Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB Video Review

iPhone 3GS

Introduction

”We have a very big announcement to make... Can I have your attention please? Yes you! Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, fans and fanbois... Introducing the Apple iPhone 3GS – The third generation iPhone by legendary corporation, Apple, is here!”

The latest release of the Apple iPhone commands nothing short of a royal introduction as it’s predecessor stopped the world in its tracks upon its inception, so it is only fair that we pay homage to it’s successor, the Apple iPhone 3GS - ‘S’ being the operative word for ‘Speed’ of course!

iphone 4 plans
The yardstick of all smartphones has been unleashed and initially for many people, there may be a visual lack of any physical evidence to say any type of substantial improvements have been made, but even if that was the case, would the minimal changes warrant the price of an upgrade, or new purchase for that matter? Read on as we find out.

Physical Aspects

It is not what it looks like, it’s under the hood that counts, right? Visually, the iPhone 3GS looks identical to its older brother so I might as well copy and paste a description of the iPhone 3G into this paragraph . About the only thing that has really changed, is the weight, and we’re only talking about a couple of grams. Only by inspecting the device from top to bottom, can you differentiate the phones; the iPhone 3GS uses chrome text, as opposed to the grey, found on the iPhone 3G.

The iPhone’s plastic encasing remains the same, so does the power button position, mute switch, volume, speakers and head phone jack. Practically everything is the same, so make sure you don’t leave your brand new iPhone 3GS too close to a 3G model, or you may accidently pick up the wrong device. Ooops! We would have liked to have seen a slight design tweak, but at the same time we can understand that Apple were on a good wicket with the 3G model. Why fix it if it ain’t broken, right?

Major Functions

Driving the iPhone features is a fast 600MHz CPU, and dual 256MB RAM, which makes the iPhone 3GS obviously faster than the 3G model. Another core element that makes 3GS speedier is the addition of HSDPA 7.2Mbps. The ‘S’ for speed factor is a very welcomed and noticeable improvement for the iPhone 3GS.

Obvious additions to this iPhone are, an increase from a 2 mega pixel to a 3.2MP camera with VGA@30fps video recording, digital compass with map application, and of course the major memory upgrade to 16GB and 32GB internal storage capacity.

Adding to the improved speed, there are also a couple of other new and useful inclusions that we would like to point out. These are: A Copy and Paste feature, Landscape Keyboard, Voice Control, Memos and Recognition, along with new accessibility features that includes Closed Captioning, TTY Support, 5X Zoom and a useful White on Black display option. All in all, we think they are pretty handy inclusions.

Multimedia

In the Multimedia department, we noticed an overall improvement in the 3GS by the loading times alone. The increased speed, performance and response times make loading applications so much quicker. This is also made evident when ‘powering on’ the phone. Advancements these days are mainly about ‘speed’. Gosh, having to wait for electronic devices to boot up is such a drag!

We also notice a slight upgrade with the 3GS Camera which now packs 3.2 megapixels with auto focus and white balance features, that can be controlled by tapping the screen. We thought there may have been an extra couple of megapixels included, but obviously Apple needed to prioritise improvements as they saw fit. However, the extra 1MP or so still produces images that are crisp and balanced, so that is a big thumbs up, for snap-happy campers. The Apple iPhone 3GS now captures video and can record in VGA resolution at 30 fps. It also includes video geo-tagging, and at these specifications, we were reasonably impressed by the quality of recording footage produced.

The Audio quality in the earlier iPhone 3G was very good, and the 3GS is no different. If anything, it appears that it has only actually improved slightly, but nonetheless, delivers an exceptional sound experience for a mobile phone. In a weird sort of way, Apple has shot themselves in the foot because, why do you need an iPod when the 3GS can produce such good audio quality?

We have the speed, we have great audio, a decent camera and pretty good video in my opinion (.MOV file format mind you), but what we don’t have is enough time to enjoy it! Apple promised improved battery life and although we didn’t get to play with the 3GS as long as we hoped to, the additional battery life was not made obvious. Pity, because if there’s one thing that annoys a user, it is having to recharge a battery frequently whilst playing with all the cool applications on a mobile phone.

User Interface

The 3GS is equipped with the latest version of Mobile OSX, and together with the vast speed improvements, it streamlines the whole user experience. Applications open faster, commands respond quicker, it’s simply a faster phone and a huge step forward, over the iPhone 3G. Don’t underestimate the value of speed, it saves you time which in essence, lets you get on with your life.

Physically, the 3GS possesses a scratch resistant screen that has a warm ‘amber’ glow that is easy on the eyes. (Great for eye health and headache-prone users) Although the interface is pretty much the same as the 3G version, Apple have also introduced Voice commands which allow you to do a variety of things like dial numbers and play your favourite music. Overall however, there isn’t too much difference to rave on about between the Apple iPhone 3G and the 3GS version in this department.

Conclusion

Well, what should our conclusion be based on then? A comparison between the iPhone 3G and 3GS, or simply on a general mobile phone release? Hmmm, maybe both.

So, if you’re in the hunt for a new smartphone, then you just can’t go past the new Apple iPhone 3GS, as it has a gazillion features and is simply cool. What’s more, it’s fast and certainly packs a punch! As for wondering whether or not to upgrade from the iPhone 3G, if you have the dollars and money is not an object, then why not? The 3GS actually has some handy and noticeable inclusions and improvements, but maybe not as many as first hoped, because, let’s face it, there are always high expectations from popular product successors. Otherwise, give it a miss and wait for the next version, which we suspect will be just around the corner.