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Apple iPhone 4S

8.6 Verge Score 8.9 User Score Write Review
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Verge Review

Reviewing the iPhone 4S is in many ways a lot like reviewing the original iPhone 4, except that it's not. The device, which was just announced at a special event on Apple's campus, is very much the same phone the company released in June of 2010 — but it's also something completely new. While much of that sameness comes from an identical physical appearance, and nearly identical specs (in some places), there's much that's fresh here. Besides packing the successor to Apple's custom A4 CPU...

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Basic Specs

Thickness 0.37 inches
Weight 0.31 pounds
Form factor Slab
Screen size (diagonal) 3.5 inches
Carriers Verizon Wireless, Sprint, AT&T
Operating system iOS
Launch OS version 5.0
Current OS version 5.0.1

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Tech Specs

Hardware

Height 4.5 inches
Width 2.31 inches
Thickness 0.37 inches
Weight 0.31 pounds
Form factor Slab
Primary orientation Portrait
Color Black, White
Loudspeaker Yes
Noise cancellation Hardware (multi-mic)

Display

Screen size (diagonal) 3.5 inches
Technology IPS LCD
Resolution (Y) 960 px
Resolution (X) 640 px
Touchscreen type Capacitive
Multitouch Yes

Connectivity

Carriers Verizon Wireless, Sprint, AT&T
3G Connectivity Yes
CDMA Yes
CDMA frequencies supported 1900, 850
GSM Yes
GSM frequencies supported 1900, 1800, 900, 850
UMTS / HSPA Yes
UMTS frequencies supported 900, 2100, 1900, 850
WWAN data standards supported UMTS, 1xRTT, EV-DO Rev. A, EV-DO Rev. 0, EDGE, HSUPA, HSDPA, GPRS
Max WWAN downlink speed 14.4 Mbps
Wi-Fi Yes
Wi-Fi support 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b
802.11n frequencies 2.4GHz
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes
Bluetooth version Bluetooth 4.0
Tethering / mobile hotspot Yes
Media streaming AirPlay

Processor

Manufacturer Apple
Model A5
Clock speed 800 MHz
Number of cores 2

Storage

Internal size 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB
External No

Front Camera

Resolution 0.3 megapixels
Video resolution VGA
Video framerate 30

Rear Camera

Resolution 8 megapixels
Flash Single LED
Focus type Autofocus
Video resolution 1080p
Video framerate 30

Software

Operating system iOS
Launch OS version 5.0
Current OS version 5.0.1

Ports

Video out Yes
Headphone jack 3.5mm
Other ports iPod

Battery

Quoted use time 8 hr
Removable No

Sensors

Sensors Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity, Ambient light, Gyroscope, Accelerometer

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8.9

Average User Review

of 73 total reviews
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  • Design 9
  • Display 10
  • Camera(s) 10
  • Reception / call quality 8
  • Performance 9
  • Software 9
  • Battery life 8
  • Ecosystem 10

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  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by ljpuk (Currently owns)

    February 10, 2012 04:06 pm

    After my iPhone 4 died I really debated whether to pick up a replacement 4 or go for the 4S. In the end I plumped for the 32GB 4S in black, I haven't been blown away or disappointed.

    First off the design of the 4/S is timeless and in my opinion the best looking smartphone out there, sure it's a bit slippery and feels odd to hold at first but you can't cover this up with a case - its mean't to be used. So switching over to the 4S there were do surprises given it's the same design.

    The first thing I checked was the dreaded antenna issue - guess what, its gone. Well for me anyway, I can grip to my hearts content and I experienced no dropped calls or loss in signal.

    Next up SIRI, which I have found to be great in my car journey to work for reminding me to do stuff when I get to my destination. I also use it for setting timers at home when cooking etc but to be honest that's about it. If you are using more than one calendar and a whole list of reminders it doesn't work 100% as it doesn't know which one to put it against - i'm sure Apple will address this in future updates. So SIRI is a nice to have but not a game changer for me.

    The camera is the one area that did make me stand up and notice, it's a bit step up from the 4 and the biggest improvement I saw was in low light around the house for indoor shots. It is more responsive (thanks to the new A5 processor being used) and takes amazing pictures.

