At first it was just good enough that the Jesus phone was finally being released, and last year Apps took it to a new level.  This time around Apple is counting on under the hood improvements to continue driving iPhone sales.  The Apple iPhone 3GS is the latest and greatest, bringing a faster processor, faster internet, increased graphics and an increase in storage.  Memory has also been doubled; it’s now available in 16 and 32GB versions, though the 8GB 3G will remain on sale with a new, lower $99 price tag. 

Last year we liked the 3G, but felt Apple missed the mark by simply improving on the product rather than pushing innovation.  The App Store has proven to be a huge success, but this is on the software side and 2G owners have benefited just as much.  The 3GS threatens to be the same, and with minimal software improvement from 2.0 to 3.0 we have to wonder just how much of an upgrade that little S really brings.

Design

Describing the iPhone 3GS is no-brainer. Hey, you've seen the iPhone 3G already, right? Well, it's just the same. And we mean THE SAME. Finding a visible difference between the two is quite a challenge. The only difference we could find is a really subtle one - the fine-print text on the back of the 3GS (including the "iPhone" sign) has chrome finish now instead of the grey ink used on the iPhone 3G.

And unfortunately, much to our disappointment, there's no sign of any "3GS" branding - so it would be hard for you to really show off with your new Apple handset ('cause it's just the same as the old one). The display of the iPhone 3GS is again the same industry-leading stuff as last generations. It's got great viewing angles, excellent colors and most of all, yet unsurpassed among GSM handsets sunlight visibility.

The display has a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. While that resolution seemed hot two years ago when the first iPhone was launched, year 2009 saw WVGA resolution screens becoming more common in the upper market segment and they are already found on a number of non-smartphone devices by competing brands.

We guess however that changing the screen resolution along the way would mean compatibility issues with many AppStore applications. So there might be a point in keeping the same display unit for future phones, but still the geek squad will most probably object. The iPhone 3GS however has a changed white balance much like the 3G had it changed as compared to the 2G. It's kinda geeky to make a point of it, but we couldn't help ourselves.

The iPhone 3GS has a slightly warmer representation of the colors as compared to the 3G and that's a good thing since the 3G had it way too cool and even bluish (check out the last photo). But that difference is obvious only when you compare the devices head-to-head. When you have them on their own, chances are you'd never notice it.

Apple claim to have laid a special oleophobic coating on the screen glass, which simply means cleaning those smudges should be easier than before. And indeed it is. You see, the difference is nothing ground-breaking, but it's still there. Where several good scrubs with the cleaning cloth were needed on the 3G, now only a quick T-shirt rub will do for the iPhone 3GS.

The right side of the iPhone 3GS could have made a good use of a camera shutter key - we're dying for one, especially now when there's auto focus. Yes, we know the camera works with touch focus making the old focus-and-recompose technique a thing of the past, but still touching on a feedback-less screen to take photos is not our thing. Now as you may have guessed it, the top of the iPhone 3GS has seen no changes at all. The awkward SIM card slot, the 3.5mm audio jack, and the On/Off key - they are all here, conveniently placed to make you at home with the device.

The bottom is where the mic and the loudspeaker is situated. The loudspeaker is a single one unfortunately, which is a shame, we would have enjoyed stereo speakers on the 3GS. The particular location of the loudspeaker is the very same reason we prefer landscape AppStore games to be rotated the opposite way (with the loudspeaker on the right instead left). Otherwise, your fingers holding the iPhone muffle the loudspeaker unless you go the extra length of putting it out of the way.

The good news however is Apple have finally tuned the loudspeaker performance, and yes, it's noticeably louder than before. Not that it's a great achievement, as the previous iPhone bottomed out our comparative loudspeaker tables, but it's a really nice upgrade. The loudness level is now pretty much acceptable, but you'll have the chance of checking out the test results in the Telephony part of this iPhone 3GS review.

The back of the iPhone 3GS is the same shiny stuff that's best suited to showroom floors than everyday usage. It's a true fingerprint magnet and quite hard to clean. And unlike the display, we don't think it has that extra oleophobic coating to make things easier on the cleaning cloth. The camera lens is on the same place on the back but nothing suggests its improved functionality - higher resolution, auto focus and video recording.

