Apple’s new iPhone 3GS Review roundup

17 June 2009 No Comment

On the same day the embargo on the new iPhone 3G S was lifted by Apple, several iPhone 3GS reviews have been published today by well-respected journalists critiquing this highly-anticipated iPhone 3G successor.

As you already know, the iPhone 3GS will go on sale this Friday, June 19 at Apple, AT&T, Best Buy and Walmart retail stores. Here is a roundup of some of the prominent reviews from around the web about the new features in the iPhone 3GS:

2X Speed?

Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal said, “To me, this is the most important feature of the new iPhone 3G S. In fact, the “S” in the name stands for speed. During my week of testing, the new model proved dramatically snappier in every way than my iPhone 3G. Its processor is 50% faster than in the prior model, and it sports a new graphics chip. Applications opened much more quickly. Web pages loaded far faster. The camera was ready to use almost instantly.”

Joshua Topolsky on Engadget said “We’re excited by the cranked up CPU, but in our experience you’ll see lowered load times (though obviously not as drastic) if you take a standard 3G and do a full restore, so there is the lingering question of whether or not the jacked-up feel of the 3G S will last, or will begin to bog down after months of use and heaps of data.”

David Pogue from NYTimes said “It looks identical to last year’s iPhone, but its faster circuitry makes a huge difference. If you’re used to the old iPhone, the speed boost hits you between the eyes, especially when you’re opening programs, playing games and loading Web pages.”

Video

Mossberg: “The new video recorder worked well, even in low light, and lets you post videos directly to YouTube, among other places. You can also trim your videos right on the phone. This all worked well, but the videos aren’t high definition, and pale in comparison”

David Pogue: “It’s the real deal: sharp, smooth, 30 frames a second. Once again, it’s not quite what you’d get from a proper digital camera or a Flip camcorder—it tends to “blow out” the bright areas — but it’s darned close.”

Joshua Topolsky: “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”

3-Megapixel Camera

Mossberg: “It still lacks zoom or a flash, though it does better in low light. It also has a macro feature for close-up shots. In my tests, all of this worked, but I didn’t think the pictures it took were dramatically better than those on the old model”

David Pogue: “The camera still tends to blur moving subjects, and even still lifes aren’t as crisp as from an actual camera. But the color and clarity are definitely improved, especially in low light.”

Joshua Topolsky: “Instead of having to use a gross physical button to snap your shots, the iPhone continues to rely on its onscreen trigger, but cranks up the use of that big display by allowing you to focus in on subjects based on where you tap. In our experience, the parlor trick actually turned out to be quite useful, accurately zeroing in on what we wanted most of the time.”

Voice Control

Mossberg: “Like most voice-recognition systems, this one isn’t perfect. But it worked most of the time.”

David Pogue: “This feature goes a long way toward addressing what’s always been the iPhone’s weakest feature: the number of steps required to place a call.”

Battery

Mossberg: “By contrast (to iPhone3G), the new model did much better, never hitting the red zone and rarely requiring interim charging at the office or in the car, even though, because I was testing it, I was pounding it much harder than usual”

David Pogue: “the iPhone 3G S harbors a better, beefier battery, thereby confronting another chronic complaint. It gives you about 25 percent more life a charge (five hours talk time or 30 hours of music), easily enough to last at least a day of moderate use.”

Joshua Topolsky: “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….In our tests — real world, admittedly non-scientific tests — we hardly noticed a difference in battery life between the new and old model.”

Bottomline

Mossberg: “Both the new iPhone and iPhone OS are packed with features that make a great product even better. But, for many users, the software may be enough of a boost to keep them from buying the new model.”

David Pogue: “All of these changes make it much harder to resist the iPhone on intellectual, feature-counting grounds. The new iPhone doesn’t just catch up to its rivals — it vaults a year ahead of them. At this point, the usual 10 rational objections to the iPhone have been whittled down to about three: no physical keyboard, no way to swap the battery yourself and no way to avoid using AT&T as your carrier.”

Joshua Topolsky: “while it’s tough to argue with the package Apple has put together, we couldn’t help feeling a bit let down by the 3G S. Maybe we’ve been spoiled by devices like the Pre and Ion, but the additions of video recording, a compass, and a speed bump just don’t seem that compelling to us. The mix of new features and an ever-growing App Store will still be potent to new buyers — but pricing schemes which amount to hundreds more for current owners might give previous early adopters and eager upgraders reason for pause”

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