Apple iPhone 3GS - Review

The Best phone ever made?...

Its very rare to see a mobile phone consume not only a market place but communities, workplaces and in some cases people lives. Apple sold 10 MILLION iPhones in 2008 alone. Yes there were things with the first gen iPhone people complained about, Bluetooth rescritions, poor camera, no video capability etc etc, but you still went out in your droves to purchase the mobile iTunes device. 

The hype pre-release of the 3GS was huge, with talk of the apps being accessed and operated at break neck speed. So has it lived up to the marketing..... Lets see;

Geek Bit

Display 320x480 capacitive touchscreen

Battery 12hrs talk/300hrs standby

Connectivity A-GPS, HSDPA, Bluetooth, WI-Fi

Camera 3MP Autofocus

Storage 16GB/32GB priced accordingly

A new 600Mhz processor and RAM that is double the 1st gen has a real impact on performance, and while the difference may be nano seconds at the moment, as apps get more complex, this will prove essential in the near future.  

Cut and paste and a landscape keyboard also makes it more communicative.

A new digital compass (magnetometer) works excellently with google maps and street view.

A new face, covered with an oil resistant 'one wipe' screen to increase scratch free, thumb print less life span. 

Voice control which you can access your favourate songs from is a very clever use of already existing software. 

Turn by turn sat nav is a real plus to this machine, as is the slightly improved battery life. Which smoothly links me to the things that quite literally want me to pull my own hair out and want to shout at the little Apple boffins who develop this in some air tight laboratory.

Why oh why is the camera only 3Megapixel's with no flash, and the VGA video is astonishingly poor compared to the N97 and the Samsung i8910HD (soon to be reviewed) 

The Battery life at first glance at my Geek Bit seems great, let me tell you though that if you have Wi-Fi scan on and are browsing the web it will demolish the battery before you know it, and dont even try it with the bluetooth switched on at the same time, But for some reason iPhone users are happy to charge they phone twice a day.

The home screen is no way near as personal as the N97 or the Hero's and again slight worries about build quality, in-particular the mute button and the speakers, which the 1st gen suffered with.

Dont get me wrong, the 3GS is a great phone, its probably just at the head of the smart-phone pack at the moment, but in my opinion thats only due to the apps and iTunes sync. These are two huge additions, yes the touch screen is fantastic, but you cant use it with gloves on, minor issue. The camera is pants, minor issue, video quality is about the same as filming your exciting moments with a mars bar, minor issue, Battery life is slightly better than the 1st Gen but no way near that of the other smart phones out there.

Can millions of people be wrong.... NO, This is a great bit of kit, the apps are simply fantastic, and everything online these days has an iPhone slant to it, but if your a fan of sheer pioneering technology rather than little fun applications look elsewhere.