    Overall the experience is snappier thanks to the boost in processor and memory, with iOS 5 you do feel this improvement.

    So coming from a 4, am I glad I upgraded? Well when selling my 4 and going up to the 4S it didn't cost me a great deal extra so in that respect i'm glad I did but if you have a working 4 I would hold off until the next revision given it should be a redesign and should be with us within in the next 8 months.

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    • Design 8
    • Display 8
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 8
    • Performance 8
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 7
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by izzymd (Currently owns)

    January 21, 2012 05:11 pm

    Better than the iPhone 4 in every regard except for battery life. It's really the only significant knock against this amazing piece of technology and I still get a full day of normal use without needing a charge. Having a camera this good on a mobile phone is artistically inspiring and has relegated my Canon point and shoot to the old technology bin. If Siri matures and gets hooks into other areas of the OS (and third party apps) it will really be a game changer for Apple.

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 8
    • Performance 10
    • Software 10
    • Battery life 6
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by Lyndell Kell (Currently owns)

    January 12, 2012 11:30 pm

    PROS: Hits on all clinders, great gaming capabilities, especially with a Game Network like Game Center, I've created songs, made reports, been able to easily talk/text/FaceTime friends halfway across the world and all they have is a iPod, I have great pics of my son, and a lot of apps helping him learn (7 months at the time of this review), reader is a huge help with certain sites, and the notification center is amazing too and no viruses, malware, spyware or bloatware, oh yeah did I mention Siri, yeah.... It's amazing.

    Cons: Poor Battery Life, it gets me through a day at times then some days falls flat

    9/10

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 10
    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 10
    • Software 10
    • Battery life 6
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by TMAGS (Currently owns)

    January 6, 2012 12:24 am

    What could be seen as a minor improvement over a somewhat flawed design, the iPhone 4S is a modest step ahead of last year's iPhone 4. No iPhone since the original has challenged the status-quo in the smartphone market, and the iPhone 4S builds upon solid foundation. Adopting a single chassis that has both a GSM and CDMA chip, the iPhone 4S could have been a real step forward for the global cell phone market, and remove the carrier form the purchasing decision--much like how it was with the original iPhone. The iPhone 4S is available on Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, and available in 16, 32, and 64 Gigabyte capacities in black or white. Prices start at $199, and stop at $399, and Applecare+ protection is available for all models for $99.

    Design

    The iPhone 4 took everyone's breath away with an all glass design with a metal band wrapping the sides. The 4S has an identical design with minor antenna position tweaks. Underneath the hard to scratch glass is a gorgeous 3.5" 960x640 display that has excellent viewing angles. While I would have wished to have a larger screen, the 3.5 inch display is sufficient for quickly typing out messages and quick emails.

    Cameras

    The camera inside the 4S is simply one of the best cameras available in a smartphone. Responsive, clear, and easy to use, only the cameras on some of the high end android phones (Galaxy 2, from samsung in particular) managed to be at the same level.

    Siri

    This is something you seriously need to try out. I didn't use it at first, but eventually you find that certain tasks are actually faster when dictated to siri.

    Call Quality / Data Services

    Your mileage will definately vary on this topic, but when comparing the AT&T model against the Verizon model, I noticed no difference in call quality, but data seemed a bit faster on the AT&T model--but only slightly.

    Battery Life

    You can walk out of your house with the confidence your phone will last the day, maybe two if you disable location services, reduce screen brightness, and keep media consumption to a bare minimum.

    Ecosystem

    Apple has proven that the walled garden approach to app downloads provides a better experience for novice to intermediate users, but advanced users will mock the inability to modify core elements of the phone, or add widgets.

    Wrap-up
    The 4S is a solid choice, and is probably one of the best mobile experiences on the market today.

    The Breakdown

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    • Display 9
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 8
    • Performance 9
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 7
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by Renverse (Currently owns)

    January 4, 2012 09:16 am

    When the 4S was announced with the same design as the previous iPhone, I was a little let down. I wanted a new design, but that doesn't mean the iPhone 4S's design is bad. No, not at all,. it's actually still very good, and has aged beautifully.

