The PG team talks: Has iPhone 4S collided with the hype machine?

So, Apple has finally announced the iPhone 4S. There was feverish speculation leading up to yesterday's event, exacerbated by the fact that Apple didn't stick with its own tradition and announce the latest iPhone back in June.

We waited. We speculated, even more than usual. And then a series of senior Apple executives took to the stage in Cupertino and introduced us to a handset that looks an awful lot like last year's iPhone 4.

Yes, Apple's Phil Schiller was keen to stress that iPhone 4S is completely new on the inside, but the world likes Apple products because of how they look on the outside. A better camera and a faster processor don't mean much to the man on the street.

Okay, so iPhone 4S has more going for it than that, including a neat-looking voice recognition-powered personal assistant called Siri. But the reception has undeniably been muted.

If you look on BBC News this morning, for instance, you'll see that tech correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones has published an article with the headline 'Tim Cook's dull debut'.

Is the iPhone 4S really a letdown? Or has it simply collided with its own inexorable hype machine?

In short, Apple's latest gizmo is worth the wait - I think the iPhone 4S is a bigger upgrade than its name suggests.

Although it's slightly disappointing to see Apple release an evolutionary - not revolutionary - device after a 16-month gap, the iPhone 4S's new features (dual-core processor, 8MP camera, 1080p video recording, Siri ) make it one of the best smartphones on the market. At least at launch.

Sure, the iPhone is in desperate need of a larger screen, and there are quad-core Android phones just around the corner, but Apple's new device is a worthy stand-in while we wait for the iPhone 4's true successor.

Hopefully, we only have to wait until June / July 2012 for it.

I'm sure the Apple hardcore will be pleased with the boost in power and the introduction of 1080p video recording, but when compared to what's happening in Android circles right now, the iPhone 4S is distinctly underwhelming.

By the close of the year, we may well be seeing quad-core Android phones making their way onto the market, and the iPhone 4S will seem even less impressive then.

However, as Apple has proven time after time, processing power and technological grunt are irrelevant when you have an iconic brand and the most robust and vibrant application store on the planet. The iPhone 4S will sell like hotcakes, make no mistake about it.

The iPhone 4S is exactly what Apple should be releasing right now. Verizon customers got the original iPhone 4 earlier this year, so it wouldn't make much sense to give them the iPhone 5, and Sprint customers are just happy to have an iPhone available. Now, Apple can offer all of them the iPhone 5 a year from now.

As far as gaming specifically is concerned, critics are glazing over the faster processor (the A5 powering the iPad 2), the improved Game Center service, and AirPlay Mirroring.

Forget the iPhone 4S and its little bag of tricks. Who cares. The feature-packed iOS 5? Yawn-a-rooney, am I right?

The real star of the Apple keynote - the big new feature that made 8MP cameras and robot assistants seem positively dull by comparison - came long before those announcements.

In one industry-changing, revolutionary move, Apple will lay siege to two of its biggest competitors: MoonPig and Funky Pigeon. With Cards, an upcoming app for iPhone and iPod touch, you can now lazily recognise birthdays and routinely celebrate outdated Pagan traditions with a few taps. If that's not game changing, I don't know what is.

Your move, Android.

There will undoubtedly be some who were disappointed when Apple lifted the lid on an iPhone 4S rather than an iPhone 5 yesterday, but to some extent, the difference between the two comes down to little more than a name.

While it's likely the iPhone 5 will sport a whole host of features missing from the iPhone 4S, Apple is doing what it has always done since the first iPhone hit the market -enough. When you look at the bare bones of iPhone 4S and iOS 5 combined, there's very little there on paper to worry Apple's rivals or get consumers excited, yet the continued strength of the iOS ecosystem means it will sell millions and millions in the coming months.

So, is iPhone 4S worth the wait? For those who love iPhone, yes - it keeps Apple at the front of the pack. For those on the fence? It might make them consider picking up an Android or Windows Phone instead, but not in sufficient numbers to cause Apple any great worry.

The problem for Apple is the hysteria that surrounds any Apple event, meaning the company has to continually change everything. Again. However, Apple has brought this upon itself, so I have limited sympathy.

Apple is now compelled to come up with something revolutionary every time, but that's just not feasible given the fact that the iPhone 4 was already, and still is, a very decent phone. What's more, Apple is no longer just about hardware. It is constantly seeking to offer more services that will one day earn Apple a percentage of everything you listen to, watch, read, or play.

iOS 5 may have been announced before, but this - along with iCloud - was what Apple really wanted to promote. Apple knew it had no choice but to release a new iPhone, but a mid-cycle refresh was simply in keeping with how Apple manages all its other product lines. Should anyone have really been surprised or disappointed?

