Ought you to upgrade to iPhone 4S?

Know the basic reasons to be think over before to buy a new iPhone 4S in India.

Finally Apple has released most expected iPhone 4S through Airtel and Aircel mobile operators in India.  Most of the Apple fans has got shocked in India, not for the iPhone 4S but for the price of it.  The cost of iPhone 4S has provided below based on variants certainly

• 16 GB – 44.500
• 32 GB – 50,900
• 64 GB – 57,500

It is a half-step upgrade for the existing iPhone 4 and they have done bumped improvements on it. So if you already have the iPhone old version like iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 and thinking to upgrade to an iPhone 4S, then have a look on few things to think about it. 

Design

iPhone 4S comes with the same existing design of iPhone 4. It hasn’t become slimmer or lighter. Lack of bigger display was disappointing, has a same high resolution of 3.7 inch and Retina display with 960X640 and 326 ppi density.

Hardware

iPhone 4S has a new dual core A5 processor  which was used in iPad 2 . Despite having a dual core processor the iPhone has been clocked at 1 GHZ and they did not mention about the significance of the second core. Apart from that, the graphics chip — PowerVR SGX543MP2 is currently top of the line and comes with two cores. The graphics chip does offer seven times more performance while playing games and also loads apps faster, though the RAM configuration remains unchanged.

  

 The iPhone 4S comes with a dual-mode network which means it supports GSM as well as CDMA. Though Apple still hasn't joined the Near Field Communication bandwagon, the company has compensated that with a Bluetooth 4.0 chip which consumes much less power compared to its predecessors. Apple has, in all fairness, packed an 8 megapixel camera that can record 1080p full HD video, and is a step higher than the iPhone 4's 5 megapixel snapper. The iPhone 4S has a front facing camera for Face-Time but it still isn't possible to make video calls over 3G. If one is looking just at the camera, then the Smartphone is more expensive than a good quality DSLR camera.

Software and services

 Apple has updated a new operating system for iPhone 4S with iOS 5 and offered iCloud service with 5 GB of online storage. However, the issues related to iOS 5, such as the volume and the end call button acting weirdly, continue to exist. Even the popular virtual assistant service Siri is causing trouble for users outside the United States.

 

Technically, Siri is perfect except for its sentence formation and its bad phonetics that cause weird results. As of now the service is in beta, and Dan Kittlaus, the creator of Siri, recently left Apple. Besides that, ever since the iPhone 4S was released its software has suffered from several SIM failure issues that continue to exist. 

Battery

Battery life has taken a massive hit with the iOS 5 update. Also, the standby time of iPhone 4S has come down to approximately 200 hours, compared to the 300 hours of standby time on iPhone 4, though talktime has been improved by one hour in the new edition. Sure the hour more of talking time over 3G networks is welcome but the standby time foresees massive fall.

Price

The all time high prices of iPhone 4S have left a number of existing iPhone 4S users wondering. Sure, the iPhone 4S does have more graphics punch, a full HD recording camera and a half-baked Siri assistant, but all that isn't worth more than Rs 10,000. Relative to the competition, iPhone 4S certainly falls short in terms of hardware and specifications, if one were to ignore its apps. Finally, the decision lies with the end consumer whether it is worth buying an upgraded phone that looks almost like iPhone 4, has battery issues, software issues but offers 1080p HD video recording.

Posted in: apple, iOS 5.0, iphone, iPhone 4s, iphone 4S price