Apple iPhone 4S review

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It’s been 16 months since the iPhone 4 was launched. That’s plenty of time for rivals to catch up and – in the case of certain models such as the Samsung Galaxy S2 – overtake Apple’s flagship smartphone in certain areas.

Now Apple has responded with the iPhone 4S, a handset that looks the same as the old one, but with more powerful internals. It’s no surprise that the company has updated the iPhone 4 rather than launch an all-new ‘iPhone 5’ – this simply follows the pattern that started with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Outwardly, the iPhone 4S is exactly the same as its predecessor, save for breaks in the external antenna in different places. The newcomer has the same screen, buttons and edge-to-edge glass front and rear; most cases made for the iPhone 4 will fit the 4S with no issues, but the mute switch has moved slightly so those with small apertures for the switch may not fit properly.

So what’s new? The main upgrade is the A5 processor – the same as used in the iPad 2. This dual-core chip is estimated to run at 800MHz – Apple doesn’t disclose the precise details of its processors. It’s around 25 per cent slower than the iPad’s chip, and considerably slower than the Galaxy S2’s 1.2GHz processor. Apple claims the iPhone 4S is twice as fast as the 4, and up to seven times as fast for graphics (versus the iPad’s ‘nine times faster’ claim).

In practice, the difference in speed between the two smartphones is easily noticeable. Apps load faster, web pages load faster and games run more smoothly. Benchmarks, such as Geekbench, help to back this up. The iPhone 4 scores 360; the iPhone 4S managed 623 (the iPad 2 is proportionally faster still with 751). In the SunSpider Javascript test – a measure of web browsing speed – the iPhone 4 scored 3,545 (higher scores are worse). The 4S’s score of 2,200 shows it’s over 60 per cent quicker. The iPhone 4S’s extra performance will undoubtedly prove essential over the next 12-18 months to fend off competition from the latest Android devices, as well as giving App developers more power to work with to create ever-better games.

Performance isn’t the only improvement. Battery life is also improved. In our standard smartphone battery test, which plays an MP3 file on continuous loop, the 4S lasted an astonishing 58 hours and 15 minutes. This beats the iPhone 4 by almost 10 hours. It also lasted for exactly 12 hours when playing a video with the screen set to 50 per cent brightness, which is seriously impressive.

Photos and videos were clearly a priority for Apple, as the 4S’s rear camera has been upgraded with an 8-megapixel backlit sensor and new, faster optics with a maximum aperture of f/2.4. You can also use one of the volume buttons as a shutter button – a real boon. Looking at the 4 and 4S’s photos side by side, it’s clear that there’s more detail, just as you would expect when comparing any 5-megapixel image with an 8-megapixel version. The cropped portions of the images below show just how much extra detail you get with the iPhone 4S. Since both are 100% crops, there’s less viewable area in the 4S’s photo here.

iPhone 4S:

iPhone 4:

The extra resolution means videos are recorded at 1,920×1,080. Again, the difference in detail levels is immediately noticeable. Our only criticism is that the metering system tended towards overexposure, so cloudy skies lacked the detail of the iPhone 4’s videos. However, we’d still prefer to carry a iPhone 4S for the extra detail. Another advantage is electronic stabilisation. Watching identical videos from the 4S and 4, which were shot while walking along, it’s obvious that the iPhone 4S has far less jerky motion. You can tap the screen to set an area for exposure, focus and stabilisation.

Here’s the video from the new iPhone 4s, click through to YouTube for a 1080p HD version

Here’s the video from the iPhone 4, click through to YouTube for a 720p HD version

Slightly less obvious is the upgraded antenna, which is said to eliminate the ‘grip of death’ signal problems which blighted the previous model at launch. As there are two antennae instead of one, the phone now works worldwide. Until now, you had to choose between GSM and CDMA models, but the iPhone 4S will operate in every country.

Finally, there’s Siri. This improves immensely on the iPhone 4’s voice command facility, which wasn’t very accurate, or useful. In combination with other new features in iOS 5 this ‘intelligent assistant’ can set reminders, play songs, send emails and text messages, make calls, wake you up in the morning, answer maths problems and more. Siri works with almost all the built-in apps (not Twitter, though), so you can ask it to find a weather forecast, read out a text message, find information on the internet and start a timer. It’s particularly useful if you’re blind or visually impaired.

You can speak in natural language at a normal pace. For example, you could, “Set a reminder to record Downton Abbey at 9pm on Sunday” and it will show the transcribed text, plus the reminder. You can then tap the Confirm button, or confirm by voice. Similarly, you can say, “What will the weather be like on Sunday”, and if more than five days away will apologise and then show a summary of the forecast.

The service is currently in Beta, which means it can’t answer certain questions in the UK. It can only look for businesses, maps and traffic information in the US at the moment. In our tests Siri struggled with strong regional accents, but worked reliably in quiet environments when speaking clearly.

As with Dragon Dictation, a free app that’s been available for a while on the iPhone, Siri has to send data to Apple’s servers for processing. The transcription isn’t carried out on the iPhone 4S’s dual-core processor. This will eat into your data allowance, and means that Siri will not function if you don’t have a Wi-Fi or data connection via your mobile provider.

The good news is that Siri understands spoken punctuation, and inserted commas and full stops in our text messages and emails. Where Siri is supported in an application, you’ll see an additional microphone key on the keyboard. Siri’s voice, it has to be said, has also got a long way to go before it sounds natural. The English voice sounds rather stunted.

Our main criticism of the iPhone 4S, however, is the price. At £360 on an 18-month contract, it’s hugely more expensive than any other handset. However, it’s currently the most powerful and also has the best photo and video quality of any smartphone. It’s also backed by iTunes and the App Store with over half a million apps – no rival can beat this combination currently. If you have deep pockets, the iPhone 4S won’t disappoint.