It has been a whole month since I received my iPhone 4S, a month in which I have experienced more pain and joy than with any other smartphone. It is without doubt the best smartphone I have used to date; the speed, camera, dictation and almost every other feature work seamlessly together to create a tool that serves me well day after day. It is seen as a minimal upgrade from the iPhone 4, and technically it is, but from an overall perspective it is truly wonderful. It is, to me, the pinnacle of smartphone design today.
However, and it is a big however, Apple seems to have problems in multiple areas with this phone. The well-publicised battery problems are no nearer to being resolved. Many people struggle to keep a Wi-Fi connection with others seeing a much lower signal strength. GPS does not work properly for some people and there are many other small niggles that all affecting users in small and large numbers. I have been unfortunate and suffered from almost all of the problems noted above and so have some of you. Others say that everything works perfectly and while I wouldn’t doubt that for one moment, it is strange that only some are seeing these problems. It appears to be a combination of apps, usage and location that causes these problems. However, it is still down to Apple to fix the problems and until they do many iPhone 4S users will continue to be frustrated. They will be frustrated because they can see that this is a quality smartphone, a phone that will do everything they need it to. But they cannot do all of these things because of the software problems.
Despite all of the above frustrations that have come forward, I can’t help but like this fine. It just works. That sounds dull, but should not be underestimated. That’s also sounds like a lie because it doesn’t work for a lot of the time, but what I am trying to say is that for many tasks it is still more reliable than much of the competition. It has been a chequered month to say the least, but I don’t regret the iPhone 4S for one moment. Seriously, there still isn’t a better smartphone available today.