iPhone Reviews

As we are about to celebrate the second anniversary of the iPhone, Apple has released the latest version of its kind. At the very first look of the Apple iphone 3gs, you might think “What is the great deal of buying a new model when it looks exactly like the previous one?”  you will probably find the answer at the end of this review. The very first thing that you would be admiring is its speed and that is the reason why Apple has named it iPhone 3GS. It could have even named the phone as the 3GC for Compass or 3GV for its new video recording capability, but it has been named 3GS specifically as this is the most prominent property you will notice straight away.

A mirror image of the iPhone 3G:

The 3GS is a mirror image of the iPhone 3G, externally, you will not be able to find any difference. Yet, there is some uniqueness in the 3GS in just a few ways. Both the memory sizes of 16GB and 32GB are available in both black and white. Another difference is that, the display of the iPhone 3GS has an oleophobic coating, which is finger print resistant, hence attracting very few fingerprints and smudges. This coating also gives it a slightly more reflective look and a rainbow effect when you reflect a monitor with it. The dimensions too remain to be the same as its predecessor, but weighs a little more that goes virtually unnoticeable.

What is new in iPhone 3GS?

It is inside the set that all the changes have been made. The enhancements include an better CPU, new internal compass, more storage space, extended battery life and a very much improvised optics for its camera. On many ways the iPhone 3GS delivers on its promises but there are a few issues too. The 3G networks is not as fast as what was expected out of it and the call quality still remains to be too far from perfect.

A warmer display:

The display of the 3GS is slightly warmer than that of the 3G with a yellowish orange tint. This king of an enhancement had been made with the 3G too, when it was upgraded from 2G. This warmer effect is not anything that distracts and the warmer display is slightly soothing to your eyes even if the brightness is being bumped up.

Intuitive and simple interface:

The menu interface remains to be the same, being intuitive and simple. This becomes a little tough once you have browsed through about four menu pages. Swiping through multiple pages becomes a tedious process. Especially, if you are an organisational freak, you will find it extremely annoying to drag applications from page to page. We also hate the fact that there is no way that you could categorise the similar applications into a common folder. It would have been great if this was possible because this not only cuts down on the menu pages, it would also allow you to find your application faster.

Simultaneous release of the iPhone OS 3.0:

Another thing to make note of is that, the release of the iPhone OS 3.0, which coincides with the release of the Apple iphone 3GS Media Player cum Phone. It is a significant update that ensures 100 new features.The iPhone OS 3.0 is a much better version of the previous versions having features like cut, copy, paste, Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard and many more applications. It also possess an iPhone version of the spotlight.

Features of iPhone 3G S:

As we had mentioned earlier, the iPhone3GS inherits most of its features from its predecessor, the iPhone 3G. So, let us see in detail, what is different and how. If you need a quick refresh, just check out our iPhone 3G review. To start with, let us see the features that is available in the new model alone.

Camera:

First, let us have a look at the camera. So far, iPhones camera functionality had been just good, but not great. It was having some decent photo quality but did not possess any good editing options. It did not possess even the basic editing features like white balance, a zoom or even a self timer that can be found in any of the usual VGA camera mobiles. iPhone 3GS has increased the camera resolution to 3 mega pixels and has also included the new “Tap to Focus” feature. When you point the camera towards the object, a small square appears in the center of the display and when you tap on the square, it automatically focuses on that point and also adjusts the factors like the white balance, colour, contrast and the exposure accordingly. If you want the focus to be made in some edge of the screen, then all that you need to do is tap on whichever you want to focus in the display and the square moves along with you. If you had not made a tap anywhere, then the camera focuses on the entire frame.

Tap to Focus functionality:

The Tap to Focus functionality works well. For instance, if you are focusing a particular part of an object, you will be getting a clear view on the object, whereas, if you shift away the focus from that part of the object, that part alone becomes a little blurry. Another interesting thing is that, if you focus on the brighter part of the object, the entire shot looks brighter, and similarly, if you focus on the darker part, the photo gives a dark look eventually. The iPhone 3GS still lacks a flash, making us quite disappointed.

Automatic macro setting:

The automatic macro setting that was added did not make much difference to the shots taken. Some of the close-up shots looked much better than what they looked on the iPhone 3G. But it looked even with the macro feature off, in other words we were not able to make out when the feature was working and when it was not. As far as the camera is concerned, it would be better if we have more control over it. For now, the camera of the iPhone 3GS is better than the ones that were available in the previous iPhones, but it would have been better if we have more control over the camera because, it is the camera that runs the show and not the user.