And finally, Apple claim to have pimped the battery life to as much as 20%. The talk-time in 2G network has been upped to 12 hours (10 on the iPhone 3G) and the audio playback has reached 30 hours (24 on the iPhone 3G). Video playback endurance has been upgraded from 7 to 10 hours, while the stand-by and 3G talk time remain unchanged. In real life scenarios we hardly saw any improvement over the iPhone 3G. If you intensively play around with apps - downloading, testing, tinkering, etc, the battery won't last you a full day, which is exactly what we had with the iPhone 3G. Perhaps turning the 3G off would help, but it makes no sense to voluntarily give in the HSDPA speeds.

iPhone OS 3.0 changelog or over 100 new features for the new and older iPhones

The iPhone OS 3.0 is quite more progressive than the new iPhone 3GS itself. And since it's available to past iPhone owners as well, the 3GS certainly looses an edge here. Nevertheless, it comes with some exclusive features that are not available to the iPhone 3G despite the same OS used (you can refresh your memory on the first page). The iPhone OS 3.0 introduces more than 100 new features, which bring the iPhone functionality up to date, while catering for some badly missed stuff, which users of other mobile phones take for granted.

Well, Apple certainly took their time, but two years ago, even in its limited form, the Touch UI presented on the first iPhone was nothing short of revolutionary. It took the other manufacturers more than a year to catch up and though they may have long surpassed the iPhone as far as hardware is concerned, the interface remains one of the finest example of the industry.

Sure Palm have their WebOS and Google have their Android but they have yet to close down on the fluidity, sophistication and the reach, if you like, of the Apple mobile OS. Not to mention that the fast growing Apple AppStore is making the iPhone one of the most exciting platforms to date capable of offering modern smartphone functionality.

So after some serious work we managed to distill this list of the 100 new iPhone features introduced by the OS 3.0. Some of them are huge (in iPhone terms at least), while others are minor, but are still there. We'll cover the major ones on the following pages, but we just wanted to give you a one-page, bulleted scoop of what's changed and how.

General UI changes

• A system-wide search Spotlight is added now including Mail, Calendar, Notes, iPod and web. Pushing Home button on first home screen takes you to Spotlight, pushing Home button on Spotlight takes user to first home screen. In Settings>General>Home>Search Results, users can choose what is searched on the phone and in what order. Copy/paste photos is now available.
• Moving apps through homescreens is now easier
• Push background notifications service is finally ready. The alerts supported by the service include changing of the app icon (addition of a counter icon badge), pop-up SMS-style reminders or sound alerts.
• Stocks app gets news stories and stock details. It also shows graphical history in landscape mode.
  
• Increased number of supported languages and keyboards
  
• Parental Controls are extended to movies, TV shows and App Store content (so possibly XXX apps are coming our way).
  
• Voice recorder with editing, cropping and email/MMS sharing. It can record in the background, but doesn't record during calls.
  
• Accessories manufacturers can now offer managing software as well (think FM radio receivers or transmitters, Bluetooth heart rate monitors or even finger pricking Bluetooth glucose testers for diabetics)
  
• Double clicking the Home button now can either open Spotlight search, the Camera or Favorite contacts (default)
  
• A maximum of 11 application screens now allowed instead of 9 previously
  
• Peer-to-peer via Wi-Fi now available
  
• Improved predictive dictionary
  
• Turn-by-turn navigation is now possible (but only with third-party apps and third-party maps)
  
• Stopwatch gets additional field for total and lap time
  
• Unlimited size podcast downloads over 3G
  
• Encypted profiles and backup are now available
  
• Exchange ActiveSync policies support
  
• Find My iPhone online service via Apple MobileMe (paid subscription)

Text input and management

• System-wide Cut, Copy and Paste text feature (even from web pages)
  
• Text edit Undo and Redo support. The Undo/Redo dialog box pops up when you shake your iPhone in a text-entry field.
  
• System-wide landscape keyboard (doesn't work with popups or in Calendar)
  
• A space is no longer needed between two words for predictive texting to function
  

Contacts and Calls Log

• You can swipe-to-delete individual phone numbers (but not individual contacts)
  
• Sharing contact details is now possible via email and MMS in .vcf format
  
• Detailed Calls Log (yes, with call durations besides call times)
  
• The type of phone number used now gets listed under each call in Recents (i.e., mobile, home, work, etc.)
  
• You can delete individual entries in Calls log and you can also edit the contacts themselves straight from there
  
• iTunes store account creation is possible straight from the mobile
  
• iTunes store allows rental and purchase of movies from the iPhone.
  

Messaging

• There's now MMS support but it's an operator dependent feature. MMS is also not available to iPhone 2G without some tinkering.
  
