Apple iPhone 4S officially packs A5 chip
The iPhone 4S is a souped-up version of the iPhone 4, that packs a more powerful processor.
At last, there's a new iPhone in town. The iPhone 4S is the latest iteration of Apple's popular smart phone, and while it looks just like an iPhone 4 on the outside, it packs some surprises on the inside.
A5 chip
Apple's own A5 chip is a dual-core affair Apple reckons will make the iPhone 4S seven times faster than the iPhone 4. Apple showed off the 4S gunning the cutting-edge Infinity Blade 2 to prove its computing prowess.
Despite chewing through polygons at a rate of knots, Apple's confident that having that extra power won't impact the battery. 8 hours talk time and 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing is what we can expect, apparently.
The iPhone 4 had some embarassing antenna woes that meant it dropped signal when held. Fingers crossed the 4S fixes those issues -- the new wireless system inside the phone should allow it to switch between different antennas to improve call quality.
Calls on the iPhone are rubbish in general, so anything that makes them a bit better is welcome. We're looking forward to testing that feature when we give the 4S the full review treatment.
8-megapixel camera
There's a new camera in tow, too. The 4S has an 8-megapixel snapper that will capture snaps at a resolution of 3,264x2,448 pixels. That's a step up from the iPhone 4's 5-megapixel affair. Face detection is also in play, and a new sensor will apparently let in 73 per cent more light than the iPhone 4's camera.
The camera handles 1080p video recording. Impressive, though Android smart phones already offer that.
Big it up
The iPhone 4S has a feature called AirPlay Mirroring, which lets you output the phone's video to a big TV, so you could play games on a massive screen, or gather the family around to show off your agonisingly cute holiday snaps.
The iPhone 4S will come packing Siri, a new voice-control feature that lets you bark orders at your mobile like, "What's the weather like today?"
We're excited to try out the new features in the iPhone 4S, but we have to admit it's a fairly minor upgrade to the iPhone 4. Will it be enough to keep Android off Apple's back? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, or on our Facebook wall.