The iPhone 5 News Blog

Siri has quickly become the defining feature on the iPhone 4S. But a new article suggests that the iPhone 5 could feature a next-generation assistant that will replace Siri. Is the iPhone 4S looking more and more like a testing ground for future Apple mobile technologies?

If you’re loving Siri on your iPhone 4S, it might be both the first and last iPhone iteration to feature it. A new report from CP suggests that Apple may intend to replace Siri as soon as 2012 on the iPhone 5: ”The next Apple iPhone is expected to receive a complete revamp, with updates to both its software and external chassis. Industry experts speculate that this could also mean an update for the artificial intelligence system, Siri. . . Apple has stated that the program is meant to be exclusive to the 4S.”

That last statement is particularly crypic: when Apple says that iPhone 4S is the “most ordinary means” for running Siri, it is clear that they want to ensure that users do not exploit the ability to port Siri functionality onto the iPhone 4. Because, let’s face it: Siri is really the defining feature that makes the iPhone 4S different from the iPhone 4. While the A5 processor is indeed fast, both iPhones can run iOS 5, and both look essentially the same. It takes Siri to really sell the iPhone 4S, and so Apple is making sure to brand Siri as a proprietary component of the 4S.

But CP is also inferring that Siri’s primary purpose is to sell the 4S, and that by the time the iPhone 5 comes along, there will be a bigger, better assistant-like technology that will quickly replace Siri: “Experts suggest that if Siri is an iPhone 4S exclusive, that Apple may have more plans for the virtual personal assistant, for future generations of iPhones.”

Given the fact that the iPhone 5 is expected to sport a brand-new form factor, larger screen, the A6 chip, and even possibly an iOS 6 operating system, it isn’t impossible to imagine that even Siri could get an upgrade. We’ve already written about the prospect of Siri getting smarter and more interactive in the future, since it seems to work much like a search engine algorithm. But the idea of seeing Siri come and go on just the iPhone 4S begin to raise the specter of Apple’s newest iPhone iteration being a kind of “guinea pig,” testing the market for Siri-like features and the performance of the iOS 5 operating system.

This isn’t to say that the 4S experience has been disappointing for everyone: new iPhone users and those upgrading from the iPhone 3G and 3Gs are enjoying the speed, performance, and novelty of what the new iPhone has to offer. But if the speculation turns out to be true and the iPhone 5 will make its debut as early as the 2012 WWDC, the iPhone 4S could turn out to be a perceived rest stop on the way towards a serious overhaul for the iPhone franchise.

By Michael Nace

Apple’s new Siri voice assistant uses LSI and AI technologies, making it more like Google Search and less like a simple app.

If you’ve already invested in the new iPhone 4S, chances are you’re most excited about its top gadget: Siri. To be sure, Apple has touted Siri above all of the other new features on the iPhone 4S, including a much-enhanced camera array, as well as a bevy of improved hardware features that Apple has chosen to downplay into order to highlight the software side of its latest iPhone iteration. There’s no doubt that those early images of the guy jogging with his iPhone and having Siri shuffle his appointments is something right out of depictions of the future.

Of course, there is plenty that Siri cannot do, and it hasn’t taken long for the wise guys of the tech media to point them out. Fortunately for Siri, it cannot have its feelings hurt or intelligence insulted.

Yet.

In spite of its limitations, Siri is proving to be much more than simple voice recognition software. It does exhibit an intelligence; a flexibility to understand connotation and meaning that up until this point has been non-existent in the consumer end of voice recognition (who knows what the military may have). And the way that Apple is achieving this is not via a simple app, but rather through similar technologies used by Google’s own search algorithms.

As a result, I think that, with Siri, Apple just got into the search business and will be looking to go head to head against Google Search in the decades to come.

Tom’s Hardware has a comprehensive article on all of the new hardware upgrades for the iPhone 4S (thanks to Core2 for sending it to me). You’ll be surprised to see how much hardware is actually improved, from the battery to the screen, camera, video and beyond. But what I found most interesting was their in-depth look into how Siri works. I was shocked at how similar it is to Google Search.