Photo quality:

On the whole, the quality of the photo taken by the iPhone 3GS looks better than the one taken by 3G, but as we has mentioned earlier, it totally depends on the shot. The outdoor shots with bright lighting conditions look good but if you are out on a cloudy day or in low light conditions, then they look less brighter with less of an orange tint. Another thing that you have to keep in mind is that, the iPhone’s camera has not been optimized for fluorescent light.

Video recording:

Another great news for the iPhone users is that, the iPhone 3GS is the first iphone to offer video recording feature, that the other phones have been offering from ages ago. What is more interesting is that, you also get a easy to use video editing option within the iPhone. The controls of the video recording feature work in the same fashion of that of the still camera. The tap to focus feature can be used here too. The quality of the recording is just VGA, but the camera shoots at 30 frames per second. This frame rate allows the motion videos of the iPhone 3GS look much better than the ones available in other mobile phones. Some colours look mutes and some videos looked washed out too, which is a curse of the camera mobile phones and is very hard to avoid.

Share your clips:

Once the recording is done, you can share your clip by mailing it or even by directly uploading to your YouTube account. The video editing tool offered is very intuitive and is great fun to use. Once you load a video clip, the clip is displayed frame by frame in a linear format along the top portion of the screen. If you want to edit, just touch either end of the border that surrounds your video. When the border turns yellow, you can shorten the clip by dragging either end toward your desired cutoff point  and the image on the display will conveniently change as you move along. Once you have made your edits, all that you need to do is, hit on the “Trim” control.

Now the disadvantages:

The video editing feature of iphone 3gs has a few restrictions too. When you trim a clip, the edited version replaces the original clip, rather than saving it as a new file. The trimming can also be done only in a linear format, that is, you cannot cut out something in the middle and stitch the remaining two ends of the video together. Apple has also offered a new feature that will allow you to quickly open a photo or a video that has been shot the last. After taking your snap or video, a small thumbnail will appear on the bottom of the viewfinder next to the shutter control. Tapping that thumbnail takes you to the photo gallery page, from where you can view your work or send it on to a friend.

Voice dialing feature:

IPhone 3GS has included the voice dialing feature, which we had long awaited. The voice control feature that has been included goes far beyond just making calls. In order to activate it, you have to hold down the home button until the voice control feature appears. As you must be already aware, the voice dialing feature allows you to make calls by just speaking the contacts name or phone number into the receiver. Once you give the command, the audio confirmation along with the name or number will be displayed. If the result is incorrect, just give undo. This feature is speaker independent and so, you will not need to train it in order to recognise your voice, you are ready to go as soon as you turn on the phone.

Functionality of the voice dialing feature:

This feature functions well and understands you accurately most of the time. Occasional mistakes are very common in most of the voice dialing applications. The performance of the voice controller will be much better when the numbers are alone used. Speaking loudly is not that necessary but in noisy environments, you will have to. Yet, it the voice dialer application is capable of filtering out most of the background noise. In case you call a contact, having multiple numbers, it calls out home or work etc. And again, if you ask  for a name that is having multiple listings in your phone book, it prompts for a choice, by showing the options on the screen.

Voice control: The complete control

The voice control can also interact with the iPhone’s iPod player and also with the iTunes genius list. You can ask it to play a song by artist name and album, and you can also request an entire play list. As the music starts playing, you can pause, skip to the next song, and go back to the previous track, using your voice. For instance, if you say “shuffle”, the player skips to a random song. Most of the time the feature works accurately, but occasionally, it gets confused with the artist’s name.

You know what is more interesting?, if you are not sure which song the phone is playing, you can ask “what song is this?” and the iPhone 3GS gives you an audio confirmation of the track name and artist. If you are amused by the song that is playing, then you can say “play more songs like this” and the player uses the iTunes Genius list to play a related song. The music that is going on dims as you speak. Ah! Great right? You will never be able to list out any other MP3 player or a mobile phone that offers such a capability.

Digital compass:

Another new feature that has been added to the Apple iPhone 3GS is the digital compass, which you can find directly on the home screen. Initially, we were a little perplexed by the addition of this feature, as it seemed to be an odd choice. However, this feature will be really very helpful when it comes to navigating through a new city or something of that sort. This feature possesses a very attractive interface that shows a large compass showing your latitude and longitude. As in the case of any other compass in the market, it continues to point on true or the magnetic north as you turn around. As far as the hardware is concerned, the compass seems to do what had promised with pretty impressive accuracy.

A great combo with the google maps:

The compass application itself, when seen as a stand alone product does not have much for us as we rarely need to know which direction you are actually facing. However, the combo of the compass and the google maps is a powerful marriage which could possibly end many of our navigational woes. With the maps, you will not only be able to locate your position via the GPS, you can also orient the map to the direction that you are facing. Once the compass picks up your bearing, it rotates the map to reflect. This may not sound like much, but if you have ever tried to walk a new city using just maps and geolocation, you will understand how useful the application is, quickly.