    The Retina display is very bright and sharp as ever, no surprises there. It's still very much the best display on the market.

    The Camera on the 4S is amazing. You can get some really detailed shots out of it, and even in low-light the grainyness of the photo is not even noticeable.

    The hardware itself has a few problems– most notably, the speakers. I keep muffling them while holding my phone in landscape model.

    Call quality seems fine for me, reception also has no problems, but there have been a few quirks. My 4S kept throwing me SIM errors when I tried to use it with my old Micro-sim. The solution was to request a new one, and the errors stopped.

    Performance, is very good. Typical of an iOS device.

    The best part about iOS is Siri. She's really very useful in some cases, like setting alarms and reminders, but where I am she can't look for places so that really knocks her usefulness down a notch.

    Battery life is pretty good for me. I have not experienced the iPhone 4S battery problem.

    The ecosystem on iOS is, of course, great. 500k apps and counting is an amazing number and app quality is really high.

    The iPhone 4S, as it stands, is the best phone all-around. It does everything very, very well, and you won't be disappointed should you chose to get one, just don't hope for fireworks or anything– iOS is fairly, unspectacular, if you're looking for that kind of stuff.

    The Breakdown

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    • Design 8
    • Display 10
    • Camera(s) 10
    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 9
    • Software 8
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by coletrain (Previously owned)

    January 4, 2012 02:41 am

    Great hardware/ecosystem but the core software does not feel as intuitive as wd7 or ICS. Does not really feel futuristic and not as efficient as other softwares. Everything runs perfectly and has the best ecosystem to date. The OS makes you wanting more. The way you interact with the software sometimes does not make sense. The big one is still there, no customization.

    The average user will love this phone because thats all they know a phone can do. It is very safe and not a bad buy by any means. For me personally, I want more out of a smartphone experience and iOS did not provide that for me. Thats why I sold mine and bought a Galaxy Nexus.

    My high scoring show that the phone is really good, just that there are better phones out there.

    The Breakdown

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    • Design 9
    • Display 9
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 7
    • Performance 8
    • Software 7
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by timjub (Currently owns)

    January 2, 2012 05:40 pm

    Definitely the best phone I have ever owned. The software is excellent and Siri is amazing. Although there seems to have been a "Battery-gate" at launch, I don't think the it is bad. It is even, for my use, above average for smartphones. Also, with the iPhone, iPad and iMac, iCloud is great! It makes syncing with my devices so much simpler. Although the design hasn't changed since the previous generation, the iPhone is still the best looking phone on the market.

    The Breakdown

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    • Design 9
    • Display 10
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 8
    • Performance 10
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 7
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by rgritt (Currently owns)

    January 2, 2012 05:10 pm

    The iPhone 4S is by far one of the best phones on the market right now, and there isn't much to complain about. I will say however, data speeds are less than ideal on sprint with the iPhone 4S and it's not just sprint's service because I had faster speeds with the HTC Hero (3G). The battery life isn't great, but if managed correctly it can easily last all day. All in all, the iPhone 4S is a spectacular that I think woud make a spectacular mobile companion for anyone.

    The Breakdown

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    • Display 9
    • Camera(s) 8
    • Reception / call quality 7
    • Performance 9
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 6
    • Ecosystem 10
    Show the rest of this review and the breakdown
  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by Aaron Souppouris (Currently owns)

    December 30, 2011 04:12 pm

    Ah, my trusty iPhone... I love you, I love you not.... If this "user review" is a mess of contradictions, it's because that's exactly how I feel about the phone.

    I bought the iPhone4 pretty much at launch, and enjoyed it thoroughly until April 2011 when I decided to upsticks and move over to Android and the Samsung Galaxy S II. You can read my thoughts on that device here.

    The 4s, like the 4 before it, is a beautiful piece of design, and with the symmetry of the new antenna system, it's actually more pleasing to look at. Yes, the glass is fragile, and it's not exactly ergonomically sound, but it just looks so good.

    iOS5 is a huge improvement on iOS4, bringing a notification area, and the additions of iMessage and Siri. iOS5 is close to parity with Android in terms of functionality, but I have issues with the basic concept of the OS.

    iOS is a static grid of icons. Jump into an app, jump out. There is no synergy, no sense that you're using a product that can truly multitask - and how hard would it be for Apple to write a 'share' API that every app could hook up to?

