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New iPhone 4S Adds Voice Recognition and Goes Global

By TidBITS Staff.

The iPhone 4S announced at Apple's media event last week features upgrades across all its systems, with the addition of voice recognition and dictation through a new component called Siri. Improved internals mean a faster phone and notably faster graphics, as well as a potential doubling of the highest mobile downstream rates. What doesn't change is the industrial design of the phone, which retains the look and feel of the iPhone 4.

An improved camera will produce better photos in low-light conditions, take photos more rapidly, and shoot 1080p high-definition video. An upgrade to the phone's cellular systems, incorporating both GSM and CDMA technologies, means that the iPhone 4S can be used on any network in the United States and most networks worldwide.

The new phone will be available on 14 October 2011; Apple started taking pre-orders on 7 October 2011 and racked up over 1 million pre-orders in the first day. In the United States, with a two-year contract for cellular services, the iPhone 4S will cost $199 for 16 GB of storage, $299 for 32 GB, and $399 for 64 GB, retaining the same pricing as the iPhone 4 had for the 16 and 32 GB models. (There was no 64 GB iPhone 4.) Yes, they will be available in both black and white versions. Apple will also continue to offer two older phones at reduced prices under two-year contracts: the iPhone 3GS for free and the iPhone 4 for $99, both with 8 GB of storage.

Although this may not be as significant a deal as the addition of Verizon Wireless, the iPhone 4S will also be available from Sprint Nextel in the United States, leaving T-Mobile as the odd carrier out. We're sure existing Sprint customers will appreciate this. Sprint's coverage area is among the poorest, and it has been hemorrhaging customers for years. However, among the four major U.S. mobile operators, Sprint retains the only unlimited mobile data usage plan for new customers. (AT&T and Verizon have grandfathered unlimited plans, and T-Mobile throttles services to dial-up modem rates after a monthly limit is reached.) While the free iPhone 3GS will be available only on AT&T's network, the subsidized iPhone 4 will be available for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint customers.

Outside the United States, the iPhone 4S will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom on 14 October 2011. Another 22 countries will follow on 28 October 2011, and Apple plans to hit a total of 70 countries by the end of the year.

Siri Voice Recognition -- The iPhone 4S feature we're dying to try is Siri, a voice-recognition and voice-synthesis system that's tied in with expert-system analysis of what you say. You can ask Siri for information, such as recommendations for nearby restaurants or the current weather, or use it for dictation. It can speak to you and read items and documents.

During the keynote, Apple's Scott Forstall demoed Siri with a variety of questions. When asked what the weather would be like today, Siri returned the forecast. Queried for a great Greek restaurant in Palo Alto, Siri responded, "I've found five Greek restaurants, and I've sorted them by rating." Siri has direct access to Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha, and can thus define words and make calculations, such as how many days until Christmas. Other examples include setting timers, looking up contacts, creating notes, and searching the Web.

Siri isn't limited to command and control, though. Forstall showed Siri reading email messages in the notification queue, and you will be able to compose and dictate email to Siri. The real question is how accurate Siri will be in real-world usage, since there's little more annoying than talking to a command-and-control system like a toddler or correcting egregious errors in dictated text.

Initially, Siri will work in English, French, and German, and Apple is calling it a beta, promising more languages and services in the future.

It's worth noting that Siri runs only on the iPhone 4S, undoubtedly due to needing the processing power of Apple's dual-core A5 CPU. That chip provides up to twice the performance of the iPhone 4, and the dual-core graphics are supposedly up to seven times faster. Despite that, talk time has been increased to 8 hours.

A Clearer Picture -- The best camera is often the one you have in your pocket, and while the iPhone camera has improved over time, there's no question that it hasn't competed well with even point-and-shoot cameras. With the iPhone 4S, Apple is aiming at that market, switching to an 8-megapixel sensor that takes photos at 3264 by 2448 pixels, which should be sufficient for an 8-by-10-inch (20-by-25 cm) print.

As Charles Maurer has discussed in a number of TidBITS articles, the raw number of pixels in a sensor isn't the only important factor in image quality. The iPhone 4S has a backside-illuminated CMOS sensor that enables it to gather 73 percent more light than the iPhone 4 sensor. It also features an infrared filter for improved color accuracy and uniformity. Then there's the lens, which features five lens elements to provide 30 percent better sharpness.

