Two iPhones go up in flames in Brazil and Australia

Apple’s iPhone could be a possible fire hazard. In the last weeks there have been two incidents, one in Australia and another in Brazil where the iPhone 4 combusted.Mashable reported the incident in Brazil where a device plugged in for overnight charging allegedly began emitting smoke and sparks less than a foot from its sleeping owner’s face. The earlier incident was reported from Australia where the device began spontaneously began smoking last week in flight and then “self combusted’.

Regional Australian airline Regional Express described the “mobile phone self combustion” in a statement, saying an iPhone belonging to a passenger started glowing red and expelling a “significant amount of dense smoke” after a flight from Lismore, Australia, landed in Sydney on Friday.

Apple's iPhone could be a possible fire hazard. Getty Images

A photo accompanying the statement showed the shattered, warped back of a recent-model black iPhone.

The airline says a flight attendant extinguished the glow and nobody on the plane was hurt. Regional Express reported the incident to authorities in Australia. Apple says it will cooperate with any investigation.

With inputs from AP

iPhone 4S, the most expensive in India; why so?

The new iPhone 4S is creating a nationwide buzz with the telecom operators Airtel and Aircel opening the device for pre-booking in India. The pricing of the new iPhone 4S has certainly taken the Apple fans in India by surprise. The 16GB variant, which is the lowest model of the iPhone 4S, has been priced at whopping Rs. 44,500, while the 32GB model is available for Rs. 50,900. Currently, the 64GB model has been listed as the ‘sold out’ at the Aircel website.

With price hovering around Rs. 45k, the iPhone 4S could be the priciest iPhone launched ever in India. Considering the pricing of the iPhone 4S in other nations, it could be the costliest iPhone 4S in the world right now. The official carriers of the iPhone 4S in India, Airtel and Aircel, have also not given any respite to the iPhone enthusiasts. None of them has yet announced any bundled offers with the new iPhone 4S.

It's notable that the iPhone 4S was launched at the same price as the iPhone 4 in the U.S. And this time Apple had been the quickest to bring its device to the Indian market, which is approximately a month. With India already bearing the brunt of price rise, it’s unlikely that people will shell out more than Rs. 40k for this device.

It’s learnt that the iPhone 4S is available at much lower price tags in other countries and even you can get a factory unlocked iPhone 4S for Rs. 43,100.

Shopyourworld.com is offering factory unlocked 16GB iPhone 4S for Rs. 43,100

Meanwhile, check out a comparison between iPhone 4S’ India price and global price:

Region	Price in USD	Price in Rs.
India	$868	Rs. 44,500
Hong Kong	$655	Rs. 33,559
Canada	$627	Rs. 32,124
Singapore	$685	Rs. 35,096
UK	$ 775	Rs. 39,707
US	$649	Rs. 33,251

*except India, the prices for other regions are of factory unlocked iPhone 4S
*prices are exclusive of taxes

It’s quite surprising to see Apple keeping the price of the iPhone 4S highest in India. The iPhone 4S is certainly a top-end smartphone with various new and improved features. But are you willing to pay Rs. 45k for a locked iPhone 4S, especially when you have other options to get it at lower price?

VIA-thinkdigit

Aakash Tablet’s Commercial Version Gets 3 Lakh Pre-Orders.

Aakash tablet – World’s cheapest tablet in the world costing about Rs 3,000, has received about 3 lakh pre-launch bookings for its commercial version that goes on sale later next month. A subsidised version of the much hyped cheapest tablet in the world from India made by UK-based Datawind, is already being distributed free in schools and colleges. Aakash’s retail bookings exceed India’s estimated 250,000 tablet PC market, dominated by Apple, Samsung and Reliance.

Datawind has supplied about 10,000 tablets to the government’s National Mission for Education at a price of Rs 2,250. The devices are being used by students from colleges such as the IITs, RECs, BITS Pilani, Teri University and others.

Aakash, in its next version, will be upgraded with a capacitive touch screen and a processor with double the speed. Datawind plans to supply an attachable Rs 400 keyboard, turning the device into PC-lookalike at Rs 3,400. The government is also considering a proposal to procure the next lot, called Aakash 2, with a faster 700 MHz processor, albeit at the same price. Tuli says there have been invitations from other nations for their digital inclusion programs, seeing India’s success.

