Cell Phones : Spotify now available for download on Windows Phone

Good news, Windows Phone wielders -- Spotify is now available for your streaming pleasure. The app popped up this morning as a free download on the Windows Phone Marketplace, though you'll need a subscription if you're looking to get premium treatment.

Cell Phones : HTC Rezound for Verizon unveiled: Beats Audio, 4.3-inch 720p display, available November 14th for $299

HTC's Rezound first leaked its way into our gadget-lusting hearts in late summer. Then bearing the virile Vigor codename, we suspected a heartily specced, Beats Audio-branded destiny for the device. And today's official unveiling doesn't disappoint, setting this 4.3-inch handset on a 4G course for Verizon's LTE airwaves.

Thanks to the company's financial handshake with Dr. Dre, the Rezound's inbuilt Beats Audio integration gets its first stateside debut. Of course, that's not all that lies beneath the red and black tinged surface. Living up to the machissimo of its in-development moniker, the Rezound boasts a 4.3-inch 720p display and packs a dual-core 1.5GHz processor underneath, with 1GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage / 16GB on microSD card, 1,620mAh battery, WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 in tow. And for you Android fanatics, HTC's shipping the handset Ice Cream Sandwich-ready, but it'll come out of the box with Sense 3.5 skinned atop Gingerbread 2.3.4. As for the phone's front-facing / 8 megapixel camera with f/2.2 sensor (capable of 1080p video capture), well the company's tossed in the same suite of scene modes we saw ship on the Amaze 4G: panorama, action burst, instant capture, and new addition, slow-mo. Naturally, this Beats phone package wouldn't be complete without a pair of those customized headphones, which'll be included in-box.

With the recent Big Red outing of the Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Motorola Droid RAZR, connoiseurs of high-end mobile kit have a lot to consider this Q4. Add this Beats Audio contender to that plethora of options, and you'll be scratching your head come contract-signing time. The Rezound'll be Verizon-bound on November 14th, so if enhanced audio is at the top of your 'must have' list, expect to snag it for $299 on contract.

Cell Phones : Check Out The Porsche Design BlackBerry P’9981

While BlackBerry smartphones have largely been eclipsed on the popularity front by the iPhone and the swarms of Android phones on the market, the ‘ol “CrackBerry” still has millions of addicts, er, fans. Why else would Porsche Design – the German sports car (and sedan, and SUV, and…) builder’s industrial design subsidiary – create a Teutonically chic new phone running the BlackBerry 7 operating system?

Sure, this isn’t Porsche Design’s first smartphone rodeo , but this latest communication Wündergizmo – called the P’9981 – is the most advanced smartphone to emerge from the firm’s Zell am See, Austria studio. So what else do you get besides BlackBerry OS 7 and all those shiny metal buttons?




The P’9981 features a 1.2 GHz processor, 24 bits of graphics processing power, and 8 gigabytes of built-in memory. The device’s storage capacity can be expanded to as much as 40 gigabytes via an SD card, which is a very good thing when you consider this baby can record HD video. There’s also a full QWERTY keyboard, though the Liquid Graphics display and Porsche Design -designed user interface mean you’ll probably only use it for texting and entering URLs and search terms.

Each P’9981 also has a special PIN number, so nearby P’9981 users will be super easy to find. Then you can meet up and discuss how much you love your phones’ forged stainless steel shell, genuine leather back, and approximately $2,000 MSRP. Okay, maybe you won’t love the two-grand price tag per se, but you’ll probably at least like the fact that that figure includes personal concierge service. Then again, you could buy an actual Porsche for $2,000. Granted, it would be a 924 or a 928 that has sun-baked paint, an interior that smells like a drug dealer’s armpit and leaks every kind of fluid you can buy at Pep Boys (and some you can’t), but an actual Porsche nonetheless. We know which we’d pick; how about you?

