Apple has announced that the iPhone 4S smartphone will be available in Malta as from tomorrow.
Siri understands context and simple questions by voice. Siri also takes commands for changes in the user’s calendar, appointments, messages and emails
The 4S is the latest version of the iPhone which was launched at the beginning of October, just a few hours before the announcement of the death of Apple’s co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs.
Vodafone Malta, the official Apple communications partner in Malta, has already announced the arrival of the iPhone 4S on its website and confirmed to i-Tech that it will be selling the phone.
Malta’s other two national mobile operators, Go and Melita, are also selling the iPhone and provide data plans for users who wish to access internet over the device, although they are not official Apple mobile communications partners in Malta. The iCentre, Apple’s authorised service provider in Malta, and Klikk, an Apple authorised reseller, also sell the iPhone and the iPad tablet.
Apart from Malta, the iPhone 4S will also be available tomorrow in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea. It will be available in more than 70 countries by the end of the year, the company said.
The iPhone 4S sports a dual-core A5 chip; an all-new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant that users get things done just by asking.
With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the latest version of Apple’s operating system for mobile devices, and iCloud, a set of free cloud services that work with the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store content in iCloud and push it to all Apple devices.
iOS 5 is in-built in the iPhone 4S and can be downloaded and installed for free on older iPhone models such as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. It includes over 200 new features such as the notification centre to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption and iMessage, a new messaging service that lets users easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS 5 users
While many iPhone fans around the world had been expected a revolutionary new iPhone, dubbed the “iPhone 5”, Apple sought to enhance the specs of the phone while retaining the same shape and form-factor, to the dismay of some fans.
This did not keep customers back as more than four million sets were sold in the first three days after it was launched, according to Apple.
The feature in iPhone 4 that really struck people’s imagination is Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps users get things done just by asking. Siri understands context and simple questions by voice.
If a user asks “What is the capital city of Malta”, Siri understands the user wants information about Malta’ capital city and gets links to online content about Valletta. Asking “Do I need an umbrella today?” triggers Siri to check the weather forecast.
Siri also takes commands for changes in the user’s calendar, appointments and handling of calls, messages and e-mails. For example, telling Siri: “Please set an appointment with Mr X on Monday November 14 at 10am” will generate an entry into the calendar. Saying “Please remind me to phone mum when I am home” will prompt Siri to use the iPhone’s geolocation service to know when the phone arrives at home and immediately sets off a reminder for the user to phone mum.
After nearly a month of use abroad, some iPhone 4S users have complained of a battery problem, saying battery life is very short compared to previous models. However it seems the problem is not simply related to the 4S model but to models that have upgraded to the iOS5 operating system.
Apple confirmed there is a problem but promised a fix soon.
“A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks,” Apple said in a statement.