Pre-Book / Order Aakash Tablet

Apple reports 1 million pre-orders in 24 hours

Apple had announced the iPhone 4S last Tuesday at a media event in Cupertino. Quite a few people were disappointed, since Apple took a year and three months to announce the newest iPhone and that it did not feature a design overhaul. Many analysts had estimated that due to this fact the flagship handset from Apple would not meet sales expectations. Apple started the pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on Friday and the company have announced that its pre-orders for the smartphone have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4.

One million Apple iPhone 4S pre-ordered

Speaking about this, Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing said, “We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S. The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”

Here’s a quick look at the features of the iPhone 4S:

• iOS 5 running on an Apple A5 chipset
• Dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU and PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU
• 3.5-inch Retina Display
• GSM and CDMA networks
• HSDPA of up to 14.4 Mbps
• 8MP AF rear camera with LED flash
• 1080p video recording with Image Stabilization and Temporal noise reduction
• Airplay mirroring
• Internal memory - 16GB, 32GB and 64GB
• Siri – Intelligent assistant activated through voice command

For more information on the Apple iPhone 4S, click here.

iPhone 4S Has 33% Less Standby Time Than Previous iPhones !!

Despite Apple's claims that the iPhone 4S has better battery life than its predecessors, it has roughly 33% less standby time than the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

This means that when you're not using your iPhone 4S, you're draining battery a whole lot quicker than with previous iPhone models.

The data comes straight from Apple's iPhone comparison site, which says that the iPhone 4S has 200 hours of standby time, while the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS have 300 hours of standby time.

Battery life is one of those things you don’t notice until you don’t have it anymore. But you can always follow Official Apple’s iPhone battery power saving tips.

myPhone: First Generation

What the ideal phone would look like if money and physics were no object.

I like the iPhone's interface, Android's raw power, and Nokia's design. In recent developments, the iPhone hasreceived a dual-core CPU, MeeGo looks beautiful, Ice Cream Sandwich has been unwrapped, and Nokia's WP devicesare around the corner. Sadly, we can't have all this in a single package.
However, I've got a solution, and after weeks of sleepless nights, I've finally designed a cutting-edge smartphone. I'm posting the blueprint here - let me know if I've missed out on any feature. Companies wanting to manufacture handsets based on my design will only be charged Rs 999 per handset. I'll take care of the patents, trust me.

-says techtree


Here's a view of there "hard work".Like it !

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich..

Google has officially announced version Android 4.0 alias the Ice Cream Sandwich. It's packed full of new features and has a new look, and unifies the Android experience between tablets and smartphones.

The burning question for every Android smartphone owner is — Will their Android 2.3.x Gingerbread running smartphone support the new Ice Cream Sandwich? Google stated that theoretically any smartphone running Gingerbread should ideally run Ice Cream Sandwich. However, thorough testing will reveal the limitations, if any.

Wondering which devices will get the ICS update and when? We have some of the probable answers here.
• Google has said that technically all devices running Android 2.3 or higher are eligible for getting the ICS update.
• Samsung has stated that Samsung Nexus S will be the first device to receive the ICS update by November end. We have covered the specs in the next photo in the album.
• Samsung also says that the Samsung Galaxy S II will be the next in line to receive the ICS update. We can only pray that Samsung will be kind enough to include the Galaxy S in the list of devices eligible for ICS update.
• Sony Ericsson 2011′s Xperia Line, namely the Xperia Arc and Xperia Ray will recevie the ICS update, but there is no fixed timeline for the same. The company says all eligible devices will be first updated to Android 2.3.4, only after that they will be getting the ICS update.





Like specified earlier Samsung Nexus S will be the first Smartphone to run the search giant's updated Android 4.0 OS, known as Ice Cream Sandwich and boasts a 1.2GHz dual-core processor.

In addition, the device has a large, 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD display and a near-field communication chip to deliver support Google's mobile-payment service, Wallet.







