Apple iPhone 4S Full Review

The dual-core A5 chip delivers even more power. The 8MP iSight camera with all-new optics also shoots 1080p HD video. And if there’s anything else you need, just ask Siri.

• Siri
• Performance
• iSight Camera
• 1080p HD Video
• iOS
• iCloud
• Retina Display
• FaceTime
•  
  

  Siri. The intelligent assistant that helps you get
  things done. All you have to do is ask.

  
  Now you can use your voice to use your iPhone. Just talk to Siri as you would to a person: “Do I need an umbrella?” or “Any great burgers around here?” or “Where’s the closest ATM?” Siri not only understands what you say, it knows what you mean.¹ It figures out the right apps to use to find the right answer. Then, just like a personal assistant, it answers you. Siri makes phone calls, sends messages, schedules meetings, sets reminders, and more. How much more? Just ask, and Siri tells you that, too.
  

  

  Set reminders.

  Tell Siri what you need to do. Even say when and where you need reminding.

  

  Send a text.

  Say who it’s for and what the message should say, and Siri writes and sends your text.

  

  Check the weather.

  Siri gives you the forecast for where you are or anywhere you’re curious about.
  

  

  Dual-core A5 chip.
  The most powerful iPhone ever.

  Two cores in the A5 chip deliver up to two times more power and up to seven times faster graphics.² And you’ll feel the effects. Fast. iPhone 4S is quick and responsive, which makes all the difference when you’re launching apps, browsing the web, gaming, and doing just about everything. And no matter what you’re doing, you can keep on doing it. Because the A5 chip is so power-efficient, iPhone 4S has outstanding battery life.
  

  

  iPhone 4S is great for gamers. The A5 chip pushes graphics up to seven times faster. So games run smoother and they’re even more realistic. And graphics-intensive apps perform even better.

  • Graphics
  • Performance
  • Battery

  
  

  

  The you-can’t-believe-it’s-on-a-phone camera.

  
  

  Photo Gallery: Unretouched photos taken using iPhone 4S.

  Tap anywhere to zoom inTap anywhere to zoom out

  

  Download full-resolution photo

  The iSight camera just might be the best camera ever on a phone. And with all-new optics, it just might be the only camera you need. Because behind every shot, you’ve got 8-megapixel resolution and a custom lens with a larger ƒ/2.4 aperture. Not to mention an improved backside illumination sensor, excellent auto white balance, advanced color accuracy, face detection, and reduced motion blur. It all means that no matter how many people, how much light, and how much action you capture, everything looks exactly as it should. And just wait until you see the photos.
  

  Advanced optics with a custom lens, a larger aperture, and a new sensor mean amazing photos.

  

  The iSight camera gives you 8 megapixels — that’s 60 percent more pixels than the camera on iPhone 4. And they’re engineered with a higher, full-well capacity to collect even more light. With more megapixels and more light, you’ll see a dramatic difference in the resolution and details of your images.

  

  Video recording. In 1080p amazing HD.

  See it in action

  Shoot stunning 1080p HD video everywhere you go. With all-new optics, the light is always right, the color is always vivid, and everything will look even better than you remember. Video stabilization steadies shaky shots. And you can edit video right on iPhone and share your lush life as fast as you shoot.
   

  Record amazing 1080p HD video at 30 frames per second. The advanced backside illumination sensor and larger aperture let in even more light. Improved auto white balance makes color even more accurate. And temporal noise reduction helps you take great videos in low light.

  

  iOS. The world’s most advanced mobile operating system. And the easiest to use.

  With every iOS advancement come even easier ways to do everything. That’s what makes iOS years ahead of anything else. iOS 5 leaps even further ahead, bringing over 200 new features to iPhone 4S. Here are just a few of our favorites.
  

  

  iCloud. Your content. On all your devices.

  iCloud is the easiest way to manage all your stuff, because it manages it all for you. iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, mail, contacts, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. It’s automatic, effortless, and seamless. And it just works.
  

  

  Retina display.
  Clearly remarkable.

  The sharpest, most vibrant thing you’ll see on iPhone 4S is everything. The Retina display is the highest-resolution phone screen ever. In fact, the pixel density is so high that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. But without a doubt, you’ll notice crisp text, sharp graphics, and stunning images. It’s more remarkable than the printed page. And you’ll be completely absorbed.

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Retina display.
  Clearly remarkable.