Writer Andrew Ku explains: “. . . we should clarify that Siri isn’t just an app. Provided you’re asking questions and not giving commands, Siri is a service that interfaces with Apple’s servers to find a response. As such, the ‘intelligence’ behind Siri may change over time as the company optimizes its code.” In other words, just as Google regularly tweaks its algorithm — this year, they have rolled out several “Panda” updates in order to provide better search results to users — so too will Apple update its own search algorithms to make Siri more intuitive when you ask it something.

Ku goes on to explain that, like Google, Siri is all about processing keywords and keyword phrases: “Whenever you ask a question, Siri checks to see if it contains a keyword. This list of keywords only takes precedence over general syntax rules when Siri doesn’t recognize the string of words as a question. A given keyword sets off a function like looking up the weather. So far, we’ve worked out that this list includes: clothing, weather, food, restaurants, hospital, and clinic.” Granted, that is still a limited list, but in fact, those six categories are key search terms for mobile users, and will provide Apple with a basis for greatly expanding its search results capabilities in the very near future.

Where Siri still lags behind Google is in extrapolating sentence syntax and structure. Whereas Google Search has the ability to adjust to various syntax typed into the search box, Siri is still somewhat rigid in how you have to talk to it in order to get sensible results. Ku explains: “Syntax matters a lot. I’ve spent the better part of a day experimenting, and Siri definitely prefers the English standard of subject/verb/object, as opposed to object/subject/verb or object/verb/subject. Basically, don’t talk like Yoda. Questions, commands, or statements that contain extra or unessential words confuse Siri.”

But this shouldn’t be seen as an oversight or clumsy limitation overlooked by the Apple developers. In fact, it is a result of a much more sophisticated process that Apple is using to fetch search results with Siri: whereas Google Search benefits from you inputting the search keywords and criteria, Siri appears to be more of a two-step process, where the front end processes whether or not the voice request is a command or request, and then routes that request either to a proprietary response mechanism or to a search algorithm.

Where Is Apple Getting Its Search Results From?

I have no doubt that Apple intends Siri to become a search standard for the tech mobile community. They will be sure to keep it proprietary and heavily patented, and go after Google as soon as they try to improve their own voice recognition to mirror what Siri is already doing. As a result, I think that Apple has just gotten into the search business without actually saying that they’ve gotten into it. While many people would have expected Apple to develop an internet-based search engine like Google or Yahoo, instead, they have essentially hidden their search engine behind Siri.

Or, maybe we can simply assume that Siri is a search engine.

But I will end this article with a question: where is Siri getting its search results from? Apple has not to my knowledge admitted to building a Google, Yahoo, or Bing-like search engine, and yet Siri behaves like a search engine when it provides keyword-based results. We know that they are not tapping directly into google, since google would have already let us know about that if it were the case. The only assumption left is that Apple has its own search engine behind the scenes.

So, Apple: when we will hear a bit more about it?

By Michael Nace

 The iPhone 4S has easily become Sprint’s best-selling device in the company’s history. But will their 3G network technology be able to support all of the new device activations on the Sprint network?

After defeating the Romans with huge casualties, King Pyrrhus of Epirus famously said, ”Another victory like that and we’re done for.” Known now as a “Pyrrhic victory,” Sprint might be in for a similar fate with the iPhone 4S.

There is no doubt that Sprint’s iPhone 4S have been groundbreaking: they reported that first-day sales of the new iPhone shattered all sales records in the past. High sales reports continued into late last week, with reports indicating that Sprint had sold an astounding 4 million iPhone 4S units to date. Sprint attributes the burst of sales as coming from their unlimited data plan, which suggests that America’s third-largest mobile network is indeed attracting customers from AT&T and Verizon to their value-priced iPhone 4S option, thanks to unlimited data. In a faltering economy, the unlimited data plan is an attractive selling option, positioning Sprint to retain more of its customers and even woo back old customers who left Sprint in search of the iPhone.

But reports also indicate that Sprint’s 3G network is having a difficult time handling the influx of new iPhone 4S customers.

According to Forbes, “Several reviewers found Sprint’s data speeds to be down 300-500-kilobytes per second on both the iPhone 4S and Android models.” ITProPortal supported this report in a related article, saying, ”

In the the last days hundreds of subscribers have complained about slow data speeds, for downloads and uploads. Not only the iPhone customers are affected, but Android users as well and the entire 3G network. The Sprint community forum hosts a growing thread with more than 700 comments on the situation, where people are complaining about unusually low data speeds.”