Here are the specifications of the Galaxy Nexus,
• Operating System: Android 4.0.1 - Ice Cream Sandwich;
• Display: 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED Screen with 1280 x 720 resolution;
• Processor: 1.2GHz dual-core processor;
• Camera: Rear: 5-megapixel, Front: 1.3-megapixel for video call;
• Camera Features: Re-designed Camera UI, 1080p video recording @ 30 FPS, panaroma mode, zero-shutter lag and silly faces;
• Buttons: On-Screen Software Navigation buttons, only hardware buttons are volume rocker and the power button;
• Face Unlock: Facial recognition to unlock your phone;
• Android Beam: Uses NFC to easily share content with other Android users;
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro, Light, Proximity, Barometer;
• Memory: RAM: 1GB; Storage: 16/32GB; NO EXPANDABLE MEMORY USING SD-CARD;
• Connectivity: LTE, HSPA+ connectivity, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n;
• Battery: 1750 mAh Li-Ion;
• Dimensions(l x b x h): 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94;
• Weight: 135g
VIA- Tech, Style & Gizmos's

Apple iPhone 4S (Sprint) – [Review]

The Apple iPhone 4S for Sprint makes it easy to call, take photos, surf the Web and play games - the tasks that most people want to accomplish with their smartphones.

Pros

• Excellent Web speeds
• Terrific camera
• Solid call quality
• Siri is intriguing
• Lots of apps

Cons

• No 4G
• Poor social-networking integration
• On-screen keyboard is quite small.

 

 

 

What do you do with your phone? If you're like most Americans, you make some calls, take some photos, and send some texts. Maybe you kill time with some games, check Facebook or Twitter, and look things up on the Web. If that's you, then the iPhone 4S ($199-$399 with contract on Sprint) is your phone: it's the best cameraphone in the U.S., the fastest Web-browsing phone and one that has finally licked the iPhone's calling problems. That makes it our current Editors' Choice on Sprint.

Physical Features and Call Quality
The phone comes in six models: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, in black or white. The 16GB model starts at $199 with contract ($649 without), and each additional storage option bumps the price up by $100.

The iPhone 4S looks almost exactly like an iPhone 4 ($99, 4.5 stars). The only way to tell them apart is in the fine print on the back. Sprint's new phone is model A1349. It's still a work of art, an improbable black (or white) glass slab with a metal band around it, cool and hard in the hand. Other phone-makers imitate, but none of them have pared their phones down to this pure industrial solidity. 

Of course, with the 4's body come some of its flaws. The glass front and back are prone to cracking if dropped frequently; I've seen more cracked iPhones than any other variety of device. And while Apple considers the 3.5-inch Retina Display perfect (and it's gorgeous), I personally find the virtual keyboard too small to easily type on when it's in portrait layout.

Apple has killed the "death grip," at least on the Sprint model. The phone switches between its top and bottom antennas depending on which one is receiving better signal, which means it'll ignore whichever one you're covering with your hands. I was able to get data speeds to drop by gripping the phone from both ends in a bizarre two-handed clench, but really, nobody uses a phone that way.

Call quality on Sprint's network through the phone's earpiece was excellent in my tests. The earpiece goes loud, there's a touch of side tone, and I didn't hear any distortion at high volumes. Transmissions through the mic were sadly rather tinny, but they were perfectly loud and the mic blocked background noise very well. The speakerphone is fine for indoor use, but not loud enough to use outdoors; transmissions through the speakerphone were very clear. RF reception was on par with theMotorola Photon ($199, 4.5 stars) and other top Sprint phones. 

The iPhone 4S paired easily with an Aliph Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars), and I found that by pressing the button on the headset, I could issue an unusually wide range of voice commands (See "Siri" on the next page.) The Bluetooth headset also worked for music.

Sprint's iPhone is a world phone which roams internationally for insanely high rates you can find atwww.sprint.com/international. There's a SIM card in it which "existing customers in good standing" can request to be unlocked, so they can replace it with a less-expensive alternative overseas. Sprint's phone will not work on Verizon's or AT&T's networks here, though. 

I haven't been able to test the battery yet, but battery life has never been the iPhone's problem, at least in relation to other top-of-the-line smartphones.

