Apple iPhone 4S review

Performance isn’t the only improvement. Battery life is also improved. In our standard smartphone battery test, which plays an MP3 file on continuous loop, the 4S lasted an astonishing 58 hours and 15 minutes. This beats the iPhone 4 by almost 10 hours. It also lasted for exactly 12 hours when playing a video with the screen set to 50 per cent brightness, which is seriously impressive.

Photos and videos were clearly a priority for Apple, as the 4S’s rear camera has been upgraded with an 8-megapixel backlit sensor and new, faster optics with a maximum aperture of f/2.4. You can also use one of the volume buttons as a shutter button – a real boon. Looking at the 4 and 4S’s photos side by side, it’s clear that there’s more detail, just as you would expect when comparing any 5-megapixel image with an 8-megapixel version. The cropped portions of the images below show just how much extra detail you get with the iPhone 4S. Since both are 100% crops, there’s less viewable area in the 4S’s photo here.

iPhone 4S:

iPhone 4:

The extra resolution means videos are recorded at 1,920×1,080. Again, the difference in detail levels is immediately noticeable. Our only criticism is that the metering system tended towards overexposure, so cloudy skies lacked the detail of the iPhone 4’s videos. However, we’d still prefer to carry a iPhone 4S for the extra detail. Another advantage is electronic stabilisation. Watching identical videos from the 4S and 4, which were shot while walking along, it’s obvious that the iPhone 4S has far less jerky motion. You can tap the screen to set an area for exposure, focus and stabilisation.

Here’s the video from the new iPhone 4s, click through to YouTube for a 1080p HD version

Here’s the video from the iPhone 4, click through to YouTube for a 720p HD version