• You can forward SMS or combine several SMS into one for forwarding
  
• Search bar in the Mail app searches in sender recipient and Subject
  
• Option "Load/Don't Load Remote Images" added in Mail settings
  
• New action button in Photos lets you choose multiple pictures to attach to a mail message
  
• You can now send full-res camera photos via email (but only when you copy and paste them in the email body as opposed to attaching them)
  
• You can disable text message reminder alerts
  
• You can disable text message previews
  

Camera

• Camera displays last taken picture in lower left corner
  

Safari update

• Safari gets password and auto fill managers
  
• Anti-phishing tool in Mobile Safari. With support for the latest standards for secure access and information sharing on the web, Safari protects you. It includes built-in anti-phishing technology that detects fraudulent websites and support for EV (Extended Validation) Certificates.
  
• Safari now has proxy support
  
• Safari gets new Copy Link and Open in New Page commands
  
• Faster JavaScript performance. Thanks to the new SquirelFish Extreme engine rendering HTML and especially JavaScript on the iPhone 3G with 3.0 OS is up to 2x faster than iPhones running previous 2.x OS. In the same time, the iPhone 3GS is up to 3x times faster in JavaScript benchmarks over iPhone 3G running on the same 3.0 OS.
  
• New video streaming capabilities (HTML 5 video, h.264 and HTTP). Bitrate and data quality adjust to connection speed.
  
• Auto-login for public Wi-Fi hotspots (ones that have login redirects)
  
• Option to close a single web page in Safari page view, which immediately opens a new blank page
  

iPod player

• iPod gets shake-to-shuffle function
  
• iPod music library has its own local search now
  
• Listening to music while charging the battery now displays the album art instead of the battery
  
• Third-party apps can now get access to your iPod music library
  
• Media scrubber allows more precise rewinding and fast-forwarding in music and video
  

YouTube app

• Support for YouTube accounts (login) and YouTube subscriptions
  
• You can see Comments in YouTube now
  
• You can rate videos in YouTube
  

Notes

• Notes can now be synced to third-party applications via iTunes
  
• Swipe to delete notes in the Notes app
  
• Scroll down in Notes app to reveal a local Notes search field
  

Calendar

• Calendar gets Exchange support
  
• Calendar gets CalDAV support now. CalDAV is a calendaring and scheduling client/server protocol designed to allow users to access calendar data on a server, and to schedule meetings with other users on that server or other servers. Google Calendar, Apple iCal or Yahoo calendar are just a couple of popular examples.
  

Bluetooth

• Stereo A2DP Bluetooth streaming is on (not available to iPhone 2G)
  
• Bluetooth peer-to-peer connection
  
• Internet tethering is now supported both via Bluetooth and USB (but available only optionally via operator settings and not to iPhone 2G)
  

iTunes store and AppStore

• You can create iTunes store account straight from the mobile
  
• You can rent and purchase movies straight from the iPhone
  
• You can manage iTunes/AppStore accounts straight from the device (for instance, toggle between two accounts you may have)
  
• New way of browsing app screenshots in the AppStore - by scrolling sideways
  
• Application subscriptions (for a monthly fee). Some applications will offer users services based on a monthly flat rate. AT&T Navigator is a nice example.
  
• Third-party applications can now have In-App Purchases, meaning paid apps will be able to offer users optional upgrades or modules directly from the application environment (think an e-book reader with books available for purchases). Unfortunately, free apps will not be able to offer paid upgrades. The business model for in-app purchases will be the same as the current model: Apple gets 30 percent of the revenue, while developers take home 70 percent.
  

And the stuff iPhone OS failed to deliver

• No Flash support in the web browser
  
• Still no file manager (or any other way to see all your files in one place)
  
• Still no vibration feedback when touching the screen
  
• No Bluetooth file transfers between mobile devices (you cannot send a photo to another phone or even iPhone and you can't receive one as well)
  
• Contacts lack a swipe-to-delete or mass delete feature (but you can swipe-to-delete individual phone numbers)
  
• Lacking SMS/MMS features: No msg character counting, no delivery notifications
  
• Lacking email features: no bulk "mark as read", no ZIP or RAR support in mail, mail search doesn't search in email body
  
• No smart dialing (but Spotlight is a good substitute)
  
• No TO-DO app (but can be installed additionally)
  
• No turn-to-mute feature (though that's more of a gimmick)
  
• The Lock screen could have accommodate some info plug-ins such as upcoming appointments and events, weather, stocks, news, RSS feeds, etc.
  