Accessibility features:

iPhone3GS has turned out to be the first iPhone to offer a full set of accessibility features.

Voice over:

This allows even the visually impaired people to use Apple’s voice recognition to navigate through the phone’s menus and also type messages and mails. When you drag your finger around a display and tap the button, the iPhone reads a description of the button. Want to know more? It gives you each character as and when you type the message and it will also give you auto correction choices. The voice over can even read text messages, emails and web pages too. In order to make use of the voice over, a different set of gestures has to be used. For instance, you will have to double tap in order to open an item, which also gives audible instructions. The speaking rate can also be set and can also make a selection from 21 different languages. This feature works with all of the native applications of the phone but its support for third party application varies.

The multi-touch zoom feature:

The multi-touch zoom feature that was previously working only in applications like photo gallery, e mails, and safari browser, now also works with home, unlock and spotlight applications. The enhanced zoom can be activated using the settings menu but also keep in mind, both the zoom and voice over applications cannot be used simultaneously.

Contrast:

The contrast of the display can be changed form white on black, which will allow the white text to be shown on black background. But a funny thing is that, the change in the contrast settings alters the appearance of the photos in the gallery and so, they look like negatives. It also gives a similar effect to the application icons in the home screen.

Nike + iPod:

The iPhone 3GS also supports Nike + iPod, this integrates your iPhone with a sensor that fits inside the Nike running shoes. This can be used as a pedometer in order to track the distance traveled and your speed. When the application is turned on using the settings menu, the option appears in the home screen and even the headphones included with the iPhone 3GS would show the changes. It also includes controls for using the voice control, volume adjustments, answering calls and also controlling the music and video playback.

MMS included:

Finally, Apple has included the multimedia messaging feature. Using this MMS feature, you can not only share your images, but even videos, audio files and even map locations. Finally, iPhone can also do what every other multimedia phone in the market had been doing for ages. The messaging process is very intuitive. When you use the text messaging application, a small camera icon appears next to the writing area. If you tap over it, you get the choice of taking a new picture or even send the existing shot. You can also initiate a MMS form the image gallery.

“cut, copy and paste” Feature:

As we had mentioned earlier, the “cut, copy and paste” feature has been included in the OS. This feature works across all the applications including notes, emails, messages and even text in the web pages. Just double tap over a selection of text, the options of cut, copy and paste appears. . You then can change the highlighted area by dragging the blue grab points around the page. Just tap on the paste button once you have found the area where you want the content to be pasted. If you make a mistake and paste in the incorrect place, you can shake the iPhone to undo your command. When you are using notes or mail application, highlighting can be done by pressing for a long time. This will give you two options, select and select all. While the former command highlights only the word that you are touching, the latter highlights the entire block of text. Keep in mind that when you make use of the safari browser, there are a few acclimations.

Landscape keyboard:

The landscape keyboard which was previously available only with the safari browser, now works with other applications like e-mail, messaging and notes. Though the landscape keyboard is much wider, with larger buttons, it is short too and so, it takes a little to get accustomed to it. Hence, you can make use of both your hands and have a tap dance over your iPhone 3GS.

Spotlight feature:

Another new feature that has been included in iPhone 3GS is the Spotlight. The spotlight feature make the search processes very easy. To get to the Spotlight feature, swipe your finger to the right from the first menu page. You’ll then see a keyboard with a typing field above it. As you type in a search term, the results appear below the search bar, with results grouped together by category for easy navigation.

Tethering:

Tethering is possible with the iPhone 3GS, but this will be completely carrier oriented  and dependent. Coming to the part of text messaging, the deleting and forwarding of individual messages works exactly like the email application. Once you select the edit option, tiny dots appear next to each message, hit over the dots on the messages that you intend to delete or forward and then, click over the delete or forward options. Finally, this option is available.

Bluetooth:

The addition of Stereo Bluetooth profile with the iPhone OS 3.0 is most welcome. The paring process with any of the headsets is easy and hassle free. When you are in the music player application, you will find a small Bluetooth icon just next to the player controls. Just press it, in order to route the audio to the headset. You then have the freedom of toggling between the speaker and headset. With the addition of Bluetooth in the OS, Bluetooth peer to peer networking is available for gaming. Both of the above mentioned Bluetooth features were absent in the iPhone Classic.

iPhone 3GS - a fully functional GPS:

Apple has made the iPhone 3GS, a fully functional GPS by providing turn by turn instructions. The directional services do not come from Apple, rather, they come from the third party applications. TomTom is one of the first companies to provide the offer. The services look promising. The complete interface is quite attractive and the directions are clearly audible. TomTom also offers a car kit that secures your iPhone to your car’s wind shield or dashboard. Hence, you will be able to charge too. This is a great news because, in that way, as you know iPhones are always battery hungry. It will be interesting to know how much they will be charging for the service, as you might know, GPS maps are not at all cheap. Another thing that we are curious to know is that, the amount of memory the maps might consume and how the application would integrate with the iPhone’s other features.

