What Gaming Hype?
by Twila B. on 2012-06-04
So, should you sell your iPhone 4, 3GS, 3, or (*gasp!*) original iPhone and get the new iPhone 4S because of the gaming hype surrounding it?
Well, first of all: What gaming hype?
Apparently, there have been speculations running around the internet that Apple looks to be entering the eight generation handheld gaming war with the iPhone 4S. Spec reports indicate that their smartphone sports the A5 chip (a proprietary Apple design) which house a dual-core processor capable of generating 800 MHz of power. The smartphone also has 512 MB of RAM installed for all that data flow. These specs are put up against the specs of the two biggest players in the handheld gaming arena: The Sony PlayStation Vita and the Nintendo 3DS.
The PS Vita has an admittedly impressive quad-core processor that, like the 4S, also pumps out 800 MHz. Again like the 4S, it also has 512 MB of RAM. These specs (and those of the 4S’s as well, presumably) may just make the PS Vita a veritable PlayStation 3 Lite.
The 3DS, on the other hand, has a seemingly paltry 266 MHz dual-core processor powering it, as well as a mere 128 MB of FCRAM. However, what it seemingly lack in raw guts, it more than makes up for with its revolutionary autostereoscopic 3D screen which – if Nintendo plays its cards right (and past records indicate that they certainly can) – may just change the whole handheld gaming landscape.
Pitted against these two heavyweights, what can the iPhone 4S possibly have that would compel me to sell my old iPhone and get it instead?
Nothing, apparently; and Apple would like to keep it that way. You see, to them, the iPhone will always be a smartphone first and everything else second. Making the iPhone a dedicated gaming device is just farthest from the company’s mind right now.
This doesn’t mean that all that hardware power has gone to waste, though. In fact, they are rather essential to run the new iOS 5 (and by extension, the iCloud) at optimal operating levels; and you’d want to have these two programs running on your iPhone because they represent the new direction that Apple is going with their system structure design: Centralization.
In a nutshell, “centralization” means that, with the new mobile operating system, users are now able to access multiple files of certain file types from conveniently programmed central hubs; and in the same vein (and aside from being Apple’s in-house cloud storage network), the iCloud also acts as the central hub for all of a user’s Apple gadgets.
More exciting than these two is the implementation of Siri in the 4S. Siri is the virtual assistant program that you can converse with to make it carry out instructions; and more amazingly, it talks right back to you. If that isn’t an indication that the proverbial future is now upon us, I don’t know what is.
So no, don’t give in to the unfounded gaming hype and trade your old iPhone for the new one because of it. Nevertheless, don’t let it stop you from checking out what the iPhone 4S has to offer. You just might be pleasantly surprised.
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Twila Berkley is a smartphone enthusiast, a recycling activist and a self-confessed iPhone addict. She’s currently a resident blogger for CashForiPhones.com and has written articles specializing in recycling and technology. Prior to writing on the web, she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications, contributing as an editor and journalist for various entertainment and lifestyle newspapers in and around the state. She loves new gadgets, books, blogs and everything iPhone.
