Arabnet Arabnet

The fact that some people are disappointed by the iPhone 4S is by itself disappointing! Three reasons for that: A) It's just a phone, so get with it. B) It's Apple, that's how they roll. C) It's got a set of cool new features! I don't understand what the fuss is about!

And with that out of the way, we can have a little recap of what happened yesterday at Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event:

iOS5

Senior vice president of iOS Software Scott Forstall announced yesterday that iOS5 will be available on the 12th of October. Personally I'm super excited about this and here's why:

• Notifications Center: It's going to be the place where you find all of your notifications, emails, texts, friend requests. Now you can argue that Android had this before, but actually it doesn't really matter! At least it's much better.
• iMessage: This is a straight blow to BlackBerry Messenger, it's simply a generic iOS-only messenger app that allows user to send/receive texts, photos, videos, locations, and contacts over WiFi or 3G. It's got the encryption and the real-time features it needs to beat RIM's BBM.
• Newsstand: If you're a subscriber to WIRED, New Yorker, or any of the other subscription-based magazines available on the iPad then this is definitely for you. It's like iBooks but for magazines.
• Reminders: Haven't tried that one yet, but I think it's going to be awesome! It's a simple to-do lists app with huge connectivity features hidden in its trunk, like location based reminders, syncing to iCal, Outlook, and iCloud, etc...  I think it's really neat!
• Twitter will be integrated natively with the system, you can literally tweet from anywhere!
• Safari: They added this awesome Reader feature which is like Instapaper but across all iOS devices and iCloud! How awesome is that!

iOS5 has some other cool features like PC Free setup (with iCloud), updated Mail, Calendar, and Game Center apps, and of course, the long awaited, WiFi Sync! PLUS: Multitasking Gestures for iPad and AirPlay Mirroring! All that and some people are disappointed! Really! iOS5 is part of yesterday's announcement, and even though it will work on all iPhones (3GS and after), iPod Touches (3rd Generation and after), and iPads, most probably the best use-case for it is going to be on the iPhone 4S.

One last thing i want to mention about the disappointment expressed by some tech reviewers and pundits in the number of new features is that everyone seems to forget that Apple cares so much about quality that they would rather delay the release of some features until they get it right. That has been infinitely clear in all their products so far.

iPhone 4S

The new iPhone 4S is just an improved iPhone 4 (which is totally fine by the way, it's your fault if you were expecting a new flying iPhone with wings that can crack rocks and freeze the wind).

• Dual Core A5 Chip: making the iPhone 4S super fast and capable.
• 8-MP Camera capable of shooting 1080p video, HDR which takes three photos from a single shot, each with a different level of exposure, and then merges them together taking best parts of each one.
• Better reception with a dual-antenna design that will intelligently switch between the two to send and receive data, so no more "death grip" issues.
• Siri, the intelligent assistant: This feature is definitely not for me, I like to tinker and swipe with my iPhone, but it's supposed to be really intelligent. Honestly speaking, Apple's video doesn't give it any justice, it's actually silly. 

iCloud

This is one thing I'm really looking forward to, because it means fewer headaches updating all of your different iOS devices. I will do a more detailed post about this soon, but I'm still trying to figure out the whole thing, so you can stick to this for the time being :)