Apple Iphone 4S hands-on review

THE IPHONE 4S doesn't look any different from its predecessor, but like they say, it's what's inside that counts.

And our initial impressions are mixed. The Iphone 4S has a better processor, an improved camera and more storage. While we had a good initial experience with the Iphone 4S camera and browser, Siri doesn't seem to be quite there yet, at least in the UK.

Apple claims that the Iphone 4S device is 3g lighter. When we compare our Iphone 4S 16GB with our Iphone 4 16GB, we notice a slight difference in weight, we think.

The Iphone 4S has an A5 dual-core chip. It's an upgrade from the A4 processor in the Iphone 4, which is only single-core. Apple claims it can deliver up to twice the power and seven times faster graphics. We'll have more on that in our in-depth review next week.

As we said in our IOS 5 hands on, the Safari web browser is improved, adding improvements to the rendering engine that make it feel faster. Even on our Vodafone 3G connection there is a noticeable improvement in bringing up web pages. It's both faster and smoother.

The 5MP camera on the Iphone 4 has been bumped up to 8MP, which Apple claims "might be the best camera ever on a phone". It also has a bigger aperture of f2.4, while the illumination sensor has been improved, and there's additional face detection. The video camera can shoot in HD 1080p rather than HD 720p, and it has added video stabilisation that the Iphone 4 camera doesn't have.

The camera does appear to have been improved. We took a few snaps in The INQUIRER's office on both an Iphone 4 and the Iphone 4S. Pictures taken on the Iphone 4S definitely look clearer and better defined at long range. At short range we didn't notice a huge difference.