Apple iPhone 5 Rumors

Apple iPhone 5 is widely awaited and here is a quick summary of the rumors around the net related to the launch.

	Rumor
Appearance	Wider, thinner
Network	4G LTE
Screen	4-inch display, thinner
Battery	Higher capacity
Dock Connector	Smaller, 8-pin
Data Sharing	Near Field Communication
Accessories	New headphones
Availability	September 21

iMore is reporting a September 12th event planned by Apple for iPhone launch, if that is true we don't have to wait much longer. The event may also be used to announce a new 7-inch mini iPad.

Siri - The Witty Personal Assistant

Apple announced iPhone 4S recently. The highlight of the product is a new voice activated feature - Siri, the virtual personal assistant. I got my iPhone 4S yesterday in mail and spent sometime trying this new feature. Here are some screenshots from those witty conversations:

An interesting thing you may have observed is that Siri gives different answers for the same question. Only time will tell how game changing this feature will turn out for Apple but for me sure it was entertaining.

Apple iPhone 4S website down

At 8:20 am I was unable to complete the buy for Apple iPhone 4S at apple.com as I got the following error message:

On a related note I also observed that twitter.com went down yesterday evening. Check out the interesting error page.

Update at 8:50 am I was able to buy the phone.

Apple shipped the device on October 11th. Tracking the order, it looks like the order originates in Shenzhen, China, see below

Finally got the device on October 14th as promised.

The setup was simple and only took 10 minutes, the phone worked very well. Impressive!

Apple iPhone 4S announcement

Apple iPhone 4S was released today finally after generating months of media buzz. While Apple and its new CEO Tim Cook touts it as one of the biggest iPhone release yet, its interesting to see what harm it has caused.

• Saddened people's hearts by not releasing iPhone 5.
• Tech news sites like CNET news, Mashable and Engadget were faltering with the heavy user traffic tuning for the live coverage.
• Sprint tumbled after reports of its commitment to buy $20 billion worth of iPhone, stock reacted with a 10% decline.
• Unhappy Apple shareholders, the stock was down by more than 4% after the announcement.
• Embarrassed so many tech reporters on various news sites including WSJ, New York Times who got it completely wrong. Boy Genius Report even had leaked pictures of iPhone 5 cases.
• Apple has made a joke of itself as the name of its new virtual assistant app Siri in Japanese sounds almost identical to 尻 (pronounced Shiri), a colloquial term for "buttocks".

Stacking the iPhone 4S to the rumors leading to the announcement:

	Rumor	iPhone 4S
Appearance	Wider, thinner, new home button	No
Processor	Dual core A5 chip	Dual core A5 chip
Maximum Storage	64 GB model	64 GB model
Network	4G LTE	HSPA+
Screen	4-inch display	3.5-inch display
Camera	8 megapixel, 1080p video	8 megapixel, 1080p video
Cellular	Both GSM & CDMA	World phone
Data Sharing	Near Field Communication	No
Carriers	Sprint in addition to AT&T, Verizon	Sprint in addition to AT&T, Verizon
Applications	Personal assistant	Siri - Personal Assistant

So looking at the table above it is clear that except the form factor, screen and the version, Apple seems to have gotten it closer to the rumors. Also iPhone 4S is more energy efficient than its predecessor while providing a faster dual core A5 processor as discussed here. Is it then because of the strong iPhone 5 rumor leading to the event that disappointed observers? Where will it leave Apple in its fight with Android? Only time will tell.

Please comment on how you feel about the announcement.

War and peace

Watch as iPhone and Android fight and make peace produced by Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.

Don't worry, the video is rated PG and enacts scenes from famous movies like Braveheart, Dirty Dancing and Titanic.

Who can forget the famous YouTube video of iPhone 4 vs HTC Evo that came out right after the iPhone 4 release last year, this one uses some explicit language.

In couple of days the mobile war heats up with the release of iPhone 5. Read here for some of the rumors flying around.