Freitag, Oktober 21, 2011
Donnerstag, Oktober 20, 2011
人物专访：上帝创造斯嘉丽
Hi，
我在iWeekly·周末画报 for iPhone中发现了这篇文章，想与你分享:
人物专访：上帝创造斯嘉丽
在外滩华尔道夫酒店，斯嘉丽·约翰逊（Scarlett Johansson）换上了让自己觉得舒服的家居服，开襟衫加休闲长裤，重新焕发了神采。斯嘉丽笑说自己的打扮就是典型的纽约风格，"我来自纽约。我从小的梦想就是成为一个成功的演员，所以一直努力工作，然后就真的成为了一个职业演员。"
斯嘉丽的父亲是个建筑设计师，而她母亲是个制片人，祖辈亦有从事导演、编剧工作。她童年时就有登台机会，第一次参与大银幕演出是9岁。14岁那年，参演根据畅销小说改编的电影《马语者》（The Horse Whisperer，1998年），引发了广泛的关注。
19岁不到时，她又凭借了索菲亚·科波拉（Sofia Coppola）导演的电影《迷失东京》（Lost in Translation，2003年）一举成名，从少女到女人，她的转型和身体发育一样及时。当时她才18岁，而女主角是个少妇。这个令她顺利转型，并开拓了她的好莱坞之路的角色，来得比大多数人以为的容易。"索菲亚写了电影剧本后，她了解我以前的一些工作，她把剧本寄给我，我读后非常喜欢，所以我问剧组能不能加入他们，并最终获得了这个角色。"
斯嘉丽·约翰逊谈起自己的第一部伍迪·艾伦（Woody Allen）电影时，笑着说："第一次看完《赛末点》（Match Point，2005年）的剧本时我完全是一头雾水，与我期望的完全不一样。我甚至都不知道这部电影的观点和想要表达的是什么。当我知道他在写剧本的时候，我最初以为那是个喜剧或是戏剧之类的。"
的确，《赛末点》并非一部典型的伍迪·艾伦式的影片，与他以往的任何一部作品都不一样。结果当然很不错—艾伦先生给够了斯嘉丽展现性感的场景，淋漓尽致地挖掘出了她的魅力。连一向对这位出道顺利、似乎有些过于顺利的女星持观望态度的《纽约时报》，也给予了她极高的评价，"《赛末点》背离了伍迪·艾伦式的诙谐讽刺和情感上的游离，约翰逊小姐和里斯-迈耶斯先生（Rhys-Meyers）为观众呈现了伍迪·艾伦电影中前所未有的最好的'动作'场面。"
电影《独家新闻》（Scoop，2006年）带来的拍摄经历不太一样，在《独家新闻》里，伍迪·艾伦是以导演兼演员的身份与斯嘉丽演对手戏的，"当他是个演员在和你对台词时，会突然停下来说不不，你应该怎样怎样，这很奇怪，但也很有意思。"
紧接着就是《午夜巴塞罗那》（Vicky Cristina Barcelona，2008年）。紧锣密鼓地合作了三部片子之后，伍迪·艾伦在电影首映式上，手揽着斯嘉丽，坚决否认了她是自己的缪斯女神的说法，"这么说太蠢了—她怎么可能是我的缪斯，但她的确是美国最出色的女演员之一。"
当时，斯嘉丽刚订婚。尽管她一贯宣称，"一夫一妻制"太难了，它是违背人的本性的，她还是曾经走进过婚姻的殿堂，她说："我坚信，你必须爱自己，其后才可能爱其他人。学会去爱另外一个特别的人，对我而言是个巨大的挑战。"爱，从来没有个公允的方程式可以计量。斯嘉丽又说："对我而言，很难给出一个定义，说哪一种爱是正确的，也很难说应该怎样去爱。两性关系太复杂了，而且你有各种各样的方式去爱。"
"做一个独立的女人很重要。"她反对一些媒体所追捧的竹竿美人，"在好莱坞女人们被误导了，一些人疯狂地节食，这样根本不健康。"但是，她赞赏好莱坞精神，并身体力行：永远专注地做自己喜欢的事情，竭尽全力，达成目标。
Q：你曾经批评过在媒体和好莱坞的蛊惑下，女人们疯狂地节食，你反对这样的做法。但你本人就是"性感"的代言人，你是怎么保持身材的？
A：哈哈，谢谢。运动！要吃得好。通常，我会做大量的运动，让自己保持活跃，这点非常重要。如果我不锻炼，会感到浑身不自在。并且我吃得非常健康，像蔬菜、水果，一个不能少。我时常会被邀请去出席宴会，吃一顿丰盛的大餐，我也从不担心，因为我第二天就会去健身房！
