Some time has passed since the iPhone 4S hit the market, and everyone is screaming from the mountaintops about it. Some people are screaming praise, and others are yelling mean nasty things about the poor iPhone. I fall on the praise side. I had a terrible experience actually getting the phone, since my carrier took my pre-order, and then decided to try to make me wait until the end of October to get the phone. I smoothed that over and got myself a 4S on day one thankfully.

I could not be happier with the phone. I am coming from a 3GS so the improvements are leaps and bounds for me. I could see how someone coming from an iPhone 4 might not see the changes as profoundly as I do, but nonetheless, the changes are there, and they are noticeable. Either way, today I’m going to look at the reasons I love my 4S, and why it is the best phone I have ever owned.

Siri

This one is obvious, because Siri is the main feature touted on the new iPhone, but it truly is something special. I realize that other phones have incorporated voice control before, heck, even the iPhone itself had voice control in previous models, but none works as smoothly and easily as Siri.

Just hold the home button for a couple of seconds or simply put the phone to your ear as if you are making a call. This will wake your personal assistant from her slumber (I know it is an “it”, but it has a girl’s voice, so I call it a she). Siri is incredibly accurate, 99 percent of the time it knows what you want, and executes it post-haste.

Most other voice control applications are just that: separate applications. Siri is so well integrated into the phone that it puts other voice control services to shame.

Siri is another example of Apple being Apple. They do not always do it first, but in most cases, they do it best.

Speed

The iPhone 4S promised speed improvements in a couple of areas, and so far it has delivered on both. It promises an obscenely fast processor, and in that regard, it is ridiculous. As I said previously, I was coming from an iPhone 3GS, so the dual core A5 is much faster. The phone runs snappier than any phone I have owned. I have some friends that came into the 4S from a 4, and they said there was a serious difference, although not as earth shattering as it is from a 3GS.

Apple also promised improved data speeds on iPhone 4S, and while this difference is not nearly as noticeable as the improvement in the processor, it is there. While running a speed test, my download speed was about 1.5MB faster than my previous iPhone.  This is not a huge change, but faster is always better than slower.

Camera

I could not be more impressed by the iPhone 4S camera. When Apple talked about the improvements on the camera front, they were not just blowing smoke. It is really an exceptional improvement. The pictures look great, and the video quality is fantastic. As with anything iPhone, the camera is easy to use.

Even in low light situations, the pictures look clean and bright.

With the addition of the camera button on the lock screen in iOS 5 and the improvements in the processor, it is incredibly quick to take a picture. Now, you will not have to miss the photo op because it took too long to get the camera up and running.

It is the best camera on an Apple phone yet. In terms of cell phone cameras it blows most out of the water, but there are phones out there with better cameras. Still, eight Megapixels is very solid. The 4S actually outputs the same resolution as my point and shoot digital camera. It very well could be your only camera.

The Look

I am actually happy they did not change the look of the phone for this generation. I am very fond of the design of the iPhone 4, and I am glad they stuck with it. I would have enjoyed a bigger screen, but I can certainly live without it.

I was hoping they would not make the phone any thinner. I like a little bit of meat on my cell phone, and based on some of those prototypes people were making, I was not happy. Thankfully, Apple stuck with the clean look and size of the iPhone 4 for at least another year.

iOS 5

I know this is available on most iPhones, but Apple really knocked it out of the park with this OS so I felt I needed to mention it. The improvements are everywhere you look in the OS. Many of the reasons I used to jailbreak my phone are no longer relevant, and I am even considering leaving my new 4S clean and jailbreak-free (we will see how long that lasts, since I have never had an unjailbroken iPhone).

Some of my favorite features of the new OS are custom vibrations, text shortcuts, find my friends, and iCloud. Overall, there is so much cool stuff in iOS 5 that it could make an entire article in itself. A great new OS nicely complements a great new phone.

Because it’s an iPhone

I will happily admit that I am something of an iPhone fan boy. It was unlikely there was anything Apple could have done with the new phone that would have upset me. In the end, it has everything I expect from my iPhone, and even though the improvements are more incremental than many people would have liked, I am completely happy with it.

Have you bought the new iPhone 4S?  If so, are you happy with it or not happy with it?  Let us know your reasons for and against in the comments below.