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IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

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Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#41

Post by john2x »

flyosity wrote: post #27
john2x wrote: post #23

I'm confused. It's priced at $199. That's the same as the iPod Touch. Has it really gone down that much? Or am I missing something? And what's with the "Free" 3GS?

That's the price if you sign up for a 2-year contract. This is typically how they show the prices of iPhones since most consumers in the U.S. have no idea what a phone costs before the subsidy is paid by the carrier (and wouldn't pay it.)

:( aww.. Got a bit excited there.. I knew it was too good to be true.

But has the price gone down compared to previous releases?

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#42

Post by itg »

guywithabike wrote: post #34
moe wrote: post #4

Any word on when the real iphone5 will arrive? The 4S seems like a rather pitiful flagship by apple standards.

I really don't get it. Why's everyone underwhelmed? Is a new case the only thing people wanted?

Seems like it. The two biggest gripes I've seen is they wanted a bigger screen and redesign. The bigger screen would have been nice, but is it really bothering so many people that it looks the same?

I'm moving on from a 3GS so I plan on getting the 4S.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#43

Post by lylejohnson »

guywithabike wrote: post #34
moe wrote: post #4

Any word on when the real iphone5 will arrive? The 4S seems like a rather pitiful flagship by apple standards.

I really don't get it. Why's everyone underwhelmed? Is a new case the only thing people wanted?

I imagine that at least some of the disappointment is due to a lack of surprises. We've pretty much known for months that at a minimum the new iPhone (whatever model number it ended up having) would have incremental improvements over the iPhone 4. That is, we expected to see the A5 processor, and a better camera, slightly better battery life, etc. But we were simulatenously hoping that Apple would throw us a curve ball too, something that no one had predicted, whether that was a new form factor or, you know, ... something else. There was no "one more thing".

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#44

Post by Steko »

kenjackson wrote: post #21

This is a pretty underwhelming release. At least for waiting 16 months since the last phone. I sincerely hope Apple isn't about to do a replay of the Mac. Great introduction with incredible technology. But a few years into it, begins to stagnate. HW wise this nothing like the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 was a far superior device over the Galaxy S phones. The Galaxy S II though is pretty close to this. In terms of the raw…

"The Galaxy S II though is pretty close to this. In terms of the raw HW I think I might call it a draw now."

I'm pretty sure the SGX543MP2 blows everything else out of water currently:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/samsung-galaxy-s-2-intern...

The offscreen numbers are resolution independent and as far as I can tell the 4GS should be near identical with the ipad.

Basically no one is going to surpass the 4GS hardware until Q2 2012 when 28/32 nm phones are shipping and the iphone 5's chip will already be on display in the ipad 3.

A lot of people expected the 4GS/5's A5 to have one GPU disabled but I guess they can just turn it off dynamically for battery and somehow handle the heat when it's needed.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#45

Post by alexg0 »

AT&T has consistently let it's best customers upgrade to new iPhone releases without enforcing the contract -- charging subsidized prices to upgrade to newer iPhone models. Will Sprint and Verizon done the same, or is switching to Sprint now will commit one to sit out next iPhone?

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#46

Post by Toddward »

guywithabike wrote: post #34
moe wrote: post #4

Any word on when the real iphone5 will arrive? The 4S seems like a rather pitiful flagship by apple standards.

I really don't get it. Why's everyone underwhelmed? Is a new case the only thing people wanted?

Apple failed to manage expectations - rumors ran rampant about a new design, larger screen, iPhone 4S and an iPhone 5, LTE/WiMAX...

In the face of all the rumors of possible updates, an S version of what we already had is underwhelming. In the past Apple has done a great job of strategically leaking info to the press when rumors were getting out of hand (iPad 2 Retina Display is a recent example) - that did not happen this time.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#47

Post by joebadmo »

As an Android user and admitted Google fanboy, there's a secret part of me that always hopes the new iPhone will be so much and so unequivocably better that I'll want to switch.

I really like the iPhone 4/4s ID, but I am a bit disappointed that there's not a shiny new chassis with something to blow me away.

No doubt the camera (now even more so) is better than anything on any Android device, probably by a lot. The pixel density, contrast, and surface proximity of the screen is fantastic. Hardware-wise, the only thing I can ask for is LTE (hell on the battery, I know) and a bigger screen (impossible to maintain pixel density, I know, but I love the 4.3" screen on my Droid X, I don't think I could go back).

Software-wise, with the new notification system, I think the only major feature I want now is something like Locale or Tasker, background apps that allow me change phone settings according to different criteria, e.g. when I'm at home, my ringer and wifi turns on, when I leave home they turn off.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#48

Post by jarek »

john2x wrote: post #41
flyosity wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the price if you sign up for a 2-year contract. This is typically how they show the prices of iPhones since most consumers in the U.S. have no idea what a phone costs before the subsidy is paid by the carrier (and wouldn't pay it.)

:( aww.. Got a bit excited there.. I knew it was too good to be true. But has the price gone down compared to previous releases?

No, new iPhone models have been introduced at $199 on contract for lowest disk capacity since the 3G.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#49

Post by kill-9 »

guywithabike wrote: post #34
moe wrote: post #4

Any word on when the real iphone5 will arrive? The 4S seems like a rather pitiful flagship by apple standards.

I really don't get it. Why's everyone underwhelmed? Is a new case the only thing people wanted?

Because Apple did nothing to quash rumors of the iPhone 5. This makes me think that the decision not to launch it was made very late. Usually Apple is better about managing expectations.

Re: IPhone 4S: A5 chip, 8MP camera, and Siri voice recognition

#50

Post by MatthewPhillips »

kenjackson wrote: post #36
dmix wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You lost me at Mango and iOS being in the same category - and then you want to "throw Android out and start from scratch"?... what? Android is not quite iOS but its a very close second and better than what anyone else has been capable of creating.

iOS and Mango are in the same class in fundamentals. Use a device with iOS, Mango, and Android. Honestly, try it. The iOS and Mango device respond very similarly to basic things like swipes, pinches, etc... Android is a lot more jittery, even on the SGII HW. The odd thing with Android is that it's not a LOT less jittery on the G1 (although it is). Android is second best in apps. And #1 in terms of market dominance. B…

I personally don't see much of a difference between the OSes in terms of lag. I know there is a meme that iOS doesn't lag but my iPad lags all the time (and always has). If I do a big sync I have to restart the device because it's unusably laggy. My Nexus One with Gingerbread rarely lags at all.

* I don't really like Android that much (or iOS).

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