Apple unveils the iPhone 4S - 7x the graphics, 8MP camera, Siri voice recognition

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has finally lifted the lid on the company’s successor to the iPhone 4. And no, it isn’t called the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 4S comes with the same dual-core A5 chip found inside the iPad, producing a graphical grunt that’s apparently “seven times the power” of its S-deficient little brother.

To demonstrate, Epic Games took to the stage to with a demo of Infinity Blade 2 running on the phone, commenting that it could do “graphical techniques that aren’t even available on home gaming consoles”.

Away from gaming, the iPhone 4S sports a new wireless system that can switch between two antennae for transmission and recieving, allowing it to pick and choose the fastest place to download or upload data on the fly.

In Apple’s demonstration, that increase equated to 14.4Mbps on a HSDPA connection where the iPhone 4 can only get 7.2

Talking of flying, US readers will be pleased to note that the 4S is both GSM and CDMA compatible from the off, with both network standards supported, however LTE compatibility was conspicuous by its absence.

Also absent is the delay before photos are processed, with Apple’s official figures putting the 4S’s snapping speed at just 1.1 seconds (with a very exact 26 per cent better white balance and 30 per cent ‘more sharpness’, photography fans).

To rub Android owners’ noses in it, Apple then compared this to the Galaxy S II and others, with the charts naturally showing the iPhone well ahead.

The camera itself is an 8MP model (up from the 5MP on iPhone 4) and can shoot HD film in 1080p (up from 720p).

Also of note is the inclusion of AirPlay mirroring from the iPad 2, which allows you to stream that 1080p image directly to your TV (if you have the AppleTV box, of course).

One element that hasn’t improved over the iPhone 4 is the battery life.

Although the official stats displayed by Apple at the event put the 3G talk time as an hour longer than the iPhone 4, the rest of the numbers (wi-fi connection, 2G talktime, etc.) remain at the same levels as before.

Elsewhere, there was no real surprise in the look of the device - it looks a lot like an iPhone 4, with the same glass back, while the display remains at the same resolution.

Apple finished off the presentation by demonstrating Siri, the new voice recognition service for English, French, and German speaking users.

It's basically a slightly fancier version of the type I had on my Nokia 7110, but it can double up as a dictation app and works with the built-in apps like contacts.

One last thing...

Oh, wait. There was one last thing.

The iPhone 4S will cost $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for the 64GB model on a two-year contract.

This pushes the price of an iPhone 4 to $99 and the poor old 3GS 8GB down to free.

Best news of the night? The 4S will launch in the US, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and - yes - the UK on October the 14th. Otherwise known as next Friday.