Difference in the iTunes:

Since the operating system has been changed, you can experience something different with the iTunes too. With this change, you could rent and purchase movies, TV shows, audio books, redeem iTunes gift cards on the phone in the iTunes App store and even use the iTunes U. Another capability that has been included is that, you can make purchases when you are inside applications. For instance, you will be able to buy additional levels of games or even renew a magazine subscription. This is a little handy as you will not need to close the application and go to the iTunes store. This time Apple has promised that the free applications will always remain to be free.

Find my Phone feature:

If you are a kind of person who is used to loosing things, then here is a happy news for you. You will not loose your iPhone 3GS as the OS 3.0 gives you a perfect solution. In case you miss it, you will be able to use a computer in order to find its position on the map. A message can be then sent to the device, instructing anybody who finds your iPhone to ring you. It plays a tone to get a passerby’s attention, and it even plays the tone when the sound is off. Presumably, however, it will not play the tone when the phone is off. But there are a few blots too, the “Find my Phone” service is available only to specific service users. If nothing works for you, then you can make use of the remote wipe function to clear off all the details in your phone. IPhone 3GS is the first phone to  introduce the remote swipe functionality to the consumers outside the enterprise setting.

Voice recorder:

The voice recorder application has a an icon of its own in the home screen and has been turned out to be better than ever before. The interface is cool and easy to use. All that you will have to do is, tap it to start recording and again tap over it to stop recording. You will be able to record even a you are using other applications and once you have completed recording, you can mail the voice clips like the way you could mail the video clips.

Call quality:

There is no difference in data and browser speeds. Improvements should be made. Coming to the call quality, it remains to be unchanged from its predecessor, the iPhone 3G. The audio quality is decent and sounds more natural. The wind noise is apparent in some cases and even the volume can be better. The speakerphone call quality is just fine, but not that great. In the highest volume, the voices distorted a little. There is not much of a change in the overall signal strength and reception.

Audio and video quality:

Though a lot of tweaks and changes were made in the iPhone 3GS, no change could be actually found with the music and video playback quality. But we have nothing to complain as it is near to perfect already. The audio is excellent, crisp and full with great volume and without any background hiss. It supports a wide range of audio formats. The video playback remains to be bright and smooth. As we had mentioned earlier, iPhone 3GS is the first iPhone that can both play and record video.

Battery life:

IPhone 3G’s one of the greatest disadvantage was its battery life, it would not last longer than a day on heavy usage. The iPhone 3GS offers 9 hours of Wi-Fi battery life, 10 hours of video playback, 30 hours of audio playback, 12 hours of 2G talk time, and 5 hours of 3G talk time. You can also find the percentage of battery charge left in the home screen.

Warranty:

Apple offers iPhone 3GS a warranty of one year.

Verdict:

So for your question should you be buying the iPhone 3GS, the answer is that, it will totally depend on the price that you are willing to pay for the privilege. If you are not owning an iPhone yet, then you could of course go with the 3GS. If you own an iPhone Classic too, you could go for the iPhone 3GS, but if you are currently owning an iPhone 3G, then it is wise for you if you think twice. Rather, it will be a better idea for you to upgrade to the new iPhone OS 3.0 operating system, that we discussed in the review and just wait for some more time. However, simple additions have made the iPhone 3GS, a great luxury.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Apple
Model Name	iPhone 3GS
Dimensions (H x W x D)	115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm
Weight	135 grams
Memory capacity	16GB or 32GB flash drive
Colour	Black or white
Display technology	Widescreen Multi-Touch display
Display size	3.5-inch
Display features	Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Mobile and wireless	UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Phone features	Assisted GPS Digital compass Wi-Fi Mobile
Audio formats supported	AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV
Operating system	Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11
Software included	iTunes 8.2 or later
Mail attachment support	Yes
Camera features	3 megapixels Autofocus Tap to focus Video recording, VGA up to 30 fps with audio Photo and video geotagging iPhone and third-party application integration
Sensors	Accelerometer Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor
Head phone features	Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Volume control
Package contents	iPhone 3GS Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic Dock Connector to USB Cable USB Power Adapter Documentation SIM eject tool
Battery	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Battery life	Talk time: Up to 12 hours on 2G Up to 5 hours on 3G Standby time: Up to 300 hours Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G Up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi Video playback: Up to 10 hours Audio playback: Up to 30 hours
Warranty	One year