Q：影评人Mick LaSalle曾说过，斯嘉丽看起来在生活中从没有过优柔寡断的时刻，她一贯表现得有信心和能力，你觉得这个评论正确吗？
A：我不同意Mick的观点。与别人一样，其实在生活中面临抉择的时刻，我也会犹豫。我有过多种多样的经历，有机遇，有挑战；有喜剧，有悲剧。我认为成功是做了正确决定的结果。你要学会思考，学会做决定，这非常必要。
Q：你是一个女权主义者吗？
A：在过去，对女权主义原本的定义是指女性为追求与男性平等地位而进行的斗争，因为当时女性受压迫和歧视的现象非常严重。我不知道如今社会对女权主义者的定义是什么，但我肯定是支持女性的。你知道，我自己就是一个很独立的女性。
Q：你在公开场合表示过反对一夫一妻制，你认为在人类天性和一夫一妻制中存有潜在冲突，为什么会有这样的观点？
A：的确，我讲过。我这么认为，是觉得维持一夫一妻制是件很难的事。然而在一段关系里，我还是会忠于伴侣，我也羡慕能够做到这一点的夫妻。在相处过程中，你经常能从对方身上发现价值和闪光点，但永远和同一个人相处确实是一种挑战，我认为有一定困难。在人的一生中，总会遇见许多不同的人，我觉得，一夫一妻制并不那么自然。比如，在一些原始部落中，他们并不遵循一夫一妻制。
Q：还记得你在电影《另一个博林家的女孩》（The Other Boleyn Girl，2008年）里扮演的Mary吗？ 你会喜欢那种个性的女孩吗？以满分十分为例，会给她打几分？
A：我记得那部电影，它是根据原著翻拍的。拍摄前我反复阅读了原作，因为这本书是以Mary为第一人称来写的，展现了许多人物的内心戏。我想来给一个人物评分是非常难的，我认为她是当时那样社会环境里的幸存者。她的出身使她没有权利决定自己人生的走向，但是她有着坚强的性格和意志。在戏中，与她的姐姐Ann相比，她更害羞、保守、顺从。
Q：伍迪·艾伦说过你是"上帝给男人的恩赐"，这句话广为流传，他也给过你不少好角色，他在你的生活中是怎样的位置？
A：我已经和伍迪·艾伦做了七年的朋友了。我们相识于英格兰的一个夏天，在一起拍戏，相处得非常融洽。他总是在各方面鼓励我。当我在生活中经历变动、面临抉择的时候，我总是会征询他的意见，他总能给我智慧的建议。就算不合作，我都可以去找他；只要知道这个朋友一直在那里，我就非常开心了。说起来，伍迪·艾伦在私底下会呈现不同的一面，有一点点羞涩。
Q：你8岁出道时就出演过舞台剧，还曾参演过阿瑟·米勒（Arthur Miller）的经典戏剧《桥上的一瞥》（A View From the Bridge），能谈谈你在百老汇的演出经历吗？
A：我非常享受戏剧演出时的感觉，前期我也会对参演做大量的准备工作，学会优雅地和人交流。当我还是个小女孩时，有一些机会参与演出，我感到很幸运，如同梦想成真。在百老汇最初演出时，会有些不真实的感觉，那与以往的经历都不同。但是无论发生什么，只要一心向前就可以了。我记得有一晚演出时，一位男演员吃了一口苹果，但不小心被呛住了，他非常着急，我们也不知道该怎么办，但他一边被呛着一边保证了演出的顺利进行。所以演出时会发生一些奇怪和疯狂的事情。
=======================
本文来自全球领先的时尚生活方式媒体
iWeekly·周末画报 for iPhone
您可以访问我们的官方网站获取详情 http://iweek.ly
或在App Store中直接获取 http://itunes.apple.com/app/id453405026?&mt=8
我在iWeekly·周末画报 for iPhone中发现了这篇文章，想与你分享:
人物专访：上帝创造斯嘉丽
在外滩华尔道夫酒店，斯嘉丽·约翰逊（Scarlett Johansson）换上了让自己觉得舒服的家居服，开襟衫加休闲长裤，重新焕发了神采。斯嘉丽笑说自己的打扮就是典型的纽约风格，"我来自纽约。我从小的梦想就是成为一个成功的演员，所以一直努力工作，然后就真的成为了一个职业演员。"
