200000 iPhone 4S Pre-Ordered in South Korea on Day 1

As per the popular website Chosun, there were around 200000 iPhone 4S pre-orders on day 1 in South Korea. This is a huge number for the country which is home to Samsung, one of the biggest rival of Apple in the Smartphone market. Two of South Korea’s biggest telecom providers SK Telecom and KT opened their pre-order site for users on Friday and soon because of the overload, the servers crashed.
Last year in August, when Apple released the iPhone 4, South Koreans pre-ordered 130,000 iPhone 4 phones. The latest number of 200,000 has beaten the previous milestone. One of the top features of the iPhone 4S is Siri, a virtual assistant with whom you can communicate in natural language. Other top features include a dual core processor and an 8MP camera and 1080p HD video recording with image stabilization.

Samsung Galaxy S2 HD will also release later this month. The iPhone 4S goes for sale in Korea on 11th November.
via Chosun

Key Features of the Latest Apple iPhone 4S

As expected Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook released the latest iPhone 4S at the Town Hall of company’s Cupertino based headquarter. This article will walk you through the key features of the latest iPhone released by Apple. This was also Tim Cook’s first product launch since named as CEO of Apple.

1. Apple iPhone 4S has a A5 chip inside which is the same as the chip in the Apple iPad 2.
2. iPhone 4S features dual core graphics, which means it delivers 7x faster graphics than the previous iPhone. This will mean that game developers can now develop some cool games and use the graphic power of the hardware.
3. As far as the battery life of iPhone 4S goes, you get 8 hours of 3G talk time, 14 hours of 2G talk time, 6 hours on 3G browsing.

4. Latest iPhone 4S has two antennas for improved wireless transmission and reception. The phone can intelligently switch between antennas.
5. Apple claims now you can get upto 2x faster data download because of the antenna improvement. As per Apple, you can now get 14.4Mbps download now on iPhone 4S.
6. The latest iPhone 4S comes with a 8MP camera sensor which will provide resolution of 3264×2448 pixels. The camera also comes with a backside illuminated sensor which helps in getting more light inside. It also features the hybrid IR filter, better color accuracy, more color uniformity. Camera also comes with Image Signal Processor designed by Apple, which enables face detection and offers 26 percent better white balance.
It will take 0.5 second between two consecutive shots.

7. iPhone 4S has both GSM and CDMA and can switch between them to become world phone.
8. For video recording, you get  1080p  with the new iPhone 4S. It also offers Video Image Stabilization.
9. iPhone 4S can now mirror its screen via AirPlay (similar to iPad 2). Can also do wired mirroring if you don’t have Apple TV.

10. iPhone 4S features Siri, “intelligent assistant” that will answer questions. The idea behind this feature is, it will allow you to ask your iPhone a question. A real question in real language, and get answers. Siri can supposedly parse your normal language and not only tell you the answer, but show it to you on the screen.
Siri is pretty impressive – voice commands mixed with real artificial intelligence. Phil Schiller said during the demo that Siri is also capable of doing dictation. If you’re in an app where you’d type on a keyboard, you can now dictate by voice.
11. iPhone 4S will run iOS 5 and will also get iCloud. iOS 5 and iCloud release on October 12th.

Pricing- 16GB for $199, 32Gb for $299 and 64GB for $399
Availability Date- October 14th 2011. Will be available in US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Japan. It will be available in 22 more countries by October 28 and in 70 countries by the end of 2011.

iCall: make free, ad-supported phone calls in the US and Canada, right from your desktop or device

Would you like to dial any number in the US or Canada from anywhere and talk absolutely free? Would you like a way to be reached at your desktop anywhere in the world via a regular (US) phone call?
Now you can. The free version of iCall will let you dial any number right from the desktop and speak, Skype-style, via your computer’s built in Mic and speakers. iCall is available for Windows, as a web app, and for iPhone/iPad.
But there is a catch: iCall is ad supported; you will have to listen to a brief 30 second ad before you can make your call. Each call, moreover, can last up to 4:30 minutes before you have to re-dial (and listen to another ad), which is not an insignificant amount of time. The free version also does not afford you the luxury of having your own number, although people are able to call you by calling a centralized number and entering your iCall extension. iCall also provides voice messaging, so you know who called you while you were offline.
I tested this software just for the heck of it, by calling my own home. I will say there is something really cool about being able to call any ‘normal’ number free from the desktop. Here are some observations:

• You can call almost any number in the US or Canada, including 800 numbers. You can also do so even if you are located outside the US or Canada.
• You cannot make emergency phone calls
• Ads are played before connecting your call and last 30 seconds.
• You have 4:30 minutes of calling time available before having to redial (because the 30 second ads cut into your talking time).
• Voice quality is very decent, despite a slight delay. It will depend on the strength of your connection of course.
• You do not have your own number in the free version; however people can call you by using a local access number and theb keying in your iCall extension. See their list of local access numbers.
• Other services include: a contact list and access to a voice messaging system, which I didn’t test myself.
• This software can remain in the background, in order to receive calls whenever they might come. It has a memory footprint of just under 40 megs, which is not lightweight but not top heavy either.
• You will be asked to create an account with a valid email address.

Differences from the paid version: the paid version is ad-free, promises better voice quality, no time limit on calls, call forwarding to your phone, and personalized voice messaging.
The verdict: a great service overall that works remarkably well. Not only does it give you the power to call anywhere in the US or Canada for free, but a way to call a US number from anywhere in the world. And a way for people to get in touch with you by making an ordinary US phone call, no matter where in the world you are.
If I wanted to pay for this sort of service, I would probably do it with Skype (since everyone I know is already using it), but I say kudos to the developers for finding a way to provide this service free of charge, even if it is ad supported.
Version tested: 4.0.0.22
Compatibility: Windows, browser based web app, iPhone and iPad versions available.
Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 5.35 megs).

enjoy ^_^