Starting with the new features, what does the new iPhone do that the previous was not able to do? In short, this list is very short. It is faster and thinner, with a larger screen, and claims of better battery life despite first time fourth generation LTE compatibility. However, these upgrades seem expected from a yearly release schedule. The biggest changes to this iPhone are the larger screen at four inches and the new dock connector, the latter of which might be better in the long run, but likely painful short term.

Apple lists the follow ingupgrades to the hardware:

*A redesigned phone that is fully glass and aluminum;
*18-percent thinner, 20-percent lighter than previous generation;
*Four-inch screen, which is half an inch taller than before, with a fifth row of icons;
*16:9 aspect ratio with 44-percent better color saturation and 326 ppi;
*Fourth-generation LTE;
*A6 processor with twice the CPU and graphic speed;
*Similar battery life on the battery heavy LTE network;
*Eight megapixel camera with 40-percent faster capture and better low light capture;
*720p on front camera;
*Wideband audio;
*Lightning dock connector;
*New headphone design;

The pricing is the same; $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB. The  iPhone 4S is now $99, and the iPhone 4 is free with a contract.

Not much of the above is ground breaking. The fact that it now has a larger screen is really catch-up to the many larger phones currently available. The dock connector may be seen as a big deal but, from a user perspective, this will require purchase of adapters or new chargers and docks. Unless you were previously using Bluetooth or wireless to connect your phone to various devices, you will have a lot of replacing to do. An adapter has been cited as available (for $29), but this is not an ideal solution for many third-party products and even many Apple products. Since no wireless charging is available, car adapters or any extra wall chargers will likely need to be replaced.

Overall, this seemed to be an incremental release that may not be overly tempting for those not in need of a new phone. It is hard to say how it will fair in competition with the many android phones that are currently available; however, sales numbers are high as the record number of iPhone 4 early adopters were all eligible and ready for an upgrade. Faster, larger, better are probably accurate descriptions of the new phone, but it seems far from revolutionary.