(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Well there was no grand unveiling of the iPhone 5, but Apple has instead revealed another model - the iPhone 4S.
Complete with a built-in 'personal assistant' that responds to voice commands, it's claimed to be twice as fast as the previous iPhone 4. And though the 4S does look the same as its predecessor, Apple chiefs say it has been completely rebuilt on the inside.

The device, available to buy on 14 October, will use the same speedy A5 processor as the iPad 2 and offers 7x faster graphics for gaming.

Apple boss Tim Cook made the announcement in San Francisco at the company's Cupertino HQ, in his first landmark unveiling since taking over from Steve Jobs, who stepped down due to illness.

He said: "Only Apple can make such amazing software, hardware and services and bring them together into such a powerful yet integrated experience."

The iPhone 4S device may be seen as a stop gap between the iPhone 4 and forthcoming iPhone 5, which is now expected to launch in the summer of 2012.

Devoted Apple fans will face the conundrum on whether this latest step-up model has enough new features to justify upgrading.

Battery life has been given a fairly big bump, with the 4S getting eight hours of 3G talktime or nine hours of use via Wi-Fi.

Also upgraded is the phone's camera, going up to an eight megapixel sensor that's 30 per cent sharper and has 3264x2448 resolution.

In a bid to match traditional point and shoot snappers, Apple has added the ability to detect up to 10 faces in any photo and given owners the ability to take a picture within 1.1 seconds with just half a second between shots.

The iPhone 4S now also includes full 1080p HD video recording for the first time.

Apple's Phil Schiller said: "Our customers now have the best stills camera they've ever owned, the best video camera they've ever owned and they have it with them wherever they go.

The iPhone 4S will also feature Apple's latest iOS 5 operating system with up to 200 new software features and iCloud, which allows them to backup all their content and share it between an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and a Mac computer.

Apple also unveiled what it called an intelligent voice recognition system known as Siri. Described as a personal assistant, Apple claim it can understand the meaning behind words to bring up information such as the weather or the latest news.

It will also search for answers to questions over the internet and reply with answers. This was demoed live by asking for the time in Paris.

Other features shown off with Siri include automatically setting a wake-up alarm by telling it what time you want to get up.

Siri can also be used to read messages such as texts or emails that are received while you're using a hands-free headset, for example while you're driving.
The iPhone 4S will be available in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain on October 14 with pre-orders commencing a week earlier.


Source: You must login or register to view this content.

I'm disappointed

Same design .. I'm keeping my iPhone 4. who cares about 1080p recording on such a small lens ? 720p is great already

Yeah I have the iPhone 4 as well, Im gonna wait till a brand new design comes out!

same here, and i'm also waiting for an untethered jailbreaked iOS 5 before upgrading my OS :p

Haha yeah, im more exited for iOS 5 than the new phone :L

I'm extremely disappointed. I've been searching iPhone 5 under Google News daily for the past 2-3 months. That's how OBSESSED I was with the iPhone. The presentation was a huge letdown, and I actually went out and converted to android. Something I could never see myself doing, but the second I held the Galaxy S II, I knew it was time to let go from Apple. The Galaxy S II has all the features the iPhone 4S WILL HAVE and MORE. If Apple wants to stop innovating and not compete with Android, then they should expect many of us old iPhone users to switch over.

I'm actually going to get the new phone because I didn't get the original iPhone 4 so I can't wait!