Late last week, Sprint tried to get out in front of the bad publicity about data speeds by claiming that the iPhone 4S was not crushing their 3G network, erroneously citing a Gizmodo article that the Sprint PR department claimed proved that Sprint is actually the fastest network for the iPhone 4S. PCMag exploded Sprint’s claim, as well as Gizmodo’s study, saying: “The company may be referring to Gizmodo’s Great iPhone Speed Test, which actually doesn’t seem to be backing up Sprint’s claims. For one thing, Gizmodo is currently reporting Sprint’s average iPhone speeds to be half those of Verizon and AT&T. For another, Gizmodo seems to have mixed up 3G and Wi-Fi speeds—many of the site’s results are coming in at higher than the theoretical maximum speeds of the various networks, which means Wi-Fi results were added to the mix.”

Sprint Biding Time for a 4G iPhone 5?

You cannot fault Sprint for trying to damage control bad press that their 3G network cannot hack all of the new iPhone 4S activations. But the fact that Sprint has done little over the past year to bolster their 3G network in anticipation of the iPhone 4S — all while spending most of their resources on building up a 4G network to be launched in mid 2012 — further indicates to me that the iPhone 5 is coming sooner rather than later, and that it will be 4G.

I might just have “4G iPhone 5″ on the brain, but to me, this is another indication that Sprint is betting any future success on the combination of 4G and the iPhone. I seriously doubt that Sprint will bend over backwards to bolster their 3G network, instead focusing on giving their customers the best 4G network that they can muster once the iPhone 5 is released.

By Michael Nace

Sprint’s media event on October 7th sparked new speculation that the 2012 iPhone 5 will indeed be a 4G LTE smartphone. Does T-Mobile’s recent comments about why they are not carrying the iPhone 4S also suggest that 4G for the iPhone 5 is a reality?

While the form factor and screen size were the leading rumored upgrades for the iPhone 5 prior to the somewhat anti-climactic iPhone 4S announcement on October 4th, the leading rumors for the 2012 release of the iPhone 5 recently have been all about 4G. Much of the reason for this is Sprint’s otherwise sleepy follow-up press conference on October 7th, which, in addition to heralding the inclusion of the iPhone 4 and 4S, spent a lot of time talking about a major 4G rollout for the company (of which they currently do not have the money to complete), starting in mid 2012.

Many feel that, based on the comments of Sprint’s executives, that it is not a coincidence that Sprint is now selling the iPhone and rolling out the 4G LTE red carpet a.s.a.p. We wrote an article about it here.

Today, T-Mobile has made it back into the iPhone 4S news cycle by giving a more detailed explanation as to why they won’t be carrying the iPhone 4S “this season.” In a nutshell, Apple hasn’t blessed the partnership — probably a result of the still unsettled issues of the ATT/T-Mobile merger — and thus is either unable or unwilling to make an iPhone 4S that works on the T-Mobile 3G network.

In a statement, T-Mobile said the following: “T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is a good device and we’ve expressed our interest to Apple to offer it to our customers. Ultimately, it is Apple’s decision. The issue remains that Apple has not developed a version of the iPhone with technology that works on our fast 3G and 4G networks.”

In some ways, consumers, analysts, and investors could all take this statement to be a public challenge to Apple, persuading/slightly embarrassing them into including T-Mobile into the list of U.S. mobile companies that carry the iPhone. But another perspective on this recent statement may give yet another circumstantial piece of evidence that Apple’s iPhone 5 may in fact end up on the T-Mobile network, sporting 4G LTE capabilities.

Another line of the statement reads as follows: ”We believe a capable version of the iPhone for our 3G and 4G networks would offer an additional compelling option for our customers on a fast 4G network. However, the iPhone is not the only option to experience the benefit that smartphones offer.”

When T-Mobile refers to a “capable version of the iPhone,” are they referencing the iPhone 4S or a yet-to-be released iPhone 5 with true 4G capabilities?

It is pure speculation of course, but I believe that this is a suggestion that T-Mobile is jockeying to get the iPhone 5 in 2012, as they believe it will indeed be a “capable version of the iPhone” that will be 4G.

If you are an iPhone user who was disappointed by the lack of 4G on the iPhone 4S, I believe that this is yet another shred of evidence that 4G LTE is coming to the iPhone 5.

