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iPhone 4S: Part One

Today I would like to offer your two videos of the new iPhone 4S: unpacking, design, activation, initial settings and the use of Siri in real life.

Design and Construction

First I would recommend several useful links to iPhone articles on our web site.

	iPhone 4 Review
	iPhone 4S

After the announcement of iPhone 4S many rumors filled hundreds of web resources, which is not surprising. No one remembers or prefers to forget that after the unveiling of iPhone 3Gs prophets of doom and gloom said that Apple was losing ground. When first orders became possible the figures reached a one million mark within 24 hours and all manufactured iPhones had their potential owners alerted immediately after the first sales commenced. There will be a shortage of supply.

As I have mentioned in the issue dedicated to the announcement of iPhone 4S the new model will be a hit and it is actually quite different from its predecessor. First let’s look at the design.

The song remains the same as only sound activation button was moved slightly down, there is no strip at the top, while the bottom has different screws. There are two variants available to buy – black and white. They have the similar package and identical kits: iPhone 4S, compact plug, USB cable, clip, headset and user guide. As in a white iPhone 4 there is a changed proximity sensor and microSIM slot is located in its place. We should mention less obvious differences too. When the screen is active you can see light in a 3.5 mm jack of iPhone 4, while it does not happen with iPhone 4S. Special marks are absent, for example, there is no letter S anywhere. In other words you cannot boast a new model silently. I think the button Home moves deeper in iPhone 4S, though I may be subjective here. I have been using my iPhone 4 for a year now. The built is similar and if you touch the centre of the back cover you may feel it move. After extensive use of iPhone 4 it may even move a lot.

That’s all I managed to notice so far. We have a tried and trusted iPhone 4 with all the tuning under the hood.

Siri

Apple created a genuine assistant. Do you often use voice search, dialing or anything of the kind? My experience was purely frustrating and I usually gave up after futile attempts. It was simply not convenient. As always Apple decided to join together different function, stirred them, added some simplicity to get an appropriate mix. The result is impressive. Siri works well. Even if you have noise around the recognition will just take more time, but you will be heard. Incidentally, it may lead to a push in the market of Bluetooth headsets and associated wired solutions. Siri is not a toy. I do not like to complete the calendar, but here you can use voice to make an appointment. It’s a whole different ball game. Not all languages are supported at the moment, but if you can use English then you may start working with Siri now. Apple only showed the way and Siri is not only an app, but a host of skills integrated into the OS. Apps developers will be able to create different pieces of software for the assistant. iPhone 4S is an ideal solution for the visually challenged. The phone is so easy to call, leave a message, check weather forecast, etc.

Here comes the full list of commands:

Contacts

Contacts queries:

What's Michael's address?
What is Susan Park's phone number?
When is my wife's birthday?
Show Jennifer's home email address

Contacts search:

Show Jason Russell
Find people named Park
Who is Michael Manning?

Kinship reference:

My mom is Susan Park
Michael Manning is my brother
Call my brother at work

Calendars

Adding events:

Set up a meeting at 9
Set up a meeting with Michael at 9
Meet with Lisa at noon
Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am
New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3
Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom

Editing events:

Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30
Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Manning to next Monday at 9am
Add Lisa to my meeting with Jason
Cancel the budget review meeting

Events queries:

What does the rest of my day look like?
What's on my calendar for Friday?
When is my next appointment?
When am I meeting with Michael?
Where is my next meeting?

Clock

Alarms setting:

Wake me up tomorrow at 7am
Set an alarm for 6:30am
Wake me up in 8 hours
Change my 6:30 alarm to 6:45
Turn off my 6:30 alarm
Delete my 7:30 alarm

Time queries:

What time is it?
What time is it in Berlin?
What is today's date?
What's the date this Saturday?

Timer:

Set the timer for ten minutes
Show the timer
Pause the timer
Resume
Reset the timer
Stop it

Friends (associated with Find My Friends)

Information about friends:

Where's Jason?
Where is my sister?
Is my wife at home?
Where are all my friends?
Who is here?
Who is near me?

Maps

Routes:

How do I get home?
Show 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California
Directions to my dad's work

Nearby locations:

Find coffee near me
Where is Starbucks?
Find some burger joints in Baltimore
Find a gas station within walking distance
Good Mexican restaurants around here

Messages (iMessage)

Sending messages:

Tell Susan I'll be right there
Send a message to Jason Russell
Send a message to Lisa saying how about tomorrow
Tell Jennifer the show was great
Send a message to Susan on her mobile saying I'll be late
Send a message to 408 555 1212
Text Jason and Lisa where are you?

