Apple fails to deliver NFC in the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 is a no show

Apple fails to deliver NFC in iPhone 4s, iPhone 5 was a no show

Apple delivers a disappointing minor upgrade it called the iPhone 4S today, and that didn’t include any NFC functionality at all. Consumers didn’t get NFC in the iPhone 4S and as such, Apple has shown that it is falling behind the times. It isn’t that the iPhone 4S isn’t a great looking smartphone and it does have the best selection of apps of any operating system. However, with NFC marching forward and models already in the marketplace, the iPhone 5 without NFC doesn’t represent the creative and forward thinking advancement we have come to expect from Apple. Now Android, Microsoft and many other competitors, including Samsung, have the competitive edge over Apple in NFC. We wouldn’t be too shocked if this lack of support for the iPhone 5 didn’t tarnish Apple’s glossy, glossy image and begin a declining process that will see Apple fall from the enviable position it has now held for years.

The frustrating thing is that Apple has everything it needed to deploy a wonderful NFC experience. It could have used a secured version of iCloud as its provisioning service. It has worked on the iTravel and iCruise apps, and a tie-in with iTunes could have given Apple an already universal payment acceptance method that the company would just have had to add the NFC component. But it didn’t. The biggest feature announced in the iPhone 4S was the Siri integration, which is an impressive personal assistant feature. It allows users to ask their iPhones a question and then it responds. It also can set up meetings and take certain actions that a user requests. Whereas Siri is a truly impressive application that iOS 5 now comes with, we wonder if it is enough to hold Apple at the top for another year.

Many of the team here at NFC Rumors have had iPhones from version one, and the conversation that is going on in the office right now revolves around a near unanimous fleeing from the iPhone to Android. We would imagine both Google and Microsoft are very pleased with the iPhone 4S launch because it leaves both companies free and clear to get NFC products to market before Apple can respond. The iPhone 4S doesn’t even support LTE which many users would have hoped for. There was no mention of Sprint or any other carrier for that matter.

Apple iPhone 4S aesthetics

We didn’t know whether we would see a new design or just a slight configuring of the iPhone 4 design being implemented into the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S visually looks the same as the iPhone 4, but Phil Schiller assured us that it is all different inside. Apple fans have waited well over a year now for the latest and greatest iPhone and have been delivered what appears to be the same phone with a few tweaks and some new software.

iPhone 4S specifications

It now has the Apple A5 dual core processor, but we didn’t hear a clock speed for that thinker. For now, we can only assume it is still the same speed of 1GHz  being run through the iPhone 4S. Apple went really light on details about the iPhone 4S which suggests there wasn’t much to tell. It is also now a world phone, which means it will work on both CDMA and GSM networks which is great for people who travel. Perhaps not as surprising since the iPhone 4S maintains many of the specifications we see today in the now last generation iPhone 4.

• 2x faster than iPhone 4
• Dual-core graphics processor which is 7x faster graphics than iPhone 4
• Retina display
• Battery Life 3G 8 hrs, 2G talk time 14 hours, 3G browsing six hours, WiFi Browsing 9 hours, Video 10 hours, Music 40 hours.
• Dual-core processor (Speed not specified)
• New 8-megapixel camera. The new camera has 26% better auto white balance and face detection. Takes the first photo in 1.1 seconds which Apple assures us is fast compared to anything else on the market.
• Video Recording 1080p vide recording. Video image stabilization. Temporal noise reduction. Best video camera that many Apple iPhone users have ever owned says Phil.
• Airplay mirroring
• Siri: voice control: Users can ask their iPhones questions like how is the weather today, Siri responds ”Here is the forecast for today” or “what is the time in Paris?” “Siri responds the time in Paris is 8.16pm”
• Wake me up at 6am “Ok,I set it for 6am” or How is the NASDEQ doing today? “NASDEQ Composite is down right now at 2,31.70″ The Siri system also handles updates, meetings and tasks and is location aware. Just hold down the handset and say “read my message” and Siri does so. Siri also remembers meetings and dates. During the presentation Scott Forstall asked Siri to remind him to call his wife when he left work. Siri already knew who his wife was and setup a geofence around work.
• The iPhone 4S also gets “Dictation” but it is in beta for English, French and German languages
• Antenna appeared to be the same as the Verizon iPhone 4.
• the iPhone 4S comes in black and white, 16GB $199, 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399
• iPhone 4 now $99 for 8GB and iPhone 3GS now free on contract. Available 14th of October in the US,Canada, Australia,UK,France,Germany and Japan. Everywhere else gets it 28th October.

iOS 5 for the iPhone 4S

• Messaging service that uses 3G + WiFi to send messages to all of your iOS products
• Reminder app which is location aware.
• Twitter integration deep in all aspects of the OS
• Newstand which acts like iBooks for magazines and other publications.
• AF Lock to use volume up button to take a photo
• Tabbed browsing speaks for itself
• Reading List in Safari that syncs across devices so you can store and mark articles and content as read.
• Wireless updates, the iPhone is finally PC free.

iPhone 4s without NFC and LTE