iPhone 4S Review

A lot of folks have been asking me what I think of the iPhone 4s, so here are my thoughts.

To kick things off, if you are a 3gs user (hello, Wife!) and your contract is up for renewal, it's a complete no brainer. Nothing to discuss; just do it. If you are an iPhone 4 user you are probably ok unless photography is important to you. The camera is actually THAT good; it's like finally having a solid point and click in your pocket. Same holds true with video as well. I'm constantly taking pictures and video of the kids - I would have upgraded simply for this one aspect (though who am I kidding? I was upgrading even it was the exact same phone).

What else to like? Siri is cool and is clearly the future of mobile. It hasn't been working that great for me thus far - it requires a connection to Apple's servers which appear to be massively overwhelmed. But when it connects it generally works well and you can see that it is without question the future pf mobile. It's a game changer for Apple and I expect that it will iterate quickly - it's currently considered a beta product by Apple - and once API's open up to other apps and services, the potential is sky high. Right now it sits a bit on the novelty side of the fence, but it's something to watch and an excellent differentiator for Apple.

It's fast too, but that's to be expected.. Next to zero latency when opening other apps.

And then there's iOS5 which is fantastic and almost like having an entirely new OS. The best aspect of iOS5 for me personally is the new notification system. I'll do a separate post some time soon on iOS5 but the bottom line is that it delivers on its promise.

There's only one question mark. I have some real concerns about the battery. I've only used it over the weekend - and my use was relatively light, especially for me, but the battery appears more like the 3gs than the 4 and that is not a good thing. I suspect it's due to the new notification system and so I havbe made some modifications, but we shall see. Given how much I travel for business, battery life for me is a huge issue. So we shall see - I'm going to keep my yes on this.

So, bottom line; it's another solid winner from Apple and despite the fact that the exterior remains the same (why mess with near perfection?) it's very much a new product.