The iPhone 3G S - a true speed demon
When it released the iPhone 3G in Canada last year, Apple set the new gold standards for smart phones in areas such as ease-of-use, power and sleek design.
Having owned an iPhone 3G since last July, I was curious to see how the Cupertino, California-based electronics maker would top it.
A few days with the iPhone 3G S (the “S” stands for speeds - $199 to $299 on a three-year contract exclusively with Rogers Communications Inc.) quickly answered my questions. Apple’s built-in iPhone applications like such as Safari, Mail, Contacts and more load significantly faster on the 3GS. Within Safari, pages also load noticeably faster than the 3G on Rogers 3G HSPA network.
And the speed improvements didn’t end there. The GPS-enabled maps function seems to find its current location faster and seems to be faster at charting routes.
The 3G S maintains the sleek look and lithe design of the 3G and is available in both black and white. The smart phone boasts both 16 gigs and 32 gigs of memory for storing applications, data and multimedia files.
The 3G S is also about more than just speed improvements. With the 3G S, Apple has taken a great phone and made it even more useful by adding in video camera capture capability coupled with a slick and easy-to-use interface for editing. The iPhone 3G S also boasts a new electronic compass feature. In testing, the compass exceeded accuracy tests outdoors and indoors.
Another new feature is voice commands, which add the ability to dial your contacts on command as well as to play artists and playlists as well as to switch songs by using voice commands. Sadly, while voice commands are a more than welcome addition, the feature could use some reliability tweaks.
Further welcome additions to the iPhone 3G S are the ablity to send multimedia text messages and an upgrade to a three megapixel camera.
One area where there seems to be improvement is in battery life. Despite the more powerful hardware in the 3G S, the phone seems to get longer usage and life than the 3G, although the mild differences in screen brightness and other power-saving settings between the two phones may account for this.
For new smart phone users in Canada who are looking at their first phone, the iPhone 3G S is a no-brainer. For those who’d like an iPhone but don’t want to pay two hundred or three hundred dollars, there’s always the now entry level 3G, which despite it’s successors speed enhancements and additional functionality, is still an fantastic phone.
For existing iPhone 3G users in Canada, the iPhone 3G is a compelling upgrade. While upgrading to iPhone OS 3.0 will provide many of the 3G S’s new features, the OS itself can’t offer the speed improvements that come with new hardware nor new features such as video capture & editing, compass or voice commands.
For Rogers, the iPhone 3G S means the carrier will continue to maintain a dominant position in Canada when it comes to offering the top of the line consumer smart phones. For Bell and Telus, it’s yet further incentive to switch over their networks so that they too can offer the iPhone 3G S and hopefully it successors. If that happens, it could lead to more competition when it comes to service and to price, which would benefit all Canadians and all Canadian smart phone users.