Cell Phones : Sprint unleashes the HTC EVO Design 4G, available October 23rd for $100

That HTC EVO Design 4G leaked a couple months ago? Oh, it's real -- and Sprint's finally ready to share its story with the world. The tale of the EVO Design 4G is simple enough: for a penny under $100, you can have a WiMAX-capable device with GSM roaming that features a 4-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 CPU, Android 2.3 with HTC Sense UI, Mobile Hotspot, a 5MP rear camera with HD video recording (720p, we presume) and a 1.3MP front-facing cam. In summary, the Design 4G is basically the Hero S with WiMAX and global roaming capabilities.

 

Press Release

Sprint Expands Award-Winning HTC EVO Family with HTC EVO Design 4G, First EVO with World Phone Capabilities

HTC EVO Design 4G debuts Oct. 23 for less than $100 – offering high-end 4G capabilities at an easily affordable price

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., & SEATTLE (BUSINESS WIRE), October 19, 2011 - Sprint (NYSE: S) continues the award-winning HTC EVO™ family legacy with the addition of HTC EVO Design 4G™, the first EVO family member touting World Phone capabilities. HTC EVO Design 4G boasts many of the "must-have" features of its predecessors, including Sprint 4G and a large touchscreen display, while sporting a slim, pocket-friendly aluminum unibody design at an easily affordable price.

HTC EVO Design 4G goes on sale Oct. 23 for just $99.99 (excluding taxes) with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade and after a $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1. It will be available in all Sprint sales channels, including Sprint Stores, Web Sales (www.sprint.com) and Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1).

"Priced at under $100, HTC EVO Design 4G is the perfect device for consumers looking for both the benefits of 4G and the latest in device style," said Fared Adib, Sprint vice president-Product Development. "When matched with one of the Sprint Everything Data plans, our customers will unlock the value of unlimited without worrying about the cost or surprises on their monthly bill."

Designed for customers who want to stay connected and be entertained, HTC EVO Design 4G combines the acclaimed HTC Sense™ experience with a stylish and robust feature set to make the 4G experience more accessible than ever. Other key features include:

* Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread
* HTC Sense – Award-winning user experience taking social networking, navigation and customization to new levels
* Aluminum unibody design gives HTC EVO Design 4G a slim, streamlined profile –guaranteed to get attention and is nicely compact in your hand, pocket or bag
* 1.2GHz processor
* 4-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen display
* Dual cameras: 5MP rear-facing camera/camcorder with flash and HD video recording and 1.3MP front-facing camera for video chat
* World Phone capabilities to make and receive calls and texts, and to access email and news from locations around the globe
* 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, supporting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices on the Sprint 3G or 4G network
* Wi-Fi® b/g/n capable

"With HTC and Sprint working together, the smash-hit HTC EVO 4G introduced the world to the possibilities of 4G," said Martin Fichter, vice president, product management, HTC America. "With the introduction of the fifth addition to the EVO family – HTC EVO Design 4G – HTC is expanding its diverse portfolio of 4G smartphones on Sprint's powerful 4G network."

HTC EVO Design 4G requires activation on one of the Sprint Everything Data plans plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint's Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $40 per month vs. Verizon's comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web, or $10 per month vs. Verizon's 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB Web. The Mobile Hotspot option is available for an additional $29.99 per month and supports up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously2. (Pricing excludes taxes and surcharges.)

Cell Phones : T-Mobile adds new daily and monthly plans

If you're of the ilk who vehemently hates contracts, yet adores T-Mobile, read on. Alongside its existing pay-as-you go plans, Little Magenta has introduced a new $60 choice, offering unlimited minutes, texting and data -- though the latter is throttled after consuming 2GB. If a month of commitment is too rich for your blood, how about about one of three new "pay by the day" plans? The priciest option's three bucks for all the minutes and texts you could ever want and 200MB of data at full speed. A dollar less still gets you unlimited talk time and texts, but slows that all you can eat data buffet down to 2G speeds. True cheapskates (or those who only communicate via the written word) will love the dollar daily plan, which grants boundless texting, but dispenses the data altogether and runs ten cents per minute for phone calls.

Cell Phones : iPhone 4S hits four million in sales after first weekend

How did you spend your weekend? If you're Apple, the answer is simple, really: selling a whole lot of iPhones. Cupertino this morning announced that iPhone 4S sales have reached four million -- quite an impressive number compared to what its predecessor was capable of, a fact no doubt helped by the addition of some carriers, like Verizon and Sprint here in the States. The handset is currently available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, with plenty more countries coming by the end of the year. 