斯嘉丽的父亲是个建筑设计师，而她母亲是个制片人，祖辈亦有从事导演、编剧工作。她童年时就有登台机会，第一次参与大银幕演出是9岁。14岁那年，参演根据畅销小说改编的电影《马语者》（The Horse Whisperer，1998年），引发了广泛的关注。 
19岁不到时，她又凭借了索菲亚·科波拉（Sofia Coppola）导演的电影《迷失东京》（Lost in Translation，2003年）一举成名，从少女到女人，她的转型和身体发育一样及时。当时她才18岁，而女主角是个少妇。这个令她顺利转型，并开拓了她的好莱坞之路的角色，来得比大多数人以为的容易。"索菲亚写了电影剧本后，她了解我以前的一些工作，她把剧本寄给我，我读后非常喜欢，所以我问剧组能不能加入他们，并最终获得了这个角色。" 
斯嘉丽·约翰逊谈起自己的第一部伍迪·艾伦（Woody Allen）电影时，笑着说："第一次看完《赛末点》（Match Point，2005年）的剧本时我完全是一头雾水，与我期望的完全不一样。我甚至都不知道这部电影的观点和想要表达的是什么。当我知道他在写剧本的时候，我最初以为那是个喜剧或是戏剧之类的。" 
的确，《赛末点》并非一部典型的伍迪·艾伦式的影片，与他以往的任何一部作品都不一样。结果当然很不错—艾伦先生给够了斯嘉丽展现性感的场景，淋漓尽致地挖掘出了她的魅力。连一向对这位出道顺利、似乎有些过于顺利的女星持观望态度的《纽约时报》，也给予了她极高的评价，"《赛末点》背离了伍迪·艾伦式的诙谐讽刺和情感上的游离，约翰逊小姐和里斯-迈耶斯先生（Rhys-Meyers）为观众呈现了伍迪·艾伦电影中前所未有的最好的'动作'场面。" 
电影《独家新闻》（Scoop，2006年）带来的拍摄经历不太一样，在《独家新闻》里，伍迪·艾伦是以导演兼演员的身份与斯嘉丽演对手戏的，"当他是个演员在和你对台词时，会突然停下来说不不，你应该怎样怎样，这很奇怪，但也很有意思。" 紧接着就是《午夜巴塞罗那》（Vicky Cristina Barcelona，2008年）。紧锣密鼓地合作了三部片子之后，伍迪·艾伦在电影首映式上，手揽着斯嘉丽，坚决否认了她是自己的缪斯女神的说法，"这么说太蠢了—她怎么可能是我的缪斯，但她的确是美国最出色的女演员之一。"
当时，斯嘉丽刚订婚。尽管她一贯宣称，"一夫一妻制"太难了，它是违背人的本性的，她还是曾经走进过婚姻的殿堂，她说："我坚信，你必须爱自己，其后才可能爱其他人。学会去爱另外一个特别的人，对我而言是个巨大的挑战。"爱，从来没有个公允的方程式可以计量。斯嘉丽又说："对我而言，很难给出一个定义，说哪一种爱是正确的，也很难说应该怎样去爱。两性关系太复杂了，而且你有各种各样的方式去爱。" "做一个独立的女人很重要。"她反对一些媒体所追捧的竹竿美人，"在好莱坞女人们被误导了，一些人疯狂地节食，这样根本不健康。"但是，她赞赏好莱坞精神，并身体力行：永远专注地做自己喜欢的事情，竭尽全力，达成目标。
Q：你曾经批评过在媒体和好莱坞的蛊惑下，女人们疯狂地节食，你反对这样的做法。但你本人就是"性感"的代言人，你是怎么保持身材的？A：哈哈，谢谢。运动！要吃得好。通常，我会做大量的运动，让自己保持活跃，这点非常重要。如果我不锻炼，会感到浑身不自在。并且我吃得非常健康，像蔬菜、水果，一个不能少。我时常会被邀请去出席宴会，吃一顿丰盛的大餐，我也从不担心，因为我第二天就会去健身房！
Q：影评人Mick LaSalle曾说过，斯嘉丽看起来在生活中从没有过优柔寡断的时刻，她一贯表现得有信心和能力，你觉得这个评论正确吗？A：我不同意Mick的观点。与别人一样，其实在生活中面临抉择的时刻，我也会犹豫。我有过多种多样的经历，有机遇，有挑战；有喜剧，有悲剧。我认为成功是做了正确决定的结果。你要学会思考，学会做决定，这非常必要。
