What’s New in iPhone 3G S

by Simon Ng on June 10, 2009



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With much expectations, Apple finally announced the new iPhone 3G S in WWDC 2009. Yes, it’s here and will be available on Jun 19 in US. For other countries, it will also be available in more than 80 countries in the coming weeks.

So, what’s new in iPhone 3G S?

Speed… Much Faster Processor

You know what the “S” stands for? It’s SPEED. The new iPhone comes with a faster processor built-in. According to Apple, it can launch application faster, render webpage in Safari quicker and takes less time to load the email attachment. The iPhone 3G S also improves the graphical performance and supports OpenGL 2.0 that delivers better experience for mobile game. In brief, everything you do on iPhone 3G S is more responsive than that on the predecessor.

Connectivity

On top of the support of EDGE/3G network, the new iPhone also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds. So, expect to enjoy better download speed for video and better experience for web surfing.

3 Megapixel Camera with Autofocus

iphone_3gs_autofocusProbably you have compliant about the mediocre performance of iPhone 3G’s camera. Apple now listens to your request and packs the new iPhone with a 3 megapixel camera. In additional to the improved resolution, the camera also features autofocus, auto exposure, and auto white balance.

The autofocus feature is awesome. You can simply tap on any object in the photo and the camera will automatically focus on it. The camera now also supports low-light and macro mode.

Video Recording and Editing

iphone_3gs_videoYou love Cycorder on jailbroken iPhone, right? Now, Apple brings the video recording capability to iPhone 3G S. You can easily shoot high-quality video in both portrait and landscape mode. Further, you can then share the video via email, publish it to YouTube or sync it back to your PC / Mac.

What’s more is iPhone 3G S comes with a simple video editing tool that you can edit the video right on your iPhone. You can simply use finger and drag to adjust the starting and end point of your video. Hit a button to trim and save it. That’s really cool.

Digital Compass

iphone_3gs_compassThe rumor comes true. The new iPhone comes with a digital compass, which is well-integrated with Google Maps. Now, when you uses Google Maps, it can be automatically rotated to the direction you’re facing. Of course, you can also use the compass on its own.

Voice Control

iphone_3gs_voice_controlThis is one of the surprising features. You can now place call or play song by “talking to your iPhone”. The voice control can recognize the name in the contact list. Simply say the name to dial or tell iPhone the number you’re going to call. It’ll then do the rest.

The voice control does not only allow you to make call. You can also use it to play song. Just tell the iPhone the name of the song. It’ll then automatically play it. And, say you’re now listening to a song and wanna know the name of it. Simply ask iPhone to tell you the name of that song. Then iPhone will give you the answer.

The voice control will not only recognize English. It supports multiple languages such as French, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc.

Nike+ Support

That’s great for those who loves running. Now iPhone 3G S has the built-in support for Nike+. Just pair your iPhone with Nike+ kit and shoe, the iPhone can help to keep track with your workout.

Design & Display

iphone_3gs_designOkay, how about the look & feel? iPhone 3G S does not change the design and inherits the same look & feel as the predecessor. The size is exactly the same and the weight increases a bit (only 1 ounce). It’ll still come with both black and white version for 16G & 32G models.

The display also does not change and it’s still with 480-by-320 pixel resolution. But Apple mentioned the display is now equipped with a layer of fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Let’s see if the coating can really prevent fingerprint.

Battery

Another big improvement over the iPhone 3G – a long battery life for the “S” iPhone. As mentioned by Apple, you can enjoy talk time on 2G up to 12 hours or up to 5 hours on 3G. The standby time is up to 300 hours.

For internet use, you can surf the web up to 5 hours on 3G or up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi.

For video playback, expect to enjoy up to 10 hour, which is 3 hours longer than iPhone 3G. Also, Apple claims that it can support up to 30 hours audio playback.

Of course, it’s bundled with iPhone 3.0

Finally, iPhone 3G S comes with all new features bundled with iPhone OS 3.0. Some of the exciting features include Copy & Paste, landscape keyboard for all applications, Spotlight (system-wide search), Voice Memo, etc.

iPhone 3G S will come with two models: 16GB & 32GB. The two models will be sold at US$199 and US$299 respectively. Again, the iPhone 3G S is not available yet. For US customer, the new iPhone will be available on Jun 19. For international customer, as mentioned by Apple, you should expect it’ll be available in coming weeks.

So, save money and prepare to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G S.