It also lets in a lot of light, with an f/2.4 aperture, which should result in good low-light performance. On the processing side, the camera can do face detection, which can improve focus, and automatic white-balance, which improves color, thanks to an Apple-designed chip. Most importantly, it boasts a mere 0.5-second delay between shots.

Apple has posted several unretouched sample photos for viewing and download, although notably they're all shot in daylight. We'll have to wait until the iPhone 4S is released to test the low-light performance of the new lens and processor.

On the video side, the iPhone 4S's camera is capable of HD video at 1080p, with real-time digital image stabilization and real-time temporal noise reduction.

Cellular Networking -- The iPhone 4S is a "world phone" in the true meaning of that phrase for the first time. Past iPhones that worked worldwide were still restricted to the GSM standard, which dominates with billions of users. However, the competing CDMA standard used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel in the United States is still employed by hundreds of millions of cell phone owners. Apple made a special model of the iPhone 4 for Verizon. The iPhone 4S now includes both CDMA and GSM technology, allowing the sale of a single model around the globe. Unfortunately, the "world phone" turns out to be more about simplicity in Apple's manufacturing process than portability for consumers. (See "Apple's World Phone Isn't Global for Customers," 7 October 2011.)

The iPhone 4S promises improved 3G data speeds for GSM networks, doubling the previous HSDPA download rate of about 7 Mbps (raw, not usable) to 14.4 Mbps. AT&T and T-Mobile have deployed HSPA+ networks that are even faster than that, although those networks will support Apple's new higher rate along with the previous slower speeds used by other phones. Networks with 14.4 Mbps and faster download rates are also available in many other countries. In practice, faster networks are better at handling capacity - more phones in use in the same area around a mobile base station - than in necessarily speeding up a given phone's download performance.

Those hoping for an iPhone with LTE (Long Term Evolution) built in to support AT&T and Verizon's in-progress 4G networks will be disappointed, but it's not surprising. The necessary chips aren't yet small enough and cheap enough to include in a handset as small as the iPhone, and they still consume too much power. (Carriers want to call HSPA+ a "4G technology," by the way, and Apple joked about that during the announcement. But HSPA and HSPA+ are just faster renditions of 3G and share the same old architecture. LTE is something new.)

Apple also said it has created a unique two-antenna system for cellular connections that should improve call quality. While the company didn't offer many details, it said that the iPhone 4S could switch between the antennas during a call, and this likely eliminates the "holding it wrong" problem that was overblown after the iPhone 4's introduction. Most cell phones have areas which, if covered by skin, drop signal reception, and the iPhone 4 was no exception. With the capability to switch between two separately optimized antennas - perhaps with different polarization and different lengths - the iPhone 4S would presumably toggle between the two when signal quality drops.

Current iPhone customers of AT&T and Verizon can determine whether they're eligible for Apple's advertised pricing. The two-year subscription plan subsidizes the hardware's initial cost; if you've recently bought an iPhone, the price may be higher. For example, Jeff Carlson purchased an iPhone 4 last year. AT&T shows that the 16 GB model will cost him $449 before 25 November 2011, or $199 after that date. You can check your eligibility at Apple's site.

 

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iOS 5.1 Brings Smattering of Features and 4G Confusion

by Agen G. N. Schmitz.

In addition to the iPad hardware that debuted last week (see "Apple Announces Third-Generation iPad," 7 March 2012), Apple released iOS 5.1 for all iOS 5-compatible devices, which includes all versions of the iPad, the iPhone 3GS and later, and third generation and later of the iPod touch. Overall, it's a maintenance release with a small collection of new features and fixes - but one user interface change in particular is causing some confusion.

After updating to iOS 5.1, many AT&T iPhone 4S owners will find that the cellular indicator in the menu bar changed from 3G to 4G - even though their phones haven't magically added faster data capabilities. Rather, this change reflects that the iPhone is connecting to AT&T's HSPA+ network, which is essentially a faster version of 3G. For comparison, HSPA+ supports a raw downstream capability of up to 14 Mbps compared to a maximum download rate of 73 Mbps for LTE (Long Term Evolution).