  The sharpest, most vibrant thing you’ll see on iPhone 4S is everything. The Retina display is the highest-resolution phone screen ever. In fact, the pixel density is so high that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. But without a doubt, you’ll notice crisp text, sharp graphics, and stunning images. It’s more remarkable than the printed page. And you’ll be completely absorbed.
  

  
  
  
  
  

  

  FaceTime. It’s even better face-to-face.

  
  

  

  AirPlay. From the small screen to the big screen.

  With AirPlay, you can wirelessly stream what’s on your iPhone to your HDTV and speakers via Apple TV.⁶ And with AirPlay Mirroring, whatever you see and do on your iPhone appears on your HDTV at the same time.
  
  FaceTime lets you hear a voice and see the face that goes with it — iPhone to iPhone, iPad 2, iPod touch, or Mac over Wi-Fi.⁵ So no matter where they are, no matter where you are, you’ll always be there. Making a FaceTime call is just as easy as making a phone call. And it’s even easier with Siri. Just tell Siri “FaceTime with Mom” and you show up, smile, and wave hello. You’ll never miss a big event, an important meeting, or a good laugh. And who wouldn’t be happy to see your face? 
  

  

  AirPrint.
  Print everything wirelessly.

  Print your email, photos, web pages, and documents right from your iPhone over Wi-Fi.⁷ There’s no software to download, no drivers to install, and no cables to connect. With just a few taps, you can go from viewing something on the iPhone screen to holding a printed copy.

  

  

  

  Call it better, faster, and even more worldly.

  iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to transmit and receive, so call quality is better. It also doubles the maximum HSDPA data speeds to 14.4 Mbps.⁸ Which means faster connections, faster loading and reloading, and faster downloads. And iPhone 4S is a world phone, so you can use it almost anywhere. Whether you’re a GSM or CDMA customer, you can roam GSM networks in 200 countries around the world.
  

  Maximum Data Download Speeds (HSDPA)

  iPhone 4S

  14.4 Mbps

  iPhone 4

  7.2 Mbps

  Built-in apps. They do just about everything. So you can, too.

  You’ll do everyday things in extraordinary ways on iPhone 4S. Take amazing photos and shoot HD video. See your friends and family with FaceTime. Browse the web on the Retina display. Check email. Send messages. Set reminders. Check calendars. Or just ask Siri to help you get things done — it figures out the right apps to use.

  

  Protection for your iPhone.

  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 and adds accidental damage protection for your iPhone.

  • Extends repair coverage and technical support to two years from the original purchase date of your iPhone.
  • Apple experts can answer questions and help solve problems over the phone or at an Apple Retail Store.
  • Provides comprehensive repair coverage including up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage. 

  Color	White Black
  Capacity1	16GB	32GB	64GB
  Price2	$199	$299	$399
  Size and Weight3	Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm) Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm) Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm) Weight: 4.9 ounces (140 grams)
  Cellular and Wireless	World phone UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)4 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only) Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
  Location	Assisted GPS and GLONASS Digital compass Wi-Fi Cellular
  Display	Retina display 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi 800:1 contrast ratio (typical) 500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical) Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front and back Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
  Camera, Photos, and Video	8-megapixel iSight camera Autofocus Tap to focus Face detection in still images LED flash Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio Video stabilization Front camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second Photo and video geotagging
  External Buttons and Connectors	External Buttons and Controls Connectors and Input/Output
  Power and Battery5	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM) Standby time: Up to 200 hours Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G, up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi Video playback: Up to 10 hours Audio playback: Up to 40 hours
  Audio Playback	Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV User-configurable maximum volume limit
  TV and Video	AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately) Video out support at 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately) Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
  Headphones	Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Impedance: 32 ohms
  Mail Attachment Support	Viewable Document Types .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
  Sensors	Three-axis gyro Accelerometer Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor
  System Requirements	Apple ID (required for some features) Internet access6 Syncing with iTunes on a Mac or PC requires: Mac: OS X v10.5.8 or later PC: Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later iTunes 10.5 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)
  Environmental Requirements	Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C) Nonoperating temperature: −4° to 113° F (−20° to 45° C) Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
  Languages	Language Support English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese Keyboard Support English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese Dictionary Support (enables predictive text and autocorrect) English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German, Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese Siri Languages English (U.S., UK, and Australian), French, German
  In the Box	iPhone 4S Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Dock Connector to USB Cable USB Power Adapter Documentation