From Siri Australian accent tests, to guides of the best features in iOS 5 — there’s been heaps of iPhone 4S coverage on Gizmodo of late. So here you go: We’ve put the best of it all in one place for easy reference, and plan to ease back a little in the iPhone overload. After all, there’s plenty of innovation happening with Android and WP7, too.
Important note: This article originally housed the iPhone 4S review from Gizmodo US. It wasn’t great and temporarily got past our wicket keeper. Sorry about that.
See below for Alex’s Australian impressions.
Local Hands-On Impressions
iPhone 4S: Gizmodo Australia’s First Impressions
Is Apple’s iPhone 4S the next coming of the smartphone, or just another smartphone model? More »
Video: Siri Aussie Accent Tests + Features Walkthrough
OK, I had my fun with Siri last week testing the limits of its Australian accent recognition. Time to get down to more serious work — what can you actually use Siri for? More »
Speed Tests
Australian iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4 Data Test
One of the iPhone 4S’ hype points is that its dual antenna HSDPA compatible setup allows it for faster data speeds than the older iPhone 4. How much faster is that on Australian networks? I hit the streets to find out. More »
iPhone 4S Test Notes: App Speed
It’s faster. Screens slide smoother, apps launch quicker and stuff just works better. But that shouldn’t really come as a surprise-we’ve seen the difference between an A4 and an A5 processor before. More »
iPhone 4S Test Notes: No More Death Grip
Apple improved the antenna design in the iPhone 4S in an attempt to kill the notorious Death Grip problem in the old iPhone 4. Did it work? Yes. OH YES. More »
Samsung Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S: Fight To The Death!
You asked for it, so I’ve done it. The iPhone 4S vs the Samsung Galaxy S II. Which phone reigns supreme? More »
iPhone 4S Test Notes: Browser Benchmarks (Versus the Fastest Android Phones)
The iPhone 4S is faster than the iPhone 4. How much faster? And how much faster than its non-Apple kin? We did some benchmark bench pressing to find out. More »
Your Complete iPhone 4S Guide
iOS 5 and iCloud are both out now, but that’s only the beginning of all the ground Apple just covered. The deluge is more about extending Apple’s platform as a whole, not just with a specific app or upgrade, and updates and new features abounded.
The Giz Guide To Updating To iOS 5
iOS 5 is finally here of your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Now what? With the flurry of features and updates being dropped today and yesterday the whole thing can be a confusing mess. Here’s the best way to get up to speed and enjoy apple’s latest iOS.More »
iOS 5: The Top 10 New Features
The new iOS 5 goes live soon, bringing with it revamped notifications and more than 200 new features for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. These are the top 10, and then some more.More »
iCloud Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think: It’s the Future of Computing
Remember life before cellphones? It’s hard, because they are so ubiquitous and essential. iCloud marks a similar turning point, a transition from an old way of doing things. More »
All the Apps Updated for iOS 5
iOS 5 is here and most apps are slowly updating to include iCloud support, Newsstand, Twitter integration and more to iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches all around the world. More »
How to Use Find My Friends So Everyone Will Love You
Find My Friends, Apple’s your-friends-are-now-live-dots-on-a-map social network, is here! Do you like the idea of seeing the location of everyone you care about, constantly? More »
How to Use iMessage So Everyone Will Love You
The sole remaining reason to use a BlackBerry is BBM-and now, the iPhone’s got its own version. It’s better than texting, but it comes with some potentially terrifying social vortexes to navigate. More »
It’s the iPod You Need, Not the One You Deserve: The White iPod Touch Is Here
If you’ve been chomping at the bit to get your grubby mitts all over the new white version of the iPod Touch, they’re now available for purchase, or just poking, at Apple Retail Stores.More »
Another Bonus iOS 5 App: Airport Utility
Controlling your wireless network no longer requires a computer. Apple’s dropped another app surprise this morning: an iOS Airport Utility. Change your passwords, reset your routers, update firmware-all in your hand. More »
I Just Made a Stupid Card with Apple’s Stupid Card App and It Wasn’t That Stupid
We can’t believe Apple bothered to develop a Cards app for the iPhone but hey, there are old people who still love to send and receive cards and young people who’ve forgotten what cards even are and they both use the iPhone. More »
Siiel
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 10:22 AMdid anyone notice in the video, that the S in 4S became a $ at 00:16
zac
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 12:55 PM+1
CK
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 10:27 AMI still fail to see how it took 18 months to come up with an ‘s’
I really need to upgrade from my iPhone 3G/iPhone touch 4G combo (combine the 2 iOS devices in my pockets), but the 4s just doesn’t “sell itself” to me.
