OK, so the iPhone 4s has finally been ‘Keynoted’ (yes; I just made up a word) and the specs etc, for Apple’s upcoming iPhone are out. They seem pretty good. Not as great as some of the “it’s going to be wafer thin and have a 48 hour battery” rumours that were going around; but pretty cool nevertheless. For those of you who are yet to turn on your TV, open a newspaper and have that morning conversation with your friend; the main changes may not be known to you. The more obvious changes (not software related) are the inclusion of an 8MP camera, the Dual A5 Processor and charge retention cycle on the battery. There’s no changes to the physical appearance of the machine and, at the moment, it seems they are still only being released in Black or White.
The big changes, due to the new processor, are going to be better hi-end graphics ability that will allow faster, and more descriptive, gaming and will allow Full HD 1080p video recording. This, in itself, is pretty cool if you use your phone as a serious gaming platform and as a camera. Personally these won’t effect me too much. I have a DSLR camera for taking pics (and full HD video) and several games consoles already. All I want from my phone, games wise, is Angry Birds. 🙂
iOS 5, the new operating system Apple will be releasing for their ‘i’ range, is what excites / concerns me more. The system seems to come with a couple of new programs that many people will like. I’m not quite sure, however, if I’ve found any that jump out at me just yet.
iCloud will be one that many people are attracted too. This will ensure that all your ‘i’ products are synced together. This is very cool but I use my ipad in a different way to my iphone. I don’t necessarily need to have PDF copies of Rulebooks etc also copied to my phone. This is also the case with movies and music. My iphone has my music on it, my ipad stores my movies etc. If there’s any documents etc that I need then I can access them through Dropbox. Dropbox support is much more important to me as all my editing is done on my computer; in a file structure I have already set up. I don’t want to have to drag things into iTunes just so they are then also on my iPad etc. (i’m only guessing these steps are required. iTunes may allow you to designate folders for synchronisation)
I’m looking forward to some of the smaller upgrades being released with iOS5. Applications like iMessage (an ‘i’ equivalent of Blackberry’s BBM) should be quite cool though, I believe, will only allow you to chat to other ‘i’ machines. Most people in my social group already use iPhones so this could be quite cool. Unless it is lighting fast and has nearly no processor usage, however, I think I’ll be sticking to Whatsapp for a little longer. The email upgrades, basic support for formatting etc, will be greatly appreciated as will some of the OS controlled camera mechanics.
I think many people will be looking to purchase the new phone. Especially those that heldback on buying an iPhone or those that are still using the 3Gs range. I don’t think I’ll be upgrading any time soon though. I’ll hold off for the iPhone 5 or the iPad3… 🙂