 Internet and Web Browsing
The iPhone 4S is strictly a 3G phone. No 4G here. And I'm worried about the Sprint network's ability to handle the strain. On launch day, all of my Sprint phones were crawling along at a pathetic 300-500kbps, with some data sessions taking several seconds to connect. Once I was connected, I was connected—I didn't drop calls or data sessions—but it was like I was waiting in line to get on the Internet. Sprint, for its part, says it didn't see any problems in New York City that day. And we've seen slow speeds on Sprint before. Our annual Fastest Mobile Networks tests rated Sprint's 3G network as reliable, but slower than AT&T's or Verizon's.

But pour some data into this baby, and wow, it'll go. As long as Adobe Flash isn't a key part of your life, the iPhone 4S is the fastest Web phone ever. It benchmarks faster than any Android Gingerbread phone and faster than any Windows Phone. Side by side against the Motorola Photon on the same Wi-Fi network, the iPhone 4S consistently loaded pages a few seconds faster. The new version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, may even the score, but we haven't seen or tested any ICS phones yet.

The great browsing speed comes in part from the new iOS 5, which we found made browsing much faster on all iPhones. It also comes in part from the new dual-core A5 processor, the same one used in the iPad 2. There aren't a lot of third-party apps that take advantage of the dual-core processor and new GPU yet, but it's key to some of the phone's best experiences, such as the 1080p camera, AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV devices, and the browser.

And remember that on Sprint, unlike every other iPhone carrier, you get truly unlimited cellular data right now. That's a good deal for heavy users, even if the data connection is slower than on other carriers.

There's one exception to the unlimited data policy: tethering. While the phone supports tethering and hotspot mode, you need to pay $30 extra a month for them, and you only get 5GB of data to use on your laptop or other device.

iOS 5 and Siri
iOS 5 is huge. It deserves its own review, and it has one: yes, it's 4.5 stars and Editor's Choice. As with so much else about the iPhone 4S, the theme with iOS 5 is that it makes things better and faster without changing iOS's controlling paradigms. Almost every app has been improved somewhat, not to mention integrated with iCloud. But you're still jumping between strictly sandboxed apps that don't share information well. I've always been annoyed at how iOS can't integrate Facebook calendars or contacts into its address book and calendar apps, for instance.

Siri is unique to the iPhone 4S, though; you can't get it with iOS 5 on other devices. On the surface, Siri appears to be a voice-command app. Hold down the home button and ask it a question, tell it to look up a number, make a note or search for a business. Siri is also supposed to work using the phone's proximity sensor by just raising the phone up to your head, but I found that failed at least a quarter of the time. Siri works really well with a Bluetooth headset, although you often have to look at the screen to see results.

But here's the real story with Siri: it's not an app, it's a service. The intelligence is on the server side, and it will improve. No actual processing is done on your phone. That means Siri doesn't work when you're offline, but it also means it can be continually upgraded, minute by minute, without touching your individual device.

For instance, Siri can calculate tips, but doesn't understand the phrasing "split X ways." If it gets enough failed queries with that phrasing, Apple's Siri team will add it to the vocabulary.

I am concerned about one thing, and that's the famous "egg freckles" problem. I'm a pretty clear speaker. I appear on TV and on the radio all the time. But several times, Siri misunderstood what I was saying. It took "a hundred and twenty five dollars" for "eight hundred and twenty five dollars." And it failed with my own name, my sister's name, my mother's name, and the band "Matt & Kim" (as it doesn't recognize the ampersand as being the word 'and'.) I could get it to recognize my name by pronouncing it as "saaaas-cha" rather than "sah-shuh," but that's just not how my name is pronounced! Since Siri is a service rather than an app, though, I expect that will improve.

I might as well also mention that Apple has the best app store in the business, with hundreds of thousands of high-quality, easily searchable apps for every desire. The wealth of commercial GPS apps, for instance, more than make up for the lack of free voice navigation on the phone, and there are more great games for this platform than for any other mobile OS.

I played Need for Speed Underground on this phone, and it was easy to control thanks to the high graphics frame rates afforded by the new GPU. I also played Galaxy on Fire 2 HD, one of very few games optimized for the A5 processor. It pushes a tremendous number of pixels, very smoothly. It's safe to say the A5 with the iPhone 4S's screen will enable Retina gaming, where game graphics are almost too detailed and realistic for the eye to perceive.