I might be switching to Android
nicholas
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 10:54 AMTHATS NOT ALL THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE WITH THE NEW IPHONE IS…..1 MORE CORE.
yeah bit of a disappointment, im still rocking a 3GS, im moving over to android when the MiUi phone comes out
JD
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 10:51 AMmust say i was far more impressed with the mango update than iOS 5, though i cant really stand the iOS GUI.
Siri seems like the same ol’ voice command run. you’ll enjoy it for the first week, become frustrated at that little 10% inaccuracy in the second and by the end of the third you’ll have forgotten all about it.
sorry apple, you’ve not impressed me this time around.
MotorMouth
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 10:57 AMGood Lord! Could this so-called review be any more gushing about every little thing? I’d suggest that the iPhone 4S is probably only the best phone on the market for people who already have an iPhone. For the rest of us, it is just one of many devices with it’s own strengths and weaknesses that may or may not be the best solution to any one person’s needs.
To suggest that the iPhone 4 was anything but funadmentally flawed is hilarious. Had “antennagate” happened to any other company’s phone, it would have sent them broke. That the phone’s reception could be so utterly compromised just by holding it speaks volumes for Apple’s form over function mentality. Yet here we are reading that it was a breathtaking re-definition of phone design. I couldn’t read past there, I’m afraid, I was too busy ROFL’ing.
Grant
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 11:29 AMA slightly less BIASED reviewer would be great. About a year ago I tried a few different ‘voice activated assistants’ on my HTC Desire, and while they were mostly accurate and worked well, I found myself going back to normal usage very quickly. Its just a novelty that wears off VERY quickly.
If you are one of those people who must rush out and line up for every single Apple gadget, then i’m sure the Iphone fits right in with your Mac and Apple TV.
This isn’t a review, its an Apple fan gushing about small updates.
Nexus and and android 4.0…. now THAT looks interesting
RealView
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 11:35 AMOnly read the 1st line & had to immediately check the byline to see if Jesus Diaz had been let out of the fanboi closet again but no Giz must just be full of Apple fanbois.
The iphone 4S (or any iphone) may be the best phone you can buy now but only if u like to overpay for shiny objects without caring too much about how the phone suits your needs.
It is not the best phone you can buy, no phone is as everyone’s needs are different & different phones suit different people.
The iphone does not suit my needs or wants nor does it suit anyone I know.
Given the rising sales of phones other than iphone I would guess it doesn’t suit a lot of people.
Lord Crumplebottom
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 12:23 PM+1
I’m going to have to share this on Google+ just so I can laugh at the fanboyism forever more :)
Also, just for the irony of sharing it on G+ ;P
Flux
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 11:36 AMPoor effort. I’m sorry, but this still reads like a fanboy love letter. The author writes about how the iOS software was and is is ‘years ahead of eveyone else’ who are forced to play catch-up, and then spends the rest of his article touting features (notifications, voice activation, multi-task, post-PC) that have been in Android for AGES. Come on, Giz, can we get the blinkers off?
A little honesty about the product is always welcome in a review – let’s acknowledge that Siri will run just fine on the iPhone 4, but that Apple are holding it for the 4S to drive upgrades. It’s this sort of basic disrespect for any customer who doesn’t like playing by Apple’s upgrade schedule that really irks me, and many others.
I would say that the iPhone 4S is “the phone to buy” for people who don’t know better. Oh, and Cult of Mac acolytes apparently.
Steve
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 1:34 PMFanboy love letter is a good way to put it, I got past the first two lines.