Q：你是一个女权主义者吗？
A：在过去，对女权主义原本的定义是指女性为追求与男性平等地位而进行的斗争，因为当时女性受压迫和歧视的现象非常严重。我不知道如今社会对女权主义者的定义是什么，但我肯定是支持女性的。你知道，我自己就是一个很独立的女性。
Q：你在公开场合表示过反对一夫一妻制，你认为在人类天性和一夫一妻制中存有潜在冲突，为什么会有这样的观点？ A：的确，我讲过。我这么认为，是觉得维持一夫一妻制是件很难的事。然而在一段关系里，我还是会忠于伴侣，我也羡慕能够做到这一点的夫妻。在相处过程中，你经常能从对方身上发现价值和闪光点，但永远和同一个人相处确实是一种挑战，我认为有一定困难。在人的一生中，总会遇见许多不同的人，我觉得，一夫一妻制并不那么自然。比如，在一些原始部落中，他们并不遵循一夫一妻制。
Q：还记得你在电影《另一个博林家的女孩》（The Other Boleyn Girl，2008年）里扮演的Mary吗？ 你会喜欢那种个性的女孩吗？以满分十分为例，会给她打几分？ A：我记得那部电影，它是根据原著翻拍的。拍摄前我反复阅读了原作，因为这本书是以Mary为第一人称来写的，展现了许多人物的内心戏。我想来给一个人物评分是非常难的，我认为她是当时那样社会环境里的幸存者。她的出身使她没有权利决定自己人生的走向，但是她有着坚强的性格和意志。在戏中，与她的姐姐Ann相比，她更害羞、保守、顺从。
Q：伍迪·艾伦说过你是"上帝给男人的恩赐"，这句话广为流传，他也给过你不少好角色，他在你的生活中是怎样的位置？ A：我已经和伍迪·艾伦做了七年的朋友了。我们相识于英格兰的一个夏天，在一起拍戏，相处得非常融洽。他总是在各方面鼓励我。当我在生活中经历变动、面临抉择的时候，我总是会征询他的意见，他总能给我智慧的建议。就算不合作，我都可以去找他；只要知道这个朋友一直在那里，我就非常开心了。说起来，伍迪·艾伦在私底下会呈现不同的一面，有一点点羞涩。
Q：你8岁出道时就出演过舞台剧，还曾参演过阿瑟·米勒（Arthur Miller）的经典戏剧《桥上的一瞥》（A View From the Bridge），能谈谈你在百老汇的演出经历吗？ A：我非常享受戏剧演出时的感觉，前期我也会对参演做大量的准备工作，学会优雅地和人交流。当我还是个小女孩时，有一些机会参与演出，我感到很幸运，如同梦想成真。在百老汇最初演出时，会有些不真实的感觉，那与以往的经历都不同。但是无论发生什么，只要一心向前就可以了。我记得有一晚演出时，一位男演员吃了一口苹果，但不小心被呛住了，他非常着急，我们也不知道该怎么办，但他一边被呛着一边保证了演出的顺利进行。所以演出时会发生一些奇怪和疯狂的事情。
=======================
本文来自全球领先的时尚生活方式媒体
iWeekly·周末画报 for iPhone
您可以访问我们的官方网站获取详情 http://iweek.ly
或在App Store中直接获取 http://itunes.apple.com/app/id453405026?&mt=8
Dienstag, Oktober 18, 2011
Montag, Oktober 17, 2011
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Our content is reviewed and accredited by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Office of Continuing Medical Education (OCME). OCME is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide CME for physicians. There is no cost to use the service.