By Michael Nace

Wall Street is frowning on an earnings report from Apple today that shows they failed to meet analysts’ iPhone sales predictions for Q3 2011. The long, painful wait for the iPhone 5 certainly played a role.

Apple is dealing with a rare loss on Wall Street today after reports indicate they fell short of analysts’ expectations that Cupertino would sell at least 20 million iPhone units in the third quarter of 2011. According to WSJ.com, “Apple said Tuesday it sold more than 17 million iPhones in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 24, up from more than 14 million a year ago but lower than the 20 million or more that analysts had been expecting.” The news comes as a surprise in the midst of a virtual sales boom for the iPhone 4S, which saw over 4 million sales in the first weekend of its release alone.

In spite of Wall Street’s audacious expectations for iPhone sales in Q3, the third quarter can be a daunting sales quarter for businesses in the northern hemisphere who have to contend with Summertime vacationers who are typically less apt to spend their disposable income on luxury goods like the iPhone. But Apple CEO Tim Cook, “speaking on a conference call, said iPhone sales slowed toward the end of the quarter amid speculation over the debut of a new model.”

Mr. Cook’s recognition that missing iPhone sales estimates may have been a result over iPhone 5 speculation underscores the belief that Apple failed to properly manage expectations for the new iPhone, particularly considering that the release of the iPhone 4S came almost four months later than most analysts and consumers had expected, and failed to deliver the larger screen and form factor overhaul that was anticipated for the now fabled “iPhone 5.”

In spite of Apple’s underperformance, current sales of the iPhone 4S indicate that it will easily surpass all over sales benchmarks established by previous iPhone iterations. On his conference call, Mr. Cook was”very confident that we will set an all-time record in the December quarter for iPhone sales.” In addition to these positive sales forecasts, Apple also has the opportunity to brand its 2012 iPhone release as the “iPhone 5,” thus cashing in on the unprecedented buzz that still surrounds this still-rumored but much-anticipated smartphone.

By Michael Nace

Here’s a potpourri of iPhone-related items crossing my desk today that I thought would merit passing along to iPhone 5 News Blog readers, offered as purely informational. This site has no commercial relationship or conflict of interest with any of the firms cited.

iPhone and iPad Users Can Get 50 GB Cloud Storage Free From Box.net

Finding Apple’s iCloud buggy? Or perhaps like me you don’t have OS X 10.7 Lion installed on your Mac so you’re blocked from using iCloud to sync. documents between your iOS devices and your Mac? There’s more than one way to enter the Cloud.

Box.net’s Social Media Manager Mark Saldana blogs that as evidenced by the overwhelming crowds during past iPhone and iPad launches, it’s clear that our lives more and more revolve around mobile computing.

In recognition of that, Box.net have announced they’re giving away 50 GB of free storage to anyone who uses a Box personal account on an iOS device. That would be 50 GB in the cloud completely free, forever, and not to only your mobile device — you can access it anywhere with Internet access that you can use your Box account, such as on your laptop or office desktop computer.

This promotion started last weekend and runs for only 50 days. Keep in mind that you’ll need to download or update to the newest Box for iPhone and iPad app, version 2.4.3, then log into Box in order to get your 50 GB. Your account will also have an increased file size upload limit of 100MB instead of the usual 25MB.

Saldana notes that Box has also updated their app with a few features that’ll make your free 50 GB even more powerful, such as using AirPlay, you can now wirelessly stream Box content to an Apple TV for projection of photos, videos, presentations and more.

I decided that for me to take advantage of this offer it was a no-brainer. I’m still running Snow Leopard on my Mac, and have no plans to upgrade to Lion in the near-term future, so iCloud is presently terra incognita to my Mac, and consequently I haven’t bothered to activate an iCloud account in iOS 5. Fifty GB is ten times the amount of storage Apple gives you for free with iCloud. Downloading the Box.net app. and creating an account took about three minutes. I also use Dropbox for synchronizing work-in-progress files among devices, but it only gives me 2 GB of free capacity, so this Box.net offer is looking very attractive in the early going at least.

For more information, visit:
http://bit.ly/qHw1PP

BareFeats’ rob-ART morgan notes that Apple is claiming the iPhone 4S’a A5 dual-core CPU is “up to two times faster” than the iPhone 4, with its GPU is claimed to be “up to seven times faster.”

