Generic iPhone 4S blog

Another blog about a bloody phone.  Why can't I think of something interesting to write about?  Well to be truthful I did start one about how disappointing the most recent series of Doctor Who was, but I chickened out.  It's still sitting in my drafts, I just can't be bothered as it seems that anyone who doesn't like the show this year is apparently just incorrect.  Probably no great loss though.  My piece was incoherent and didn't explain itself properly, but it was quite pleased with itself throughout.  Insert your own joke here.

So following on from my previous piece our new iPhones arrived last weekend.  Because we had the temerity to wait until the evening of the first day of pre-order, we had to wait a whole week after release date until they arrived.  Shocking I know, but somehow we survived.  In order to future-proof myself I was tempted to buy the 64GB version but went for 32GB in the end, as Kate did too.  £699 just seemed a stupid price to pay for a phone.  £599 on the other hand - not a problem...!

So, thoughts - in bullet point form as it's not worth the effort to write a proper article.  There are plenty of them out there, just google the words "awesome" and "shiny" (probably).

• Camera - rather good.  I may start leaving my actual camera at home.  Although from the iPhone 3G you'd expect to see a bit of a jump.  You do however learn quickly to turn the thing on it's side when shooting video unless you want your videos to look like those curious narrow-vision clips of people's kids you see all the time on Facebook
• WiFi.  Probably my favourite new feature, Apple dropped support around July 2010 for this particular user (see my previous blog if you don't get the "joke")
• The general speed of the phone is incredible.  The 3G model had slowed down considerably over the years (probably due to the software upgrades that it couldn't really support) so the general zippiness of the new phone is pretty impressive. 
• Equally I'm not sure if this is just the 4S's new features or if it was like this on the 4, but the speed of 3G internet is amazing.
• iCloud is a mess.  Although I personally understand the concept there is precious little attempt to explain what it actually is to the uninitiated, instead featuring general "USE THIS" vibes all over the phone.  I'm now getting prompts to turn on automatic downloads on my phone every time I buy something on my computer.  Again, why?  If I want to, I will!  The same kind of assumption about the audience can be seen in the top headline of the new phone's features.  "Dual-core A5 chip".  Huh?  Oh, one of them.  Mum's always said she'd get an iPhone if they put a dual-core A5 chip in it...
• Random observation - the new "silent" switch as introduced on the iPhone 4 is much less easy to switch by accident.  This is a good thing.
• Multi-tasking is great.  Finally you can press a link without having to abandon what you were doing in the original programme.
• Siri...oh dear.  We got off on a bad start when I said my name and it replied "I don't understand 'I'm jealous' ".  Some people seem convinced this is the future.  Me, I feel like a dick shouting at my phone at home and look like one barking instructions out on the street.  It'd be easier if the thing worked - I seem to spent half of my time trying to get it to understand what I've said, and then it would have been quicker to do it myself.  It's also a faux pas to launch it in the UK with the message below popping up with alarming regularity.  Tsk at us all using "English English", we're so awkward...

• Retina display is pretty "wow".
• Although truth be told I'm not a big fan of notifications, the new notifications centre is great and long overdue, as is the ability to choose whether they pop up in the centre of the screen, subtley at the top or not at all.  One thing they could do with sorting though is the pay-as-you-go balance alert, which has remain the same screen-grey-out since launch three years ago and seems to have been forgotten about.  It looks particularly bad in landscape mode:

• iMessage is another good innovation, especially with regards to saving money on sending an MMS.  There is a bit of a bug though in that if you're on a rubbishy public wifi connection, and try to send a text to an iMessage phone, it just won't send as it can't get it through the wifi.  It would be good to have a quick way of reverting to classic SMS functionality (other than turning off wifi).
• The battery isn't great.  Looking at the forums it seems to be this year's antenna - the bit everyone complains about.  You can tell there's something up from this spec comparison chart - 100 hours less standby time than previous models.  As a former 3G owner I'm seeing an improvement but not as much as I'd liked. 

So what's the verdict?  Apple have clearly settled into a pattern of launching an upgrade of the previous phone one year and a newer model the next, and this isn't a bad thing in itself.  It was however bad timing for this year to be the year with a longer wait as they shifted the release pattern to the Christmas-friendly spot that the iPods used to occupy, as expectations were understandably high.  For the most-hyped aspect to be one that was previously available as an app on all models is a bit of a disappointment.  To me, Siri is this year's FaceTime.  Nice feature, but can't see myself using it much.   Although I hope the battery situation improves either through use or a software upgrade, it's still a superb phone.  Despite the gripes I wouldn't use anything else, something I'm pretty sure of after being given a Blackberry for work a few weeks back and it being a completely bloody nightmare to use!