Reading messages:

Read my new messages
Read it again

Answering messages:

Reply that's great news
Tell him I'll be there in 10 minutes
Call her

Music

Playback:

Play The Light of the Sun
Play Trouble
Play Taking Back Sunday shuffled
Play Alicia Keys
Play some blues
Play my party mix
Shuffle my roadtrip playlist
Play
Pause
Skip

Notes

Starting and searching notes:

Note that I spent $12 on lunch
Note: check out that new Alicia Keys album
Find my restaurant note
Create a reading list note
Add Tom Sawyer to my reading list note

Phone

Calls:

Call Jason
Call Jennifer Wright mobile
Call Susan on her work phone
Call 408 555 1212
Call home
FaceTime Lisa

Reminders

Queries:

Remind me to call mom
Remind me to call my mom when I get home
Remember to take an umbrella
Remind me take my medicine at 6am tomorrow
Remind me to pick up flowers when I leave here
Remind me when I leave to call Jason
Remind me to finish the report by 6

Share prices

Stocks quotations:

What's Apple's stock price?
What is Apple's PE ratio?
What did Yahoo close at today?
How is the Nikkei doing?
How are the markets doing?
What is the Dow at?

Weather

Weather forecast:

What's the weather for today?
What's the weather for tomorrow?
Will it rain in Cupertino this week?
Check next week's forecast for Burlington
What's the forecast for this evening?
How's the weather in Tampa right now?
How hot will it be in Palm Springs this weekend?
What's the high for Anchorage on Thursday?
What's the temperature outside?
How windy is it out there?
When is sunrise in Paris?

Web search

Information search:

Search the web for Bora Bora
Search for vegetarian pasta recipes
Search the web for best cable plans
Google the war of 1812
Search Wikipedia for Abraham Lincoln
Search for news about the World Cup
Bing Alicia Keys

Use of Wolfram Alpha (!):

How many calories in a bagel?
What is an 18% tip on $86.74 for four people?
Who's buried in Grant's tomb?
How long do dogs live?
What is the Gossamer Condor?
What's the square root of 128?
How many dollars is €45?
What was the Best Picture of 1983?
How many days until Christmas?
How far away is the Sun?
When is the next solar eclipse?
Show me the Orion constellation
What's the population of Jamaica?
How high is Mt. Everest?
How deep is the Atlantic ocean?
What's the price of gasoline in Chicago?

Mail

Checking mail:

Check email
Any new email from Michael today?
Show new mail about the lease
Show the email from Lisa yesterday

Answering messages:

Reply Dear Susan sorry about the late payment
Call him at work

Sending messages:

Email Lisa about the trip
Email Jennifer about the change in plans
New email to Susan Park
Mail Dad about the rent check
Email Dr. Manning and say I got the forms, thanks
Mail Lisa and Jason about the party and say I had a great time

I am sure that Siri was a favorite toy for Steve Jobs, because here we not only get a communication with a gadget, but the new level of it. If you mispronounce a word the system will mention that it did not understand you, which leads to instinctive apologies on your behalf. Siri deems your apology as redundant. Set an alarm, and when Siri asks to confirm the time, say OK for the system to respond with “as you wish”. Such instances are numerous, which makes you work with new capacities of Siri. There is no reason to learn commands by heart. As clearly seen from the video you can ask for weather differently. Don’t forget the key word though. By default Siri is not activated and you have to fix it in the settings to replace the standard voice controls. Start Siri by pressing and holding Home. Its operation needs Internet connection, geo tagging and set up mail clients. You can select the language, activate and deactivate the voice answering, information on your data, and how you will talk to Siri.

I will not make far-fetched conclusions and the next review will be dedicated to the camera and comparison with iPhone 4. Wait for this article featuring high quality pictures. So far enjoy the video. Anyways, Siri is a special feature and iPhone 4S deserves attention due to it alone. I wonder if Samsung calls its assistant Iris.

Do you want to talk about this? Please, go to our Forum and let your opinion to be known to the author and everybody else.

Sergei Kuzmin (skuzmin@mobile-review.com)
Twitter Livejournal
Translated by Maxim Antonenko (maxantonenko@ukr.net)