 

Press Release 

 

iPhone 4S First Weekend Sales Top Four Million

CUPERTINO, California-October 17, 2011- Apple® today announced it has sold over four million of its new iPhone® 4S, just three days after its launch on October 14. In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world's most advanced mobile operating system, in the first five days of its release, and more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. iPhone 4S is available today in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on October 28 and more than 70 countries by the end of the year.

"iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend-the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever."

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple's dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and is available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model, $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.* iPhone 4S is available from the Apple Online Store, Apple's retail stores and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and select Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4 is available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 3GS is available for free with a two year contract.

iPhone 4S will be available on October 28 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

*Qualified customers only. Requires a new two year rate plan, sold separately.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Cell Phones : RIM offers free apps to make up for that whole BlackBerry outage

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has already apologized for last week's widespread BlackBerry outage, but apparently, that wasn't enough. Today, the manufacturer announced that it's offering customers a full slate of "premium apps" for free, in the hopes of earning back some of the goodwill it lost following that mysterious blackout. In a statement, the company said the gesture is "an expression of appreciation" for the patience that many BlackBerry users demonstrated during the incident, with Lazaridis adding that his company remains "committed to providing the high standard of reliability" that consumers have come to expect. For now, the company's offering a total of 12 apps (collectively valued at around $100), including SIMS 3, iSpeech Translator Pro and Shazam Encore among others, though more will be added at a later date. The offer kicks off on Wednesday and will last for a month

Cell Phones Sprint and AT & T says the iPhone 4S, 4 add up to its best 'device family' launch ever

After ignoring and teasing the iPhone, Sprint has its own Apple handsets to sell and apparently its customers have responded to the iPhone 4 and 4S. A press release just went out calling this Sprint's "best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family" -- hopefully they double checked the numbers this time -- in the company's history, as of 1PM ET. Predictably, Sprint's unlimited data pricing compared to other carriers is being credited for the (unspecified) new high water mark in sales.

AT&T just couldn't let Sprint hog the moment, sending out its own missive claiming the company "activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day". It's included after the break, and of course we'll let you know when / if Verizon fires a few shots off in celebration.

Press Release

Sprint Statement on Launch Day Sales of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Oct. 14, 2011 – Sprint (NYSE: S) began selling iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 in Sprint retail stores nationwide this morning at 8:00am local time. Sprint is the only U.S. carrier to offer new
and existing customers the iPhone experience with unlimited data plans starting at just $79.99 per month.

Fared Adib, Sprint Product Chief, issued the following statement:

"Sprint today reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4. We reached this milestone at approximately noon CT/
1pm ET. The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed our expectations and validates our customers' desire for a truly unlimited data pricing plan."

Press Release

Oct 14, 2011 17:48 ET
AT&T Statement on Record iPhone Activations

DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. 

Cell Phones : iPhone 4S review

This isn't the iPhone 5. No matter how badly you wanted something slim, sleek and wedge-shaped, this isn't it. If you went ahead and got your hopes up ahead of Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event, hopefully you've gotten over the pangs of discontent by now, because this device pictured front and center is the iPhone 4S. It's a new spin on an old phone that will shock none, but give it half a chance, and it will still impress.

The iPhone 4S comes with a faster processor, a better camera, a smarter virtual assistant and twice the storage of its predecessor -- if you don't mind paying for it. Like the iPhone 3GS did before to the 3G, the 4S bumps the iPhone 4 down to second-class status, leaving those Apple fans who must have the best aspiring to own its decidedly familiar exterior. Apple says this is the most amazing iPhone ever. Is it? Yes, of course it is, but read on to see whether it's really worth an upgrade.

Hardware

Familiar is a good term for the exterior of the iPhone 4S. When the 4 was unveiled in the summer of 2010 it was a strikingly different design from anything else on the market -- glass on the front and back, exposed screws holding together a deliciously clean ring of stainless steel. It was kind of chunky and industrial, like a tastefully refinished factory loft -- a big contrast to the smooth and nondescript models that came before. The iPhone 4 was something truly new and, for the days and weeks after its release, just spotting one in the wild caused a sensation. It was so different that people wanted to touch and hold the thing, to see how it felt in the hand.

