With media members in attendance at Apple's iPhone 4S event having had the opportunity to spend some time with the new hardware following the presentation, hands-on reports and first impressions are beginning to come in.
Engadget highlights the improved internal specs of the iPhone 4S, noting that everything "just feels zippier".
We were able to spend a few quality moments with the refreshed iPhone 4 here at Apple's campus, the Sprint flavor no less, and as you might expect... it's an iPhone 4. But S-ier. Much in the same way that the 3GS improved the overall experience of the 3G, the 4S does likewise compared to the existing 4. The dual-core A5 chip is a laudatory improvement, and whisking about pages, loading the camera application and launching -- well, just about everything -- just feels zippier.
Engadget was also impressed with the Siri personal assistant feature, describing their attempts to "psych it out" without success, as Siri "never faltered" in bringing up the requested information and transcribed voice input perfectly.
The BBC has also posted a brief video hands-on with the iPhone 4S, showing off a demonstration of the Siri functionality.
Finally, SlashGear also spent some time with the iPhone 4S and similarly found it to be very quick, with webpages rendering "instantly" and pinch-to-zoom being "silky smooth". SlashGear was also impressed with Siri's performance.
Apple’s new voice-control assistant, Siri makes promises that we’ve learnt to be wary about over the years, but after a brief test we’re surprisingly impressed. Easily activated, with a new microphone icon on the regular on-screen keyboard, Siri managed just what it did on-stage during the keynote. We could ask it local information, such as the weather or to find nearby stores, while online searching and complex questions for Wolfram Alpha were handled with little delay. Speed can be the killer for services like this – people just won’t wait if their phone takes 30 seconds to look up an answer – but Siri delivered in just seconds.
Apple will begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S this Friday, with the device going on sale in the first batch of countries on Friday, October 14th. Pricing comes in at $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB, and $399 for 64 GB on contract, with both black and white models available in all capacities.
AT&T is launching a new app later today to help existing iPhone owners preorder the iPhone 4S. Preorders start this Friday, October 7.
The app, called AT&T Upgrader, informs customers if they are upgrade eligible, what the new iPhone will cost, and let's them place their preorder.
Non-iPhone AT&T customers who want to preorder can visit AT&T's iPhone Upgrade page at www.att.com/phoneupgrade. Both Verizon and AT&T customers can also check upgrade eligibility on Apple's website.
AT&T already offers a number of apps, including myAT&T to view and manage AT&T accounts, and AT&T Mark The Spot which allows users to report dead zones and dropped calls directly to AT&T's network operations team.
AT&T Upgrader will be available on the App Store later today.
Apple has built significant antenna upgrades into the iPhone 4S, saying in the press release announcing the phone that it is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive. We spoke to Spencer Webb, owner of AntennaSys, about the antenna history of the iPhones. He wrote extensively about the AntennaGate issues with the original iPhone 4 last year.
"With the iPhone 4," Webb explained, around the steel band "we had one cell antenna at the bottom. On the top, we had another antenna for GPS and Wi-Fi." This turned into Antennagate.
With the Verizon/CDMA iPhone, Webb believes Apple's designers "moved the GPS and Wi-Fi antennas beneath the back glass and turned the top antenna into a second antenna for the cell phone." This brought spatial diversity to the iPhone. This design helps solve the Antennagate problem, because the phone can switch between the antennas depending on signal conditions.
"If you cover up an antenna, you're probably not covering up both antennas," Webb explains. "Spatial diversity on the receiving side is required for use with the Verizon network."
The Verizon iPhone had 'receive diversity' -- it used two antennas for receiving data, but may have only transmitted on the bottom antenna. With the iPhone 4S, Apple claims to have both 'send and receive diversity' for GSM and CDMA. They're using this diversity as the solution to the antenna problem.
"The iPhone 4S may indeed be the first phone to have diversity on both the send and receive sides, and that is a decently big deal. They still have the antenna around the rim, though, so it's evolutionary, not revolutionary."
In addition to today's seeding of the iOS 5 golden master version for developers and several associated releases, Apple also seeded the golden master 11C73 build of OS X 10.7.2 on the Mac side of the developer community.
OS X 10.7.2 includes the required components for iCloud, which will be going live to the public on October 12th alongside iOS 5. The release will also include a number of other fixes and enhancements and will bring Safari to version 5.1.1.
OS X 10.7.2 should be released to the public as we approach the iCloud launch.
Alongside all of today's other announcements, Apple also quietly debuted AppleCare+ for the iPhone, a new extended warranty program that also includes coverage for up to two incidents of accidental damage with a $49 service fee. The new AppleCare+ offering is valid for all iPhone models and is priced at $99.
Every iPhone comes with one year of hardware repair coverage and 90 days of telephone technical support. AppleCare+ for iPhone extends repair coverage and technical support to two years from the original purchase date of your iPhone and adds coverage for up to two incidents of accidental damage due to handling, each subject to a $49 service fee.
