Well, it happened, Apple did indeed talk iPhone on the ‘Lets Talk iPhone’ event on Tuesday, but did they introduce what we all wanted? Well, that depends who you are, what do we mean by that, well we’ll get in to that.

Some interesting stats

Apple kicked off the keynote like they always do, with the “here’s how we are doing” section, where Apple announced some interesting stats, in fact throughout the keynote some very interesting stats were announced.

• Mac OS X Lion is the fastest adopted OS yet, with a comparison of Windows 7 adoption to 10%. Apple claim the “Digital only” approach of Mac OS X Lion made this much more possible
• iOS still top OS. Now, this is completely different wherever you look, Apple used July US marketshare in the keynote.
• The iPhone 4 is the #1 Smartphone in the world! This is incredible, especially when you look at the fact that the 3GS is the second.

iPod Updates

Of course Apple was going to bring some updates to iPod and many were  expecting Apple to not only update just 2 of the lineup, but discontinue the rest! Well, we can confirm right now, Apple did do ‘minor’ updates to the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. By minor we’re talking small price changes … thats it! The iPod Touch does now come in white, which is great! Here’s the updates in more form.

 – The iPod Shuffle is still here for £40 for 2GB memory, same colours, same iPod Shuffle.

 – The iPod Nano saw a few updates. The menus can now be viewed either with 4 icons per page or zoomed in and scroll through one at a time. An updated Nike+ app supporting Running. More Clocks as most people use iPod Nanos for watches now thanks to some pretty awesome accessories. And a price drop. I was hoping for a 32GB iPod Nano but oh well.

• 8GB iPod Nano = Now at lower price of £115
• 16GB iPod Nano = Now at lower price of £129, which used to be the 8GB price point.

   – The iPod Classic is still available. The same old Classic iPod, which ever way round you write it, still available, still £199, still 160GB.

 – The iPod Touch now is available in White. Thats actually it for the iPod Touch updates. Its interesting that the iPod Touch didn’t get the A5 Processor, this, I think is what stopped us getting a redesigned iPhone, more on that later. The iPod Touch will of course ship with iOS 5.

• 8GB iPod Touch now cheaper at £169. 32GB and 64GB versions are £249 and £329 respectively

And that was iPod.

iPhone Updates

Apple had been rumoured for a long time to be introducing a whole new iPhone that would be much, much thinner, have tapered edges and more, but I supposed thats whats called being pulled in by the rumours. Apple ended up introduced the iPhone 4S. I know what you’re thinking, thats a familiar way to name an iPhone, yep, same way they went from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS, and you know what its eerily a lot similar. Same design, faster and has a voice feature exclusive, just like when 3GS was released. OK, its obviously more than that, but thats how most people are taking it, and there are many reasons why some would be very disappointed by this, but I for one aren’t, and I’ll go through the main features of the iPhone 4S and see if I can change your mind a bit too.

The iPhone 4S is powered by the Apple A5 chip, which in English brings Dual-Core 1GHz processing power, and compared to the iPhone 4 A4 chip, it brings 7x faster graphics, the increased graphics is of big importance as mobile gaming is taking over.

With the A5 chip, you can also do some of the unique iPad 2 features, such as AirPlay mirroring (or wired mirroring using Apple’s HDMI adapter) which is going to be great for the iPhone 4S, especially as ‘Real Racing 2’ have announced they will support iPhone 4S to do the same experience with the racing game as on iPad 2. Controls shown on iPhone 4S, gameplay shown in Full Screen 1080 on the TV, wonderful.

The iPhone 4S now features an 8 Mega Pixel camera compared to the 5 Mega Pixel camera found in the iPhone 4. But Apple haven’t just stopped at Mega Pixel, they’ve kept it going. Adding much more advanced features to the lense such as All New Optics in the camera ‘using five precision elements to shape incoming light’. Long story short, great pictures.

Apple also improved the video capture of the iPhone 4S, which now shoots Full HD 1920×1080 1080P video at 30fps. The iPhone 4S now even uses the built in Gyroscope to automatically stabilise the video live resulting in much better video. We’re sure as soon as the iPhone 4S is launched, many will have Video on sites like YouTube to show us just how good the video is, Android handsets 1080P has been very disappointing, so we’ll see eh.

Who can forget iOS.

With Apple’s upcoming release, iOS 5, over 200 features are expected to arrive. This update will also be available for iPhone 3GS, 4, iPod Touch 3rd and 4th gen as well as all iPads as well.

If any feature of the new iPhone 4S is going to make you get it over an iPhone 4 of lower its Siri. You may recognise the name Siri, and Siri is far from new on the iPhone. It first arrived in the form of an iPhone app back in 2008, but since then Apple acquired the company and its now better than ever and built in to the OS. The Siri app in the App Store is no longer in the App Store anymore as well, shame, making Siri iPhone 4S exclusive. But it works very well, here’s an Apple video below.

Apple – Introducing Siri on iPhone 4S

Yes, the iPhone 4S has exactly the same 3.5inch Retina Display found in the iPhone 4 which is great … I think anyway, some people wanted larger displays, but hey, everyones for themselves. One thing that is different appearance wise for the iPhone 4S is the Antenna bands are in different places, similar to the placings on the US Verizon version with the exception of the additional band on the top beside the headphones socket. Whilst some might think this is weird its also beneficial as its meaning no more anntenna-gate.

Connectivity wise, the iPhone 4S is pretty impressive too.also a World Phone

• The iPhone 4S is a World Phone meaning both GSM and CDMA networks will work on one single device, great for worldwide users.
• 802.11N Wi-Fi and first for iPhone, Bluetooth 4.0
• The iPhone 4S (on GSM) also features 18MBs down, which if you work for HTC is 4G, yes, the iPhone 4S has 4G!!! Now, Apple don’t believe this is 4G, but hey, still pretty impressive if it is or isn’t. … Of course network support needed.

Its also got the obvious nitty gritty, better battery life or so they say, everything else is like the iPhone 4. But still rather impressive.

iPhone Pricing

iPhone 3GS – Remains on Sale. Same 8GB model, allegedly Free on Contract. (£319*)

iPhone 4 – Remains on Sale in a new 8GB only model. (£429*)

iPhone 4S – 16GB (£499*), 32GB (£599*) and a first for iPhone, a 64GB (£699*)

*prices for SIM Free

Other iOS News

iOS 5 Release Date

Apple’s all new iOS 5 Update will arrive upon iPhone 5 Launch of Friday 14th October, the O2 rumors was true

New App: Cards

I’m literally talking about this quickly as it got a very mute reception. Essentially, new app in the App Store, allows you to make a Card, yes a card like Hallmark, and Apple will send it to you, simple as! ……. yeeeeaaaahhh.

New App: Find My Friends

Bit freaky, but like Find My iPhone, this allows you to Find Your Friends by location. Don’t worry though, its invite only, and you can be ‘temporarily’ discoverable, so pretty nifty feature if used right!

iCloud

iCloud will be released on the 14th October within the iOS 5 update. We mentioned iCloud in previous blogs. More info at Apple’s website.

Watch the Keynote Address