Few are going to go out of their way to touch and hold the iPhone 4S, but that's not to say it isn't very nice to grasp. The iPhone 4 felt like a finely crafted piece of machinery and there's no doubt this one walks in those very same footsteps. Compared to your average modern Android wunderphone the 4S feels small, dense and heavy, a very different sensation than the occasionally lighter but frequently more plasticky competition. The 4S does actually have slightly more heft than the 4, but only by carefully holding one in each hand can you notice the increase from 137 grams (4.83 ounces) to 140 (4.94 ounces).

Save for a few tweaks that even the most dedicated Appleista wouldn't be able to spot at a distance, the 4S is identical from the exterior. A few of the controls have been shifted by fractions of a millimeter and this uses the same exterior antenna layout as the CDMA iPhone 4 that hit Verizon earlier this year. Rather more significantly, though, how it works with those antennas has changed.

The iPhone 4S can now intelligently and instantly switch between those exterior antennas, in real-time, even while you're in the middle of a call. Will this successfully put to rest the iPhone's reputation as a call dropper? That we're not able to say conclusively at this time, as you really need masses of people hammering on a device to bring out its worst. ("Antennagate" didn't come to light until a few days after the iPhone 4's release.) But, in testing a Vodafone 4S against a 4 we found the 4S to be consistently one bar higher, and did a far better job of holding on to 3G data. Here in the States, our Sprint 4S kept right up with another device we had handy from the same carrier: the Nexus S 4G.

There have been a fair number of other tweaks on the inside. In fact it's safe to say Apple threw out the lot of the iPhone 4's guts and stuffed in a whole new batch, starting with the A5 processor. Yes, it's the same dual-core chip that powers the iPad 2 and, while Apple isn't saying, it's running at 800MHz -- a bit of a step down from the 1GHz it's clocked at in the tablet. RAM unfortunately stays the same, at 512MB, but maximum available storage has doubled, matching the iPod touch by maxing out at 64GB.

The other major change to the internals comes in the wireless network support. This is a quadband UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA (850, 900, 1,900, 2,100MHz) and quad-band GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1,800, 1,900MHZ) device, while also offering dual-band CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (900, 1,900MHz). All that naturally means you'll be getting 3G data on nearly every carrier in these lands and abroad, though those providers are still being cagey about just how much success you'll have at porting the 4S from one to another -- at least until the unlocked model shows up in November. There's no 4G on offer, though AT&T's 14.4Mbps HSPA+ service will leave you feeling a bit less out of touch.

Up front is the same 3.5-inch, 960 x 640 Retina display that wowed us 16 months ago on the iPhone 4. That 326ppi density is still quite a lovely thing to behold, surely one of the highest quality panels currently available today in a phone, but in nearly a year and a half the world has moved on. Smartphones are bigger than they were in 2010 and 3.5-inches seems on the small side of average. It's a great size for those with moderately proportioned hands, and opinions certainly differ when determining what is the optimal girth for a smartphone (if, indeed, there is such a thing as optimal) but, after living with a 4.2-inch or larger device, looking at the digital world through a 3.5-inch portal feels just a bit... narrow.

Software (Siri)

Though it comes a few days after its release, the iPhone 4S ushers in the world of iOS 5. This latest revision of Apple's mobile operating system helps to clean some of the dust off of what was starting to feel a bit dated without actually changing any fundamentals. iOS 5 introduces a slew of improvements and enhancements, some minor and some rather more major. We've already posted a particularly comprehensive iOS 5 review, so we won't blather on about it any longer here except to say it's a very solid update that will make your smartphone an even more seamless, integral part of your life.

The one thing we will blather on about quite a bit more here is Siri, your own digital helper. Siri is an evolution of the Siri Virtual Assistant, a spin-off of a DARPA project called CALO. Apple bought the company in early 2010 and now that functionality is baked right into the OS. Sort of.

