How the Smartphone Competition Beats the iPhone 4S Specs
By janderson99
To say that the Apple release of iPhone 4S was a disappointment is an under-statement. The release of the iPhone 4S, rather than the expected iPhone 5, follows its upgrade of the iPhone 3 to iPhone 3S before going to the iPhone 4 model. Essentially this decision is driven by the 2-year contracts most people have on their iPhone 4's, with 12 months still to run. Most people will not want to pay the exit fee to get out of the contract.
However Apple is in danger of being swamped by its rivals who are simply Out-Teching Apple with superior specs of the various hardware components. It remains to be seen how the performance of the iPhone 4S compares once the new model is released and has been tested. Apple is relying on what's inside the new iPhone 4S. It's much harder to convince buyers to buy based on what's inside while the specs fall by the wayside!
The table below is a comparison of the iPhone S with four competitors
- Droid Bionic, latest 4G smartphone offering from Motorola.
- Samsung Galaxy S II, the latest in the popular Galaxy line.
- Samsung’s Focus an older model that runs Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango)
- RIM’s most recent offering, the BlackBerry Bold 9900.
The Processor - The Samsung Focus and the Blackberry Bold only have single core processors which are simply left far behind by the dual core models. The Droid Bionic and iPhone 4S, both contain 1-GHz dual-core chips, but the Samsung Galaxy S II has a slightly faster a 1.2 GHz dual-core chip.
Manufacturer
| Apple
| Motorola
| Samsung
| Samsung
| RIM
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model
| iPhone 4S
| Droid Bionic
| Galaxy S II
| Focus
| BlackBerry Bold 9900
|
Processor
| A5; 1-GHz dual-core
| A9; 1-GHz dual-core
| 1.2 GHz dual-core
| 1-GHz Snapdragon
| 1.2-GHz Snapdragon
|
Battery
| 1420 mAH battery or better - 14 hours G3?
| 1736 mAh
| 1650 mAH
| 1500mAh
| 1240 mAH battery
|
Screen Size
| 3.5-inch retina display
| 4.3-inch qHD
| 4.52-inch Super AMOLED
| 4-inch Super AMOLED
| 2.8-inch LCD
|
Camera
| 8-MP
| 8-MP
| 8-MP
| 5 MP
| 5 MP
|
Video
| 1080p video
| 1080p video
| 1080p video
| ||
Network
| AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.
| Verizon's CDMA and LTE
| 4G AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint
| AT&T's HSPA+
| 4G T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon's
|
The Battery - Apple promised 14 hours talking time with the iPhone 4S using a 1420 mAH battery, or better. The Samsung Galaxy S II has the largest battery - 1650 mAH one that it absolutely needs it to drive its large display. The Blackberry Bold has the smallest, a 1240 mAH battery.
Screen Size - The IPhone 4S has the second smallest screen - a 3.5-inch retina display which beats the BalcBerry's tiny 2.8-inch LCD. The Samsung Focus has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display; The Droid Bionic - a 4.3-inch qHD display; the Galaxy S II - 4.52-inch Super AMOLED screen. Display size a compromise and many people complain that the ones with the larger screen are simply too large to fit into a pocket. The battle of the screens also depends on display quality, not just size.
Camera - Both the BlackBerry Bold and the Samsung Focus hve been left behind with only have 5 MP cameras. All the others have 8 MP which has become the standard in 2011. All three with the 8 MP cameras have 1080p video recording capabilities which produces high quality video.
Network - Apple has caught up somewhat, and the iPhone 4S will be available on three networks AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.
New Features - Apple is relying on its software upgrade as well as Siri the voice-activated personal assistant and iCloud to keep its customers interested, while it develops the iPhone 5 for release in 2012 ?
Conclusion
It remains to be seen whether Apple's strategy of the Lower-Tech, poorer spec model with the iPhone 4S will work.
How much market share will be lost before the iPhone 5 is released? Only Time will Tell.
See the full list of specs for the iPhone 4S here
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