Basic AppleCare for the iPhone, which is no longer available, had been priced at $69.00 but did not cover accidental damage.
As one of the main features of the iPhone 4S, Apple today introduced Siri a personal assistant that can answer questions and perform for tasks for users based on voice input.
Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.
Apple covers a number of examples of Siri's flexibility on the feature page and describes them in its iPhone 4S press release:
Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.
Siri is launching as a beta with support for English (US, UK, and Australia), French, and German. Additional languages and features will be added in the future.
Apple today officially introduced the iPhone 4S, the company's next-generation iPhone offering a completely redesigned interior with a number of new features.
Apple today announced iPhone 4S, the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.
One of Apple's most highly-touted features for the iPhone 4S is its camera, which checks in at 8-megapixels and contains a host of improvements over the iPhone 4's camera.
iPhone 4S includes an all new camera with the most advanced optics of any phone. The 8 megapixel sensor has 60 percent more pixels so you can take amazing high quality photos with more detail than ever. iPhone 4S includes a new custom lens, a larger f/2.4 aperture and an advanced hybrid IR filter that produce sharper, brighter and more accurate images.
Apple also notes that it has completely redesigned the antenna system for the iPhone 4S, making the device the first phone to intelligently switch between antennas for sending and receiving. The iPhone 4S is a world phone supporting both GSM and CDMA technologies, and also supports HSDPA download speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps, twice that of the iPhone 4.
Talk time over 3G comes in at eight hours on the iPhone 4S, with the device also offering six hours of 3G browsing. The iPhone 4S also included Bluetooth 4.0 for improved short-range wireless interfacing.
The iPhone 4S will launch on Friday, October 14th in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, with pre-orders beginning this Friday, October 7th. The iPhone 4S is available in both black and white and comes in three difference capacities: 16 GB ($199), 32 GB ($299), and 64 GB ($399). All prices are for on-contract purchases.
The iPhone 4S will debut in an additional 22 countries by the end of October. Those countries include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
With the announcement of an October 12 ship date for iOS 5, Apple today posted the Golden Master (GM) release of iOS 5 to developers this afternoon, with a build number of 9A334.
Apple notes that users "must use iTunes 10.5 beta 7 to install iOS 5 GM seed on your devices. iOS 5 GM seed is not available via over the air software update" and encourages users to back up their devices via iCloud before installing the GM.
Apple posted a GM seed of Xcode 4.2 as well, and notes that the GM seed "can now be used to submit iOS 5 applications to the App Store for review."
Apple today announced modest changes to its iPod touch lineup, dropping the price of the 8GB model from $229 to $199, breaking the important $200 price barrier.
iPod has revolutionized the way we listen to music and with over 320 million sold is the world’s most popular music player,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPod touch, now available in both black and white, is the best selling iPod ever, and with iOS 5 and iCloud it is better than ever.
Beyond the availability of a white version of the popular media player, no other changes to device's hardware or specifications were announced.
The updated iPod touch is compatible with iOS 5 and is scheduled for release alongside the latest version of iOS on October 12. It will also work with iCloud, Apple's revamped cloud service formerly dubbed MobileMe.
Apple announced updates to the iPod nano today with user interface changes to improve navigation and 16 clock faces to facilitate its use as a watch. Its fitness features have also improved with Nike+ compatibility out of the box with no requirement for additional accessories to track walks and runs.
The nano's interface now sports larger icons for easier navigation. The new clock faces include a range of designs, including one mimicking an analog Mickey Mouse watch to classic digital and Roman numeral designs.
Nike+ compatibility for tracking walks and runs no longer requires a dongle that was part of an accessory kit sold separately. The updated nano is now capable of tracking distance traveled, pace, time and more out of the box.
The updated nano will cost $129 for the 8GB model and $149 for the 16GB model, down from $149 and $179, respectively. Both are available starting today. The available colors for both capacities are silver, graphite, blue, green, orange, pink, and red.
Apple's rumored "Find My Friends" feature has arrived as an App to locate (with permission) users' friends and family with iOS devices on a map, much like Google Latitude.
Users can easily set privacy controls including only sharing location during certain times of day and more. “At the end of the day, location sharing stops automatically. Easily locate friends and family, temp sharing options, simple privacy controls…”
At the iPhone 4S launch event today, Apple launched two new apps: Find My Friends, and Cards.
Cards is an iOS version of the greeting card-maker built-in to iPhoto, but with a twist -- instead of printing and shipping cards to the user, who then has to buy stamps, address and mail the cards -- Apple takes care of printing, mailing, and postage and sends the card directly to the recipient, with a push notification going to the senders iPhone upon delivery.