Siri can only be found on the iPhone 4S, a curious and seemingly arbitrary shunning of the other iOS devices. We've heard that's due to the processor demands required for voice recognition, but since you need an active data connection to use Siri we have to imagine that the heavy lifting for voice recognition is happening somewhere inside Apple's massive data center, which would seemingly allow lower-spec devices to do the same. And, since the iPad 2 is running the A5 at an even higher clock speed, there's just no good reason we can think of for putting Siri exclusively on the 4S. Let the poor girl out, we say.

Should you find yourself owning the requisite hardware to give Siri a shot, you'll probably be pretty impressed with what she can do. Of course, "she" is a characteristic bit of anthropomorphism that we'll apply to the same voice you've probably heard in a half-dozen GPS devices in the past, but still, calling her an "it" just seems a little wrong. Siri herself, though, wouldn't mind. Ask her "Are you a man or a woman?" and her response is a curt "I was not assigned a gender." We think she's just playing hard to get.

Siri can do a huge number of things, from sending texts and emails to finding restaurants and getting directions from one place to another -- things that, it must be said, could largely be done before by voice on other devices and platforms. It's really the enhanced ability to understand casually spoken English mixed in with the notion of context that sets this apart.

Let's talk about the context bit first. Say you want to send a text to your wife to remind her to pick up the dogs from boarding on the way home from work. You can just say, "Tell my wife don't forget the dogs." Siri will send your wife a message saying, "Don't forget the dogs." How does Siri know who your wife is? Well, she doesn't at first, but she'll ask, and once you tell her she'll remember -- until the end of time.

That context works in other situations, too, like receiving a text message from someone, asking Siri to check your calendar, and then just saying "Reply, I'll see you then." You don't need to say who to reply to, Siri will remember. For the first time we feel less like we're giving stiff commands to a device and more like we're actually having a conversation. That said, you can still be as commanding as you like. Siri won't mind.

And then there's the other part that makes Siri good: you don't have to remember the commands. At least, not as much as you do with Android. If you want directions on Google Navigation you have to specifically say "Directions to X." With Siri you can say "Get me directions to X," or you can say "Tell me how to get to X," or even "Directions to X." It's a minor difference but it feels more like Siri is smart enough to figure out what you want, whereas the voice recognition elsewhere feels more like you have to be smart enough to remember to say what it wants. (Even so, we'd certainly prefer to use the far more polished Google Navigation than IOS's Maps to get around.)

Still, this isn't exactly unprecedented, apps like Vlingo do similar things elsewhere. Also, it should be noted that Siri isn't necessarily any more accurate than other offerings. We did a side-by-side comparison of the dictation abilities of iOS 5 vs. those built into Android and Windows Phone and found them to be similar. Android's dictation services, though rather less friendly than Siri and requiring a few more taps on the display, were every bit as accurate. Windows Phone, however, struggled to provide consistently accurate transcriptions, often missing words and getting more complex statements wrong. For example, the spoken text "Kurt Vonnegut lived near Schenectady, New York," one time resulted in the message "Could I get laid in your Schenectady New York." An interesting message that Mr. Vonnegut would have likely approved, but wasn't exactly what we had in mind.

It's in going the other way that Siri has even more potential, saying that you have a new message and then promptly reading it to you -- then letting you reply by voice. The biggest issue here, though, is that you can't have emails read to you, which means you can't fully reply by voice. (You can do voice dictation, but you'll need to trigger that with your fingers.)

This potentially could be a boon for people who would rather listen to their inbox than NPR on the commute home from work, and indeed it is, but the functionality here is a little more limited than we'd like. For example, you can tell Siri to look up something on Wolfram Alpha, and that she'll dutifully do, but she won't read you the response. You have to look at the phone, likely thanks to Wolfram Alpha rendering its results as images rather than plain text.

Apple iPhone 4S screenshots

A truly good assistant will look up whatever you ask and promptly tell you the answer -- not print it out and make you read it. Having to still fish your phone out of your pocket for some things makes Siri rather less wonderful than she could be, but she's very impressive nevertheless. And, more importantly, this signals that Apple is taking a real interest in improving voice recognition and hands-free device interaction. That should mean some amazing progress from here, and we can't wait to talk to the next generation Siri.