Siri will probably be just another FaceTime, which has enjoyed success with some users. A better camera, more speed, and higher storage, meanwhile, are no bad things -even if all that comes at a hefty price. I just wouldn't be rushing to upgrade if I already had an iPhone 4, knowing that the next iPhone will be the 'big one'.

The question of whether the iPhone 4S is worth the wait isn't the issue here.

There is no wait, which is why we have the iPhone 4S, not the iPhone 5. Apple wants to be innovative, but now it's trapped into a yearly update cycle for its phones, which means that some years there will only be a half-step update, especially now it's also running the iPad hardware team at a six-month discontinuity.

And, let's face it, a year ago, everyone thought iPhone 4 was amazing, but it didn't work as a phone when you held it. How quickly we forget.

I think Apple was in a difficult position with this year's hardware update. The iPhone 4 was a fairly radical redesign, and it's a hugely popular phone. In a sense, it would be insane to discard it in favour of another redesign just to make a splash.

However, the smartphone war is bloodier this year than ever before. It's an arms race, and in amongst that Apple was always going to look a bit lame if it didn't produce something dramatic and impressive.

Ultimately, journalists who wanted fireworks will be disappointed, Android fanboys will carp, and perhaps some of that will filter down into consumer attitudes. Apple has always traded on its coolness and if people sense that its coolness is dissipating, perhaps they'll slowly start to drift into the arms of other OSs.

But, iPhone 4S is better than the best phone currently available by a reasonable margin. What more can anybody ask?

The thing that Apple always tends to get right is the ‘wow’ factor in its promos. The cool new feature of this year Siri took up a good quarter of its keynote, yet here’s why I think it isn’t going to work or wow anybody.

Look at all those Americans, baking cupcakes, scheduling meetings whilst on their daily jogs in an effort to look even more ruggedly handsome. Listen to the way they speak. Count the number of regional accents. It's gonna be a bloodbath.

By the same token, I suspect Siri is going to struggle distinguishing the vocal intricacies of everything from Manx to Highland Scottish here in the UK. If Siri can't pull it off, I see no reason to choose the iPhone over any of the faster, cheaper Android devices.

As the owner of an increasingly decrepit Android handset, I’ve been eyeing up the iPhone for a while now. I’ve cast envious glances at my friends’ iPhones for a while as they download app after app without a care for memory limitations or installing apps to SD.

So, for me, the iPhone 4S does the job nicely. Faster and with more graphical grunt that the iPhone 4, and with all that lovely Siri nonsense bundled in as well.

This is just the incentive I need to finally desert my knackered, old HTC. Now, I just need to figure out if I can afford one.

From a gaming perspective, there's not really a lot here to get excited about: a bit of extra poke under the bonnet graphically, but the iPhone 4 was already pretty powerful. And whilst some games will undoubtedly look lusher on iPhone 4S, I'm not convinced it'll make a big difference to players or sales.

In terms of the other tech, there is the potential for voice control coming into games, which could open a new vein of creativity or add an extra element to games where touchscreen alone is a limitation.

I can see the Siri Assistant as being something that's massively trumpeted in marketing campaigns and potentially picked up by the mainstream media as a revolutionary feature. However, I'm personally less certain about whether this will become essential or whether it's more of a novelty that most people will try once and rarely go back to, like video calling.

Ultimately then, the iPhone 4S is a tentative toe forward rather than the usual stride, and it can't be seen as anything more than a stopgap, really. I feel a bit sorry for the new guy (Tim Cook), who was left without any real 'boom' moment - this will inevitably lead some commentators to point to a post-Jobs company wobble.

Whilst I wouldn't go that far, I think it's fair to say the rest of the market is catching up (and in some cases clearly getting too close for Apple's comfort - cough - Samsung). As a slightly improved iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S will still be one of the best phones in the market, and remains blessed with Apple's magic dust, so it will continue to sell well. It's not a handset that I'll be clamouring to get hold of or to add to my current iPhone 4 / Galaxy S II combo, mind.

If you're disappointed by the iPhone 4S, you've lost perspective.

What?! No Project Spartan? No improvement to screen resolution? No larger display? No true 4G network support? No NFC support? You're having a laugh, aren't you, Mr Apple?

Well, no, the Cupertino kids aren't joking around in the slightest. The problem is that the round-the-clock speculation that envelops an iPhone launch reduces the element of surprise. So, while a faster processor, an enhanced camera, and Siri voice control are perfectly acceptable new features, they're all, well, predictable.

To make the 16-month wait for the next generation of its bestselling smartphone truly worthwhile, Tim Cook and team needed to deliver the spectacular. The unforeseen. The unexpected. A 3D screen, then, perhaps, though Nintendo's current travails in that department may have curtailed that idea.

All in all, the iPhone 4S appears to be a decent albeit slightly underwhelming upgrade to Apple's existing high-end blower given the incessant hype. Don't be surprised to see a 'true' iPhone 5 sooner than you might expect, however.