Apple iPhone 3GS

APPLE IPHONE 3GS REVIEW

The iPhone 3GS, originally the iPhone 3G S, [8] is a touchscreen smartphone, designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the third generation iPhone, successor to the iPhone 3G. It was introduced on June 8, 2009, at the WWDC 2009 which took place at the Moscone Center, San Francisco. We mentioned that Apple didn't really make any cosmetic changes to the phone, but that's not entirely accurate. While the 480 x 320 display on the iPhone 3GS is technically identical to its predecessor's screen, it adds one small feature which should make some users extremely happy. We mentioned that Apple didn't really make any cosmetic changes to the phone, but that's not entirely accurate. While the 480 x 320 display on the iPhone 3GS is technically identical to its predecessor's screen, it adds one small feature which should make some users extremely happy. The company has changed the treatment on the surface of the touchscreen, utilizing an oleophobic coating essentially a protectant that's highly resistant to fingerprint smudging. For those of you constantly wiping burger grease, WD40, and various other toxic materials from your iPhone, this will come as a tremendous little perk. The most surprising thing about the tech is that it actually does what the company says it will: namely, it resists new smudges and wipes almost entirely clean with a single swipe on a pant leg. This wasn't exactly the most pressing issue we had with the phone, but it's nice to know that Apple is innovating in the dirty screen space. Video recording on the iPhone 3G S is really quite impressive, and there are two reasons why. For starters, the phone handles pretty fantastic looking VGA video at 30 FPS, which makes for not just passable mobile video, but usable mobile video. The size, clarity, and smoothness of the sequences we shot looked tremendous to our eyes certainly on par if not outclassing many of the contenders in this space. In our opinion, the 3GS video quality is high enough that we'd consider this a viable stand-in for lower end camcorders or flip cams if you want to capture your kids at the park but don't want to come packing a ton of gear, this produces totally reasonable results. The second reason we're a fan of the 3GS video functionality is simple: editing. After you snap some video, you can easily pull out just the section you want to use in a kind of dumbed down iMovie edit window, which gives you a timeline of your clip, replete with a preview of the action. You can long-press on the section you're editing to see a more detailed view, and you can pull either the start or end points to snag just the section you want. We love the fact that you can grab and cut video in-phone without having to offload anywhere else, but we'd love it even more if OS 3.0 allowed for non-destructive editing of the clips. As it is now, once you cut something down, you're done there's no way to retrieve the full length version of the video. We're hoping in future version Apple gives users either the option to retain the deleted sections, or at least the option to copy the clip over to a new file. We wouldn't scoff at an option to splice or merge multiple clips together either, but we don't want to break the bank with our lofty requests. One other nice feature that's been tacked on the video tool is the ability to auto-compress and upload to YouTube, MobileMe (a 45 second video took about three minutes to up over WiFi), or send a .MOV in an email. If we had a device that could actually utilize MMS, there's an option for that as well. The first big one that stands out is the extension of a landscape keyboard to all of the main applications in Apple's arsenal. That means you now have access to the more spacious layout in Mail, Notes, Messages, etc. There are a lot of users out there who were hoping this day would come, and we'll admit, our typing accuracy definitely goes up when we bust out the broader keyboard. Like copy and paste, this is probably an addition that should have been part of the package right out of the gate, but better late than never guys. The Google Maps feature is amazing w/ the ability to use satellite data, the addition of the compass & GPS pinpoints your location w/ amazing accuracy & even better than dedicated GPS devices. The GPS integration w/ LocateMe is awesome.  The new iPhone is definitely worth the upgrade. I now have enough room to back up the important parts of my hard drive to the iPhone, thanks to the 32GB capacity. I have right at 8GB of music & 6GB of pictures, text message, apps, etc so the 32GB model will come in handy for me.  Apple claimed that the battery life on the 3GS is somehow better than what we've previously seen on the 3G, but in our tests, we could barely tell the difference between the two handsets. First off, in terms of talktime and data over a 3G network, the count is exactly the same (five hours) though the battery gains two hours (up from 10 to 12) using 2G. Where the differences really show according to Apple are during strictly WiFi, video, or audio use. The claim is that you'll see roughly three to four more hours of life out of the device in those scenarios, but honestly, if you're just using this thing to play audio, why did you bother getting an iPhone? In our tests real world, admittedly non-scientific tests we hardly noticed a difference in battery life between the new and old model. The point is, you're still very much in the same boat when it comes to general use but on the plus side, there's no noticeable deficit in power with the new version (though we have yet to see what heavy video capture does to a full charge). If you're looking for something new, something different and something you're not quite familiar with, there's the Pre or the MyTouch 3G. But as a whole, the iPhone 3GS is the best all-around smartphone available. If you're looking for a refined, augmented version of what you already know, a phone that, not for nothing, runs all the tens of thousands of apps on the App Store, choose the iPhone 3GS, [Apple].

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES

APPLE IPHONE 3GS PRICE

Price in USA $220

Price in UK £145

Price in EURO €190

Price in PAK Rs.29,500

Price in INDIA Rs.18,000