World of Apple

The iPhone 3GS is the latest incarnation of the iPhone from Apple, encompassing just a handful of new features and looking identical to its predecessor the 3GS may seem like a non-sensical upgrade to some.

Compared to the iPhone 3G the iPhone 3GS adds a better camera with auto-focus and the ability to record video, a magnetometer (digital compass), and voice commands. Beyond these features the iPhone 3GS also has some hidden tricks, revealed only by its name. The ‘S’ according to Apple stands for speed and this is where the iPhone 3GS shines.

What’s Included

The iPhone 3GS includes almost the identical set of accessories that the iPhone 3G came bundled with. In the UK the included power adapter has been significantly shrunk allowing Apple to reduce the size of the packaging. Apple also included a slightly modified set of headphones, instead of just a microphone and a play/pause clicker on the earbud cord there is now volume up/down controls, replicating the functionality of Apple’s dearer in-ear headphones.

The iPhone itself is largely the same, the major change is that Apple has opted to use an oleophobic coating on the display. The coating effectively repels oils such as those off your fingers; finger prints are noticeably less distracting and a single wipe of the iPhones display will give a brand new finish.

Battery Life

The iPhone 3GS is quoted by Apple to have battery life better than that of the iPhone 3G, but only just. Despite not having enough time to run specific battery tests we can confirm that the battery is slightly improved from that of the iPhone 3G. Unfortunately for those switching from the original iPhone the battery life will be seem woeful, with heavy users requiring a midday charge.

S for Snappy

When Phil Schiller took the stage and introduced the the iPhone 3GS at WWDC 2009 he made it clear that the ‘S’ stood for speed but gave no further details on how Apple had achieved this. Since then it’s been revealed that the CPU in the 3GS is a ARM Cortex A8 clocked at 600MHz and although not confirmed it is suspected that Apple has doubled the available RAM to 256MB.

Not only does the iPhone 3GS pack some speedier components the device can also support data speeds of up to 7.2Mbps, compare this to the iPhone 3G’s meagre 3.6Mbps. Unfortunately across the UK and USA, O2 and AT&T respectively have very few areas capable of such speeds, I suspect the UK is slightly more prepared but was unable to confirm so with O2 UK. AT&T says it is rolling out network upgrades to support 7.2Mbps later this year but coverage will likely be very patchy.

The speed increases don’t just stop with better CPUs and faster networking components, the iPhone 3GS supports the brand new OpenGL ES 2.0 standard, this means we’ll see a whole new generation of iPhone games with better and more complex graphics.

Where the iPhone 3GS really shows off in the pack is opening and closing of applications and rendering of web pages, below is a table outlining some benchmarks between the new iPhone 3GS and the original iPhone.

Device	BBC News	World of Apple	CNN	Apple	NY Times	Open Peggle	Open Message app	Open Star Defence	Run SunSpider Benchmark
Original iPhone	21.1	23.3	9.5	8.9	37.7	27.7	4.1	32.5	44.00
iPhone 3GS	7.4	14.9	8.2	7.8	17.6	9.3	1.3	21.9	16.32

All times in seconds. All web page loading benchmarks tested on freshly restarted iPhones with cleared caches running on the same WiFi network. All tests carried out three times with an average published. Both iPhones running public release of iPhone OS 3.0.

Camera and Video

Between the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G the camera didn’t change, not one bit. With the iPhone 3GS the camera makes some evolutionary steps, first of all a 1 million pixel increase in quality from 2.0 megapixels to 3.0. Second, the camera has the ability to focus in both auto and manual modes. Manual focusing is achieved by just tapping an area of the display, the 3GS will then attempt to focus and meter off that object.

In addition to significant and noticeable improvements in the still camera the iPhone 3GS can now record, edit and share video. Video is recorded simply by flicking an on-screen switch. Once recorded you can do a basic trim on your video and share it via MMS, EMail, MobileMe or YouTube. Unfortunately trimming a video on the 3GS is destructive and the bits you trim off can never be recovered.

All round the iPhone 3GS has taken several giant steps forward in the camera department, the ability to share both photos and video has become incredibly easy and the quality of both is generally acceptable.

Below is a selection of shots from both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3GS.

Below are also three video examples, one filmed in daylight, another in lowlight and a final one in almost complete darkness.

Video recorded on the iPhone 3GS during the day.

Video recorded on the iPhone 3GS to demonstrate low light conditions.

Video recorded on the iPhone 3GS in the dark.

Compass

Anyone who thought the iPhone 3G was perfectly suited to finding your location was seemingly wrong, Apple has taken it one further by adding a digital compass to the iPhone 3GS. The magnetometer as it is technically known functions as you’d expect pointing out your current heading and showing a pretty compass interface. Jump into the Google Maps application and the compass also helps the map point in the same direction as the iPhone. This feature will no doubt come in handy when working out which direction to walk up or down a block or for just finding out which direction my desk faces (298º NW if you care).

