Chad's Take: iPhone 3GS
After braving 4 hours in line on Friday morning, I was able to walk away with a 32GB iPhone 3GS in white. So what do I think? There are more than a few things that impress me about the iPhone 3GS. These observations are from using the device, not from mere published technical specifications. Let's start to tackle them one at a time shall we?
Headphones:
Ever since the iPod Nano came out with the volume controls on their headphones, I wanted them on the iPhone. Now, I have my wish. Not only that, but there is a very convenient clip that will keep the ear buds together when you stuff them in your bag, preventing more tangles- nice touch Apple!
Voice Control
I admit, I was calling the Voice Control feature a bit gimmicky out of the gate. However, it actually works! First, voice calls work as advertised, but what surprised me was great was the ability to identify a song; here is my scenario. I was working at Panera Bread yesterday and a song came up on my iPhone I liked, but I had not heard before. At the time, I was reading a web page. I did not want to leave the web page so I held down the home button and asked, "What song is this?". It told me and went right back to my web page. Awesome.
Screen
Did you know that the iPhone has an olephobic screen? That means that smudges wipe off easily and your finger has an even smoother sensation running over the glass. My fingers feel good and no more smudges!
Speed
Apple was not kidding, this device is fast. How fast? A really good example is using Spotlight search. As soon as I start to type, items begin to appear instantly. Not only that, when I tap on an email from Spotlights results, it, I kid you not, opens instantly. Wow. It truly does enhance workflow.
The Web is noticably faster too. When you zoom in, it takes all but half a second to focus. Flicking around the screen is much snappier as well.
Moving apps around, appear to me anyway, to move at a sliky smooth 60FPS. Hey, that is what it looks like; animated and really pretty :-)
Camera
The camera takes better photos. I would not say the quality is astounding, but the auto-focus feature is nice; I am pleased. The video camera records video as well as my Flip Mino. Again, no complaints. Photos and videos are copied into iTunes when you sync. The movies import as .mov files. Also, when it comes to movies, a great feature is that when you upload to MobileMe or YouTube, the movies upload in the background, so you can continue doing other tasks; you don't have to keep the app open- good job Apple!
Battery
The battery is better, not by much in my few days of use, but it is better. Not bad with the extra performance, etc, quite an achievement actually. Just don't go into it thinking that you battery life has doubled; it hasn't.
Overall I am very impressed. There are other additions as well (the Compass comes to mind) but the items I have listed have made the most impact for me. What about you?
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i juts like the whole fone lol
I didn't know that there was a way of taking sceenshots of any application on OS3.0 by simply holding down the "power" and "home" buttons for about 1-2 seconds. Anybody else ?
@Daniel Dude, get a life! Under your twisted logic, only unique reviews are helpful, and it is up to the readers to find that single review. On the contrary, the more times reviews agree with each other, the more those claims are substantiated.
My experience with the 3GS is very much like the author's. It grows on you. I'm more and more impressed with it's snappiness and resposiveness with each passing day. I love the fact that with more RAM, web pages do not need to reload nearly as often, and when they do, they do so ever more quickly. A double whammy!
Clip? What clip?
@PhxBlue
There is a clip on the headphones that allows you to "snap" them together in the hopes of preventing less tangles; it's a nice addition!
To the other grumpy commentators:
My bet is that the other "sites" haven't mentioned that :-)
Ever since the iPod Nano came out with the volume controls on there headphones their headphones..
I don't know why isn't anybody speaking about the fact that Apple left 3G owners hanging by not giving them a Video Camera (giving you more reasons to jailbreak) and voice control? I mean it's not like we need an extra special hardware for both of those things!
I can't wait for some nice programmer to backport both of those things into 3G so I can 'in-your-face' Apple and tell them that they are pushing me to a corner to jailbreak! Backport! Backport! Backport!
Excellent review thank you
Double Home Button always shows iPod playback controls when in iPod mode (even if you have it assigned to something different in settings). So that would've been better since it also does not block the whole screen as Voice Control does.
Yea what headphone clip????
Rene:
If you still have a 3G and 3GS to run side-by-side tests, I would be very interested in confirmation of Waidt's suggestion that the 3GS has a bigger browser cache (that pages reload less often). The constant full reloading of an ajax-based page (e.g. Google Reader) when returning to its tab has always been an annoyance for me.
I LOVE my 3GS!!!! Whooooooah!
@Fassy, I don't know if it was here or not. But the results was yes Safari does have a larger cache. The video had 3 sites open on both devices and all 3 sites cached. Then they closed Safari and opened Star Defense. Then went back. The iPhone 3GS did not need to reload any of the pages, the iPhone 3G had to reload 2 of them.
I wanna see video of side-by-side use. Not just launching apps, but go into messages type some, open safari browse to a page, jump to a third party app, go back to messages or some thing else and do stuff quick. That sort of stuff, probably need 2 people...
@Fassy, one more thing. Have you tried an RSS reader app that syncs with Google Reader? iNews is what I have been using and it is pretty sweet, there are many of them. No more reloading just to get back, only updates when you want.
I like ByLine for syncing with Google Reader.