As iOS SVP Scott Forstall explains, "you create the card on your iPhone, and we'll do the rest."
Users will take pictures, design the card (choosing from 21 different designs), customize the greeting and Apple takes care of the rest. Cards will cost $2.99 each when mailed within the US, $4.99 internationally. The Cards app itself will be a free download, launching October 12th, with iOS 5.
Apple's "Find My Friends" feature was hinted at earlier this year, and has now arrived as an App to locate (with permission) users' friends and family with iOS devices on a map, much like Google Latitude.
Users can easily set privacy controls including only sharing location during certain times of day and more. “At the end of the day, location sharing stops automatically. Easily locate friends and family, temp sharing options, simple privacy controls…”
Find My Friends is free with iOS 5 and will launch October 12.
During his keynote address to announce the next generation iPhone, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company has sold more than 6 million copies of Lion since it launched in July. "This is 80% more than Snow Leopard."
"For another metric, we measure adoption. If you look at Windows 7, it took them about 20 weeks to reach 10% of their base. It took Lion 2 weeks."
Lion is available for $29.99 at the Mac App Store.
The Guardian reports that Apple has secured agreements with major music labels to offer its iTunes in the Cloud service in a number of European markets, with the United Kingdom set to see the first expansion beyond the United States.
The expansion of “iTunes in the Cloud” from the US, where it was made available in the US in June, will allow people who have bought songs from Apple’s iTunes Music Store to synchronize them among multiple devices such as PCs, iPhones and iPads via wireless connections. Previously they would have to connect them to a computer and synchronize them.
The technology giant has been locked in negotiations with the four major music groups—EMI, Sony (NYSE: SNE), Warner and Universal—to seal the “iTunes in the Cloud” deal in time for Tuesday’s announcement.
The agreements will not, however, see Apple launching the paid iTunes Match component of its cloud-based music services yet. iTunes Match scans users' music libraries and automatically mirrors any content that is available through the iTunes Store into iCloud, allowing users to bypass the process of uploading each and every track from their libraries. iTunes Match is priced at $24.99 per year in the United States.
The Guardian also confirms that Apple will be discontinuing the iPod classic as has been rumored.
Apple is holding a media event today at its Town Hall auditorium on its campus in Cupertino, California, where it is set to introduce the next-generation iPhone. The event is scheduled to kick off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time.
Apple will not be providing live video coverage of the event to the public, but a number of news sites will be on hand to provide text and photo updates, and we're including links to several of them here. We will also be updating this article with coverage as the media event unfolds and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account. Separate news stories regarding the event announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account.
- Media attendees are seated and waiting for event to begin. - Tim Cook on stage, welcoming attendees to the campus. Going over history of Town Hall auditorium...original iPod, MacBook Air launched here. - Today is about innovations in software and hardware. - Apple has tremendous momentum. Highlighting retail stores. Shanghai store saw 100,000 people in opening weekend. Hong Kong had more opening day Mac sales than any other store. - Brief video of the new Shanghai/Hong Kong store openings. - Six stores in China with a lot more to come. 357 total stores in 11 countries. - Walking through each of Apple's four product areas. Starting with the Mac and Lion. - 6 million copies of Lion sold so far...up 80% over Snow Leopard. Took two weeks to reach 10% of installed Mac base. Windows 7 took 20 weeks to reach 10% of Windows base. - 23% year-over-year growth for Mac, 58 million users. - Now talking music. Market share has been above 70% for very long time. iPod has 78% share now. Over 300 million iPods sold. - iTunes Store now has 20 million tracks, with over 16 billion downloads. - Now iPhone. 125% year-over-year growth. iPhone 4 responsible for over half of our total iPhone sales ever. #1 smartphone in the world. But despite success, still only 5% of worldwide mobile phone market. - Now iPad. Highlighting customer satisfaction ratings. iPads showing up everywhere...every U.S. state has at least a pilot program for schools. Higher education too. Airplane cockpits. Hospitals. Momemtum in consumer, enterprise, everywhere. - iPad has 75% market share in the U.S. - Now over 250 million total iOS devices sold.
- Scott Forstall on stage to talk about iOS. - iOS #1 mobile operating system with 43% of market. Apple has paid out $3 billion to developers. 18 billion App Store downloads. - Talking about new Cards app to order greeting cards. Apple will print with your photo/design and even mail them. Cards will be free download on October 12th. Cards are $2.99 mailed in U.S., $4.99 anywhere in the world. - Now recapping iOS 5 highlights. Notifications Center, iMessage, Reminders app, Twitter integration, Newsstand, Camera app (lock screen shortcut, volume button for shutter) - Game Center. 67 million accounts so far. Adding achievement points, profile photos, etc. - Safari, Mail, PC Free...basically recap of WWDC. - iOS 5 debuts October 12th.
