Top 5 Reasons to Buy an iPhone 4S

iPhone 4S may look just like its predecessor but the internal improvements are hard to ignore. 

If you're battling about buying an iPhone 4S, take comfort to the fact that you're not alone. My decision to buy an iPhone stretched for months because, let's face it, it's not cheap. I wanted to make sure, like most people would, that when I make the commitment, I'm going to get the value down to the last cent. I bought my iPhone 4S a day after the release date. Do I have any regrets today? Absolutely not. Let's talk about the top 5 reasons why, in retrospect, buying an iPhone 4S was a brilliant decision on my part.

1. Three words: Dual-core A5 chip. Let's leave the technical details to the geeks. What does this mean to you? Web pages load faster, touch response is quicker, apps start smoothly, gaming is superb - everything is just fast! You know what it feels like when you swipe a finger over a touch screen and the graphics just move around like water? No delays, no freezes. Well, if you don't know what that feels then be ready for it. You don't believe me? Go to Best Buy. Try it your self. Better yet, compare it with other smart phones.

2. The Camera - 8 Megapixels and improved optics for better lighting and amazing shots. The flash takes beautiful photos in low light. HDR (High Dynamic Range) feature breathes life into your photos. Let the picture below speak for the iPhone 4S Camera. Go ahead, click or touch to zoom.

With the HDR (High Dynamic Range) feature on, the iPhone 4S camera takes vivid shots in real-life lighting.

3. Siri. If I have to think of two words to describe the virtual assistant embedded in iPhone 4S, those are going to be: creepy and funny. Creepy - Siri actually understands what you mean. It's not just a speech recognition program. She knows that when you say "Is it gonna be hot tomorrow?", you want to know about the weather. She will even suggest that you bring an umbrella if it's going to rain. Funny - ask her to sing a song, what she's wearing, what other mobile phones compete with iPhone 4S. Siri is in Beta release yet it's already blowing minds. Are you fine with the fact that you're missing it?

Siri is more than just about the weather. She can make call, play music, send an SMS, set up a meeting , and more. And  that's just for the Beta release.

4. iMessage and FaceTime. Free unlimited texts messages and video calls over Wi-Fi to all Apple mobile device users all over the world. iMessage and FaceTime is like having Skype except that you don't have to download the apps, sign up for an account, and add contacts. With iMessage and FaceTime, you just turn the feature on, and that's it. No hassles, no payments. It's all about connecting with people that matter.

5. iOS apps - the built-in, the free, and the sold. As of writing there are over 500, 000 apps available for iPhone 4S. Imagine that. The world is constantly developing applications for your mobile needs. You want to play a game? Thousand are available. You want to organize your meetings, write a journal, secure your notes, there are thousands of ways you can do that. With iOS apps continuously being produced, your iPhone 4S experience is never the same each day.

I bought an iPhone 4S and I have no regrets. Sure, it's just a smart phone. But it might just be the smartest. When you buy an iPhone 4S, you're not just buying a phone, you're investing on an awesome experience. Enjoy!

What is the Standard iPhone 4S Battery Usage?

How often do you plug your iPhone 4S for charging?

What is the standard iPhone 4S battery usage? Well, that really depends on what you constantly use your iPhone 4S for. But according to Apple's official iPhone 4S battery and power specification, talk time is up to 8 hours over 3G; Internet use is up to 6 hours over 3G, and up to 9 hours over Wi-Fi; video playback is up to 10 hours; audio playback is up to 40 hours; and standby time is up to 200 hours. Your battery life is affected by a lot of factors including the type of network connection you're constantly hooked to, and the kinds of apps you're using. In order to maximize your battery, you need to do a little bit of customization in terms of phone settings so you can go through your day with getting the pain of a battery shortage. Below is the screen shot of my iPhone 4S battery usage one month after I bought it.

My one-month old iPhone 4S Battery Usage screen shot. 

The breakdown of my iPhone 4S battery usage:

1.0 hour of Music
3.5 hours of Internet over Wi-Fi
0.7 hours of Internet over 3G
1.0 hour of Games
0.9 hours of Social media and other apps
22 hours 19 minutes Standby

The above screen shot shows 22 hours of battery life, which means I practically charge my iPhone 4S  once a day. I think this is pretty standard and I'm happy with my battery statistics. Note that according to Apple's Battery Information page, Standby is the length of the time the battery has been powered up, which is the time that you're using it and the time that it's on sleep mode.

