We were invited to Airtel's midnight launch event for the iPhone 4S. The launch itself was nothing to write home about, but I did get to play around with the latest Apple device.

Design
The new iPhone 4S feels exactly the same as its predecessor, which is to be expected as there was absolutely no innovation on the design front. The build quality and dimensions for the 4S are the same as the iPhone 4, at 4.5" x 2.3" x 0.4" (9.3 mm).

 

 

Features
Most of the features for the iPhone 4S are packed under the hood, with Apple throwing out the earlier A4 processor in favour of a dual-core A5 chip. As expected, the device is snappy and functions smoothly, with no lag or framing issues.

The camera has been bumped to 8 megapixels, compared to 5 in the older device. From the few hurried shots that I took, there was noticeable noise in the photos taken under low-light conditions. It also supports 1080p video recording at 30 fps.

On the software front, the phone comes preloaded with iOS 5, iCloud, and the virtual assistant Siri. Curious to see if the Indian accent was supported, I took "her" for a spin. Sadly, Siri was a disappointment - most of the time she did not understand what I was saying. To make her work, you have to speak very slowly and very clearly, as if you're communicating with a toddler. Upon asking "Find me pizza  places nearby", she replied back with "Sorry, I cannot look for restaurants in India"; the reason being that location-based services are currently not supported here. Take a look at the video for the full, gory details. I must warn you, it's not pleasant.

 

Siri, Y U NO WORK?!
With the iPhone 4S retailing for Rs 44,500 (16 GB) and Rs 50,900 (32 GB), it has certainly been priced on the higher side, especially since it offers half-baked features for the Indian audience. Keep your eyes peeled for an in-depth review in the near future. Also coming up are suggestions on what you can do with that 50 grand instead.

Tags : Previews, Mobile Phones, Apple, iPhone, Rizwan