iPhone 4S - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Mobile phone sales drop for the first time since 2009

  Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 1.75 billion units in 2012, a 1.7 per cent decline from 2011 earlier despite record smartphone sales in the fourth quarter last year, according to Gartner.
  

• Samsung surpasses Apple in ANZ mobile market: IDC

  Fresh on the heels of its tablet court case, Samsung has taken first place from Apple in the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) mobile phone market in Q3, according to IDC’s ANZ Quarterly Mobile Devices Tracker.
  

• Apple's iPhone 4S battery troubles now joined by new problems

  Apple says it's still investigating battery drain issues with the iPhone 4S after some users complained that the iOS 5.0.1 update didn't solve their problems. But now Apple is facing new gripes that the iOS 5.0.1 update is causing more problems with the iPhone 4S including; microphone failures, Wi-Fi signal loss, and cellular network reception issues, according to reports.

• Samsung fails to get access to Apple's carrier contracts

  Samsung today in the Federal Court backed away from its demand for access to the full versions of Apple’s carrier agreements after the latter’s legal counsel successfully claimed the information sought was not in the documents.

• 5 hidden features in iOS 5

  Who knew Apple's iOS 5 mobile operating system held so many secrets? Developers and sleuthing hackers have been hard at work since Apple released the OS in October unearthing a number of hidden features and tweaking the OS to do things it was never intended to do.

• Thursday Grok: Are iPhone 4S sales about to tank?

  Tracking market share on a weekly or monthly basis, as many product managers do in the IT industry, is a guaranteed first class ticket to the Loon Lounge. You need to ride the helicopter occasionally, take a look through the wide angle lens. Breathe in for seven seconds. Hold for five seconds. Breathe out for seven seconds. Much better. Now panic — iPhone 4S sales may be tanking.

• Apple promises a fix for iPhone 4S battery issues

  Angry iPhone 4S owners take note: You were right about the battery problems with your new smartphone.

• Wednesday Grok: No juice in your sparkling iPhone 4S

  Batteries are boring...until they stop working, then they are very, very boring. Right now, the most boring battery in the world is the one in Apple's new iPhone 4S. Where's our talk time? Where's all that tasty standby time?

• Hacking Apple's Siri: Not so easy

  Hackers looking to port Apple's Siri digital assistant to iOS devices other than the iPhone 4S claim to have a rudimentary version of Siri running on the original iPad. Twitter user Jackoplane recently posted screenshots online showing Siri fully integrated into the iPad's operating system. The only problems is Siri can't do much on the iPad right now since most of Siri's processing takes place on Apple servers. Similar to the version of Siri on the iPhone 4 that hacker Steve Troughton-Smith had up and running earlier in October, the iPad doesn't appear to be able to interface with Apple's servers.

• Five things Apple needs to do to improve Siri

  Siri and I just met a few days ago. I think we're getting along pretty well so far (although she seems to get a bit testy and sarcastic when I ask her to "open the pod bay doors."). As great as Siri seems, though, Apple is calling this a beta and I can see why.

• What Google's Rubin doesn't understand about Siri

  The head of Google's Android mobile OS, Andy Rubin, doesn't think your smartphone should be your personal assistant. In comments made during an interview at the AsiaD conference this week, Rubin downplayed the impact of Siri -- the voice interactive personal assistant included with the iPhone 4S.

• Early iPhone 4S problems

  According to Apple, the iPhone 4S is selling very, very well. But not everyone is having a smooth experience with Apple's latest handset. A handful of issues are causing problems for a subset of users.

• In pictures: Vodafone paints the store red for iPhone 4S launch

  Vodafone went red all over for its official Australian launch of the iPhone 4S in Sydney. The telco will be selling the iPhone 4S from more than 100 stores nationally, and it promises there will be more phones and less queues than before. Special guests included fashion designer, Wayne Coopers, and Operator Please drummer, Tim Commandeur.

• Telstra details iPhone 4S pricing

  Telstra has joined the raft of other Australian telcos to announce pricing and availability for the iPhone 4S ahead of its launch on 14 October.

• iPhone 4S pre-orders break Apple's record

  Apple has revealed that it has received more than 1 million pre-orders for its next-generation smartphone, the iPhone 4S, in just 24 hours.