Finally it's here! The Apple iPhone 4S

On Tuesday, Apple launched iPhone 4S at Cupertino, California amid much fanfare, said a press note by Apple.

The iPhone 4S is packed with a variety of new features, including Apple's dual-core A5 chip for fast performance and vivid graphics, an all-new camera with advanced optics, full 1080p HD resolution video recording and and Siri, an assistant that helps get things done just by asking.

Siri understands context allowing the user to speak naturally when one asks questions.

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For example, if one asks 'will I need an umbrella this weekend?', it understands one is looking for weather forecast.

Siri is also smart about using the personal information one allows it to access, for example, if one tells Siri 'remind me to call Mom when I get home' it can find 'mom' in the address book.

Siri helps the user make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more.

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With iPhone 4S, also came the iOS 5, an advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features and iCloud, a set of free cloud services that work with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store content in iCloud and push it to all other devices.

iPhone 4S is equipped with Notification Center to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption and iMessage, a new messaging service that can send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS 5 users.

iPhone 4S has the same thin glass and stainless steel design, while being completely remodelled on the inside.

Apple's dual-core A5 chip delivers up to twice the processing power and up to seven times faster graphics than iPhone 4, all while maintaining incredible battery life -- now up to 8 hours of 3G talk time.

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Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to switch between two antennas to send and receive.

iPhone 4S now supports twice the download speed with HSDPA of up to 14.4 Mbps and iPhone 4S is a world phone, so both CDMA and GSM customers can now roam internationally on GSM networks.

Price

iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.

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Availability

iPhone 4S will be available from the Apple Online Store, Apple's retail stores and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

iPhone 4S will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on Friday, October 14 and customers can pre-order their iPhone 4S beginning Friday, October 7.

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iPhone 4 will also be available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 3GS will be available for free with a two year contract. Siri will be available in beta on iPhone 4S in English (localized for US, UK and Australia), French and German. iOS 5 software will be available on October 12 as a free software update via iTunes 10.5 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch customers.

iPhone 4S will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.