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Freitag, Oktober 14, 2011
iPhone 4S review -- Engadget
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iPhone 4S review
By Tim Stevens 
posted Oct 14th 2011 4:15PM
posted Oct 14th 2011 4:15PM 
The iPhone 4S comes with a faster processor, a better camera, a smarter virtual assistant and twice the storage of its predecessor -- if you don't mind paying for it. Like the iPhone 3GS did before to the 3G, the 4S bumps the iPhone 4 down to second-class status, leaving those Apple fans who must have the best aspiring to own its decidedly familiar exterior. Apple says this is the most amazing iPhone ever. Is it? Yes, of course it is, but read on to see whether it's really worth an upgrade.
Hardware
Familiar is a good term for the exterior of the iPhone 4S. When the 4 was unveiled in the summer of 2010 it was a strikingly different design from anything else on the market -- glass on the front and back, exposed screws holding together a deliciously clean ring of stainless steel. It was kind of chunky and industrial, like a tastefully refinished factory loft -- a big contrast to the smooth and nondescript models that came before. The iPhone 4 was something truly new and, for the days and weeks after its release, just spotting one in the wild caused a sensation. It was so different that people wanted to touch and hold the thing, to see how it felt in the hand.
Few are going to go out of their way to touch and hold the iPhone 4S, but that's not to say it isn't very nice to grasp. The iPhone 4 felt like a finely crafted piece of machinery and there's no doubt this one walks in those very same footsteps. Compared to your average modern Android wunderphone the 4S feels small, dense and heavy, a very different sensation than the occasionally lighter but frequently more plasticky competition. The 4S does actually have slightly more heft than the 4, but only by carefully holding one in each hand can you notice the increase from 137 grams (4.83 ounces) to 140 (4.94 ounces).
Save for a few tweaks that even the most dedicated Appleista wouldn't be able to spot at a distance, the 4S is identical from the exterior. A few of the controls have been shifted by fractions of a millimeter and this uses the same exterior antenna layout as the CDMA iPhone 4 that hit Verizon earlier this year. Rather more significantly, though, how it works with those antennas has changed.
The iPhone 4S can now intelligently and instantly switch between those exterior antennas, in real-time, even while you're in the middle of a call. Will this successfully put to rest the iPhone's reputation as a call dropper? That we're not able to say conclusively at this time, as you really need masses of people hammering on a device to bring out its worst. ("Antennagate" didn't come to light until a few days after the iPhone 4's release.) But, in testing a Vodafone 4S against a 4 we found the 4S to be consistently one bar higher, and did a far better job of holding on to 3G data. Here in the States, our Sprint 4S kept right up with another device we had handy from the same carrier: the Nexus S 4G.
There have been a fair number of other tweaks on the inside. In fact it's safe to say Apple threw out the lot of the iPhone 4's guts and stuffed in a whole new batch, starting with the A5 processor. Yes, it's the same dual-core chip that powers the iPad 2 and, while Apple isn't saying, it's running at 800MHz -- a bit of a step down from the 1GHz it's clocked at in the tablet. RAM unfortunately stays the same, at 512MB, but maximum available storage has doubled, matching the iPod touch by maxing out at 64GB.