Camera
Apple addresses the two biggest problems with camera phones: speed and dynamic range. The camera has a larger sensor, a larger five-element lens, and a larger f/2.4 aperture than the iPhone 4, along with a backside illuminated sensor and an IR filter to improve colors. The camera app loads in under two seconds, and it takes most photos instantly. I only occasionally ran into about half a second of autofocus delay. 

Outdoor shots are better than bright; they're uniquely well-balanced. On most cameraphones, a bright background—a bright sky, for instance—is either blown out, or renders the entire foreground dark. Not here. The iPhone 4S has enough dynamic range to capture outdoor shots as attractively as a pocket digital camera. In extreme situations, you can also kick in the HDR mode, but I didn't find it necessary. The 4S is sharper than any cameraphone in the US, with 2000 lines of resolution on our chart. (The other best cameraphones, the Samsung Galaxy S II ($229.99, 4.5 stars) and HTC Amaze 4G ($259.99, 4 stars), both capture around 1800 lines.)

Low-light performance was also very good. Images appeared brighter than on competing cameras, though they weren't entirely immune to low-light blur. The iPhone has a standard LED flash, as well.

The video camera takes 1080p video at roughly 30 frames per second, indoors and out. It has image stabilization which works very well outdoors, but was shakier in my low-light video. There's a VGA camera on the front which takes sometimes-noisy photos, but can handle low light well. It's obviously for quick social-networking self shots and FaceTime chatting.

The camera has no options, though. Most importantly, there's no way to take photos or record videos at reduced resolution to save space. This can be a real issue with the 1080p video, which clocks in at about 180MB per minute. Most people don't need that resolution; my MacBook Pro's screen isn't big enough for it!

Conclusions
The iPhone 4S makes simple tasks easy and does them very well. It takes excellent photos quickly. It connects clear calls. It plays great games. It displays Web pages well. And it has Siri, an intriguing voice-command system that, like Motorola's Webtop technology, is clearly just at the very beginning of a long and interesting life.

Sprint also has very good Android-powered phones, the Motorola Photon and the Samsung Epic 4G Touch ($149.99, 4 stars). They offer things the iPhone doesn't: bigger screens for easier typing, an uncrowded (if not terribly far-reaching) 4G network, free voice-enabled GPS navigation, and Facebook contact and calendar integration. But the Android Market is more of a chaotic bazaar than Apple's store, and Android's user interface is more of a mishmash than Apple's highly policed rows of apps.

There isn't a clear winner here, and there doesn't have to be. Sprint has 50 million subscribers. I suspect with the iPhone, it will soon have many more. It has room for a great simple, petite smartphone, and for great smartphones with bigger screens and lots of options. The iPhone 4S brings most people what they want, very elegantly. For that, it's worthy of our Editors' Choice.

And what of the devoted iPhone owner looking to upgrade or switch carriers? We intend to review all of the new iPhone's carrier models, so keep an eye out for that. Sprint offers unlimited data at lower prices, but potentially slower speeds than Verizon and AT&T do. The iPhone 4S is a no-brainer upgrade from the 3GS. For iPhone 4 owners, I think it really comes down to how much you need the improved camera.

Copyright © 2010 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.

 

Source:Apple iPhone 4S (Sprint)

Nokia Outs 603

Nokia has announced a new addition to its Symbian Belle lineup, the Nokia 603. The main highlights of this device are a 3.5" ClearBlack display and 1 GHz CPU.

The screen supports pixel dimensions of 360x640 and has a brightness level of 1000 nits (as bright as the Nokia 701). Its 5 MP fixed-focus camera is capable of recording 720p video. Other specs include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 3.5 mm jack, 32 GB microSD card support, and NFC connectivity.

The Nokia 603 will cost 200 euros (approx Rs 14,000) plus taxes. The device will be available in black or white, with six coloured back covers to choose from. The company has also launched an NFC-capable Luna Bluetooth Headset along with the device, and is expected to retail at 70 euros (approx Rs 4900) plus taxes.

via-techtree

Apple sets new record with 1 Million iPhone 4S preorders on first day !!

Apple on Monday announced that its new iPhone 4S sold 1 million preorders in its first 24 hours of availability, setting a new record for the company.

"We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The first day preorders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do."

