Review: iPhone 4S/ iOS 5 Update

October 26, 2011

As Steve Jobs’ recent passing caused a world wide sorrow, he leaves his legacy with the release of the new iPhone 4S with iOS 5. With more than 200 new features, the phone and its new operating system came back with more bang for your buck. Although it seems unbelievable to have 200 plus new features, only a few are greatly recognized.

1. iCloud: The hassle of syncing your iPhone, waiting hours for the new update to complete, has now come to an end with the new, wireless, hands-free syncing. Buying an app on iTunes, taking a picture on one iDevice and starting a projcet on another, gets sent and transfered to all other iDevices owned by the user.

“I think iCloud is an innovative, new idea and concept. It’s much more convenient than having to go to a computer to sync all the Apple products on,” junior Sean Henderson said.

2. Siri: With Siri’s ability to comprehend and respond to commands or statements, she has become one of the big hits with the iPhone 4S. Siri allows you to send text messages, set reminders, find a local restaurant, place calls and more.

“Besides the fact that she’s hilarious, I can do voice activated texts to my husband. I like how I can set reminders with her,” English teacher Stephanie Shackelford said.

3. iMessage: The dream of having free, unlimited messaging on iPods and iPads is now fulfilled with iMessage. You can also keep up the same conversation on different iDevices.

“I have an iPad as well, so I can keep one on the charger while carrying on the conversation on another. You can see ellipses at the bottom so you know when they’re messaging back and you can see when the message delivered,” junior Wyatt Zalatoris said.

4. Reminders: Leaving reminders in your notes is no longer necessary. You can get notifications without going to your calendar and setting up an alert.

“Whenever I’m driving and I remember I have homework but I don’t want it do it, I’ll talk to my iPhone to set a reminder to do it at eight and do it then,” senior Cole McNiel said.

5. Notification Center: You now have the option to receive notifications while staying on the same screen rather than the old options of pop-ups or no notification at all. The banner allows apps that are in current use to avoid disruption. The Notification Center can be found by swiping down your finger from the top of the screen where you can see the weather, social website updates, messages, reminders and more.

“I like that if you’re doing something on Facebook or something, if a text message pops up, you can just pull it down and don’t have to exit out of anything,” junior Andie Alford said.

6. Better camera: This camera has an 8 megapixel with a 2.4 aperture. It can also edit photos and detect faces when taking pictures.

“The camera is amazing. I have a Nikon D70 and it’s right up there next to when it comes to quality. It’s the best picture camera,” junior Preston Knight said.