The other major change to the internals comes in the wireless network support. This is a quadband UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA (850, 900, 1,900, 2,100MHz) and quad-band GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1,800, 1,900MHZ) device, while also offering dual-band CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (900, 1,900MHz). All that naturally means you'll be getting 3G data on nearly every carrier in these lands and abroad, though those providers are still being cagey about just how much success you'll have at porting the 4S from one to another -- at least until the unlocked model shows up in November. There's no 4G on offer, though AT&T's 14.4Mbps HSPA+ service will leave you feeling a bit less out of touch.
Up front is the same 3.5-inch, 960 x 640 Retina display that wowed us 16 months ago on the iPhone 4. That 326ppi density is still quite a lovely thing to behold, surely one of the highest quality panels currently available today in a phone, but in nearly a year and a half the world has moved on. Smartphones are bigger than they were in 2010 and 3.5-inches seems on the small side of average. It's a great size for those with moderately proportioned hands, and opinions certainly differ when determining what is the optimal girth for a smartphone (if, indeed, there is such a thing as optimal) but, after living with a 4.2-inch or larger device, looking at the digital world through a 3.5-inch portal feels just a bit... narrow.
Software (Siri)
Though it comes a few days after its release, the iPhone 4S ushers in the world of iOS 5. This latest revision of Apple's mobile operating system helps to clean some of the dust off of what was starting to feel a bit dated without actually changing any fundamentals. iOS 5 introduces a slew of improvements and enhancements, some minor and some rather more major. We've already posted a particularly comprehensive iOS 5 review, so we won't blather on about it any longer here except to say it's a very solid update that will make your smartphone an even more seamless, integral part of your life.
The one thing we will blather on about quite a bit more here is Siri, your own digital helper. Siri is an evolution of the Siri Virtual Assistant, a spin-off of a DARPA project called CALO. Apple bought the company in early 2010 and now that functionality is baked right into the OS. Sort of.Siri can only be found on the iPhone 4S, a curious and seemingly arbitrary shunning of the other iOS devices. We've heard that's due to the processor demands required for voice recognition, but since you need an active data connection to use Siri we have to imagine that the heavy lifting for voice recognition is happening somewhere inside Apple's massive data center, which would seemingly allow lower-spec devices to do the same. And, since the iPad 2 is running the A5 at an even higher clock speed, there's just no good reason we can think of for putting Siri exclusively on the 4S. Let the poor girl out, we say.
Should you find yourself owning the requisite hardware to give Siri a shot, you'll probably be pretty impressed with what she can do. Of course, "she" is a characteristic bit of anthropomorphism that we'll apply to the same voice you've probably heard in a half-dozen GPS devices in the past, but still, calling her an "it" just seems a little wrong. Siri herself, though, wouldn't mind. Ask her "Are you a man or a woman?" and her response is a curt "I was not assigned a gender." We think she's just playing hard to get.
Siri can do a huge number of things, from sending texts and emails to finding restaurants and getting directions from one place to another -- things that, it must be said, could largely be done before by voice on other devices and platforms. It's really the enhanced ability to understand casually spoken English mixed in with the notion of context that sets this apart.
Let's talk about the context bit first. Say you want to send a text to your wife to remind her to pick up the dogs from boarding on the way home from work. You can just say, "Tell my wife don't forget the dogs." Siri will send your wife a message saying, "Don't forget the dogs." How does Siri know who your wife is? Well, she doesn't at first, but she'll ask, and once you tell her she'll remember -- until the end of time.That context works in other situations, too, like receiving a text message from someone, asking Siri to check your calendar, and then just saying "Reply, I'll see you then." You don't need to say who to reply to, Siri will remember. For the first time we feel less like we're giving stiff commands to a device and more like we're actually having a conversation. That said, you can still be as commanding as you like. Siri won't mind.
And then there's the other part that makes Siri good: you don't have to remember the commands. At least, not as much as you do with Android. If you want directions on Google Navigation you have to specifically say "Directions to X." With Siri you can say "Get me directions to X," or you can say "Tell me how to get to X," or even "Directions to X." It's a minor difference but it feels more like Siri is smart enough to figure out what you want, whereas the voice recognition elsewhere feels more like you have to be smart enough to remember to say what it wants. (Even so, we'd certainly prefer to use the far more polished Google Navigation than IOS's Maps to get around.)
