jess_because

(image: apple.com)

My first reaction to hearing the announcement from Apple on Tuesday on the iPhone (4S)? “Why do I always get the half upgrade models?!” But alas, it is what it is. I’m not one of the uber freaks that gets a new iPhone every single year. That’s too much work. Trust me. It was hard to fight the urge to the get the iPhone4 last year but with the whole “death grip” fiasco, it made coping much easier.

Now with all the rumors of a new ‘iPhone5’ before the announcement, I really had my money on Apple doing a complete redesign to be-rid of the ugly flaws that the iPhone4 had to offer. I guess it only made business sense to keep the cosmetic hardware design for manufacturing costs and case makers can keep doing what their doing for another year.

So I accept the iPhone4S (because I’m in badly needed of an upgrade from my iPhone 3GS). Here’s what I’m looking forward to with iOS5 and iPhone4S.

Siri—Apple (just like the iPad) is making it waaay to easy to tease them with the virtual personal assistant, Siri. Now integrated into the phone after purchasing the app in 2010, Siri can do apparently just about everything except make you a cup of coffee. Siri can, however, find the nearest coffee shop for you and remind you to grad one for your friend as well. I can see how Siri can be such a great asset personally but I also see it being under-used (like FaceTime). I’m also a little weary on how “intelligent” this app is. But I’m sure going to have fun trying!

A5 chip—I have an iPad with the A5 chip processor and I love it. When I switch from working on my iPad to using my iPhone3GS, the phone is so sloooow! Can’t stand it! Thus, this is a majorly important upgrade for me that I’m excited about (not to mention finally having the retina display).

Camera—Jumping from 3MP to 8MP is huge! My old regular camera (that still works, btw) is 5MP. I usually keep that camera in my purse when I need “higher-res” pics but with this new phone, the camera is officially outta commission. With a bigger aperture as well, the photos will be much more brilliant with color and quality.

Full HD Video!—This is by far the most exciting part of the new features for me. I’m still stuck with SD recording on my 3GS. The 1080p HD quality is the best you can get. I would have been happy with 960p. You bet your ass I’ll be shooting much much much more videos than I ever did before!

iOS5—This is a feature that technically everyone else can upgrade to but I still am excited for this as well since it comes with the 4S. LOVE the notification center. LOVE the twitter integration. LOVE the Reminders app. LOVE the Newsstand app (I’m gonna be reading more magazines fo’ sho’).

iCloud—I’m not quite sure what uber brand new about this because I thought I already basically had this feature with MobileMe. But the thought that things can be synced without having to plug it in to my iMac is always a plus.

Lastly, the main reason I’m excited to get the iPhone4S is that I’m switching to Verizon! Bye by AT&T! I only went with AT&T 4 years ago b/c they were the exclusive carrier to the iPhone. Times, they have a change!

Check out the videos on the iPhone4S and what’s new with iCloud:  http://www.apple.com/iphone/

I don’t have a real invested interest in this season’s Dancing with the Stars like I have in year’s past. The cast seems a little weak and there are no uber favorites (but my money is on Ricki Lake).

I think America got it right for the first two booted out (Ron..err…Metta World Peace was first then Elisabetta second). Ron was just awful and Elisabetta had no fans—not mention I don’t think younger Maks (Val) was making a good first impression either.

Nancy Grace is pretty cool. I thought she was gonna be a bitch on TV but it’s nice to see a funner side of her. Plus, I kinda like her Irish pro partner, Tristan. Rob is ok. He’ll make it around halfway of the show if he does decent (there are some Cheryl Burke fans out there too saving them). K-Cav is a bitch! =P But she’ll hang around like Rob until the dancing and the fans run out. Hope, if her dancing improves, could make Top 4 for sure. Same with David Arquette but I can see him leaving earlier than his time.

Chaz Bono should and probably will leave tonight but b/c of who he is, the LGBT community just might have the votes to save him! Carson is such fun to watch. I love him! But his dancing can only take him so far in the competition. We’ll see… he could go tonight instead of Chaz.

That leave JR, Chynna and Ricki left. Chynna I think has the skill and grace to make it to the finals with JR. Including, Ricki, these are the three I think are serious competitors. But let’s be real, Tony (Dovalani) will mess it up again, so there goes Chynna. JR might just win it all—he’s easily the favorite to win. But my money is on Ricki (with Derek Hough). She’ll be most improved for sure. With Derek choreographing the routines, it’s gonna be a 4-win mirror ball for him FO’ SHO’!

The new set manicured upgrade and the graphics/style of the opening titles and b-roll of dancers are great! It’s nice to see something more sparkly than the usual we’ve seen over the past 12 seasons.