“The iPhone 4S is the best phone you can buy right now. That’s been true of every iPhone, really.”
and
” it’s taken nearly five years for other phone software to even come close, with the latest Windows Phone and possibly the next Android.”
I could barely finish the rest without gagging. It’s dripping in the worst kind of biased praise possible and shoving garbage down our throats, doesn’t acknowledege the fact that many (if not all) the features IOS is packing now were available on other platforms first. Or how Siri shouldn’t be used as a positive for the 4S since it has proven compatibility with the 4.
I expected to read a balanced review like those on Engadget or The Verge which basically boiled down to “It’s the same phone but does everything better. If you’re up for an upgrade and REALLY want an iPhone, this i s the one for you.”
Flux
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 5:52 PMThanks for replacing the earlier article, Alex – I vastly prefer Giz AU’s more balanced, less fanatical approach to the smartphone market, and I know I’m not the only one. You and Danny are doing a great job toning down the excesses of the ‘mother ship’, so keep up the good work!
Stagger
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 12:19 PMI like the iPhone 4, I want the 4s, but I cannot STAND this review. And that’s coming from Apple Fanboy No.1 here!
However, to those going on about “antennagate”, like I said, I own a 4, and it has never proved to be a problem for me. Not once. Ever. And I live in an area plagued by reception black holes, a problem that is 100x times worse considering I’m with optus.
Steve
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 1:42 PMEven from literary perspective, it’s possibly the worst article I’ve ever read. Was Matt Buchanan drunk when he wrote this? Or does his rudimentary grasp on the English language actually depreciate beyond 100 words?
Beginning sentences with “And then”, two word sentences, one sentence paragraphs. It’s like he’s trying to cram as much Apple praise into his words so much it’s buckling at the seams.
And regarding future Android and WP7 phones, “But I don’t think they’ll be better than the iPhone 4S”
Yes, you’ve pretty much dismissed them right off the bat, or at the very least, going into these phones expecting them to be inferior to the magical iPhone 4S. Why the hell is this reviewer’s opinion worth shit, when by his own admission, he’s biased in favour of Apple?
Thorbjørn
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 12:35 PMA review is always going to biased. What do you think people write when they do reviews of music or movies?
They don’t write “There’s a chance you might think this is very good.”, they write “This is very good.”, and that’s exactly what Gizmodo has done here: Given an honest opinion of a new phone, which obviously to this person is the best phone on the market.
Leo
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 12:36 PMFor a phone that was “five years ahead” it sure lacked, (and still lacks), some pretty basic features. Y’know, like video recording and MMS in the first two models, and audio over Bluetooth/A2DP support. iPhone battery life was the worst of any phone I’d ever owned (having had numerous phones since 1996). Not to mention being pretty bad at, y’know, actually making phone calls.
iPhones are still crippled by a lack of replaceable battery and memory, and… iTunes – need I say more. Boasting that this phone is “the best” without qualification is gross simplification and hyperbole, and smacks of the worst excesses of rampant fanboyism.
It may be the best for you. It may be the best for many others. But different users have different needs, and there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to mobile phones. Get yourself a reality check and please write again when you have a bit more balance and objectivity. Kthxbai.
Puddiepants
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 1:10 PM“I know Android was there first, but if you want to quibble over that, you’re missing the point.”
Ok, I think I’ve missed the point. Can you please explain this to me? My understanding is that android phones haven’t needed a PC to setup or upgrade software…
I get the iCloud bit to a point: it’s an all in one, built in backup to the “cloud” which might be better or easier to use than some of the 3rd party backup functions for android, but other than that… and Siri, wtf? It might make the 4S post keyboard, but post PC?
Steve
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 1:29 PM“I know Android was there first, but if you want to quibble over that, you’re missing the point.”
See, no-one WOULD care about these points if not for the fact that Giz runs some article daily about Android is ripping off Apple and should be burnt at the stake. Double standards people.
Nick
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 6:58 PM>Gizmodo post iPhone article
>Only Android users post comments
iphone 4s guide
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 1:44 AMThere’s another great guide on the App Store, in a flashcard format, with many illustrations..
The app’s called iCademy… It’s free.