A quick review of the iPhone 4S

Hardware

Signal strength for cellular and WiFi seems stronger. When choosing from Wifi networks, I get more options than I did with the iPhone 4 in the same locations which suggests it’s picking up things further away. Also, I can pick up my company WiFi signal further away. Well done Apple, this is a change everyone will appreciate.

The new dual-core A5 processor (800MHz) is an improvement over the iPhone 4 and this phone feels faster overall, especially when using the photo app. Things render just a bit faster.

Screen is the same, but still excellent if not the best on the market.

Camera is improved, it’s faster and 8MP. I haven’t used it enough to comment on the performace though. I do love the fact that iOS 5 allows me to launch the camera from the lock screen, handy if you need to pull out your phone for a quick snap.

Software

Notification center is a 1000% improvement over the previous system. It’s now not annoying and useful, something Apple should have done years ago.

Still no week view in the calendar app, lame.

Addition of iCloud is nice, a backup away from the computer is certainly the way of the future.

Siri, the voice assistant. I’m not sold on it yet, it worked well for some things but not others. It can’t find restaurants in Canada, nor can it give directions making it less useful. It does have location and geofence capability, so for example it knows where you work and if you are currently there. I can then tell Siri to “remind me to call my wife when I leave work” and it will create a reminder that triggers when I leave the office. I think I need to live with it for a while, but it could be an interesting feature.

Overall, a good upgrade to the iPhone 4.