iPhone 4S in Australia

Hooray! The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone that’s going to hit Australian shelves at the same time as the US. Pre-order unlocked phone only is available for pre-order online on Oct 7, Friday and in store at 8am on Oct 14, 2011 Friday.

iPhone 4S Pricing?

Country	16GB	32 GB	64 GB
US	USD$199	USD$299	USD$399
	AUS$211	AUS$317	AUS$422
AUS	AUS$799	AUS$899	AUD$999

Not (a~hem) apple to apple comparison
It looks much pricier here in Australia but that those prices in US are carrier-subsidised and the phones will be network-locked and require purchase of a contract. Even so, Apple’s starter pricing of $799 for the 16GB model outright is a lot higher, and the pattern continues with the other models.

Haven't heard about plan details for the new iPhone 4S, but will definitely look forward to that.

Good news is the voice recognition in Siri will be available in beta on iPhone 4S in English (localized for US, UK and Australia). Hope Siri can pick up the accent and we'll see if Siri can answer "Who is the fairest of them all?"

While the iPhone 4S adds HSDPA support, there’s no option for LTE (long-term evolution), so heavy-data user won’t be able to take advantage of Telstra’s recently-launched LTE network or Optus' planned upgrades next year. Too bad we can't take advantage of the faster network to compliment iCloud that automatically sync all your Apple products via your phone connection. However, LTE in Australia is barely released and is not available from Telstra for phones. Hopefully they can have this on the next iPhone and dramatically increase the battrery life span since there is not much difference in terms of battery for this 4S upgrade.

There’s also no hardware support for the HD Voice network which Telstra has deployed, so no chance of increasing call quality there.

Finally, we’ve known for quite a while that iTunes Match, allows you to store your entire current iTunes collection including music you have ripped from CD’s to Apple iCloud service. This allows you to then push that music to all your iOS devices - would be a US-only service. Oh well, not the first time Apple launch US only services.

Now, shall I upgrade from 4 to 4S? Look at the iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4 comparison chart below:

	iPhone 4S	iPhone 4
Processor	Dual-core Apple A5	Apple A4
Display	3.5-inch IPS 960 x 640	3.5-inch IPS 960 x 640
Primary camera	8 megapixel AF with flash and f/2.4 aperture	5 megapixel AF with flash
Secondary camera	VGA	VGA
Video recording	1080p at 30fps, optional iMovie	720p at 30fps, optional iMovie
Cellular	Hybrid GSM / CDMA "World Phone", Bluetooth 4.0	Quadband GSM, pentaband HSPA
WiFi	802.11b/g/n	802.11b/g/n
Orientation sensing	Accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope	Accelerometer, compass, gyroscope
FaceTime video calling	Yes	Yes
SIM standard	Micro sim	Micro sim
Battery life	Up to 8 hours talk time on 3G	Up to 7 hours talk time on 3G,
	14 hours talk time on 2G	14 hours on 2G
	Up to 6 hours data on 3G
	Up to 9 hours data on WiFi	Up to 10 hours data on WiFi
	Up to 40 hours audio	Up to 40 hours audio
	Up to 10 hours video	Up to 10 hours video
Weight	140 grams / 4.9 oz	137 grams / 4.8 oz.
Dimensions	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm

That is an Apple to Apple comparison, how about iPhone 4S compare to other smart phones in the market? I reckon Samsung Galaxy S II, the twin from another manufacturer would be a better choice in terms of specs but the Apple Apps still beats it.

See you in store iPhone 4S!