Here we are just a few days out from Apple’s iPhone 4S launch and the news just keeps flooding in. Further, the reviews have just now been released. As usual, rather than posting 3 pages of individual posts, here is a short and sweet summery of the stories…
AppleCare+, Apple’s new warranty service is a required purchase at the time of the actual product’s sale. Luckily, according to MacRumors, Apple has been reaching out to customers who were not able to purchase the extended warranty at the time of their iPhone 4S purchases informing them that they have 30 days to visit an Apple Store and purchase the warranty –this is not available online.
Some folks who pre-ordered the iPhone 4S in Germany are already receiving their phones. Perhaps this is the reason Geekbench benchmarks have been rapidly appearing. Currently, the scores which have been received thus far show the iPhone 4S to be 68% faster than the iPhone 4 with a score of 622; the iPhone 4 holds a 370 and the iPad 2 a 749.
9to5Mac is reporting that Apple might be looking into developing its own text-to-speech program allowing it to do away with Nuance.
The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday granted a new Apple patent related to advanced text-to-speech features that may or may not be fully realized in future mobile devices and computers or brought to the company’s existing lineup via a software update. [...] As Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky exclusively told 9to5Mac, Siri’s modular architecture allows Apple to replace Nuance’s text-to-speech component with any other speech synthesis technology – including, eventually, its own.
This patent, however is not recent being originally filed back in February of 2006 –nearly a year before the original iPhone’s announcement.
It appears Apple’s embargo for iPhone 4S reviews was lifted just hours ago as all the major publications have now made available their official reviews. Some recaps follow (via MacRumors):
- “The iPhone 4S blows away the iPhone 4 when it comes to speed.”
- “The true killer feature of the device is Siri.”
- “The amount of times Siri hasn’t been able to understand and execute my request is astonishingly low. I’ll say something that I’m sure Siri won’t be able to understand, and it gets it.”
- You need to be connected to internet for Siri to work.
ThisIsMyNext Review (post image)
- “[The iPhone 4S is] easily one of the most capable handsets on the market.”
- “The 4S is more than capable of going through a full business day without needing a charge, and if you’re a lighter user, you’ll rarely have to worry about it.”
- On Siri, “The software even has a good sense of humor. Asking it “what is the meaning of life?” will bring up a number of responses, both serious and not so serious. The first time I asked, Siri simply said “42.”
- “My advice is that owners of the iPhone 4 needn’t rush to upgrade; they can get the new operating system. But owners of older iPhone models, or those with basic phones, will find this latest iPhone a pleasure and a good value.”
- In Washington suburbs, was able to get nearly 7 megabits per second.
- AT&T Model still dropped calls.
- “This phone comes dangerously close to displacing a $200 point-and-shoot digital camera.”
- “Apple says Siri will improve with time — both because she adapts to you, and because Apple itself will periodically upgrade her brain.”
- “Before, with the standard iPhone calendar, I would often forget to add an event because I was too busy to type it, and as a result I would forget I had something scheduled altogether. With Siri and Apple’s new Reminders to-do list app, it’s unlikely I’ll forget anything important again because the process is so effortless.
- “From my experience, talking on an iPhone 4S on AT&T sounds noticeably clearer than it did on past iPhones I’ve owned”
- Several amusing examples of Siri responses including ‘I’m Drunk’ (Here’s a list of cab companies)
When do you expect your iPhone 4S to arrive? Let us know below!
Daniel, I really do appreciate all you do on the MacFeed… it’s one of the best layouts and cleanest reading of any Apple news site.
That said, using The Verge’s picture and removing the watermark is pretty low. Just use their picture and credit it back to them.
Hi Josh,
Actually, I tried to include the watermark, however it wouldn’t fit (the image size and our image size are using two different dimensions). This is why in the post next to the sources name I included the “ThisIsMyNext Review (post image).”