The million sales surpass the previous single-day preorder record of 600,000 set by the iPhone 4 when it launched in 2010. Total sales on the launch day of the iPhone 4 reached 1.7 million, which tied the sales record previously set by the iPhone 3GS.

The first indication that the iPhone 4S would break records came on Friday, when AT&T announced that preorders had topped 200,000 in the first 12 hours of availability. That number was the highest sum ever for any handset sold by the company, which is the second-largest carrier in the U.S.

The iPhone 4S is available in either black or white for $199 for the 16GB model, and $299 for the 32GB model, and $399 for the new 64GB model in the U.S. In addition to America, it will be available in Canada, Australia, the U.K., France, Germany and Japan this Friday, making it the fastest iPhone roll-out Apple has ever had.

Availability of the iPhone 4S will expand worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

iPhone Owners [PIC]

iPad History

What Makes Aakash Tablet Cheapest ?

Making comparison is a better way to enhance the compatibility of the product. So far a tablet named LACS magnum pepper was gaining the credit of world’s cheapest tablet which has now been proved wrong by the Aakash.

The following specifications make the testimonies:

After launching the world’s cheapest car “Nano” by the Tata group, India has again proved itself by launching the world’s cheapest tablet “Aakash” to provide a path to the Indian masses on information highway. This is the single cheapest computer ever made in the history of technology which India will proud to have the credit.
via-tecnica

Journey from iPhone to iPhone 4s !!

This article is a tribute to a legendary iconic innovator who changed our life forever with some of the flawless and futuristic gadgets produced by the company whose foundation was laid by him.

You will remain in our heart forever.
Steve jobs 1955-2011 

The world this October became a witness of the new generation of the gadget which was secretly developed by apple Inc. and launched in US back in 2007 and turned out to be a game changer in the market of mobile phones the iPhone 4S.

Journey from iPhone to iPhone 4s 

In 2007 Apple showed the world what you can do with your phone apart from making calls and sending messages with the launch of iPhone. The gadget completely changed the market of cell phones and a term was devised called smartphone. Phones actually made the life of people simpler. 

Criticism: The phone was criticized for its connectivity problems. 

In 2008 came the next generation of iPhone, iPhone 3G. It was a huge step and definitely better than its predecessor. 

Criticism: Still the critics didn’t shut their mouth and argued over the camera and other abilities of the phone. 

In 2009 With the launch of iPhone 3GS and strong app store, apple dominated the mobile phone market.
Competition: Google came with a big boost of android mobile operating system. The center of gravity started to shift, but apple never lost the battle.

In 2010 launched its newer version the iphone4 which was absolutely complimenting the reputation of apple. 

Competition: Major rivals like Samsung which gradually grabbed a large share of market turned out to be having a trump card called Samsung galaxy series super smart phones which not only matched the hardware and software capabilities of the iconic phone, but even conquered over iPhone in some areas. 

In 2011 To stand up with the status and the benchmark what apple built a few years ago, apple finally came with a new wine in old bottle iPhone 4S.

via-tecnica

Apple is still at top, more than 2 lakh iPhone 4S’ sold in the first 12 hours

AT&T sold more than 200,000 of Apple Inc’s latest iPhone in the first 12 hours and said it had seen “extraordinary demand” for a gadget unveiled a day before the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The iPhone 4S was unveiled on Tuesday and immediately underwhelmed fans who had hoped for a revolutionary design after a wait of more than 15 months.

But Wall Street analysts are betting that hardware updates and software enhancements, including a well-reviewed voice-recognition software system, will pull in buyers.

T&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint began taking US online orders for the device on Friday. Reuters

AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint began taking US online orders for the device on Friday.

Comparisons are difficult because the iPhone is now carried by three wireless operators, versus just one. Last year AT&T was the only carrier to sell the phone. But the previous generation of the smartphone, the iPhone 4, was the fastest-selling mobile in Apple’s history, with 1.7 million devices selling in the first three days.

Estimates vary, but some analysts expect Apple to sell about 27 million to 28 million iPhones in the October-December quarter.

The latest iPhone 4S hits store shelves around the world on October 14. It debuts at a critical juncture for Apple.

