The iPhone 3G + speed = worth the money?iPhone 3G S review
The new iPhone 3G S has fallen into our laps, with all the hype and over the top excitement we now come to expect every June (and for the next 62 years or so, until phones become obsolete and we all become iClones instead) with the promise of being faster.
Forget the Palm Pre, the Samsung Jet. Cast the HTC Magic to the back of your mind, and flip the screen down on the N97. This is the device that the world will be talking about (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your Apple stance) for the next few months, and this time it apparently brings speed with it.
Yes, we know the last iPhone apparently brought speed as well, but that didn't have an S with it. Which we think also stands for Steve, but the iPhone 3G Steve just wouldn't have worked marketing-wise, no matter how famous ol' polo-neck is.
The first thing to see about the phone is that it's, well, the same as before. In fact, there are only two cosmetic differences: the 'iPhone' lettering on the back is now shiny, and the screen is now smudge-resistant (which actually works. We decided to have a burger meal from a large fast food chain, and then basically touch the iPhone all over. It all wiped off in one leg swipe).
In the hand
The hold / on off buttons, the silencing switch, the volume keys are all in the same place on the phone, although these do feel a little badly placed given the way you'll hold the iPhone in the hand, with the flush hold key particularly hard to hit.
But it's under the hood that we're interested in, and there are two major differences. On the hardware front, we're seeing an improved processor (up to 600MHz by most accounts) 256MB of RAM and more memory (on our 32GB model).
The other upgrade is the new iPhone 3.0 software, which essentially moves the phone up another notch. Of course, you can get this on your bog-standard iPhone 3G, and if you want to find out all about that in depth, then check out our hands on with the new software.
The new features on the phone include Searchlight, which can ripple through the whole device to find whatever you need, an improved 3MP camera with video recording and autofocus, and high-end voice recording and digital compass.
The processor speed is easy to feel when picking up the device, although the screen is still by far the best on the market when it comes to touch recognition (although the likes of the Magic and the Pre run the iPhone pretty close these days).
The best way to describe the sensitivity of the screen is to compare it to an exoskeleton (bear with us here). If it's too sensitive, then a simple attempt to hold something will always end in you crushing it; if it's too vague then you have to push too hard to raise it. The iPhone can register nearly any kind of pressure though, with the merest swipe and the hardest push all producing the same results.
Pulling up Spotlight (by swiping right or hitting the home button when on the home screen) is a doddle - the phone manages to instantly find the application or contact or mail you're looking for (although it doesn't seem to be able to search through message content yet) with minimal lag, which shows off the processor's capabilities nicely.
Comparison with iPhone 3G
The home screen is pretty much the same as the 3G, although the voice memo and compass additions are present on the new 3G S. The compass seems to be a little bit hit and miss, often deciding that it needs to recalibrate itself. It also is integrated into Google Maps, which is nice, although we couldn't find out how to turn it off once we'd found where we were, as you don't always want to know which direction you're facing.
The other hardware upgrade, the camera, worked nicely, with the 3MP sensor improvement helping things along nicely. The autofocus was a real addition to the phone, and being able to tap on different areas to simply change focus worked far better than you'd expect on a 3MP cameraphone with no flash.
We spoke to Apple about the camera, and unsurprisingly it gave the reason that the camera is dependent on trade offs, so if it were to improve it to any great degree (ie with a flash or higher megapixel count) then it wouldn't be able to keep the form factor or functionality.
It seems that other companies are managing to do that just fine, but of course it's Apple's prerogative what it does with its phone. Like the spokesperson said, if people didn't buy them, Apple would look at what was wrong with the phone. But it sold 4m handsets in the last quarter, and it's hard to argue with those kinds of numbers.
The video recording was also tip top for a phone, although it suffered a similar overexposure problem to its camera brethren. While it's nowhere near the quality of the 720p effort on the Samsung i8910 HD, it still captures decent quality footage, although we've yet to whack it on a computer screen to see how it works in the 'real world'.
Video editing seems a little redundant on the device, although it's a nice touch being able to scroll through a video and trim it simply by dragging the ends of the 'scene' bar at the top.
Talking of Apple's 'compromises' to bring us the iPhone 3G S mean that items that seem little more than 'fun' functionality come under close scrutiny - we don't pretend to know the ins and outs of phone design, but it seems that Apple is staying close to its strategy of making it look pretty first, then work well second.
That's not to say things like video editing don't work, as they do very well and with minimal fuss, which we'd have to put down to the improved processor on board.
Messaging
Messaging using the iPhone 3G S is a lot easier with the landscape keyboard, although the device is a little wide for thumbs, and too unwieldy for finger use. We actually found it not too bad to use, but it's easy to imagine there will be a high level of people that have used other landscape keyboards that are easier to press accurately.
We'll be reviewing the MMS capabilities on the iPhone 3G S in our full review, although the integration seems very slick, and once again better than you might find on other devices.
The internet on the iPhone 3G S certainly feels much faster than on previous iterations, and while the lack of internet Flash compatibility is annoying on occasion, the 'heavier' sites load a lot faster than previously, and when multiple pages are open the slow-down effect is noticeably less, which is means the browsing experience is even closer to that on a desktop.
The Google Maps functionality is improved again thanks to the upgraded processor, with load times significantly reduced and the GPS chip working much faster than before at triangulating your location. As mentioned, the compass integration is both great and irritating, so we'll need to have a play around with that element.
App power
We haven't had a chance to properly play with all the new applications that the new iPhone 3G S is promising as it's not been long in the hands of the developers. But the prospect of turn by turn directions from TomTom, glucose level testing with the LifeScan and a whole host of other possibilities have us giddy at the thought of what the iPhone can be.
However, downloads from the App Store seem to make it to the device even faster than before (although we haven't tested like for like) and the iPhone 3G S promises faster loading times and better rendering within games and heavy applications, which we'll investigate properly in the full review.
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