• A Wireless manager would have made turning on/off 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, and Bluetooth much more user-friendly
  
• Still no true multitasking support (but perhaps for the better, having in mind the already poor battery life)
  
• The system-wide search Spotlight is often too slow to launch iPod tracks
  
• You can't use the iPhone massive storage as a removable USB drive under Windows
  
• The whole iPhone is too dependent on iTunes - you cannot upload one type of content (video, photos, apps) from two computers, iTunes behaves fairly poorly under Windows, a regular file management interface would have been much better
  
• Still no DivX or XviD video support and no official third-party application to play that

User Interface and Software

The Apple iPhone 3GS naturally ships with the latest version of iPhone OS.  The most useful upgrades are the addition of voice command and copy and paste, though these have been standard in most smartphones for years now.  The OS update is available to all iPhone owners, but voice command is only compatible with the 3GS.  Apple has a weird balancing act going on of playing catch-up on basic features (video recording also makes its official debut here) while innovating in others areas (video editing, UI, the App Store.)  The addition of stereo Bluetooth and MMS round out the “why the hell doesn’t a phone this advanced have this” features, but the “why the hell did it take this long” question still remains a mystery.  There are many more small tweaks in 3.0, for a more comprehensive list check out the unofficial iPhone User’s Guide.

The voice command is fairly routine, though does allow for music control.  This is not a unique feature, as Microsoft's Voice Command allows users to do this as well, but still handy nonetheless.  Beyond dialing from contacts or numbers, the user can also skip tracks, play an album by name or ask what song is playing.  While cool, we don't think these features are incredibly useful but some may enjoy them more than others.

The 3GS is snappier, that’s for sure.  Apple claims that everything you do is up to 2x faster with the new hardware, and we wouldn’t doubt this claim.  It is a welcome improvement, but nothing groundbreaking.  The 600MHz processor is not unmatched in the industry (the Pre runs the same CPU actually,) like the original processor was when the 2G launched.  Safari runs quicker as well, with some tests putting it over 120% better at rendering than the 3G and 20% better than the Pre, which also runs a Webkit based browser.  Here there definitely is a noticeable difference.

Voice Memos and Compass make their debut in the Apple iPhone 3GS, with the former being more useful than the latter.  The most useful part of the compass is that maps now orientate in the direction you’re facing.  Beyond this you will find the standard set of applications out of the box, with tens of thousands of others ready to be downloaded, most for a price.  We should start seeing some better games come for the 3GS due to its support of OpenGL ES 2.0 compatible hardware and a more powerful 3D chip.  This probably means that we’ll also see games compatible only with the 3GS.

Spotlight search allows the user to search their contacts, calendar, notes, mail and iPod, similar to the universal search found in the Pre.  Unlike the Pre, when the iPhone comes up empty on results the iPhone does not go out and search the web for the answer.  It also only searches mail subjects, not the entire message.  It’s a useful enough feature, but we feel Apple could have taken it further to make better use of it.
 
One side note, after going straight from the Pre to the Apple iPhone 3GS, the lack of multitasking is very apparent.  We’d happily carry around an extra charger in exchange for the extra functionality.  Or you know, an extra battery if that was an option.

Messaging

Again, this is pretty much unchanged from the 3G with one very big exception.  Users can FINALLY rotate the phone for a landscape keyboard in Mail and Messaging.  While it takes up most of the screen, meaning you can’t see much of what you’re typing, it’s a feature that users have been screaming for since day one and we’re happy to see has been addressed.  It makes typing so much more pleasant, often a knock on the iPhone.

Another welcome addition is copy/paste, one of those things that should be in there from the beginning but at least Apple has finally addressed it.  Lastly, and no doubt unofficially, is the addition of four letter words to the dictionary.  No more being ducking livid!
  
Users can FINALLY rotate the Apple iPhone 3GS for a landscape keyboard in Mail and Messaging

Data and Connectivity

We touched on it earlier, but Safari is noticeably faster.  This is due to better rendering, but eventually we’ll also be able to chalk this up to the addition of HSDPA 7.2Mbps.  Right now Chicago is the only market where ATT is trialing this, so most users won’t notice any difference and by the time ATT’s full rollout is complete (2011) there will no doubt be a few new iPhones out there.