I love real world user reviews, personally. So I enjoyed this. I have owned every iPhone since version 1. I was one of the sit on the concrete and wait enthusiasts. I do however feel that the jump from 3G to 3GS is not very significant. Am I happy to have the 3GS? You bet! I love the option of video at a moment's notice without having to carry an extra device like a point and shoot. I love the compass with Google maps. The greatest improvement though to me is simply the 3.0 software. That's a more substantial jump than the hardware in my opinion.
I love my 3G S a lot. I'm happy I got it. However, with the whole " what song is this " via voice control , ( if you have it enabled ) you can just double press the home button and it gives you the iPod shortcut. However, I think the advantage is that you have something tell it to your instead of having to look at it your self.
The camera looks a tiny bit better and much better depending on the circumstances.
@Chad
Nice review of things I haven't seen other reviews mention...
@Fassy
Rene posted a video comparison earlier this week showing how the 3GS cached pages when the 3G did not. It was towards the end of the application speed comparison video.
I agree that the difference between the 3G and 3GS devices alone is not that much. More memory, faster, magnetometer, screen. Apple provided some software improvements with 3.0, but I think they're betting developers will deliver the killer apps.
@sting7k
Thanks -- I use bylines, though I find myself more and more just reading inside Safari instead, except when I know I am going to be in an area with no signal.
And don't forget it's water resistant: http://www.iphoned.nl/video-iphone-3gs-waterbestendig-blijkbaar-wel/11353
@Joe McG
Ah yes...thanks. I had stopped that video during the games section.
@Fassy we posted a video on that here that shows, yes indeed, more pages stay in memory longer. We had 3 open, ran Star Defense, came back, and all three were still in memory -- no reload!
When I did a video clip and then tried to email it to a friend, it compressed the video and my friend's PC couldn't open it with Quicktime (it said it was missing the compressor file). Any suggestions? The clip was only 10-15 seconds, so it wasn't very large.
Thanks.
Video may work on the regular 3G, but it's not as smooth or at as good of a framerate and it stutters... at least from the video that I saw of jailbroken 3G video.
Daniel you don't run the site or pay the fees it costs to keep it going, they DO. That infact entitles them to control it as they please without out your permission, consent, or feelings in mind. Now stop wasting bandwidth and get over it.
Back to more important news. Where is this friggin clip??
Oh there it is! Figured it out, DUH moment ended.
when do you think there will be unlock solution for this new 3G-S model ?
Sounds like Apple put some work into it - still not enough to coax the cash from my wallet to pay almost full price for a 3GS... I'll stick with my 3G running 3.0 w/ JB and see what Jobs and Co do with it next year.
@PhxBlue - Where is the clip? I am not able to figure this out.
@Budwizer
There's a lil white piece at the base of the wire where it first separates into two wires. Its notched on one side so you can unclip it and move it up to the ear pieces and reattach it to the wire.
yeah the "clip" has been around for awhile... it was on the headphones from my old black and white screen, 20GB ipod... the one side of it didn't detach though, since it didn't have to navigate around the mic/vol.ctrl...
This is my first ever iPhone and pretty much agree with what you've said Chad - you sum it up well so thanks for the review.
I love that it's the first mobile I've ever had that I've not had to refer to any instructions to setup/use. I love the app's. I love the iPod, especially the voice control. I love (almost) everything about it!
What I don't love? The bundled ear phones don't stay in my ears!!! ...anyone else have that problem?
Also having had Nokia's and an HTC Touch 2 I miss having a better camera as the pictures I've taken so far have had a lot of noise in low light and even a bit of photoshop magic can't really fix them. Also with only one camera you can't do video calls.
But hey, the benefits way exceed the shortcomings and the time saved in messing around trying to get things working is such a refreshing change.
Anyone else a first time iPhone user? What do you think?
First timer here also and the vendors far outweigh the the few shortcomings. This device is a pleasue to use and doesn't require hacks to make it do what I need it to. It's truly the closest thing to what I've been hoping for since cell phones have existed. It's a little pocket computer that makes calls. Great for email and web and so much more - I was in one of our cars the other day installing a dash mount for a new GPS and was able to doublecheck how part of the dash came off without going back inside by hitting up a forum post and watching a video. Can't wait to see what devs will do with new capabilities of the 3G S,
I mainly use my iPhone for playing games, it's the best gaming machine ever imo.
With my razor I can control the phone with my bluetooth headset. How can I do that with a GS? In the Apple store that I can't. I have to pick up the phone and say my commands to it?
Apple iPhone 3G S 32GB Unlocked
Manufacturer: Apple
Condition: New
Price:$300usd
EMAILS : marketplaceinc@ymail.com
Tel:+447035965778
IN GOD WE TRUST
Got a new 3gs the other day. In settings I've set it to access Favorites when the home button is double clicked. But it doesn't work. It will only access search on a single click. No double click function.
I haven't picked up a 3GS yet, mainly because I think the prices are just insane. I have T-Mobile so I'll have to crack & jailbreak it anyway, which is no big deal because I have my 1st gen iphone running the 3.0 update. I hear the speed of the 3GS is probably the biggest improvement.
Love the phone hate the battery
Wow, nice story. I just now stumbled on your blog and am already a fan. ;)