Morgan used four benchmark apps to measure CPU and GPU power on both iPhones plus both iPads, and shares what he observed, noting that while Apple’s claims are a bit extravagant, the the iPhone 4S is definitely faster than the iPhone 4. Geekbench’s overall benchmark were scores 63% to 68% faster rather than twice as fast in processor speed and in the graphics column, 4.7 to 6.2 times faster than an iPhone 4 running GLBenchmark’s “Egypt High” — also not shabby, but not seven times faster. Morgan also measured improved performance for Javascript and OpenGL based apps, and concludes that while it would have been nice to have LTE 4G support, overall he’s very pleased with the new iPhone 4S.

For the full report visit here:
http://barefeats.com/iph4s01.html

Orange Public Relations’ Ashley Halberstadt tells me that Boston-based NextWorth (http://www.NextWorth.com) is now guaranteeing $200 for iPhone 4 trade-ins through next Monday, October 24th. Currently, the estimated wait time for a new iPhone 4S is one to two weeks, so consumers trading in a 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4 with NextWorth can lock in a $200 value now, and all quotes are valid for 21 days — leaving time to receive your new iPhone 4S before sending your old one in to NextWorth.

The offer is good for all 16GB and 32GB AT&T iPhone 4 models traded in through NextWorth.com. To qualify, phones must be in good working condition with no heavy scratches or cracks (that would be “good” condition, as opposed to “flawless” or “like new”).

Also make sure to check with your carrier to see if you’re eligible for an upgrade. Some may be able to upgrade from iPhone 4 to 4S for essentially free if the cost of upgrading to an iPhone 4S is $199, since that’s lower than the guaranteed trade-in value for an iPhone 4.

Trading in this week from NextWorth.com locks in the $200 value for 21 days, giving people time to receive their new phone before sending in the old phone.
To qualify for the $200 guarantee, the 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4 must be in good working condition with no heavy scratches or cracks. Well-used iPhones are encouraged for trade-in but NextWorth doesn’t expect phones to be flawless when they receive them, and removed the “like new” category earlier this year because only 0.5% of all iPhone trades they received met those standards.

To get started, go to http://www.nextworth.com, select the appropriate iPhone 4 and answer a few questions about its condition. NextWorth offers free, fully-insured UPS shipping service to online customers, and the choice of cash or a gift card for trade ins.

Speaking of trading up to the iPhone 4S, if you’re planning an online purchase, a new independent study by STELLAService reports that after an extensive evaluation of all online retailers who sell iPhones, as well as an in-depth look into the policies and customer service phone support of authorized online stores that sell the iPhone (BestBuy.com, VerizonWireless.com, ATT.com, and Sprint.com), an study has concluded that Apple.com offers by far the most consumer-friendly services and policies, including superior customer service phone support (which was measured and rated by mystery shoppers) and an expansive AppleCare+ warranty program.

Drawbacks at other online resellers include in-store pick-up only, expensive and limited warranty programs, and cumbersome return policies.

Consequently, for consumers seeking to avoid lineups by purchasing the iPhone 4S online, a STELLAService finds no reason to look at buying from the Web’s other four iPhone 4S sellers, and rates Apple.com as the hands-down best choice over the four other online resellers.

“Apple.com outperformed its reseller partners hands down when it comes to customer service, and we found no reason that consumers should look anywhere else, says STELLAService co-founder and CEO Jordy Leiser. “With pricing for the iPhone 4S uniform across all online sellers, the overall quality of customer service should be the deciding factor in choosing where to buy the iPhone 4S online.”

In addition to evaluating Web resellers’ key policies and features, such as return and warranty policies, STELLAService rated the quality of customer service phone support based on factors such as product knowledge, issue resolution, and overall tone and attitude of the customer support representatives, by placing ten phone calls to each retailer and asking ten questions — from how to buy insurance to how to change a pass code lock.

Apple.coms representatives earned the highest score overall (4 out of 5), significantly outpacing others when it came to their ability to address questions (4.4 for Apple vs. 3.6 for AT&T and Verizon). STELLAService said the average customer service quality score for consumer electronics retailers was 3.7. Apple.com’s AppleCare+ warranty program was rated by far the most cost-effective. Even though it does not cover loss and theft, the monthly fees and deductions for BestBuy’s Geek Squad and AT&Ts and Verizon’s Asurion warranties come close to the cost of buying a completely a new iPhone.