- Eddy Cue on stage to discuss iCloud. - Integrated right into apps, everything happens automatically. Discussing iTunes in the Cloud...download and redownload iTunes music purchases anytime on any device. - Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud. Daily backups of contacts and calendars across devices. - Find My Friends. Can easily see where my family is at Disneyland or whether my son made it to school today. Can set time period to limit location sharing. Simple privacy controls. - iTunes Match. Scan and match entire library to iTunes catalog. Create and edit playlists, updated across devices. $24.99 per year. - iCloud launches October 12th. iTunes Match at end of October in United States.
- Phil Schiller on stage to talk about iPod. Updates to two of the lines today. - iPod nano update: Easier to navigate with large icons, swipe between them. Improved fitness tools...track walks and runs right out of the box. 16 new clock faces. - $129 for 8 GB, $149 for 16 GB. Available today. - iPod touch update...will run iOS 5. Some features like iMessage and Game Center improvements make sense for the touch. - iPod touch now in black and white $199 8 GB, $299 32 GB, $399 64 GB. Available October 12th. Shuffle still sticking around at 2 GB/$49.
- iPhone 4S. Outside the same, inside all different. A5 chip inside, dual-core graphics up to 7x faster than iPhone 4. - Mike Capps from Epic Games on stage for demo. Showing off Infinity Blade 2. - Phil back on stage. iPhone 4S battery has 8 hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours 3G browsing. - Wireless system updated. Stainless steel band with two antennas, switch intelligently between them. - Data speed twice as fast...14.4 Mbps HSDPA. It's what competitors call 4G. - World phone...both CDMA and GSM in one phone. - New camera system. iPhone 4 is top camera on Flickr. We wanted to make the 4S better than point and shoot. - Eight megapixels...3264x2448. Backside illuminated sensor...73% more light per pixel than iPhone 4. 33% faster capture. Hybrid IR filter, better color accuracy and uniformity. Five element lens, 30% more sharpness, f/2.4 aperture. Face detection, better white balance, and fast photos. - Time to first photo: 1.1 seconds. Half a second for next shot. - Schiller demoing photos taken with iPhone 4S. 1080p HD video recording, video image stabilization, noise reduction. Wrapping up camera discussion. - AirPlay mirroring. Gaming on the TV screen...wired or wireless. - Phil recapping iPhone 4S specs..."entirely new" on the inside. - Most amazing iPhone yet, but Phil left out one thing...all about our voice. - We've long wished devices could really understand us. - Demo time for Siri, the personal assistant.
- Scott Forstall on stage for Siri demo. "What is the weather like today?" iPhone answers "Here is the forecast for today..."
- "Wake me up tomorrow at 6am." iPhone sets alarm and confirms. - "How's the NASDAQ doing today". iPhone brings up stock chart. - "Find me a Greek restaurant in Palo Alto." iPhone brings up options. - "Give me directions to Hoover Tower" iPhone brings up map and directions. - Siri can read text messages aloud, check appointment calendar, and take down dictated response. - "Remind me to call my wife when I leave work." iPhone sets up a geofence to alert Scott when he leaves the campus. - "Search Wikipedia for Neil Armstrong." Info page pops up. - "Define 'mitosis'." iPhone checks WolframAlpha. Same for currency conversions. - Siri includes lists of example requests to help users learn.
- Phil Schiller back on stage. Showing off dictation capabilities in Mail. Works out of the box, but improves as it learns your voice. - Works in English (US, UK, Australia), French, and German. Beta to start, with more languages and services coming. - Recapping the iPhone 4S, and now showing a video.
- iPhone 4S pricing: $199 16 GB, $299 32 GB, $399, 64 GB, with contract. Black and white versions available. - 8 GB iPhone 4 at $99, 8 GB iPhone 3GS free.
- Preorders for iPhone 4S start this Friday, October 7th. Launches in U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan on October 14th. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint in the U.S.
- 22 more countries on October 28th, and 70 by the end of the year.
- Tim Cook back on stage to wrap up. - "These products are great and fantastic and industry-leading. But what puts Apple way out in front is how they work so well together. I'm so proud of this company and all of the teams who have brought you the innovations you've seen today."
Apple has prematurely updated its Japanese retail store sites, disclosing that the iPhone 4S will launch in that country at 8:00 AM on October 14th.
The site appears to also reveal an updated iPod nano, although images are not yet live. The description of the iPod nano includes references to a new user interface, improvements to fitness functions, and a new clock face. Pricing also appears to begin at 10,800 yen, down from the current 13,800 yen.
Update: As noted by 9to5Mac, images for the iPhone 4S in black and white have also been prematurely posted to Apple's site. The iPhone 4S images appear identical to the CDMA iPhone 4.
AT&T is launching a new app later today to help existing iPhone owners preorder the iPhone 4S. Preorders start this Friday, October 7.
