Following our reviews for the Nokia Lumia 710 and the BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300), we acquired an unlocked iPhone 4S to use with our Tru SIM service.
The iPhone 4S, like most phones, has a wide array of features to offer. What follows is a choice listing of some specs from the device, and is not by any means a complete specs list:
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
- Quad-band 3G WCDMA (UMTS) support
- 960-by-640-pixel resolution 326 ppi Retina Display
- 8-megapixel iSight camera
- iOS 5
- Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
- Assisted GPS and GLONASS
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- microUSB port
The Apple iPhone 4S brings a tapestry of new features to iOS. The phone itself is pretty solid. It’s definitely leaps and bounds better than the iPhone 4. Let’s face it, even the iPhone 3GS was arguably better than the iPhone 4, especially as far as connecting to Wi-Fi or a mobile network is concerned.
The iPhone 4S is amazing as far as call quality goes. Not since the Nokia Lumia 710 have we had such crystal clear voice. We did notice a slight issue when attempting to connect to Tru’s 3G network, but once we turned 3G off, it seemed to work just fine. We don’t know if this was a result of our iPhone 4S or our SIM. A bit irritating, yes, but once the 3G was turned off, everything seemed to work okay.
Text messaging, of course, worked well. Our texts went to all US and UK numbers we texted. One more piece of irritation, however, was the fact that we had to type +44 in front of a UK number or the text message would not go through. A quick call to Tru seemed to confirm that this can be normal for some phones, so we’re going to go ahead an leave it as normal unless our readers or Tru says otherwise.
Without a Tru data bundle, we kept our data usage light and for the most part stuck to Wi-Fi, so it worked as well as we could hope. We also downloaded Onavo (read the article on Onavo) to save on data costs when connected to the network, but with our 3G on the fritz (and the fact that Wi-Fi usage doesn’t use Tru SIM funds) it didn’t seem necessary.
All in all, we were pleased with the iPhone 4S. While we had better luck connecting with 3G using our Lumia 710 and our BlackBerry 3G, the phone performed admirably overall and is a hearty recommendation for any current and future Tru customers wanting a stable and reliable way to communicate with those who matter most, no matter where in the world you are.
Photo: Apple