iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4: Review of Features, Price and Specs

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Apple’s media event today is now over, and we finally witnessed the release of a new iPhone 4S with the availability from October 14th in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions for $199, $299 and $399 respectively. As you can see one noticeable difference is that we have more choices this time around. Not only that you will be able to buy the 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 4S but also 64GB version will also be available although at a price premium. Please note that these prices are with a contract. We are also witnessing the availability of the iPhone 4S from Sprint. Consumers will be able to choose from the black and white versions of the iPhone 4S. Furthermore, iPhone 4S is now a true dual-mode device and a “world phone” that will support both CDMA and GSM.

Design and Outlook

Now after clearing out the above facts about the iPhone 4S lets turn our attention to iPhone design as compared to the iPhone 4. Well, there is not much to say here I am afraid as the design is essentially the same as iPhone 4. Except with some antenna improvements to overcome the reception issues that users had when Apple released iPhone 4. Its still the great industrial quality construction with aluminum body and IPS display that we used to love from the original iPhone 4. As for the dimensions and thickness they are exactly the same as iPhone 4 as you might expect because the design has not changed. Weight has slightly increased from 137g to 140g but it’s negligible difference.

Battery Power

In terms of battery life again there are not any tangible differences as iPhone 4S is expected to provide the same 8 hours of talk time on 3G as the current iPhone 4 and 14 hours on 3G. iPhone 4S will provide a 10 hours battery lasting time for the video playback before the battery drains out.

Display Size and Quality

In terms of the display there is not much to say as iPhone 4S still supports the same 3.5-inch IPS 960 x 640 display that we used to love from the iPhone 4. Although small 3.5-inch screen is the source of major disappointment for many users including myself in an era where 4-inch or larger screens are so common on high end smartphones.

Processor and GPU Specs

Now lets come to the most interesting part -  under the hood specs of the iPhone 4S and how it compares to the iPhone 4? iPhone 4S has A5 processor under the hood. This is the same processor that originally debuted with the iPad 2. What we can tell you is that it’s a major jump in terms of raw processing power as compared to the rather mediocre A4 present in iPhone 4 by the current standards. However, It should be noted that A5 is down-clocked as compared to the A5 processor that is integrated on the iPad2 to save the battery power. However, according to Apple it should still provide up double the processing power of the iPhone 4. Furthermore A5 powered iPhone 4S is expected to provide up to 7 times the GPU computing power as compared to the iPhone 4! That really means something particularly for the games and multimedia apps running on this new Apple device. In fact, under the hood processing power is one of the two major new improvements in the iPhone 4S.

Camera

Second and last major improvement in the iPhone 4S is the all new 8 mega pixel camera that can shoot particularly well under the low light light conditions and comes with the better optics, lens and also has the features such as face detection and image stabilization. Best of all startup time for the camera is expected to be much faster as compared to the one we have on the iPhone 4. On the video side it can shoot 1080p videos without problem. All these features put it close to what we can find in many dedicated point&shoot camera these days. Lastly of course your shiny new iPhone 4S will come preloaded with the new iOS 5 to round out the experience.

Conclusion

So here you have it all the major new improvements and features we are going to get with the new iPhone 4S. So what are your thoughts on this? If you are disappointed at the failure of Apple to release an iPhone 5 this year, or you more than happy with the new features in the iPhone 4S? What are your thoughts on Apple decision to go with a relatively small 3.6-inch screen on iPhone 4S? Let us know in the comments!

I am sure that you will also like to check our hot new article on: iPhone 4S Released: Apple Expects to Compete Against Samsung Galaxy S2 (SII) With This – Really?

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