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The last iPhone fully created and unveiled during Steve Jobs' lifetime.
Simultaneously, the last iPhone with a 30-pin connector, known from iPods since 2003, and the first with the Siri voice assistant.
This iPhone is a refresh of the 4 model released a year earlier, with improved components and a fix to a much-criticized problem with the design of the GSM antenna, whereby the phone could lose reception if held in a natural way. The 4S is the "magnum opus of the classic iPhone lineup" and is highly praised by many. It is not uncommon to be said to be "the best iPhone ever".
Although it now seems microscopic compared to modern smartphones, it surprises with its high build quality and considerable weight. Unlike the newer models of the iPhone series, stainless steel rather than aluminum is used here. Both the front and back are made entirely of glass, surrounded by a thin plastic frame, so the glass is not as vulnerable to damage.
The iPhone 4S was also the first Apple phone to break the record for length of support and system updates offered. At the time of its release, it had iOS 5, and support ended at iOS 9.4.1.
Although this sounds impressive, it became the device's curse. While iOS 6 runs incredibly nimble and smooth, with iOS 8 you can feel the aging components and it takes longer to perform actions. But with iOS 9, the 4S becomes so slow that many users have lost patience.
Apple never officially allowed a rollback to an older version, so unless someone was willing to jailbreak the device and do a bit of tweaking, the iPhone had to suffer on the updated system.
This unit is from the end of production, when a 8 GB variant was willingly offered for considerably less money compared to the iPhone 5S sold at the time. It probably came with iOS 7 from the factory, although it was downgraded to the older iOS 6 to be a sort of time capsule and souvenir from the skeumorphic era of design in Apple's systems.
And, of course, the phone itself works by far best with that very version.
Specifications:
Out of the blue, here comes Yazoo
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