Still, this isn't exactly unprecedented, apps like Vlingo do similar things elsewhere. Also, it should be noted that Siri isn't necessarily any more accurate than other offerings. We did a side-by-side comparison of the dictation abilities of iOS 5 vs. those built into Android and Windows Phone and found them to be similar. Android's dictation services, though rather less friendly than Siri and requiring a few more taps on the display, were every bit as accurate. Windows Phone, however, struggled to provide consistently accurate transcriptions, often missing words and getting more complex statements wrong. For example, the spoken text "Kurt Vonnegut lived near Schenectady, New York," one time resulted in the message "Could I get laid in your Schenectady New York." An interesting message that Mr. Vonnegut would have likely approved, but wasn't exactly what we had in mind.It's in going the other way that Siri has even more potential, saying that you have a new message and then promptly reading it to you -- then letting you reply by voice. The biggest issue here, though, is that you can't have emails read to you, which means you can't fully reply by voice. (You can do voice dictation, but you'll need to trigger that with your fingers.)
This potentially could be a boon for people who would rather listen to their inbox than NPR on the commute home from work, and indeed it is, but the functionality here is a little more limited than we'd like. For example, you can tell Siri to look up something on Wolfram Alpha, and that she'll dutifully do, but she won't read you the response. You have to look at the phone, likely thanks to Wolfram Alpha rendering its results as images rather than plain text.
A truly good assistant will look up whatever you ask and promptly tell you the answer -- not print it out and make you read it. Having to still fish your phone out of your pocket for some things makes Siri rather less wonderful than she could be, but she's very impressive nevertheless. And, more importantly, this signals that Apple is taking a real interest in improving voice recognition and hands-free device interaction. That should mean some amazing progress from here, and we can't wait to talk to the next generation Siri.
We also hope that Siri's siblings will be able to run offline, because today's girl requires a 3G or WiFi connection to do anything. Even the simple voice commands that were available in iOS before no longer work offline, and if you happen to be one of the few who actually used those commands to change tunes while offline, you're sadly going to have to find another way. We also hope that she broadens her horizons a bit, as much of Siri's functionality (directions, looking up businesses) doesn't work in Europe.
Battery life and performance
The teardown of the iPhone 4S revealed a new battery pack that's just a wee bit bigger than that found in the 4 (5.3Whrs vs. 5.25) so the promised increase in longevity found here must come from more efficient internals. And that's a very good thing -- we'd prefer to see phones get more frugal than simply progressing on to bigger and heavier batteries.
Apple promises up to eight hours of battery life on an active 3G connection, which is up one hour from the 4. Curiously, though, standby time has dropped from 300 hours on the 4 to 200 on the 4S. (This phone is, apparently, something of a restless sleeper.) Other stats remain the same: 14 hours on GSM, 10 hours of video watching and 40 hours of listening to tunes. Alas we've not yet been able to complete our full suite of battery tests (we'll update this when we do).
When you're less concerned about longevity and more concerned about outright speed, the 4S won't disappoint when compared to its predecessors. On the SunSpider 9.1 JavaScript benchmark, a good test of overall ability to render the best the web has to offer, the phone scores a 2,200ms on average. That's well lower (quicker) than the 3,700 the iPhone 4 manages and faster than any other smartphone we've tested. In fact it ranks right up there with tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (2,200), but still the iPad 2 leaves it behind with its score of 1,700.
But it's not all about the benchmarks, and we've been overall quite impressed by the performance of the 4S in general tasks. We remain continually impressed by the performance of the iPhone 4 -- despite its aging assets, it still performs like a young smartphone in its prime. In other words, we're not seeing a particularly strong difference between day-to-day usage of the two devices. Yes, your apps will load a little more quickly and react more responsively and your webpages will render more snappily, but Apple already did such a good job of ensuring solid performance on the 4 that this upgrade seems rather less than necessary.