We also hope that Siri's siblings will be able to run offline, because today's girl requires a 3G or WiFi connection to do anything. Even the simple voice commands that were available in iOS before no longer work offline, and if you happen to be one of the few who actually used those commands to change tunes while offline, you're sadly going to have to find another way. We also hope that she broadens her horizons a bit, as much of Siri's functionality (directions, looking up businesses) doesn't work in Europe.

Battery life and performance

The teardown of the iPhone 4S revealed a new battery pack that's just a wee bit bigger than that found in the 4 (5.3Whrs vs. 5.25) so the promised increase in longevity found here must come from more efficient internals. And that's a very good thing -- we'd prefer to see phones get more frugal than simply progressing on to bigger and heavier batteries.

Apple promises up to eight hours of battery life on an active 3G connection, which is up one hour from the 4. Curiously, though, standby time has dropped from 300 hours on the 4 to 200 on the 4S. (This phone is, apparently, something of a restless sleeper.) Other stats remain the same: 14 hours on GSM, 10 hours of video watching and 40 hours of listening to tunes. Alas we've not yet been able to complete our full suite of battery tests (we'll update this when we do).

When you're less concerned about longevity and more concerned about outright speed, the 4S won't disappoint when compared to its predecessors. On the SunSpider 9.1 JavaScript benchmark, a good test of overall ability to render the best the web has to offer, the phone scores a 2,200ms on average. That's well lower (quicker) than the 3,700 the iPhone 4 manages and faster than any other smartphone we've tested. In fact it ranks right up there with tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (2,200), but still the iPad 2 leaves it behind with its score of 1,700.

But it's not all about the benchmarks, and we've been overall quite impressed by the performance of the 4S in general tasks. We remain continually impressed by the performance of the iPhone 4 -- despite its aging assets, it still performs like a young smartphone in its prime. In other words, we're not seeing a particularly strong difference between day-to-day usage of the two devices. Yes, your apps will load a little more quickly and react more responsively and your webpages will render more snappily, but Apple already did such a good job of ensuring solid performance on the 4 that this upgrade seems rather less than necessary.

Of course, that could all change when we start to see some games able to make use of the extra firepower the iPhone 4S has at its disposal. At the phone's coming out party Epic showed off Infinity Blade 2 and wowed us with very impressive graphics. The problem is, that game isn't due out until December, and we're not aware of other similarly eye-popping 4S-exclusive titles in the pipeline that will be dropping before then.

The final aspect of performance is network speed and, as ever, your mileage can and will vary greatly depending on the relative strength or weakness of carriers in your area. But, regardless of carrier, the lack of LTE here is a definite disappointment. Top-tier phones on Android almost universally feature a fourth gee and, with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all finally onboard the LTE train to 4G Town, it's about time the iPhone hitched a ride too. Its omission surely helps battery life but hurts this device's status as a world-conquering wunderphone.

We tested a Sprint version of the phone and found that, with full bars on 3G, download speeds were averaging about 1Mbps down and .9Mbps up, with pings hovering around 70ms. Comparing that to a Nexus S 4G (with WiMAX disabled), also running on Sprint, we found download speeds to be quite comparable. Signal strength between the two phones was comparable as well.

Camera

Apple is quite proud of the iPhone 4's status as the most popular camera on photo sharing sites like Flickr, and now the company is finally giving all those guerilla photogs something good to capture pictures with. As was long rumored, the iPhone 4S steps up to an eight megapixel, backside-illuminated sensor that sits behind a new lens array with an f/2.4 aperture (improved from the old phone's f/2.8). More megapixels certainly don't equate to better pictures, but it's safe to say the new camera package here impresses.

But, what will impress you first is the speed. Apple is quite proud of the speed improvements for bringing up the camera app and taking the first picture, and it is a noticeable improvement over the 4 -- except when using the HDR mode that was introduced in iOS 4.1. Here it doesn't seem to be much if any quicker at all. Leave that off, though, and you'll be hopping from one shot to the next like someone who hasn't got time for shutter lag.