Leiser says STELLAService conducted the study to provide consumers with clear guidance in light of unclear policies, misinformation, rumors, and scams relating to online retailers selling Apple products, and points out that Apple.com, which provides a list of authorized online resellers for its popular products, such as the iPod and iPad, does not provide a list of authorized online sellers for the iPhone.

Another point, while BestBuy.com allows customers to purchase the iPhone 4S online, it does not offer shipping and delivery. As of the days leading up to the iPhone 4S release, customers could only pick-up the product in stores.

Apple.com and BestBuy.com offer the most generous return window for a refund (30 days) versus 14 days for AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. Apple.com and BestBuy.com also don’t charge customers for returning an iPhone 4S, while AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon each have a $35 restocking fee. AT&T is only online seller that does not allow customers to trade-in old phones by mail. AT&T customers can only trade-in phones in-store.

Over the past decade or so, I’ve made most of my Apple hardware purchases online from Apple.com, and have been unreservedly pleased with the service. No complaints. However, I did buy my iPad 2 last spring from my nearest Apple authorized reseller in the interest of supporting local business.

[Publisher's Note: This is not a paid post, and the iPhone 5 News Blog received no remuneration from any of the companies mentioned in this post for writing about their products and services. It is simply a collection of iPhone-related deals that Charles found interesting.] 

In his MondayNote blog, Jean-Louis Gassée, former head of Apple France, later appointed to Steve Jobs’s former position as head of Macintosh development by Apple CEO John Sculley after Sculley fired Jobs in 1985, observes that what many of us had expected was for Apple to introduce the iPhone 5 on October 4 with twice the processor speed; seven times the graphics oomph; a new camera with an Apple-designed lens, 8 megapixels and improved image processing; the power of the new iOS 5; iCloud, upon which the “kommentariat” would gush approvingly approvingly.

What actually happened, Gassée observes, is that we did get that very phone just described, but Apple called it 4S instead of 5. “This changes everything,” he notes. “The pundits are indignant: The iPhone 4S is a lame, evolutionary product; management’s presentation… is flat, uninspiring. This dog won’t sell. Apple has lost its mojo,” reports that 45 percent of current current iPhone users were vowing not to buy iPhone 4S and to hold out for a “real” iPhone 5, yada, yada, yada.

Well, so much for those pundits. Apple today announced it sold more than four million iPhone 4S’s in the span of just three days after the new phone’s launch Friday — the most ever for an Apple phone model and more than double the rate sold at the iPhone 4′s launch during its first three days,” says Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller. In addition, more than 25 million customers upgraded to iOS 5 in the first five days following its release, and more than 20 million have signed up for iCloud. So which dog would that be that’s not selling?

Jean-Louis Gassée, who was himself responsible for development of several Macintosh products in the late 80s including the 1989 Macintosh Portable (ancestor of MacBooks) and the “wicked fast” Macintosh IIfx, observes that the obsessiveness with which Apple jealously guards its unreleased product secrets serves to trigger an escalade of fantasies among what he calls “inquisitive barbarians,” noting that for months certain regions of the blogosphere had become a gigantic echo chamber for iPhone 5 rumors ranging from the bizarre (a new teardrop design) to saner predictions such as adoption of the iPad 2′s A5 processor and a better camera. He contends that while keeping everything tightly under wraps may protect revenue, preserve flexibility, and enhance the Apple mystique, the price Apple pays for totally clamming up is that they lose control of public discourse about unannounced products, leading to unreasonable expectations being formed, and as we’ve just seen, exposing the company to the perception of a letdown.

One antidote to that he thinks would be for Apple to tell one or two trusted friends, discreetly, to euthanize the more noxious rumors, although such practice must be handled very carefully since it carries with it serious potential for insider trading.

And given that the supposed “letdown” appears to have not hurt iPhone 4S sales a whit, perhaps Apple’s obsessive secrecy policies are on the right track after all. What do you think?

iFixit has posted a detailed and exhaustively illustrated teardown of the new iPhone 4S. iFixit’s Director of Technical Communication Miroslav Djuric says with the help of an iFixit user hailing from Germany, Markus Weiher, the iFixit team successfully dismantled Apple’s latest creation. Not even Siri’s incessant urgings and warnings were enough to deter the team from dissecting it.