Of course, that could all change when we start to see some games able to make use of the extra firepower the iPhone 4S has at its disposal. At the phone's coming out party Epic showed off Infinity Blade 2 and wowed us with very impressive graphics. The problem is, that game isn't due out until December, and we're not aware of other similarly eye-popping 4S-exclusive titles in the pipeline that will be dropping before then.
The final aspect of performance is network speed and, as ever, your mileage can and will vary greatly depending on the relative strength or weakness of carriers in your area. But, regardless of carrier, the lack of LTE here is a definite disappointment. Top-tier phones on Android almost universally feature a fourth gee and, with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all finally onboard the LTE train to 4G Town, it's about time the iPhone hitched a ride too. Its omission surely helps battery life but hurts this device's status as a world-conquering wunderphone.
We tested a Sprint version of the phone and found that, with full bars on 3G, download speeds were averaging about 1Mbps down and .9Mbps up, with pings hovering around 70ms. Comparing that to a Nexus S 4G (with WiMAX disabled), also running on Sprint, we found download speeds to be quite comparable. Signal strength between the two phones was comparable as well.
Camera
Apple is quite proud of the iPhone 4's status as the most popular camera on photo sharing sites like Flickr, and now the company is finally giving all those guerilla photogs something good to capture pictures with. As was long rumored, the iPhone 4S steps up to an eight megapixel, backside-illuminated sensor that sits behind a new lens array with an f/2.4 aperture (improved from the old phone's f/2.8). More megapixels certainly don't equate to better pictures, but it's safe to say the new camera package here impresses.
But, what will impress you first is the speed. Apple is quite proud of the speed improvements for bringing up the camera app and taking the first picture, and it is a noticeable improvement over the 4 -- except when using the HDR mode that was introduced in iOS 4.1. Here it doesn't seem to be much if any quicker at all. Leave that off, though, and you'll be hopping from one shot to the next like someone who hasn't got time for shutter lag.
In our initial camera testing, we put ourselves into tourist mode: walking around, taking random pictures of things that tourists would. The quality of the resulting shots is definitely good, among the top top tier of shooters we've tested. The phone doesn't seem to be bothered by big differences in contrast (like the Galaxy S II) and does a good job focusing quickly and accurately -- we only had one or two missed macro shots.
Video quality is also top-notch. The iPhone 4S will record at 1080p30 and we found the footage to be clear and bright. Auto-focus happens quickly and we didn't detect any obnoxious focus-hunting.
Overall the improvements on the camera are tangible and appreciated, but there's one thing Apple sadly failed to fix here: its location. The peep-hole for the lens is still too close to the edge of the device for our tastes, which resulted in many a stray finger sneaking into our shots. We'd have liked to see it sneak its way a little further toward the center of the phone.
Wrap-up
Is this the best iPhone yet? Yes, of course it is. The iPhone 4S takes the previous king, gives it some more pep and adds on a better camera to boot, all without really gaining any extra weight. This is, then, the best iPhone on the market, but that still leaves us with two unanswered questions: is it the best phone on the market, and is it worth the upgrade?
The first question is hard to answer. If you're into iOS, have a wealth of App Store purchases you'd like to keep using and in general are down with the Apple ecosystem then, yes, this is the best phone out there. If, however, you've been shopping around, or are already tight with Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry or Meego (hey, the N9 is pretty great) then it's hard to see this as a truly forward-looking device. The 3.5-inch display and abject lack of 4G connectivity alone make this phone feel a little too conservative to really tickle the fancy of those looking for something a bit more progressive.
So, then, is it worth the upgrade? Well, if your contract happens to be up and you want an iPhone and you haven't already jumped on the iPhone 4 then yes, this is the one you want. It does come at a $100 premium over its predecessor, but in the long run that premium will be worth it as the 4S will surely be supported by Apple for a good bit longer than the 4 (as the 3GS continues to be, while the 3G is now fading into obsolescence). But, if you're mid-contract or haven't quite yet been wooed by all that iOS has to offer, we'd recommend sitting this one out. The iPhone 4S does everything better than the iPhone 4, but it simply doesn't do anything substantially different.
Zach Honig and Mat Smith contributed to this review.
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