Well, I’ve writing about the iPhone 4s for about a week now; from my disappointment that Apple did not release a 5, to the anticipation about Siri.

This isn’t going to be a review of the iPhone 4S. There are plenty of them around the web. Check out Gizmodo or Ars Technica if you are looking for an overview. Now, if you are a real geek, you got one already.

However, if you are on the ledge, deciding if there is enough there to justify toprice, here is what you need to know:

1. The camera rocks! Colors are more natural and images are more lifelike. It is hard to quantify, but photographs taken on the iPhone 4S are noticeably better than on the iPhone 4. Low light photos are clearer with less grain. Just don’t expect to be able to take shots in near darkness.
2. Video makes every other portable video camera obsolete. The killer feature is video stabilization. Videos have much less jitter. While the iPhone 4S won’t give you steadicam, the screen movement is smooth and less distracting.
3. Speed. Apps feel snappier, load, and switch faster. In Facebook moving between posts and comments feels quite a bit faster. Starting up the camera app from the homescreen is several second faster. However, when I last left the camera in video mode, I was still able to count 10 seconds before the camera was functional.
4. Siri.Two words: it works. I have no doubt that in short order people will be complaining about Siri’s limitations: no turn by turn directions, recognition errors, lack of an API, reduced functionality from the original Siri app. However, straight out of the box, Siri is a game changer. [Read more...]