iAnalyze iPhone 4S!

After a day filled with speculation, anticipation, suspense, revelation, disappointment and retrospection, here I am with my final thoughts and analysis of the iPhone 4S.

Before I get into iPhone stuff, let's evaluate everything else they presented at the keynote. 

• Cards: Neat concept. Right price point. You may not use it (or claim not to use it) but trust me, most people would love to use a service like this. Make custom greeting cards on your iDevice and send it to your loved ones just by a tap.
• iCloud: This was revealed during the WWDC in the summer. Pretty awesome stuff. Though it is difficult to implement a cloud service with 100% reliability, we have to see what Apple has to offer in this segment.
• iOS 5: Again, this was revealed at WWDC 2011. New notification system, volume button to be used as camera dedicated button, twitter integration, iMessages and 200 other features.
• iPod: Nothing really new here. Very disappointing! No new hardware absolutely. And they still keep the iPod Classic. And there is the white iPod Touch and new price points for the entire product line. That's it, nothing revolutionary here.

Next the iPhone. After months of wait for the iPhone 5, I officially declare disappointment here. Why?? Read on..

• The name sucks: iPhone 4S? Come on iPhone 5 would have sounded way cooler and would be in tune with iOS 5.
• No design revamp: This is the biggest disappointment of all for sure. Apple devices are purchased by some (Okay all! Whom am I kidding?) just for the oomph factor and appeal. No redesign would discourage many people from getting the next iPhone even though 'it's all new in the inside'.
• Absence of a larger screen: Yeah, many people expected Apple to come up with an iPhone to match up the Sensations, Infuses, Evo 3Ds in the screen size category. But nah. Nothing's bigger here. Same old (beautiful) 3.5 inch retina display with the same resolution. Again, as I said no design changes absolutely. This is sticking to Apple's philosophy of the right form factor and they always believed 3.5" was the right screen size for a smart phone and 10" for a tablet.
• Same front-facing camera: FaceTime is an amazing app, no doubt. But a VGA camera never gave justice to the brilliant retina display. An upgrade to the front-facing camera was very much required.
• Larger battery: No change in the size of the device implies that the battery is of the same size. iPhone does have some significant battery life but when it comes to battery life nothing can be sufficient.

Now after a day full of Apple, Tim Cook and iPhone 4S bashing, it's time to analyze and understand why Apple did what they did and I believe it is normal and justified to some extent. Let me explain. 

Apple has always crippled its devices to ensure regular product updates. Read more about this here. Now every iPhone too lagged behind other phones in the industry in some aspect or the other, be it camera, display size or 3G/4G speeds (Apple prefers not to comment on what is 3G or 4G). But still they were successful devices and sold millions given their productivity and because sex sells (Apple devices are darn sexy!!). Apple kept away the disappointment by its amazing design. This time that is missing though and that is the source for all the Apple hatred and reduction in stock prices today.

Otherwise, iPhone 4S is truly the 'Most amazing iPhone yet'. It is definitely one of the best smart-phones out there and a worthy upgrade to the iPhone 4. The following is what makes it worth the buck:-

• Dual core proprietary Apple A5 processor (Yeah, the iPad 2 already has it), they claim 7x faster performance to A4
• New camera system with 5 lenses, back illumination, 1080p HD video recording
• Siri (I hate the name BTW), although a beta software demo, was pretty impressive and promising
• The whole package of iOS 5 and iCloud

Final Verdict: If you already own an iPhone 4 and give a damn about the design of the smart phone you carry and want a change from the iOS ecosystem, go get an Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S II please!) and if you never owned an iPhone or any other scenario, get your iPhone 4S, what are you even thinking!!

P.S. To read what I earlier expected from the next iPhone, please read my earlier blog post on The next iPhone Unicorn.