Apple iPhone 4S Review

iPhone: Need, Luxury or Show-off???

My Ratings: 3/5

Many of you know that I am a gadget freak and love to possess one and all. I have written reviews of many mobiles but this one is special as it is the costliest mobile I had ever possessed. I was (still am) proud owner of Nokia N8 but many Apple lovers had asked me to try iPhone so it became a desire for me. Finally I decided to fulfill this desire of mine and purchases Apple iPhone 4S. As you all know that earlier days of acquiring anything are the most exploring days so I am sharing my views on this costliest mobile. I am not mentioning specifications or performances of this mobile (you can read that on many places), I am just discussing my own personal views.

Limitations

No user profiles- Choosing a profile as per your situation are a basic function of any mobile. Everyone used to have lot many combinations of ringtones, volumes, vibrations etc. but iPhone doesn’t give you the liberty for all that. There is only two options- Loud & Silent.

Activation of iPhone- Once you purchase this phone, it needs to be activated by Apple servers and you cannot use this phone without activating it. For activation, you compulsorily require internet connection- wired or wireless.

No mass storage mode- You cannot use this phone as an external storage like other phones. If you connect it to computer, you can only access the photos stored in the device.

Limited Bluetooth functionality- Bluetooth cannot be used for transferring files.

ITunes dependency- iTunes is required for transferring songs, videos etc.

No micro SD card slot- It comes with an internal storage and that cannot be further extended as there is no micro SD card slot.

Micro-SIM card support- Micro-SIM cards are still not very common in our market so you have to cut your normal SIM by SIM cutter. The cut SIM may not work properly in iPhone and in that case you have to ask your service provider to arrange one micro-SIM.

No FM radio- It may not be a major limitations but still one expects this basic feature when investing 40k in a phone. There are many radio apps available but will only work with mobile data or Wi-Fi. 

Pros

1. Apple has the largest app store where you can get varieties of applications. Few of the apps are really very useful in daily life.

2. Retina display is far better than AMOLED. Reading on iPhone is a pleasure to eyes.

3. The camera is very fast and clicks without much hassles.

4. Best build quality and feels premium by looks and feel.

5. Very simple and user friendly operating system with no hidden menus under menus.

6. Useful iMesaging feature that can be used to freely exchange messages between all iOS supported devices over Wi-Fi & 3G.

7. Reader option is provided in the Safari browser that will give you a clean view of the article you are reading - only text and the related pictures. There are no ads and navigation controls. This option depends on the compatibility of the webpages with the integrated reader; there are still many pages that cannot be used with Reader.

8. The touch is very smooth and the performance is blazing fast.

9. There is no categorization of memory and whole space is available for apps downloading as well as music or videos.

Cons

1. You have limited options for everything.

2. There is no option for changing camera resolution.

3. Despite solid build it feels very delicate, may be because of the glass back.  

4. Apple video chat feature- Facetime works only over Wi-Fi.

5. Limited sound quality because of the small microphones at the bottom. You may even miss a call if it is in bottom-down position in your jeans pocket.

6. Applications keep running in background, killing battery. There is no option of quitting in any app and these are to be closed specifically following a certain procedure. 

7. Limited multimedia playback options as Apple can’t play many popular formats.

8. Unimpressive phonebook with no speed dialing option.

9. Very basic photo editor with limited option of cropping, rotation and red-eye removal. You have to download various apps for more editing.

My Views

I was willing to own this phone since the time it was launched but was unable to do so because of the rocket high prices. Anyhow I fulfilled this dream of mine recently. I was using Nokia N8 before this phone so the comparison is natural. If I decide upon performance, N8 was very slow with sluggish and rather confusing operating system but it can be customized as per my need and requirements. Apple lags far behind in this field as you have to compromise with the limited customizing options.

I am using iPhone for last one month and frankly speaking I haven’t felt any ‘wow’ factor till date. The phone is good may be great but I was expecting much more.  I am mentioning few of my personal views about this phone.

1. The design and look is very premium and classy but I can’t forget my Nokia N8 that has got unique looks and pure aluminum body.

2. I have read and heard so much about Safari browser but it was great let down for me. It may be better than many browsers in the market but it is definitely not the best.

3. The best thing I liked about iPhone is its keypad. It is pleasure to type using its keypad and I have never felt this ease in any other phone. The keys are placed very nicely with sufficient space between each other. The keypad keeps changing automatically as per the requirement (works with default apps).

4. There is no need to choose the destination while downloading any application. Downloading an app from app store is very smooth and hassle free.

5. I very much miss the ‘exit’ or ‘quit’ option in every application. Even if I have closed the application, the fear is always there that it might be running in the background.

6. The battery performance is very poor and it hardly works for a day. It may be because my Wi-Fi is always on but still I was expecting it a little better than Androids.

7. I love 12MP camera of my previous phone but still the 8MP camera of this phone doesn’t let me down. The image quality is very superior and sharing images is quite simple. It even gives me compressing options while emailing a pic.

8. Useless SIRI feature- The SIRI may be the USP of this iPhone but I didn’t find any utility till date. Why do I waste my time asking him to do things that I can easily do with few clicks. Personally I feel that my hands can perform much better than my mouthJ.

9. Poor signal reception- This is the worst thing I have noticed in my iPhone. When all the phones are showing full signals, iPhone is always one or two bars down.

Final words

If you are Apple fan, you will purchase no matter what critics or reviewers say. (For those who are not Apple fans) if you want to purchase a phone with full functionalities, there are many other phones available in market at much lesser price.

It is one of the best mobile phone in the market and it does perform well but you have to decide that whether investing Rs.40000 plus on a mobile phone are worthy or not.

I am unable to decide that I have become an Apple fan or not but I would love to purchase iPhone 5 on its release.

May be this is the charisma of iPhone that I can be critic and lover of it at the same time.

May be you need to own it to judge it better.

May be you would love to own it as this is the only show-off mobile available in this universe.

May be you would advise others not to buy it but you can’t resist yourself.

Wrote about my iPhone

(This is in line with the most famous show-off signature ‘Sent from my iPhone’)