iPhone 3GS 8GB Review
By Richard Patterson on November 1st, 2011
The 3G enjoyed enormous success, refining the design of the first smart phone in a considerable way. 3GS is Apple building on these formidable foundations, offering its users the same experience but in a slightly different, smoother form.
The 3GS has the same design specifications as the previous model, with the only difference being a slight variation between the weights (the 3GS weighs 0.06 ounces more than its predecessor. Other than this negligible difference, the two phones are identical.
The applications on offer are the same as previous models for the most part. The other major difference comes from the continued rapid growth of the app store, offering more and more apps for either convenience or entertainment. There are however other more striking additions to the 3GS over the 3G. Voice control is introduced on the 3GS, allowing users to submit voice commands to load media or call a contact. It is activated by holding down the home button. The voice control works surprisingly well. For the most part it is accurate and is able to understand your request, even if your voice isn’t the clearest. Its institutive operations gives users more of a reason to use it, as often voice control features are more gimmicky than useful. It does, however, have difficulty understanding when there is a large amount of background noise.
Other interesting editions include multimedia messaging, cut-copy-paste capability and a landscape keyboard.
Multimedia messaging is a long awaited addition to the iPhone, and works incredibly well with the iPhone camera. Photos are loaded quickly and the selection of a photo is a simple matter of sliding through your photo gallery. The landscape keyboard is one of the more notable benefits of the new iOS 3.0. Though it existed before on the Safari browser, it can now be used with e-mail, text messaging and notes. The buttons are made wider and the landscape feel of the iPhone is comfortable – overall, it makes typing on the iPhone a faster experience.
The camera has had some modest improvements made to it, namely an increase to 3-megapixel capability. Whilst the hardware still isn’t anything to shout home about, it is supported by smooth software which makes using the camera a trouble free experience. The photos produced are of a modest quality, but this is an acceptable condition considering the fast pace in which you can take numerous photos.
