I’ve just finished about two weeks with a new iPhone 4S.  Can’t give you a full review because of constraints on my time.  So let me answer the most frequently asked questions I have gotten about this thing:

“Is it better than the iPhone 4?”- The short answer is – yes it is.  But its better in the same way that a new model year Mercedes Benz that looks just like the previous model year, usually is.  There are changes under the hood, and maybe a few to the dashboard.  But the styling and performance remain true to the classic standards of well…Mercedes Benz.  Can you get a cheaper car that will get you where you want to go?  Of course you can, but if you want the best there is and you can afford it – you aren’t really going to be happy with a lesser car–now are you?

“Do I need to rush out to buy it if I have an iPhone?” – That’s harder to answer.  If you have an iPhone 4, you don’t have to upgrade.  If you have an iPhone 3GS or earlier, yes you will want to upgrade.  If you have any other phone, except for the very latest Android models maybe, then you should rush out and buy an iPhone 4S as soon as you can.  If you have a Blackberry, you are likely in serious denial or you have a company that won’t let you have an iPhone 4S as your work phone and are still in serious denial.  Sorry about that.

“What’s so great about the iPhone 4S?” – Everything that was already really great about the iPhone 4, but souped up a bit.  Faster in most respects.  Better quality camera built in, in all respects.  Some other smaller bells and whistles.  The fact that you can get an iPhone now on Sprint, in addition to Verizon and AT&T. (If you live in a place that is dominated by Sprint, or its your company’s preferred cell phone company, this is no small deal.  Plus, Sprint still offers unlimited data plans that really are unlimited.  Also no small deal.)

And there is the woman named Siri that is living inside every iPhone 4S.

“Yeah, I’ve seen the ads–does that Siri thing really work?” – Consider my answer as one coming from someone who has always dreamed of when computers would recognize the human voice and interact with us without keyboards.  Like every computer in every science fiction work since the 1950s.  And as someone who has been pretty disappointed with voice recognition technology over the past decades, despite trying every new version that has come along.

And the surprising answer, with only small qualifications, is yes.  Yes, “Siri” does work pretty much as advertised.  Sometimes a little slower than the television commercials (they do put in very small type that “sequences shortened” disclaimer).  But not that key premise that you push one button, the iPhone 4S beeps and then you ask it….er, rather..her what it is you want.

Apple bills Siri as a virtual assistant.  And she can sometimes be more helpful than a warm-blooded one.  At least when it comes to information and answering many questions, not all of them seriously.  Siri can’t go get you a cup of coffee or tell you how to get something done. But the ability to analyze a sentence like “Move my two o’clock meeting to three o’clock” and then actually carry out that action is pretty magical.  The only big caveat I’ve found is that you have to have internet service available on your phone (either via cellular connection or Wi-Fi) for Siri to operate.

The fact that she will actually attempt to any answer pretty much any question put to her, led this writer to ask:

“What is the meaning of life?”

Siri had the good sense to answer, “I’m not sure about that…what do you think it is?”
Normally, you’d pay about $125 an hour for that kind of advice in a therapist’s office.  A new iPhone 4S costs less than two hour-long visits.

It might not be the iPhone 5 that everyone was waiting for, but it is a very smart smartphone.