Phones based on Google Inc’s Android — such as Samsung’s Galaxy — are providing heightened competition just as a new CEO, Tim Cook, takes the reins.

Jobs, who died on Wednesday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, ceded the top job to Cook in August. Some analysts say people seeking to commemorate the legacy of Apple’s iconic co-founder may scoop up the very last iPhone to be unveiled in his lifetime, giving sales a bump.

Apple was not immediately available for comment. Sprint iPhone sales were not mentioned during an unrelated news conference by Spring on Friday.

Shares in Apple were holding steady at $370 in after-hours trade.

Reuters

iPhone 4S Launch Analysis

Let's face it, the new iPhone didn't get an overwhelming response. Even loyal fans are haunted by the question "Should I get the iPhone 4S or wait for the iPhone 5?". I can't give a verdict without trying out the device, but I can definitely help you make a decision by bringing the facts to the table.

Apple's new CEO Tim Cook unveiled the iPhone 4S, sharing the stage with other executives such as Scott Forstall, Eddy Cue, and Phil Schiller. The phone has received a serious hardware upgrade, which will definitely help it compete with most droids. Apple has played the catch-up game really well by adding a dual-core CPU and an 8 MP camera. Although many tech enthusiasts have appreciated this move, the company's fans seem to be disappointed. According to them, Apple followed the industry trend rather than leading it.

Moreover, the decision to keep the body design untouched hasn't pleased many potential buyers. To put it simply, I'll quote the words of one of the biggest Apple fanboys in India, Kuki Kureja: "Bhai, aur paise phoonk ke same dikhne wala iphone kharidke kya fayda? Dual-core jaaye bhhaad me, mujhe toh phone show off ke liye chahiye!" He has a point there: since he already owns an iPhone 4, the idea of buying a similar-looking device doesn't sound appealing.

Being the most-desired brand is a great thing, but then people expect you to deliver outstanding stuff at regular intervals. Additionally, Apple's strategy of being super-secretive about the new product has backfired to an extent. The lack of info about the company's next big thing fuelled the rumour mills. Blogs were filled with "info" on the so-called iPhone 5. This included everything from a bezel-less 3D display to an N9-like monoblock chassis. This set the expectations sky-high. Let's list out the most popular rumours and how they stack up against reality:


Dual-Core CPU
A lot of people were betting on a dual-core chip to power the next iPhone. Fortunately, the company managed to fit the dual-core A5 into the device. According to Apple, this new chip is twice as fast as the one found in the original iPhone 4. Knowing how well iOS is optimised, it will fly on the new hardware.


Bigger Screen
It was sensible to speculate about a bigger screen, as Samsung had received acclaim for its 4.3" Super AMOLED Plusdisplay. To counter the Korean giant, at least a 4" screen would have definitely helped. Sadly, Apple "thought differently". Failing to provide a bigger screen turned out to be the biggest downer for the fans.

The expected upgrade.

Stereoscopic display
Don't tell me you were dumb enough to believe this rumour.


8 MP camera
For high-end droids, 8 MP has now become a norm. The Galaxy S II and Sensation impressed enthusiasts with their 1080p video recording. Little wonder then that the iPhone received the much-needed camera upgrade. Other bells and whistles such as image stabilization, face detection, and noise reduction also joined the party.


NFC chip
We have seen the Nokia C7 and N9 performing some neat NFC tricks. This includes the ability to easily pair devices, use your phone as a credit card, and so on. Since Apple likes to simplify the things for its users, people were expecting it to embrace this technology. While this didn't materialise, the new iPhone got Bluetooth 4.0 instead.


64 GB storage
Many users were unhappy about the inability of extending the storage capacity of their iPhones. However, it was obvious that the manufacturer wouldn't make room for a microSD card since it would impact sales of its higher capacity versions. A 64 GB version seemed to be the perfect solution, which turned into reality.

There were also less-discussed features that have made it into the new device. This includes a voice-controlled assistant called Siri, support for both GSM and CDMA networks, and a My Friends feature (similar to Google Latitude).

Overall, the iPhone 4S is definitely a great upgrade over its predecessor. It's something you can show to a number-crunching fandroid frenemy. Having said that, I'm afraid the new iPhone might struggle, just because it isn't called the iPhone 5.
VIA_TECHTREE