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Apple Announces iPhone 4S 1Today's Apple event has come, and gone. Not a lot of fanfare, no live music performances, and honestly nothing ground shaking. Quite frankly, many of us online were chatting and tweeting that this presentation was pretty dull.

But, to give Tim Cook credit, he did what he had to do and set the precedent for what the new Apple looks like under his control – he and his team talked a bit of business, talked some numbers, and then in the end, announced a new iPhone that they hope will be flying off the shelves this coming holiday season.

That being said, here is a high-level rundown of the iPhone 4S

iPhone 4S Tech Specs
Processor: Dual-core A5 [~2x the speed of the one in the iPhone 4] GPU: Dual-core, ~7x faster than iPhone 4
Screen size: 3.5-inches
Antenna: Dual-mode GSM and CDMA worldphone, new design that improves reception
Connection Speed: HSPA, 14.4Mbps download, 5.8Mbps upload – not 4G, but Apple says it’s “just as fast”
Camera: 8-megapixel, 1080p video, photo-shooting in 1.1 seconds
Battery Life: 8 hours talk time on 3G, 14 hours on 2G, 6 hours browsing on 3G, 9 hours on Wi-Fi, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music
Colors: Black and white
Carriers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint
Note: For the first time, U.S. mobile customers on Sprint can get themselves an iPhone.
Price: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB (with new two-year contract)
Note: This is significant since we haven't had a 64GB model until now
Pre-orders: October 7
Release Date: October 14 (USA, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan; Oct. 28 in 22 more countries)

For those still not ready to make the jump to a bleeding edge product, no worries…the 8GB iPhone 3GS is going to be FREE (with contract), and the iPhone 4 will be $99 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB model.

Out of today's event were a handful of other product enhancements that are coming in iOS 5, such as Notification Center, iMessages, and iCloud.

Consumers will like iOS5 alot. I've been running it for a few months now, as part of the Apple Developer Program, and the wireless sync and notifications screen are awesome. The final, gold master build is supposed to be released to the developer community today so I'll be downloading and installing that and providing a review of the “final final” feature set soon.

iOS5 will be available on October 12th as a free update to all users.

Outside of that, the two biggest items announced today, in my opinion, was that of a new Apple created iApp called Cards and also the inclusion of the intelligent voice assistant, Siri within the iPhone 4S.

Cards

Everyone, and I mean everyone is ditching their point-and-shoot camera. It's all about the camera integrated into your phones now. Apple realizes that and is looking to capitalize on that fact, primarily before the holiday season, with the announcement of a new iApp that allows you to send postcards and pretty framed images of the photos you take with your iPhone.

I was impressed with the images shown during the press event. The app will go on sale in the App Store on October 12 and will cost $2.99.

Siri

You've seen this app and company before – then Apple bought them ! Now the technology is deeply integrated into the 4S platform.

Here's how Apple fully describes the Siri product:

Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.

Apple Announces iPhone 4S 2A not-so-fun-fact is that it appears as though Siri will only work on the 4S. Along with that, if you had the legacy Siri iApp you now get presented with an unfortunate error message.

For all you creative folks that like great pictures – we got an infographic for you! Check out below the comparison between the iPhone 4 and 4S

Apple Announces iPhone 4S 3Apple Announces iPhone 4S 4
[infographic via Huffington Post]

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of HicksNewMedia, a Digital Publishing and Technology Consulting team providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to more effective utilize the social interweb. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

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  • While I was hoping to learn about an iPhone 5, I’m kinda of glad they didn’t release that as it means, if they do a refresh a year from now, I’ll be eligible for a penalty-free upgrade a few months later.

    But Siri…this sounds amazing. What I’m excited to see is how it evolves and if/how they’ll incorporate it into the iPad3. Oh, and yes, for the iPad3, 1st QTR 2012 CAN’T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH!

  • While I was hoping to learn about an iPhone 5, I’m kinda of glad they didn’t release that as it means, if they do a refresh a year from now, I’ll be eligible for a penalty-free upgrade a few months later.

    But Siri…this sounds amazing. What I’m excited to see is how it evolves and if/how they’ll incorporate it into the iPad3. Oh, and yes, for the iPad3, 1st QTR 2012 CAN’T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH!

  • I believe this is one of the most significant information for me. And i am glad studying your article. However wanna observation on few normal issues, The web site taste is perfect, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers

  • I believe this is one of the most significant information for me. And i am glad studying your article. However wanna observation on few normal issues, The web site taste is perfect, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of HicksNewMedia, a Digital Publishing and Technology Consulting team providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to more effective utilize the social interweb. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

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