In our initial camera testing, we put ourselves into tourist mode: walking around, taking random pictures of things that tourists would. The quality of the resulting shots is definitely good, among the top top tier of shooters we've tested. The phone doesn't seem to be bothered by big differences in contrast (like the Galaxy S II) and does a good job focusing quickly and accurately -- we only had one or two missed macro shots.

Apple iPhone 4S review sample images

Video quality is also top-notch. The iPhone 4S will record at 1080p30 and we found the footage to be clear and bright. Auto-focus happens quickly and we didn't detect any obnoxious focus-hunting.

Overall the improvements on the camera are tangible and appreciated, but there's one thing Apple sadly failed to fix here: its location. The peep-hole for the lens is still too close to the edge of the device for our tastes, which resulted in many a stray finger sneaking into our shots. We'd have liked to see it sneak its way a little further toward the center of the phone.

Wrap-up

Is this the best iPhone yet? Yes, of course it is. The iPhone 4S takes the previous king, gives it some more pep and adds on a better camera to boot, all without really gaining any extra weight. This is, then, the best iPhone on the market, but that still leaves us with two unanswered questions: is it the best phone on the market, and is it worth the upgrade?

The first question is hard to answer. If you're into iOS, have a wealth of App Store purchases you'd like to keep using and in general are down with the Apple ecosystem then, yes, this is the best phone out there. If, however, you've been shopping around, or are already tight with Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry or Meego (hey, the N9 is pretty great) then it's hard to see this as a truly forward-looking device. The 3.5-inch display and abject lack of 4G connectivity alone make this phone feel a little too conservative to really tickle the fancy of those looking for something a bit more progressive.

So, then, is it worth the upgrade? Well, if your contract happens to be up and you want an iPhone and you haven't already jumped on the iPhone 4 then yes, this is the one you want. It does come at a $100 premium over its predecessor, but in the long run that premium will be worth it as the 4S will surely be supported by Apple for a good bit longer than the 4 (as the 3GS continues to be, while the 3G is now fading into obsolescence). But, if you're mid-contract or haven't quite yet been wooed by all that iOS has to offer, we'd recommend sitting this one out. The iPhone 4S does everything better than the iPhone 4, but it simply doesn't do anything substantially different.

Cell Phones : Sprint explains iPhone 4S unlocking policy

 Following yesterday's PR debacle, the final word from Sprint appears to be as follows:

"Sprint's policy is to have the iPhone 4S SIM locked to our network domestically and internationally. At launch, the International SIM will be unlocked. We do expect a SIM lock to be pushed to the devices shortly after launch. We will then allow existing customers in good standing to unlock the SIM for international use if needed in the future."

So, if we're reading that correctly, the iPhone you purchase and activate will be unlocked. Then, a SIM lock will be "pushed" to your device. But, if you've been a good, policy-abiding customer, your iPhone can then be unlocked manually by Sprint. Who knows what'll happen if you buy your phone and flee to a non-extradition country before Sprint comes knocking at the door, shackles in hand. Will you be left to live in peace with your newly-acquired international Micro SIM? Will you need to plead your case before a tribunal of mobile carrier overlords? Only time will tell, we suppose, or perhaps further clarification from Sprint.

 

Press Release

Sprint's policy is to have the iPhone 4S SIM locked to our network domestically and internationally. At launch, the International SIM will be unlocked. We do expect a SIM lock to be pushed to the devices shortly after launch. We will then allow existing customers in good standing to unlock the SIM for international use if needed in the future.

Customers can sign up for one of our international rate plans and use this phone all over the world. When traveling internationally, there is a setting that must be turned on within the device to connect to GSM. The phone will work with a SIM that is provided within the device out of the box. International voice and data charges are on a pay-as-you-go basis and vary based on the country where the customer is using their phone; a list of rates is available at www.sprint.com/international.

Sprint offers two international voice plans that customers can subscribe to for discounted voice rates:

* The Canada Roaming add-on is $2.99 per month and all calls placed from Canada are only 20 cents per minute. Without this add-on, calls from Canada are 59 cents per minute.

