Let’s Talk iPhone: iPhone 5 ... iPhone 4S

Hello nerd herd !

If you were among all those who thought the next iPhone release would be the iPhone 5 – raise your hands !  - I AM !

Recently in San Francisco, Apple held its “Let’s Talk iPhone” event. Tim Cook was giving his first presentation as CEO since Steve Jobs stepped down last August.

Here are the specs of the new iPhone 4S :
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-4/specs.html
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

Among those I have to highlight :

• the powerful A5 processor chip – it will definitely upgrade the iPhone's performance
• the 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording
• the super display
• the improved battery life span
• Siri : the intelligent virtual voice assistant - THE coolest feature on the iPhone !!!

Here's one of the examples given by Scott Forstall during the event was : asking about the weather forecast.

Scott asked - “What is the weather like today ?” Siri brings up the weather forecast of the day saying “Here's the weather for today”. Forstall explained how Siri not only understand the words one can say but it understands the meaning of what is being said. The way of putting a query to Siri can be done in various way but Siri will still understand what you are asking.

A variation proposed by Forstall was “What is the hourly forecast?”, same response from Siri – providing the weather forecast for the day. Forstall only mentionned that you could ask more conceptual questions like “Do I need a raincoat today?” And Siri answered by saying “It sure looks like rain today” and displaying the weather forecast. Siri understands the concept of raincoat, umbrella and other key words that might relate to the weather and replies accordingly.

Siri has been integrated with different applications on iOS : the clock, the alarm clock, reminders, calender, maps, messages... Using voice commands, various tasks can be done hands free ! I found Scott Forstall's wrap up hilarious and pretty cool when he asked Siri “Who are you?” and Siri replied “I am a humble personal assistant”.

My review is going to be short this time. I will be talking about the iPhone 4S later on.  But in the mean time don't hesitate to send your comments on the event, the iPhone 4S or Tim Cook's performance during the presentation.


UPDATE !: Here's the video of the Siri demo :