The iPhone 3G S is Apple's third smartphone. Although in many ways it's not that big of improvement over the iPhone 3G, that "S" is the most important part of the new iPhone. The iPhone 3G S has many internal changes but you really can't tell the difference at all between the 3G and 3G S by just looking at the case.
The two are so close in size and the touch screen has the same size and resolution, 3.5 inches and 320 by 480 pixels (HVGA)
All the changes are internal -- Apple has bumped up the CPU speed to 600 MHz, while the iPhone 3G's was at 412 MHz. The RAM has also been doubled from 128 MB to 256 MB. Of course, the iPhone 3G S comes with 16 GB or 32 GB of storage.
The iPhone also has an improved camera and a magnetometer is included now.
It has oleophobic coating, which means there is a lot less smudging, and I mean A LOT less. It resists smudges, and if it does smudge, it pretty much cleans up with one wipe. I was always bothered by screen smudge, and to be honest I'm excited for this improvement. A great move on Apple's part. The back of the phone still smudges the same
though.
PERFORMANCE
The performance of the iPhone 3G S is astounding compared to the 3G. Before, the text application would load slowly, now it's instant. When you would rotate an application, it would take some time to change. Now, it rotates instantly. Safari renders pages faster. There really are no complaints in this performance increase, and Apple has lived up to the "S". Most of the improvements in this model come from its new operating system, iPhone 3.0. This same OS has also been released as an upgrade for Apple's earlier models.
Camera and Video Recording
The 3 MPx camera in the iPhone 3G S is a wish come true. The picture quality is much better. The phone also has an auto-focus option with a blue box that pops up, or you can tap somewhere and it will focus in on the object.
The iPhone 3G S also offers video recording. This is something very cool. The quality is decent, and it's extremely easy to shoot and edit video straight on the iPhone. My one main complaint is the fact you can only trim the video. You can't cut out parts of the middle and such.
You can then send your video off via email, MobileMe, and even upload it straight to YouTube, right from the phone. When you upload the video to YouTube, you can enter all the video information, and see the uploading status.
Voice Control
Voice control is a nifty new feature. Once enabled by pressing and holding the home button you can speak a command. It picks up what you say all right. You can only say contact names, and a lot of iPod control commands, such as "Play so and so" or "Shuffle". There is no way of telling it to open a specific app though.
Compass
Both the iPhone and iPhone 3G had a built-in accelerometer, which could only work if you tilted the phone on an X Y axis. With the iPhone 3G S, it has a built in magnetometer, which can be used on an X-Y-Z axis. So before if you rotated the iPhone 3G flat on a table, it wouldn't do anything -- this is now changed.
Because of this, we now have a built-in compass app that is integrated with Maps. You have the option to use "True North" or "Magnetic North". The app also displays your coordinates.
Apple iPhone 3G S Map AppYou can expect a number of third-party apps to take advantage of this new feature in the future.
Maps
The biggest improvement in the Maps app is support for the new built-in compass I just mentioned. On previous devices, when you pressed the Locate button, it would just locate you. If you press it twice now, the iPhone will display a beam showing the direction you are headed towards. It now also orients the map to the way you are facing, making it much easier to find locations.
Other Various Improvements
The new iPhone features Nike+ integration. Also, you now have the option to show the battery percentage. I love this feature, as it's a much more accurate way of telling how much power is left. I don't understand why this option is only available on the iPhone 3G S and not the iPhone 3G or iPhone, it just doesn't make sense.
Overall, if you have the first-generation iPhone, I think it would be a more reasonable option to upgrade due to the lack of 3G, GPS, and all the rest of the iPhone 3G S features. If you are coming from a different phone, then I would switch to the iPhone. Many say the iPhone is overrated, many say the iPhone is a child's toy, but Apple is moving in the right direction. It is working around the consumer, and more and more the business area. The iPhone 3G S isn't perfect -- and to be honest is far from perfect, but that perfect phone doesn't exist and probably never will.
Just understand though this model still lacks things like MMS , voice navigation, background applications, a front facing camera, e-mail body searching, text message searching, haptic feedback... one could still manage.
The 16 GB iPhone 3G S sells for $200 while a 32 GB model goes for $300. Rates for monthly service haven't changed. Apple still requires you to get an unlimited data plan for $30 a month, plus a voice plan.