Despite the HSPA+ network being a slowpoke compared to LTE, AT&T equates it as being "4G." If that sounds like weasley marketing purposes, it is - but AT&T has been accorded cover for this distinction by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). In a press release from December, 2010, the ITU agreed that "other evolved 3G technologies" could find shelter under the 4G standards umbrella as long as they provided "a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities" in respect to current 3G networks.

When the iPhone 4S was launched last October, Phil Schiller even joked about the that carriers wanted to call HSPA+ a "4G technology" (see "New iPhone 4S Adds Voice Recognition and Goes Global," 4 October 2011), saying: "We're not going to get into a debate in the industry over what's 4G and what isn't, we'll leave that for others to talk about." However, as Brad McCarty noted at The Next Web (among many others), this seems to be an acquiescence by Apple to AT&T's marketing demands, and one that could lead to a slippery slope of additional carrier requests down the line.

Controversy aside, the iOS 5.1 update does offer several new features that, while not groundbreaking, are certainly welcome additions. First and foremost, you can now delete individual photos from your iCloud Photo Stream. To do so, open the Photos app, tap the Photo Stream album, and then tap the share button in the top right corner. From there, select individual photos and then tap the red Delete button in the lower right corner.

Other imaging-related additions include enhanced face detection capabilities in the Camera app (being able to recognize more than one fact at a time), a redesigned Camera app for the iPad that moves the capture button to the right side of the screen where your thumb is more likely to be, and a new camera shortcut placed on the unlock screens of the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation). Instead of swiping to the right to unlock your iPhone and then fumble through your home screens to find the Camera app, tap the Camera button to the right of the Slide to Unlock slider or swipe up on the screen go directly into the Camera app.

Subscribers to iTunes Match will find that Genius Mixes and Genius playlists have returned to their iOS devices. And iPad owners will enjoy "optimized" audio for movies and TV shows that should sound both louder and clearer. Podcast controls for playback speed and rewinding a currently playing podcast by 30 seconds have also returned.

Japanese language support has been added to Siri (joining English, French, and German), though its availability will be limited during the initial rollout. Finally, iOS 5.1 addresses some unnamed bugs that affected battery life, and provides a fix for occasional audio dropped during outgoing calls.

To update an iOS 5.0 device to version 5.1, connect it to a computer running iTunes and click the Check for Update button in the device's Summary screen (if a dialog doesn't automatically appear). Or, update over the air without connecting to a computer: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the instructions there.

Tim Cook Shares Apple's Latest Numbers

At the iPhone 4S announcement last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage carrying the script that Steve Jobs had honed to perfection, recapping recent Apple store openings and giving a numbers-heavy overview of how Apple's various products and businesses are doing.

Apple now operates 357 stores in 11 countries, including 6 stores in China, which still represents a largely untapped market for Apple. The just-opened Hong Kong Apple store, for instance, received 100,000 visitors on the opening weekend and sold more Macs on its opening day than has any other Apple store.

Even while the brick-and-mortar Apple stores continue to be key to Apple's success in selling hardware, the company has managed to transition software sales to the iOS App Store and Mac App Store. It's likely that the ease of downloading boosted sales of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which has had 6 million downloads so far. Cook said that Lion's uptake rate was 80 percent higher than Snow Leopard's, and it took Lion only 2 weeks to reach 10 percent of the Mac installed base. Windows 7 took 20 weeks to reach the same level of penetration. Cook said Apple has 58 million Mac OS X users.

As impressive as that number of users sounds, it's nothing compared to the 250 million iOS devices that Apple has sold so far. And although Cook didn't break out iPhone sales specifically, he did say that the iPhone 4 accounts for over half of all iPhones sold to date.

The iTunes Store now contains 20 million songs, and over 16 billion songs have been downloaded in the past 8 years. Cook used the term "mind-boggling," which doesn't seem like hyperbole. Of course, the iPod was a key driver in those sales, and Apple has sold over 320 million iPods so far, with over 45 million in the last year. (Both of those numbers include the iPod touch, which Apple considers both an iPod and an iOS device at different times.)

