The iPhone 4S

Posted by nkbish0p at 20:06 0

Tweet It's been a long time since I posted anything here, but today, I bring something good! The newest iPhone and the successor to the insanely popular iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S!


So, as you have probably guessed by the name, the iPhone 4S is to the iPhone 4 the same as the iPhone 3gs was to the iPhone 3g. That is, to start with, it looks almost exactly the same.

But, like the iPhone 3gs, the real improvements are hidden away inside the device.

Apple A5 processor


Its dual-core and twice as fast as the A4 processor in the iPhone 4, according to Apple. Right now, I'm betting the difference won't be an issue for most users, but maybe it will a couple in a couple of software updates time.

Dual core graphics


Seven times faster than the graphics chip found in the iPhone 4, should provide a great performance boost for those that play graphically demanding games on their device.


New antennae


The much-maligned antenna from the iPhone 4 has been modified and can now switch between transmitting and receiving automatically. The antennae takes the same shape as the CDMA iPhone 4, so for UK users this is one easy way to distinguish between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4s without using it. Apparently this will solve the issue of the "death grip" that some users reported on the original iPhone 4. Hopefully this will also put an end to the lame jokes about a £500 phone that can't make phone calls.


Improved 3g internet speeds


Whilst the iPhone 4 has a maximum 3g download speed of 7.2mbps (a speed you would be unlikely to ever reach anyway) the iPhone 4S boosts this to 14.4mbps. A great improvement once significant improvement to 3g coverage and speed is made by the UK carriers.


New camera


Big changes here. The camera goes from 5.0mp in the iPhone 4 all the way up to 8.0mp in the iPhone 4S. But there are more changes. The iPhone 4S adds a backside illuminated CMOS sensor for better performance in low light, ideal for taking photographs indoors. The camera supports apertures down to f/2.4. The video camera has also been given an upgrade and can now record 1080p video compared to the 720p video of the iPhone 4. Whilst this appears to be an improvement, I'm slightly skeptical. 1080p video files are HUGE and owners of the 16gb iPhone 4S model may find free space lacking. Also, unless you're planning on playing your phone recorded videos on a huge TV or monitor you are unlikely to appreciate the upgrade in size. A definite upgrade is the addition of facial recognition and image stabilisation, features often not found on smartphones. The camera is faster than most other popular smartphones with only a 1.1 second wait required before a photo can be taken. The camera also contains a "five element lens" for sharper images. White balance is improved by 26%.

Decent battery life


Don't listen to what non-users say, iPhones have always had great battery life compared to the competition. Battery life for a variety of uses can be seen in the pic below.

Siri Voice control


A cool, but maybe slightly gimmicky feature, the iPhone 4S has the ability to "intelligently" respond to verbal questions and commands. For example, ask what time it is and your iPhone will tell you. Instruct your iPhone to set an alarm and it will. Looks cool and will no doubt draw many people into buying a new iPhone, even if they already own an iPhone 4. To me, this is probably the iPhone 4S' "killer" feature. Siri can also be used to dictate, instead of typing, the user can hit the microphone button, speak and watch their words be replicated as text.

 

64gb


The iPhone can finally be bought in a capacity over 32gb but with a 2 year contract upfront cost of $399 in the US, this could very well cost over £700 in the UK without contract. Which would be ridiculous.

iOS 5.0

The iPhone 4S will ship running iOS 5.0 but iOS 5.0 will also be available for several other devices. The best features in iOS 5.0 can be seen here.

The iPhone 4s will be released in the UK on 14/10/2011 and prices have not yet been announced

Come back soon to see my review of the newest iPhone!

Thanks for reading!

A nicer version of multitasking

Posted by nkbish0p at 15:09 0

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If you have ever used a mac, you may be familiar with "Exposé" a nice way of showing you what apps are currently running on your computer and allowing you to easily switch between them. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the way iOS shows you what apps are open and how to switch between them isn't great at all; it only shows four apps at a time and takes ages to close apps that you no longer want to run.

Fortunately for jailbroken phones there is an alternative, multifl0w, which is essentialy exposé for your device.

In order to install this, you will need to jailbreak your phone (read about this here) and have http://repo.insanelyiph0ne.com/ added to your sources in cydia (read about this here)

Once you have done the above open the above source in the "sources menu" in Cydia and scroll down to "multifl0w" and install it. After your device reboots you will have the software installed!

The software is configured to work how multitasking normally works but it can be changed to be activated in different ways inside the settings menu on your phone.

The devlopers have a website which can be found here

Let me know what you think of this great piece of software below!

Orange iPhone 4 Contracts and price plans

Posted by nkbish0p at 23:43 0

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ORANGE iPHONE 4 PRICE PLANS

32gb

iPhone 4 pay as you go

16gb - £480

32gb - £570

available on several of orange's pay as you go price plans, visit orange.co.uk for more details.

Posted on orange.co.uk 16/6/2010.

COMMENTS AND COMPARISONS TO COME WHEN MORE UK CARRIERS RELEASE THEIR IPHONE 4 PRICE PLANS STAY TUNED FOR LATEST INFORMATION @bb0nK

iPhone 4 "Vodafone Contract Prices"

Posted by nkbish0p at 20:03 0

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Below are the Vodafone iPhone 4 contract prices as posted on vodafone.co.uk 18/6/2010.

STAY TUNED FOR A COMPARISON OF CONTRACTS AVAILABLE FOR THE 3 MAJOR UK NETWORKS.

All you need to know about the new iphone, iphone 4.