[Image via Apple]

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Vin June 10, 2009 at 3:13 am

What about iChat? Isnt that gonna also be included on the new iPhone 3GS or is that gonna be on iPhone 4G. When is the 4G coming out? and will the video app be able to be used on current iPhone 3G’s? So many questions lol

Reply

2 Simon Ng June 10, 2009 at 10:56 pm

@Vin, no iChat for iPhone 3GS. The iChat function you mentioned is only a concept or rumors that have been covered earlier. For the video app, it’s specially designed for iPhone 3GS.

Reply

3 Dusty June 10, 2009 at 9:40 am

I was disappointed with Apple on this upgrade of iPhone, was hoping to see some other wicked features! :( I guess its somewhat better then before….
Hey Simon, are u gonna sell your iPhone 3G and purchase the new iPhone 3GS???

Reply

4 Teddy June 10, 2009 at 10:50 am

Hey Simon..i’ve got the 3g now..and since 3.0’s gonna release pretty soon…what are the software features im gonna miss by not upgrading to the 3g S ? i do know that the hardware is different…but i can live without autofocus and voice control…any thoughts ?

Reply

5 magatron June 10, 2009 at 4:42 pm

Hi Simon………….when we can expect to have the unlock+jailbreak solution for 3.0?

Reply

6 Simon Ng June 10, 2009 at 10:38 pm

@magatron, iPhone 3.0 is not released yet. According to Apple, iPhone 3.0 will be available on Jun 17. As iPhone Dev team mentioned, iPhone 3.0 is jailbreakable and you can expect the jailbreak solution releases very soon. But for unlock, I think you’d be patient and wait a little bit longer.

Reply

7 Dusty June 10, 2009 at 8:20 pm

@magatron
It could be June 17th on release date or it could be a month to a year…
It depends on how hard the devs can work on jailbreaking it. Unlocking could be much longer! Look at how the process on unlocking older FW’s took, its hard to say. It may be really easy or they might run into some issues…
I’d say by the look of things, dev team always jailbreaks Apple FW fairly quickly and I wouldn’t doubt that it would be a couple days after Apple officially release FW 3.0. :)
There is already a…. Unofficial iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 Jailbreak Released (iPhone 3g Only) release. Google.com

Reply

8 Dusty June 10, 2009 at 8:27 pm

I forgot to add this…
”The dev team have stated they will not work on anything for the Betas.
Be patient and wait for official Dev Team quickpwn after 3.0 is released.”
So once the official release of FW 3.0 is released, things will get interesting… :)

Reply

9 Simon Ng June 10, 2009 at 10:40 pm

@Dusty,

Yes, things will get interesting after iPhone 3.0 release! Can’t wait to upgrade it.

Reply

10 Dusty June 11, 2009 at 12:11 am

Ya man!
Are u gonna purchase the iPhone 3GS? Or continue to stay with ur iPhone 3G?

Cheers!

Reply

11 Simon Ng June 11, 2009 at 1:02 am

@Dusty, I’ll definitely upgrade it and continue to share its functions/hacks on my blog. Awaiting its release in my city…

Reply

12 Musa June 11, 2009 at 4:04 am

Will the new 3.0 OS support these features on the 2nd Generation iphone (iphone 3G). Or are these features only available on the 3.0 OS for 3G S?
Thanks

Reply

13 Simon Ng June 11, 2009 at 11:05 pm

@Musa, these features will only apply to iPhone 3GS.

Reply

14 Musa June 12, 2009 at 2:58 am

So what is so special about the new 3.0 OS on the (2nd generation) iphone 3G? Are there not supposed to be new capabilities such as copy and paste, video recorder, etc? I read this somewhere maybe I am wrong though. Is there a link of some sort that could lay out the capabilities of the 3.0 OS on the current iphone 3G?
Thanks

Reply

15 Musa June 12, 2009 at 3:06 am

I guess what I am trying to ask is this:
For all of us who are not planning for whatever reason to upgrade to the new iphone 3G s right away. What is the difference between OS 2.2.1 and OS 3.0 while still on the (2d generation) iphone 3G?
Thanks again
Musa

Reply

16 Simon Ng June 12, 2009 at 8:14 am

@Musa, you can check out this post about What’s new in iPhone 3.0. Let me further clarify on this. For iPhone 3G, you can enjoy all features come with iPhone 3.0. But if you want to have autofocus camera, voice control, digital compass, video editing and Nike+ support, you’ll have to upgrade to iPhone 3GS.

Reply

17 John Penn June 16, 2009 at 8:20 am

So we still have to wait until we upgrated itunes?

Reply

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