Although Apple didn't talk about the Mac App Store's results beyond Lion downloads, Cook did share numbers from the iOS App Store. It now contains more than 500,000 apps, 140,000 of which are made specifically for the iPad. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps, and Cook was careful to point out that Apple has paid developers more than $3 billion, which means that Apple has brought in roughly $4.3 billion in app revenue so far.

As always when Apple shares these numbers, it's worth remembering that although there's no reason to disbelieve them, there's also no question that Apple is cherry-picking those numbers that will sound the best and couching them in terms that present Apple in the brightest light. Nevertheless, it's clear that Apple is on top of the world right now.

 

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U.S. Gasoline Climbs to $3.8148 a Gallon, Lundberg Survey Shows

By Barbara J. Powell and Moming Zhou.

The average price for regular gasoline at U.S. filling stations increased 12.31 cents to $3.8148 a gallon, according to Lundberg Survey Inc.

The price jump covers the two-week period ended March 9 and is based on the Camarillo, California-based company's survey of about 2,500 stations. The price is 30.87 cents higher than a year earlier, when the average was $3.5061.

"As refineries complete their maintenance, overall motor- gasoline supply will become more generous, and this will probably put a stop to the price rise," Trilby Lundberg, the president of Lundberg Survey, said yesterday in a telephone interview. "This of course depends on whether crude-oil prices cooperate."

Prices advanced as West Texas Intermediate crude in New York fell 2.2 percent to $107.40 a barrel, while Brent oil in London rose 0.4 percent to $125.98 in the two-week period from the last survey.

Gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 17.96 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $3.3324 a gallon in the two weeks ended March 9.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell 396,000 barrels in the week ended March 2 to 229.5 million, a six-week low, the Energy Department reported March 7.

Gasoline consumption slipped 1.2 percent, and the amount of the fuel supplied over the past four weeks was 7.8 percent below a year earlier, department data show.
Retail Demand

Retail demand in the seven days ended March 2 declined 1.5 percent from the prior week and was 6.5 percent below a year earlier, according to MasterCard (MA) Inc.'s SpendingPulse report on March 6. Motor-fuel use during the previous four weeks was 6.3 percent below a year earlier, the 50th consecutive decline in that measure.

Crude prices may fall this week as calls for negotiations between nuclear powers and Iran may reduce tension that's helped bolster crude prices this year, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Fourteen of 28 analysts, or 50 percent, forecast oil will fall through March 16. Ten respondents, or 36 percent, predicted prices will rise and four estimated there will be little change. Last week, 56 percent of surveyed analysts expected an increase.

Crude-oil supplies rose 832,000 barrels to 345.7 million in the seven days through March 2, according to the department, the highest level since September. Inventories (DOESCROK) at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York-traded West Texas Intermediate oil, increased 2.37 million barrels to 36.2 million, the highest level since July.

On Long Island, regular gasoline increased to $4 a gallon, according to Lundberg. Los Angeles-area retail stations averaged $4.35.

The highest price in the lower 48 U.S. states among the cities surveyed was in Los Angeles, Lundberg said. The lowest price was in Denver, Colorado, where customers paid an average of $3.36 a gallon.

The Japan-China connection: DeNA and Sina team upin mobile gaming

Japan's DeNA and China's Sina have teamed up to form a big mobile gaming market.

DeNA is a $1.4 billion company that operates the Mobage mobile social gaming network with 35 million lucrative users. Under the deal, Sina will enable users of its giant microblogging platform, Weibo.com, to log into DeNA's Mobage platform with their existing account information.

The move shows that Japan's DeNA is wasting no time in expanding from its Japanese and U.S. operations (it owns Ngmoco in San Francisco) to other big markets around the world as it seeks to build a multibillion-dollar mobile social gaming empire.

That means Weibo.com's 300 million members will be able to play the Chinese-language version of Mobage. DeNA and Sina plan to create a special Mobage web site under a Sina domain in April, where Weib.com users can download Mobage China games to their Android-based smartphones. The Mobage icon will appear inside the Weibo.com Android app, making it easy to log in.

About 50 percent of Weibo.com users access the service from mobile devices, and the Weibo.com mobile app has been downloaded more than 40 million times. DeNA launched Mobage China for Android in July 2011 and iOS in November. It has 30 games currently available.

 

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