    While the main camera is the best shooter on the market, the front facing camera is still one of the grainier sensors around. The screen, whilst still the most pixel-perfect screen on any device anywhere, is too small for my tastes, and I find myself typing infinitely slower than on my GSII.

    Battery life is also sub-par in comparison to both it's predecessor and the S II, I can't go anywhere without taking my charger, and regularly get to around 3pm with a critical battery level.

    So why do I persist? Apps, apps apps. The ecosystem of iOS is just miles ahead of Android. They're just not on the same level. You get a level of higher level of quality, real consistency, and a much wider range of Apps than on Google's OS.

    Whilst I was in love with my iPhone 4, the 4S hasn't quite touched me in the same way. I find myself thinking about my next phone continuously, and I think the SII is to blame. After using a large-screened Android device, I feel locked in by iOS and its restrictions.

    Assuming i'll continue to dual-wield smartphones, Apple will have work hard for me to upgrade to the iPhone 6. Android is going from strength to strength, and WindowsPhone7 is close to becoming a viable choice. At the moment, it's looking like a next-gen Nokia WindowsPhone and the GS III will be my next devices.

    But every time I say I wont upgrade, Apple pull something special out of the bag, and I hope they don't buck that trend with their next device.

    The Breakdown

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    • Reception / call quality 8
    • Performance 9
    • Software 8
    • Battery life 7
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 10.0
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    Reviewed by slackguy (Currently owns)

    December 30, 2011 12:14 pm

    The 4S encompasses everything about Apple's design ethos: stick with a beautiful class-leading design for a couple of years, whilst vastly improving the specs with each iteration. Siri came out of the blue, and for a beta product, it's outstanding in its functionailty/usefulness. Sure, it'll need some improvements and increased partner integration, but it's the best on the market by far.

    The glass/aluminium build is as per the 4 with antenna refinements (eradicating the so-called "antennagate" issue), so you know it's a solid build (unlike many of the plastic Android phones flooding the market). Reception is improved on last year's model. The display is still the best available (hard to beat its retina, backlit IPS panels), and the battery life for most, is an improvement on the already-impressive iPhone 4's battery life (unlike all the LTE phones which last a few hours on a single charge).

    The speed is massively increased over last year's model, using a slightly lower-clocked A5 chip than the iPad 2, and coupled with the dual-core GPU, it runs circles around the competition (think: slow Galaxy Nexus with its laggy OS). This is shown in apps like Garageband and Infinity Blade 2 (absolutely gorgeous and fun game, if you haven't yet tried it, at only $6.49). The capacity max now sits at a lofty 64GB, which is wonderful for those of us who like to keep lots of large apps (e.g. games) and music on our phones, without worry about micro-managing space or carrying spare microSD cards (if your Android phone supports this...).

    iOS5 carries huge, new features/improvements (e.g. notifications). iCloud is a free and powerful service that's extremely useful to owners, seamlessly integrating into your Mac devices. As a side note, this phone is also a "world" phone, meaning it supports nearly every single 3G band available, unlike some phones still running separate GSM+CDMA models...Lastly, the camera— best on the market. This camera is astoundingly good. The videos are superb, and the photos are simply breath-taking when you remember it's a phone camera (no other phone camera I've seen on the market comes close). It's incredibly quick to snap photos too, and the image stabiliser coupled with the filters makes for great shots.

    Overall, the 4S is more than just the 4 with a few upgrades. It's a massive upgrade. The build quality, the battery life, the display, the camera, the sleek OS with its iCloud and best quality apps around make this the phone to benchmark. How a Galaxy Nexus with far inferior specs and build quality, battery life, average display and camera scores the same by Josh T is a mystery. The 4S is still the best phone on the market, bar none.

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 10
    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 10
    • Software 10
    • Battery life 10
    • Ecosystem 10
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