Apple iPhone 4S is finally announced!

And just like that, Apple has announced the latest and greatest iteration of its signature device - ladies and gentlemen, prepare to meet the long, looong-anticipatedApple iPhone 4S!

For those of us who have hoped for a redesign, well... obviously we're out of luck on this one. The design remains exactly the same as we know it from the beautiful iPhone 4 - glass and steel, 3.5" of IPS-LCD touchscreen goodness. But, Apple's Phil Shiller didn't miss to note that on the inside, the iPhone 4S is brand new. For example, one of the more notable new features will be the same chip that we know form the iPad 2 - the dual core A5. What it will bring to table, of course, is faster overall performance in a number of aspects of the system.

Next up, we have an updated radio and antenna system. You might be surprised to learn that the iPhone 4S will actually be a world phone, supporting both CDMA and GSM connectivity - yey! But we guess that means no 4G... Anyways, the upgrade of the radio has now brought faster data - 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink, and 5.76 Mbit/s on the uplink, which is comparable to many 4G-branded HSPA+ smartphonesnowadays.

The iPhone 4S will feature an 8MP camera and 1080p video recording

Naturally, as we all expected, the camera of the Apple iPhone 4S will pack a total of 8 megapixels, instead of 5 as in the iPhone 4. However, they say that the new sensor will be able to collect the significant 73% more light, over the previous generation, so who knows, low-light performance of the most popular camera on Flickr might be really improved! But that's not the only point of enhancement that has been announced for the new 8MP camera of the Apple iPhone 4S. According to Apple, the time it takes you to capture the first shot is now just 1.1 second, and from then on, shot-to-shot times are just 0.5 sec. Impressive indeed.

But there's more in store for camera aficionados. How about something related to video? You guessed it -1080p video recording will be available on the iPhone 4S. They didn't specify at what framerates this will be recorded, but we're hoping for 30.

The all-new voice command feature "Siri"

But now, let's head to the more intriguing new stuff.Voice integration! The new voice command service will be called... Siri. (How ingenius!) Apparently, the new voice control service utilized in the iPhone 4S will be quite smart, and will be able to follow context. So how do you use it? You just have to hold down the home button, and then your personal assistant in the form of "Siri" will be listening to your questions. Interestingly, you'll be able to use Siri for many different kinds of stuff. For example, you can just ask "What's the weather like today?", or "Do I need to get my raincoat today?", and it will answer you in context, also bringing up a screen showing the current temperature and forecast. Or, you might say "Wake me up in 6AM tomorrow.", and guess what, Siri will automatically set your alarm for 6AM tomorrow! Isn't that awesome? We can't wait to see the extent of this, and how it will be adopted by users.

Thankfully, battery life will remain pretty decent, even with this new A5 processor, with Apple promising talk-time of up to 8 hours in 3G, 6 hours of 3G browsing, or 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing.

So when is all that going to become a reality in the stores? Here it goes: theApple iPhone 4S release date is October 14, with pre-orders starting on October 7. The iPhone 4S price will be the same as usual - $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, but for the first time, there'll also be a 64GB version, available for $399. Additionally, iPhone 4 8GB for $99 will remain on sale, and so will the iPhone 3GS 8GB... for free! So, there goes your budget-friendly iPhone.

But on which carriers will the iPhone 4S launch? Ready for a third carrier to enter the iPhone party? That's right - AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will all be offering the Apple iPhone 4S (sorry, T-Mobile folks). So that actually marks the first time Sprint will have the iPhone in its line-up. Well, congrats to Sprint, and all of us for witnessing the next big thing from Apple's camp. You guys stay tuned for our iPhone 4S review, hopefully coming soon enough!