There’s no way to tell the difference between Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s new iPhone 4S and the previous model. Until you turn it on.
In a week of using the 4S, I found so many new things under the hood that, with a few cosmetic changes, the company could legitimately have called it “iPhone 5” and no one would have blinked.
The speech-recognition capabilities are vastly better than on any other mobile device. The camera is much improved, not just in specs but in ease of use. And though the phone runs over 3G, or third-generation, data networks, it’s faster than some phones that are being marketed as 4G.
The new iPhone -- available for order now and in stores on Oct. 14 -- is physically identical to the iPhone 4. In the U.S., it costs $199 for a model with 16 gigabytes of storage on a two- year contract, $299 for 32 gigabytes and $399 for 64 gigabytes. The phone comes with the new iOS 5 operating system, which I’ll discuss in a future column.
The 4S runs on the networks used in the U.S. by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), as well as on those used by AT&T Inc. (T) and most of the rest of the world. That’s particularly important for Verizon and Sprint users who travel internationally and who won’t have to worry about their phones becoming bricks outside the U.S.
Meeting Siri
The most interesting new feature is Siri, the voice- recognition system.You’ve long been able to run searches on phones using Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has embedded speech-based features throughout the latest version of its Windows Phone 7 operating system. Those phones, though, have a limited vocabulary and often require you to phrase your inquiries very carefully. But Siri something different. When I asked Siri, “Will I need an umbrella tonight?” its robotic female voice informed me, “There’s no rain in the forecast,” while the screen displayed the weather report for my location. When I told it to find me a good Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood, it displayed a listing ranked by Yelp ratings.
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