Is iPhone 4S worth buying?
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Shanghai Daily, January 13, 2012
At long last, the iPhone 4S was launched on the Chinese mainland today, three months after its US debut, and Apple fans who haven't bought it overseas will no doubt be swarming Apple stores or China Unicom outlets to get their hands on one.
So is the new phone worth all the ballyhoo?
I was lucky enough to be able to try out the black 64 gigabyte (GB) iPhone 4S thanks to Apple China. I also used my 32GB black iPhone 4, and China Unicom and China Mobile SIM cards for testing for several days. Both iPhones come with Apple's latest iOS 5 system.
Here are a few observations I would like to share with readers thinking of buying the new iPhone 4S and even with readers who already have them.
Carrier choice
The iPhone 4S claims to be a "world phone," allowing people to use GSM (global system for mobile communications) or CDMA (code division multiple access) and advanced 3G networks. But the Chinese version supports only China Mobile's 2G GSM network and China Unicom's 3G WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) network.
At present, it doesn't support China Telecom's CDMA network, according to my test. This may reflect that China Telecom and Apple are due to launch the new CDMA iPhone 4S soon, probably in March.
Faster 3G
The iPhone 4S really supports faster 3G HSDPA+ (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), with a peak download speed of 14.4 megabytes per second. That is double the previous iPhone 4's speed.
I tried the new phone in the Xujiahui area of Shanghai and it was faster than my iPhone 4 under China Unicom's network. China Unicom's 10010 hotline told me that most regions within the Inner Ring Road in Shanghai have the HSDPA+ network.
But be aware that you will face a costlier bill because the high speed means more data consumption. Most Chinese carriers charge users for data consumption rather than for the time used at present.
Siri and voice recognition
One of the most touted features of the iPhone 4S is the web-based voice recognition assistant Siri. It's interesting and sometimes powerful, but not always in China.
First, it doesn't support Mandarin and China-based map and location services, which makes it somewhat less appealing than Apple's US-based advertising would have you believe. The good news is that Apple has said it will launch a Chinese-language version of Siri this year.
Second, it can't always recognize words spoken in English. I tried it 10 times, and it recognized my words only 5 times. A Canadian native speaker who also tried found it worked seven out of 10 times.
Still, it will give you results sometimes if it manages to catch only keywords. For example, the word "meeting" leads to your personal schedule, and "weather" or "rain" will lead to the weather forecast page, even though it can't recognize other words in your sentence.
Last, but not least, Siri has been integrated into many existing applications on the new iPhone, such as Notes. Therefore, you can tell your ideas to iPhone for backup if the sentences are short and simple.
Battery performance
In online forums and overseas reviews, there's a bit of controversy over whether the battery life of the iPhone 4S is better than that of the iPhone 4.
According to Apple's website, the iPhone 4S supports 3G talktime for eight hours, slightly more than iPhone 4's seven. But its stand-by time is up to 200 hours, less than iPhone 4's 300 hours.
In my personal testing, both models required daily charging.
After all, the upgraded dual-core A5 chip, new graphic chip and enhanced camera all need more power to run. Industry insiders are speculating that Apple will provide more software upgrades to improve battery function.
Enhanced camera
I was very intrigued by the enhanced camera, an added feature of the iPhone 4S.
According to its technical specifications, the iPhone 4S features an 8 megapixel camera, which is a 60 percent upgrade over the camera on the iPhone 4.
During my testing, the most exciting function was its ability to capture a moment very quickly, probably about one second. That makes it great for snapping moving objects.
According to online data, the iPhone 4S can take pictures within 1.1 seconds, compared with HTC Sensation's 2.1 seconds and Samsung Galaxy S II's 2 seconds.
There's also a new face-detection function, which knows whether you're taking a portrait or a group shot and then sets itself up automatically. It's a nice touch for women who like to take their own pictures, judging from social networking websites like Weibo.
My conclusion
The iPhone 4S is worth buying although its appearance and design look similar to the iPhone 4.
It (the iPhone 4S) suits China Mobile and China Unicom users, but China Telecom's users who don't want to change their mobile numbers may have to wait months.
It is an asset for people who want to look fashionable and for handset photographers. But people who are most attracted to the phone because of the Siri function should probably think again.
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