Posted by nkbish0p at 13:12 0

Tweet On monday, 7th June 2010, apple announced what they described as the biggest developmental step in the iphone cycle since the original iphone was announced back in 2007, the iphone 4. This is a guide on what is the iphone 4, what features does it have, how much does it cost, and where can I get it.

What is iphone 4?

iPhone 4 is the fourth version of apples popular iphone handset, the successor of the iPhone 3GS that was announced around 1 year ago. It looks significantly different to its predecessor. Whilst the 3gs was made of plastic and glass, the new iPhone 4 is made of glass and stainless steel, leading to improved reception for mobile phone signal, WIFI signal, bluetooth and GPS.

The new iphone is also much thinner than its predecessor with a thickness of only 9.3mm, making it the thinnest smartphone available in the world today. The weight of the iPhone 4 is approximately the same as the old iPhone 3gs and iPhone 3g, but the build quality is much improved.

The iPhone 4 is available in 2 colours, black and white, however this time the "white" iPhone is completely white, as opposed to the previous "white" iPhone 3g and iPhone 3gs which both had white backs, but still had the same black front as the "black" models.

The iPhone 4 is available in 16gb and 32gb configurations, similar to the iPhone 3gs.

Some pictures of the new iPhone 4 can be seen below.

both images taken from apple.com, copyright apple.

The new features of iPhone 4

iPhone 4 is a big improvement over its predecessor, and adds many new features and improvements. It is important to know that a software update released by apple (iOS4) that will be released on June 21st will add many new features to the iPhone 3gs and 3g as well as some newer iPod touch models. Therefore in this section I will concentrate exclusively on features unique to iPhone 4 that cannot be added to older models with a software update.

Camera

I will begin with the camera, as many people still choose a phone based partially upon what kind of camera the phone has, and may use their mobile phone as their dedicated camera.

The original iPhone was famed for having a poor camera in relation to its high retail price. With the introduction of the 3gs, this was partially rectified with the resolution of the camera going up from 2 megapixels in the preceding two models to 3.2 megapixels. More importantly, the iPhone 3gs also introduced an autofocus camera, which is vital for any kind of serious photography.

The iPhone 4 has taken a huge leap forward in the camera department with the introduction of a 5 megapixel camera with a flash. While previous iPhones have been virtually unusable in low light conditions, the addition of a flash should go some way to rectify this, and hopefully make the iPhone a serious replacement for a dedicated low to mid range digital camera. Some example photographs taken with the iPhone 4's camera can be seen in this gallery at engadget.com.

Apple have also added a front facing video camera for video calling. Disappointingly, this only works between iPhone 4 handsets, so it cannot be used to call a user of another mobile phone. Also, in 2010 this will only work over WIFI networks. However, jailbroken iPhone users will be able to use this functionality over 3g, and I will post a tutorial for this some time in the next few weeks, after the iPhone 4 is released.

The iPhone 4 can also record high definition video, in 720p. This is a fantastic new addition and means that this phone can record better video than a large proportion of very high digital cameras that are only a year or two old, and most low to mid range video cameras sold today. iPhone 4 records these videos at 30 frames per second, so you can also expect its video output to be exceptionally smooth.

Screen

The new iPhone 4 has a screen resolution of quadruple all three of the previous iPhones, and apple call this a "retina display" For those not sure as to what this means, I will give a brief explanation.

An electronic display is made up of "pixels". These are very small rectangles that can change colour to produce a picture. The more pixels a display has, the smaller the areas that can be produced on the screen and the more detail can be produced. Therefore the more pixels a screen has, the clearer and more realistic it looks.

Many people believe that this is the greatest improvement over the iPhone 3gs. However, I am slightly wary as to whether this new display will be utilised effectively, as there have already been 50 million devices with a lower resolution display that have been shipped. This will give developers little motivation to code their apps in the new resolution, or conversely, even if they do apples app store will become fragmented, as there will be apps that can run on the iPhone 4, but not on any of the older hardware.

Apple did say that their display will automatically render text in the new resolution, which will make reading text on the iPhone 4 a much more pleasant experience that on the older hardware as it will be clearer and more legible, so this is a definite improvement for those spending a lot of time on safari, or reading text in other applications.

Internals and battery life.

Possibly of less concern to the average user, but very important overall are the iPhone 4's internal components, such as the processor, memory (not to be confused with storage) and graphics processor. As usual, apple released little detail of these components, but once iPhone 4 begins shipping, useful information about these components will be found at this link.

We do know that iPhone 4 contains apple's A4 processor, which should make it faster than the iPhone 3gs.

The battery life is much improved over the iPhone 3gs and the official figures are as follows:

7 hours talk time on 3g

14 hours talk time on 2g (unimportant unless you keep 3g turned off)

standby time 300 hours (unimportant unless you don't even use your phone)

6 hours of 3g internet

10 hours of wifi internet

10 hours of video playback

40 hours of music playback

These represent strong improvements over the old model, yet those expecting battery times similar to the iPad could have been left disappointed.

gyroscope

I am unsure as to how useful this will prove to be and as to how it will be utilised. It is much easier to view this in action than to explain, so I have provided a video link:

As you can probably see, it seems unrealistic to expect people to play games in the manner seen in public. However, since the accelerometer was introduced it has been adopted by most major smart-phones, so it is not unrealistic to expect the gyroscope to have similar success.

pricing and availability

As of yet, no UK pricing has been released for iPhone 4, however the phone will be released for pre order on the 15th June on Vodafone, orange and o2, with expected delivery date of June 24th. When pricing information is available, I will make a post analysing all the different options, and find the cheapest and best value tariffs for this phone.