To track your own iPhone 4S battery usage, go to Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage. Under "Time since last full charge" you will see the details of how long your battery was in use, and in standby since the last time it was fully charged. In order to get more accurate numbers, make sure you don't connect your phone to your laptop before it dies completely. If you have plugged in your iPhone 4S in before zero battery percentage, the information "iPhone has been plugged in since the last full charge" will appear below the Usage and Standby statistics. If you think your iPhone 4S battery usage can be better, then it might be time you check some iPhone 4S battery life improvement tips.

iPhone 4S Shot of the Week: Sbarro's Chicago White Stuffed Pizza

This week's iPhone 4S shot is taken with the camera's HDR feature on. HDR or High Dynamic Range is a technique in photography that takes photos in several exposure levels in an attempt to produce a more natural looking photo, capturing the depth and brightness of the environment's natural lighting. While the qualities of what counts as an HDR photo may deserve a longer discussion in a different blog, in here what we know is that the iPhone 4S camera can perform HDR imaging with a simple toggle of a button. The subject of this week's iPhone 4S shot is Sbarro's Chicago White Stuffed Pizza.

iPhone 4S Shot of the Week: Sbarro's Chicago White Stuffed Pizza

In real life, Sbarro's Chicago White Stuffed Pizza is stuffed with mozzarella, pepperoni, ham, and ricotta cheese. This is essentially one of my favorite pizzas. I think the iPhone 4S camera, in all its 8 megapixel glory, did this food justice because the shot looks amazing. With the the iPhone 4S HDR camera feature on, this pizza looks just as heavenly as it tastes.

iPhone 4S Shot of the Week: Near-Empty Perfume Bottle

The iPhone 4S shot this week surprised me even though I'm the one who took it. This is the first photo I have ever taken with the iPhone 4S camera flash on. The subject is my near-empty perfume bottle - random, I know. I was never a fan of using camera flash even with point and shoot cameras because the resulting photos just sometimes look washed out. The photo below is a raw iPhone 4S camera shot. That's what an 8 megapixel and improved optics are all about.

iPhone 4S Shot of the Week: Near-Empty Perfume Bottle (taken with flash)

With this kind of photo, who needs a separate digital camera? If you wish to submit your own iPhone 4S shot, let me know in the comment section. I'd be more than happy to post your best iPhone 4S shot, and give due credits. The iPhone 4S camera is probably the best camera-on-a-phone in the market so go ahead and take it for a spin, or two.

iPhone 4S Shot of the Week: Happy New Year's!

The iPhone 4S shot this week is taken using the all new 8 megapixel camera. According to Apple's official iPhone 4S camera specification, the iPhone 4S camera does not only have 60 percent more megapixels than iPhone 4, it also has improved optics which allows better lighting through the lenses to produce the best quality shots (click sample photo below to zoom in).

An iPhone 4S 8 megapixel camera shot.

The iPhone 4S shot subject this week is my "New Year's Resolution": Keeping a clean fridge. And by the looks of it, I kinda have to agree with Apple. For a built-in camera, my empty fridge sure looks pretty good. If you wish to submit your own iPhone 4S shot, please indicate in the comments section. Happy New Year's!

iPhone 4S - My First iPhone

After battling with myself for a couple of months (and without obsessing over a single product review), I finally made the commitment. I bought an iPhone 4S and it is my first official iPhone.

The iPhone 4S first official release is on October 16, 2011 (US)

iPhone 4S is my second Apple product. My first one was the iPod Touch 4th Gen. After four months of using my iPod, there was not a day that I did not wish that I could use it to call or send text messages - well, actually I could, and I did. But I wanted it to be a phone, and independent from WiFi to communicate. And so when the iPhone 4S got released, buying it and ditching my iPod was a no brainer.

My appreciation on the Apple products went through a bit of threshold. I am generally resistant to market hype. I would like to think that I am a smart consumer. It is a common consumer standard that a product has to be worth every cent that you're going to pay for it. On top of that, I also believe that service and  experience are of equal importance to the  product itself. The latest iPhone is just "IT". It's intuitive; you won't find useless or hard-to-figure-out settings. It's smartly designed, fast, and most importantly extremely useful. You can text, call, send emails, surf the web, play, and get organized. It is everything you need in a phone and more. It's just - in my current demands, lifestyle, and standards - perfect. My iPod trial, my background in electronics and software engineering, and the need for a new phone, (and the stars may have also aligned but I did not wait for that) all lead to the big move.

The all-new iPhone 4S home screen shows all the new apps in iOS 5.

This blog is going to be exactly  what  the description says. This will document my daily routine and iPhone 4S's role in it - the good parts, the bad, the new finds, the happy moments, and the technical stuffs I have to learn to make the relationship easy. I hope you guys find the upcoming reads both entertaining and informative. Enjoy!