“Opening the 4S was no more (nor less) challenging than the iPhone 4,”says Djuric. “We’re always pleased to find a limited amount of adhesive in our patients, and easily removable rear panels are always a plus. However, the same pesky proprietary screws are present, and it’s never a joy to encounter fused (read: expensive to replace) displays. All things considered, the new iPhone isn’t any easier or harder to repair than last year’s model, so it gets the same 6 out of 10 repair score as the previous-gen iPhone 4.”

Djuric notes that there is an extra .05 watt-hours in the battery over the iPhone 4, and according to Apple, you get an extra hour of talk time on 3G, but 100 hours less standby time.

In the iFixit fashion, they removed the EMI shields for your viewing pleasure. The logic board bares its electronic soul with the foillowing components:
* Apple A5 dual-core processor with 512 MB RAM
* Toshiba THGVX1G7D2GLA08 16 GB NAND flash memory
* Qualcomm MDM6610 baseband chipset
* Qualcomm PM8028 power management IC
* Qualcomm RTR8605 Multi-band/mode RF transceiver
* Murata SW SS1830010. We suspect that this package contains the Broadcom chip that reportedly provides Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity, just like in some of the past teardowns.
* Skyworks 77464-20 load-insensitive power amplifier (LIPA) module developed for WCDMA applications
* Avago ACPM-7181 power amplifier
* TriQuint TQM9M9030 multi-mode quad-band power amplifier module
* TriQuint TQM66052 (possibly a PA-duplexer module)
* Mysterious Apple chip with markings 338S0987 B0FL1129 SGP

Photo Courtesy iFixIt

Some snippets:

They note that Apple boasts 73% more light with “next-generation backside illumination” for better low-light performance with the iPhone 4S’s new megapixel camera roughly 33% faster and able to snap multiple photos less than a second apart as well as record HD video at 1080p and 30 fps.

They report that the iPhone 4S logic board bears a close resemblance to its stateside CDMA iPhone 4 counterpart, but the display assembly appears to be the same as the one found in the GSM version.

t appears that Apple elected to go with the linear oscillating vibrator that was found in the Verizon iPhone 4, as opposed to the rotational electric motor with counterweight in the AT&T version. This vibrator motor is quieter, softer, and all-around less annoying than its counter-weighted predecessor.

Djuric says thry noticed several white and red liquid indicator strips placed throughout the phone. So don’t let your friends pee on it! (No, seriously: http://bit.ly/iPhone_3GS_pee)

Photo Courtesy iFixIt

The iPhone 4S’s Apple A5 chip is revealed to be a 1 GHz Dual-core processor with 512 MB of Samsung DDR2 RAM or Elpida DDR2 RAM, and there’s Toshiba THGVX1G7D2GLA08 16 GB 24 nm MLC NAND flash memory as well as the same 960 x 640 pixel Retina display that debuted in the iPhone 4 last year.

Photo Courtesy iFixIt

iFixIt gives the iPhone 4S a Repairability Score of 6 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair), with very little changed from the iPhone 4 in terms of repairability, noting that the iPhone 4S is still held together primarily with screws and limited adhesive, and with the rear panel and battery both easy to remove and replace (provided you have the right kit and/or correct screwdriver), but the LCD and glass — a carryover from the previous generation iPhone 4 — are fused together, making cracked glass repair more costly, and lots of smaller components are soldered to one ribbon cable, increasing the cost of repairing just one component.

Incidentally, if you’re at all a tinkerer with your computers and iDevices, iFixIt’s hardware teardowns and free illustrated teardown guides are an amazingly helpful resource.

For the full iPhone 4S teardown report visit here:
http://bit.ly/oNjLOZ

iFixIt’s iPhone 4S video review is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yuC8WeeE30

Today marks the official launch of the iPhone 4S. Apple stores are reporting record-breaking lines; analysts are projecting that as many as 4 million units could sell this weekend alone.

