature of this device is its display quality. Retina screen is absolutely superb. Watching Youtube or movies on this display is an altogether amazing experience. And am sure many of you will agree with me on this. A5 dual core processor is the best fit for iOS 5 which is not the case with A4 processor which is in iPad (first one) or earlier iPhone. I upgraded my iPad to iOS 5 and it got slow like anything. Even simple things like swapping screen are also not swift. So A5 rocks… 512 MB RAM is sufficient enough for running lots of applications. Phone does not get slow as you go on opening more and more applications. Considering that there is no proper ‘Close’ or ‘Exit’ for any application, it appears that all applications remain loaded in RAM like Android, but still there is no impact on the processing speed. It does have an impact in Android based phones. So, full marks to Apple for this.

Wireless works smoothly and remembers settings of all connected access points. This is a big advantage if you have to connect with many wireless routers with different IP settings. I have 5 different routers in all (office & home) but my iPhone connects with any of it as soon as it comes within range without me having to take the trouble to configure. Also you can sync your phone with iTune using wireless connection. However, Bluetooth can be used only for headsets. No file transfer is allowed using Bluetooth. This was about the hardware.

Now let’s talk about the apps. This phone comes with bare minimum apps pre-loaded, but there are lots of apps available on App Store. Many of them are really very useful and free as well. The built-in map app works reasonably good in India. I mean, mostly on the national highways or important State highways. But inner roads, I’m a little doubtful... Coz, when I tried using it near Nashik in Maharashtra recently, I found out that what the map calls as state highway is nothing but a road separating two farms. Anyways driving on that road was one of the most amazing driving experiences ever. In-built mail client is good. The only big disappointment is Siri. Only on very few occasions it understands what I say. I was able to open mail and music with voice command only once so far. So Apple guys if you’re listening, please do something about it. Listening to music with Apple headphone replaces the need of any other personal music system. But this has been the USP of Apple since the launch of iPod. So, one cannot say that it is special to iPhone alone. They have been able to retain this USP in this phone also.

8 MP camera captures wonderful pics and also records full HD video of equally good quality. It has its own class. So after the music system, now you can get rid of your camera as well. HDR (High Dynamic Range) does wonders with image. Auto focus works well and if you are not happy with auto focus then just tap and the camera focuses on area that you've tapped. Face detection is great. Front camera does a good job in case you are interested in video calling. So overall thumbs up for the camera as well.

This phone comes with three different internal storages 16GB 32GB 64GB. No expandable slot to increase storage. But that is the case with all apple products. So third party memory card providers, Bye bye! This is to ensure that their product works exactly as per their design and it actually does.

Now, few areas where Apple could have done better. First and most disappointing is that there is no change in the screen size from its predecessor. 3.5 inch display is too small for such a wonderful handset. It weighs 140 gms… a little on the higher side as compared with Samsung S2 or equivalent phones. It also is a little bulky for its size. Without any external cover, the phone keeps slipping off the hand. One needs to grip it carefully while handling this phone. 1432 mAh battery is sufficient enough for average use of a day. So Apple has scope for improvement here. Last but not the least, is its price! iPhone 4S is available in India starting at about Rs.45K(16GB) and goes up to Rs.60K (64GB). It is definitely very expensive when you can get other handsets with almost the same specs in the range of Rs.25Kto 30K.