New iPhone Announced

I've been waiting far too long for this, as I'm sure many of you have. My iPhone 3GS has had a cracked screen since June of 2010. I never bothered upgrading to iPhone 4 because I figured Apple would release a new phone sooner or later. They didn't release it in January of 2011, nor in the summer of 2011. This is been the longest Apple has waited in between iPhone releases. Perhaps they were that determined to deliver us with something truly spectacular, that would rid us of any second thought about switching to an Android device.

Tim Cook, after discussing the revolutionary iPod that escalated portable music listening like no other device, and the success of iPad and iOs5 (where the only thing I'm really excited about at this point is imessenger) finally revealed the new iphone. The new iPhone announcement was by far the most anticipated mobile phone release, or even iPhone release, since the original iPhone itself.

The new iPhone features are:

A5 CPU - Which is apparently two times faster, with better graphics, and longer talking and browsing time. Up to 8 hours of talking time with 3G, 14 hours with 2G. 6 hours of browsing with 3G and 9 hours of browsing with Wi-fi. That's all great but what about 4G?

Networks - Works on both GSM and CDMA. Download speed is also twice as fast apparently.

Camera - So, what are the iPhone 4S camera specs? As expected, the new iPhone 4s boasts an 8MP camera. That's 60% more pixels than the iPhone 4, and it can gather 73% more light. This means the picture will not only be of better quality, but it can be taken faster. The first picture takes 1.1 seconds, whereas the second takes 0.5. Impressive I've got to say, as Tim Cook compared this to the HTC Sensation which takes 2.1 and 1.3 seconds, respectively. To be honest, these camera specs aren't much of a surprise.

Siri - The voice feature and possibly the greatest thing to be unveiled at the conference (according to apple). This let's you talk to your device and it replies with whatever you ask. For example, if you ask what the weather is like today, it'll reply and tell you. I can't say for certain how well this will work since there have been features like this on devices long before with less than mediocre results. If this is Apple's biggest revelation today, then they must have made sure it works damn well. Basically, you can talk to your phone anywhere you might have to type something into it and use it to dictate what you say, and you can also tell your phone what to do.

Storage - Yes, yes the new iPhone 4s WILL have 64gb of storage available. While many people may find this pointless and buy the 16gb regardless, 64gb is a MUST for a lot of other people. Your phone is supposed to be a device that can single-handedly store your entire music collection, pictures, videos, apps, etc... I have around 20gb of music alone, and then there's the apps and OS that take up another around 8gb of space. That left me with 4gb for pictures and videos. I love taking pictures and videos, so this additional 32gb just for that is a godsend. Especially since the pictures and video are all HD and take up so much more space.

The iPhone 4S will be sold in both black and white at the following prices:

• 16GB - $199
• 32GB - $299
• 64GB - $399

As of October 14th, the phone will be available in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan. This is the first time so many countries are included in the launch along with the USA. By the end of the year, Apple hopes to extend the launch to over 70 countries.

My biggest concerns about this (along with the storage expansion) was will iPhone 4S be available in Canada? What color will the the new iPhone 4S be available in? Canada always got a delayed release with iPhones, but thankfully this time around we're included! As for White iPhones, they always got released way after. This time we have the choice between white or black right from the get-go. Thank you Apple.

• Find My Friends - Basically an app that shows you where your contacts are at any given time. I can't really say how useful it is but I'm assuming most people won't have this enabled all the time. Also, isn't there already an app for this, Latitude or whatever?
• New iPod Nano and iPod Touch, but no new iPod shuffle or classic news?
• AirPlay - An app that lets you stream music to your TV, and also allows you to mirror whatever you see on your iPod touch or iPhone screen to your TV. Seems pretty cool.
• iPhone 4S Design - The design is unchanged from the iPhone 4 for the most part. I don't believe that it's any thinner, but I mean come on, they had to fit 64GB of storage in there! Who cares if the design isn't different. It's what's inside that matters! The iPhone 4 was a sexy design regardless.