Multimedia

The biggest addition on this front is to the camera, which not only gets a spec bump to 3.2 megapixels with autofocus, but also finally allows for video recording.  While a pedestrian feature, Apple at least did it right with 30fps VGA and included video editing software.  It is very basic and lets you choose the start and end point, but it’s more than most phones have and we appreciate the effort.  Like many other phones the Apple iPhone 3GS lets you upload directly to YouTube, which makes the on-device editing even handier.

As mentioned the camera is now 3.2MP with autofocus.  It will automatically focus on the center, but if the user wishes they can tap on an area onscreen to change the autofocus area.  It is rather quick, happening in less than 2 seconds, and the shutter is almost instantaneous.  It may have taken a fraction of a second longer to focus in low light conditions, but really not much at all.  Results were good for what it is; colors were a bit muted and fine details- especially in the distance- were a touch blurry, but as this is not a high end camera phone the results were perfectly acceptable.

Apple has a great multimedia platform, but the gap is closing.  The video quality is good and interface easy to use, but that is no longer unique to the iPhone.  Among others, the Pre and Storm are both very good multimedia devices as well.  While they (arguably) may not be better than the iPhone, their interfaces are good enough that it won’t leave users wanting for the Apple experience, like it used to be.  We’re not saying that there is anything wrong with it, but they have definitely lost their edge.
   
The great YouTube client is still around, and Pandora offers a wonderful free streaming music app.  The Pre’s multitasking abilities really come through here though, while Pandora is great we’d love to be able to do other things while listening but the iPhone does not allow it.  One oddity we noticed, though two grills would indicate that the Apple iPhone 3GS has stereo speakers, they are actually mono or they only play out of the left side.

GPS

T-Mobile G1 was among the first phones to start the digital compass trends in touch phones and many of the other manufacturers quickly followed. Apple have also thrown in the obviously easy to integrate magnetometer and on iPhone 3GS it's fully integrated with the Google Maps application. Another huge change is Apple have finally made possible third-party GPS navigation with offline maps and turn-by-turn 3D voice navigation.

The first fully-fledged sat-nav app released in the AppStore is Navigon's MobileNavigator. Though a little pricey, the application is a nice tool for turn-by-turn voice guided navigation. It's got really nice graphics, it's got top notch POI database and the on-screen perspective and zoom level changes automatically according to the driving speed and the terrain. The application of course has its drawbacks, but we are not up doing third-party application reviews now, we just wanted to show you the new and exciting options available to GPS-equipped iPhones.

Other leading GPS navigation developers have already declared their intent to release sat-nav applications for iPhone as well - TomTom and iGo, to name a few.

Connectivity

One of the most important upgrades that come with the iPhone 3.0 OS is the ability for third-party developers to build apps that communicate with accessories or peripherals over the USB or Bluetooth connections. In real life this means that iPhone will be able to connect with, display data for, and/or control items as cameras, barcode readers, game controllers, and even keyboards.

Peer-to-Peer connectivity is the other huge step ahead. This opens new doors to apps and devices to communicate and exchange data. The Bluetooth v2.1 now has accommodated A2DP profile and can transfer music to compatible stereo Bluetooth headset or speakers. There's still no file transfers allowed, but you can establish peer-to-peer connections over Bluetooth when Wi-Fi is not available.

Wi-Fi is well known since the first iPhone, but now it features auto-login for public Wi-Fi hotspots (ones that have login redirects) and peer-to-peer functionality.New to Network Settings is the Internet Tethering. It is operator depended as it requires on operator provided connection settings, but there are workarounds for that. Just Google around.

Finally, the new iPhone 3GS boasts HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, which should be considerably faster than the iPhone 3G if your network supports such speeds.

Conclusion

It's true that the iPhone 3GS brings over only incrementing changes, there's nothing ground breaking about it. But before everything else, the newly introduced changes on both software AND hardware level will make the new iPhone 3GS a more balanced smartphone most of all. That will give it some more charisma and it will hopefully lure some new users and get most current iPhone 2G users trade in their devices for a piece of Apple's latest tech.

Sounds like quite a plan and indeed, the iPhone 3GS is a top-notch hardware platform for experiencing one of the most advanced touch user interfaces to date (not to mention the ridiculously easy and dun way to get yourself geared with tons of apps).

But by keeping the old design of the device Apple took quite a risky step. As if they wanted to keep their 3G user base where they are - consuming apps at a fast rate - and are willingly putting them off from upgrading. As we can't really imagine how many people would want to shell out the cash for a new phone that looks just the same as their old one.

The real truth about the iPhone 3GS is that though it may look the same, the 3GS has got some new feel to it that certainly makes a difference.