The chin this week

Apple's new iPhone 4S took it on the chin this week. Lackluster reviews, disappointed fans, a thumbs down from the stock market. The mood may have been best summed up by an editorial cartoonist, who sketched a computer user, head flung back in deep stupor, commenting about the new iPhone: "Wow, the new iPhone 4S … zzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

The less-than-enthusiastic response is likely a result of Apple's soaring success in the last few years. The Cupertino, Calif.-based giant has had a string of home runs with its iPhone upgrades, the iPad unveiling and iPad 2 follow-up, and embellishments to its iPod line. Observers have become so accustomed to grand slams that a solo homer seems paltry opposite.

Much of the discontent with the latest iPhone may stem from the absence of anticipated features that competitors boast: The Web browser after all won't display Flash animation, there is no slot for external memory cards, its screen is smaller than many competitors and its infrastructure cannot take advantage of higher data transmission rates offered by 4G networks.

Promising new innovation that improves call integrity

There is a promising new innovation that improves call integrity by switching between two built-in antennas to send and receive call signals. This should put to rest bad memories of "antennagate," the widely publicized call reception snafu that last year dogged iPhone 4 users when that model was first released.

Photography with the new iPhone 4S takes a great leap forward. Smartphone cameras were once considered a gimmick. Not anymore. The camera onboard the new iPhone 4S can as a matter of fact compete with dedicated point-and-shoots: It serves up 8GB images with a five-element lens and a stunning f/2.4 aperture that should ensure crisp images and terrific low-light functionality. Latency — the time between the click and the actual snapshot — has been slashed to a second for the first snap, and a half-second for successive ones.

The iPhone 4S will take advantage of the new iCloud service. Users can have all images — along with videos, music, e-mail, contacts and other documents — automatically, wirelessly uploaded to cloud storage centers, making pictures and other data available to view or share among all Apple devices they own. You'll get 5 GB of storage space for free. Subscription costs for larger amounts have but to be announced.

The most intriguing new feature is Siri

The most intriguing new feature is Siri, an artificial intelligence/voice recognition agent that has been burnished into the iPhone's operating system.

And Siri does more than simple execute simple commands. It utilizes the iPhone 4S' GPS and navigation capacities to do such tasks as remind you to pick up the laundry when it detects you have left the perimeter of your workplace. You could do so by simply saying, "Remind me to get the laundry afterwards work." Or locate where your favorite performer is playing and issue a command to buy concert tickets and fetch a cab.

IPhone 3GS or 4 need to run out

Does everyone with an iPhone 3GS or 4 need to run out and upgrade? No, however if you've been waiting to get a taste of the iPhone phenomena, this magical phone/music player/camera/movie player/servant wrapped into one, this model is a great one to start with. The 16GB storage model is $199; 32GB is $299 and 64GB $399.

Stick with the low storage model; with Apple iCloud and a proliferation of third-party cloud storage services, onboard memory is not as critical as it once was.