After a week of staggering pre-order sales that raked in over a million units sold in first 24 hours alone, Apple and its mobile carrier partners are officially launching the iPhone 4S today amidst an unprecedented level of consumer interest. Tech analysts are forecasting that iPhone 4S sales will top 4 million this weekend alone between Apple’s own sales and the sales of all its affiliates. The newest iteration of Apple’s flagship smartphone is now on sale in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK.

For as much as the first weekend of iPhone 4 sales in 2010 was impressive — with 1.7 million units sold — the expectation of 4 million iPhone 4S sales is almost unfathomable. Just to put it in perspective, the tech media is touting the short-term success of Amazon’s new 7-inch, $199 Kindle Fire tablet, which is expected to sell 5 million units throughout the entire fourth quarter of 2011.

Apple will easily top that number by Sunday night with iPhone 4S sales.

There are three contributing factors to the early success of the iPhone 4S. First and foremost is the success of the iPhone 4, which has exponentially outperformed every other single competing smartphone on the market today (Android smartphones as a block account for more sales, but this block includes a multiplicity of different Android models) and has enjoyed more sales than all other sales of previous iPhone iterations combined. The iPhone 4 injected the iPhone into the mainstream, paving the way for the iPhone 4S’s success.

A second factor is the addition of Sprint as a mobile carrier partner for Apple in the U.S. Sprint is the third-largest U.S. mobile network, and most of their subscribership losses over the past years have come from their lack of the iPhone in their roster of smartphones. The addition of the iPhone — a gamble for Sprint — is bound to bolster Apple’s iPhone 4S sales in the U.S.

Third, the buzz surrounding the “iPhone 5″ over the past year clearly intensified interest and excitement for the iPhone 4S. While it is true that hardcore iPhone enthusiasts were disappointed by the lack of new form factor, larger screen, and “iPhone 5″ product name, the iPhone 4S’s groundbreaking new features, such as Siri voice activation, an improved camera function, and the launch of iCloud, are slowly winning over Apple devoteés as well.

It’s worth remembering that analysts predicted that the iPhone 5 would sell anywhere between 15 and 25 units in 2011 alone, and that 35% of all consumers would eventually come to own an iPhone within a year’s time. With the Christmas season fast approaching and the excitement for the iPhone 4S continuing to build, those numbers still seem entirely realistic.

By Michael Nace

On the eve of the official launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S, which has enjoyed record pre-orders, RIM‘s technology crashes, forcing many of its business users to rethink its mobile computing strategy

Blackberry gets little attention on an Apple-oriented blog like this one, where the iPhone and its primary competitor Android takes center stage. But the recent news of RIM’s technological meltdown, with a reported half of all Blackberry users experiencing service interruptions, is worth mentioning in the context of Apple and the iPhone 4S: while Apple goes up, RIM goes down.

The RIM outages, which began in Europe, have quickly spread to North America. AP reports that “It was the biggest outage in years for BlackBerry users, and strained their relationship with an already tarnished brand. It came on the eve of the launch of a mighty competitor — a new iPhone model.” You might recall that speculation has surrounded the [unlikely] possibility of Apple someday acquiring RIM, thus giving them an instant access to mobile business users, a demographic that Cupertino has long since tried to court with its iPhone.

With the iPhone 4, however, Apple has made significant inroads into the business community, with more and more major corporations onboarding the iPhone for its employees over Android and RIM smartphone models.

Now, with this major breakdown, Blackberry may officially be on its death knell. Reports indicate that business users are abandoning their Blackberry devices en masse. In many ways, RIM’s epic fail comes at a perfect time for Apple, as frustrated blackberry fans now have the opportunity to jump into the iPhone 4S, with features like speed and Siri that would appeal to business users

Apple’s Siri Versus Thumbing on a Blackberry

Blackberry’s features have long since managed to compete with the likes of the iPhone and Android smartphones. While Blackberry users feel safe and secure with their smartphone’s blinking red light when they have e-mail or their trusty thumb-operated keyboard, the speed, agility, and versatility of the contemporary smartphone has all but passed RIM by.

And the iPhone 4S is going directly after business users my highlighting features like Siri in their marketing pitch.

Given all of these new development, it would seems apparent that Apple may no longer need to even consider buying up a brand like Blackberry in order to up its profile as a leader in mobile business computing devices. And if that’s the case, then RIM may no longer have any further purpose in the smartphone marketplace.