* The Sprint Worldwide Voice add-on is $4.99 per month and offers discounted rates in countries around the world. For example, calls from Italy are $1.69 per minute with this add-on or $1.99 per minute without the add-on; calls from Peru are $2.29 per minute with the add-on or $2.49 per minute without it.

Sprint does supply notifications of data roaming charges to protect customers from high costs. Notifications are sent to the customer's preferred method, either text or email, and are sent once the device exceeds approximately $50, $250, $500 and $1,000. To protect the customer from additional charges, the device's international data roaming capability will be suspended after the customer exceeds approximately $1,000 of international data charges in a billing cycle.

Cell Phones : BlackBerry outage spreads to US and Canada, continues in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America

It's day three of RIM's BlackBerry service outage in much of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil and Chile. But now the problem appears to have spread into Canada -- RIM's home turf.

Cell Phones : Apple iPhone 4S now shipping in 'one to two' weeks, over 200,000 AT&T pre-orders in first 12 hours

If there was any question of how hot a tamale Apple's iPhone 4S would be, the answer's edging toward muy caliente. AT&T's stated that the iPhone 4S has ushered in its best iPhone launch to date, receiving over 200,000 pre-orders for the device during the first 12 hours of availability (crediting its success to having the only US version operating over 14.4Mb/s HSPA+, aka FauxG). While that's good news for Ma Bell, as of today, you'll be looking at a wait time of "one to two weeks" after placing an order for this latest iThing (Sprint and Verizon included). We've yet to hear how the latter two telecoms have fared, but we'd imagine it won't be a secret for too long -- the iPhone 4S is officially available on October 14th, after all. 

Press Release

AT&T Statement on iPhone 4S Preorders

DALLAS, Oct. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T has seen extraordinary demand for iPhone 4S with more than 200,000 preorders in the first 12 hours alone, the most successful iPhone launch we've ever had. It's obvious customers like AT&T's 4G network, which is the only one that lets their iPhone download twice as fast and talk and surf simultaneously.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.

© 2011 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. Mobile broadband not available in all areas. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

Cell Phones : Sprint's LTE plans detailed: phones, tablets and modems coming by 2012

If you were holding out hope that Tuesday's Apple announcement would be trumped by an exclusive iPhone 5 on Sprint, prepare to be disappointed. The company's confirmed that no new handsets would be shown off at its Strategy Event today. Instead, the carrier is focusing on how it intends to bundle all of those separate radios -- CDMA, LTE, WiMAX -- into a future device line up. Emphasizing the need for an enhanced user experience over 4G technology marketing, the operator stressed a commitment to supporting existing WiMAX subs. Dual-mode CDMA / LTE products are set to launch in the middle of next year, with tablets, smartphones and modems across both the high-end and mid-range to be on offer. Motorola's Sanjay Jah appeared in a taped segment to confirm his company's involvement in the production of these 3G/4G products. Of course, Sprint plans to support current CDMA and WiMAX products, offering them for sale throughout 2012. As for Direct Connect, three of those Push-to-Talk handsets will hit the carrier in the last quarter of 2011, with additional devices planned for 2012.

Cell Phones : Radio Shack inventory screen pegs iPhone 5 for Sprint

Could it be? Are the rumors true? If this screenshot, apparently culled from Radio Shack's inventory system, is any indication, Sprint will indeed be among the carriers offering the iPhone 5. That lines up just right with previous reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, slating the phone to hit the Now Network in mid-October. There's no indication of actual dates at this point, but if Sprint's getting Apple's next-gen iPhone, we're guessing we'll hear more about it on Tuesday.

Cell Phones : Sprint set to end Bill to Account program on October 5th, all equipment must be purchased outright

Sprint's the last of the big four national carriers to offer a Bill to Account program, which allows equipment purchases to be billed directly to the customer's account (provided they're in good standing). Unfortunately, it's likely going to be the next consumer-friendly policy to get the boot out the door, never to be seen again. According to the SprintFeed screenshot, Sprint appears to be concerned that too many people are taking advantage of the service by terminating their plans before the equipment's actually paid off. We're uncertain of how much money this practice was costing the company, but the Now Network is looking to shave dollars off its expenditures any way it can before the inevitable LTE launch comes around. Farewell, Bill to Account