Disappointing to me personally is Apple appears to have negated a feature which first appeared on the Android mobile platform, if Google street view was able to show my direction using the compass it would become even more useful.

Voice Control

Another distinguishing feature of the iPhone 3GS is the voice control software which comes pre-installed. Press and hold the home button for a few seconds and a blue interface with commands floating past will pop up; say “Play songs by Eminem” and very likely the iPhone will obey. The feature only works with the phone and iPod parts of the iPhone, so no dictating of emails or SMS messages but it is surprisingly accurate even with my British accent.

Surprisingly the voice commands do not function at all with either Apple’s Bluetooth headset or any third party headset, the only way to use this in a car would be to use a set of headphones with a built-in microphone. Press and hold the play/pause button for a few seconds and you’ll hear those familiar beeps, say “Call Alex” and iPhone will respond asking you which Alex you wish to call, say their surname and the iPhone will dial the number. If they have more than one number you’ll also be required to state which number you wish to call. I’m unsure whether it is a feature or not but my iPhone 3GS appears to have learnt that for certain contacts I always dial a certain number and has stopped asking which one I want to ring.

Far more impressive to those who I’ve shown this feature to is the iPhones capability to dial numbers just from you reading them out, the accuracy is superb.

As I mentioned the voice control feature is limited to the phone and iPod, with the iPod implementation it certainly suffers and lacks in some areas. The iPhone can be asked to play a playlist, artist or album. No where to be seen is the ability to play a song, also the iPhone 3GS gets very confused when an artist has more than one name. Asking “Play songs by Kaiserchiefs” will work fine but “Play songs by Electric Light Orchestra” usually fails.

As you’d expect anything but a reasonably quiet environment throws this feature haywire, as I walked around my local supermarket the iPhone refused to make a Genius playlist of the current playing song, insisting that I wanted to ring my work. I really didn’t.

Accessibility, Encryption and Nike+

Apple also distinguishes the iPhone 3GS with some less obvious software based features. I suspect that the added speed has allowed Apple to port some of the accessibility features available in Mac OS X over to the iPhone OS. Accessibility tools can be enabled in iTunes or on iPhone itself. Zoom is available, once enabled users can magnify the screen by double-tapping with three fingers and using the same three fingers to either increase the zoom or scroll around.

VoiceOver has also made it over to the iPhone, once turned on a single tap on any text or button will have it read out, a double tab is then required to action an item.

A “White on Black” setting inverts the display while a “Mono Audio” setting does as suggested and allows all audio to be directed to either the left or right channel on earphones. Finally a feature not just handy to those visually or audibly impaired, “Speak Auto-text” will announce auto-corrections as they appear when typing.

Encryption was a feature mentioned briefly by Scott Forstall in the WWDC 2009 keynote and only mentioned in a single paragraph on the iPhone 3GS website but is a big part of the new iPhone 3GS. All data on the iPhone 3GS is stored in an encrypted image, so if protected by a passcode lock data on the iPhone is virtually impenetrable by thieves. Additionally using some form of Remote Wipe feature offered by MobileMe or corporate tools is instantaneous as only a part of the data needs destroying for the rest to be inaccessible.

Nike+ has also finally made it to the iPhone, you’ll need some special Nike+ shoes and a sensor which will track your walking or running performance. The feature is notable not only because the iPhone 3GS is the first iPhone to support it but it also works in conjunction with wireless Bluetooth headphones or speakers. So at the same time as transmitting to and from the Nike+ sensor, the iPhone 3GS can also send audio to your Bluetooth headphones.

Conclusion

There is no disputing the iPhone 3GS lives up to its name, the device is faster at everything and it’s noticeable. The camera is a step in the right direction but the lack of a flash will be a let down for some, the camera also appears to constantly wanting to make everything much brighter than it actually is.

There are generally two scenarios in which you’d be looking to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS, you either own an original iPhone or third-party phone or you own an iPhone 3G. If you own an iPhone 3G it is somewhat likely that you’ll be wrapped up in a contract that prevents you upgrading immediately but those who are illegible may be considering the upgrade.

If you own an original iPhone then the upgrade to the iPhone 3GS is well worth it, some may argue that a model next year will be far improved but the original iPhone is now two years old, lacks 3G connectivity and is beginning to miss out on features such as MMS.

From the iPhone 3G the scene is different, the iPhone OS 3.0 update brought along a whole new array of functionality. How much value do you place in the ability to record video, have a slightly better camera and be able to see what direction you’re facing?

Pros

• Speed improvements are noticeable across the board
• Great improvements to the camera
• Video recording is a welcome addition and editing and sharing is a breeze
• Oleophobic display works as advertised
• Voice control is accurate more times than not

Cons

• Compass appears slightly inaccurate at times and seems to have limited use
• Voice control does not work with Bluetooth headsets
• Battery life is poor compared to original iPhone