Summary
With the performance of an already impressive machine tweaked to something nearing perfection, this is going to blow the socks off people coming to own an iPhone for the first time. However, it might not be the right choice if you´re just looking to upgrade from the iPhone 3G.
Details
The Apple iPhone 3G S is identical in appearance to preceding iPhone 3G. Same gloss plastic, same lovely curves, same weight (more or less). However, there´s a few new additions inside the little beauty:
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Compass – using an inbuilt magnometer, this is the application that while not the most useful, will be impressing your mates
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Voice memos
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Landscape Qwerty keyboard
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A tap-to-focus addition to the still camera, which has also been increased to 3 megapixels
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Video-recording and editing, with VGA footage being captured at 30 frames per second
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Voice activation – you say, it plays
And the 600mhz AMD processor and 256K RAM means all these and everything else run smoother than you could possibly imagine. All the applications, functions and media you can think to use will be no problem at all for the hardware. One invisible change has occurred though. The touchscreen surface an oily-finger resistant coating which can be wiped clean with a dry cloth (instructions stated with the previous model that a ´slightly damp´ one was needed).
Overall then, there´s not that much change from the previous iPhone 3G, but then as there´s only been one letter added, the iPhone 3G S should be seen as an update rather than a whole new launch. Apple was already winner of the style wars between the various smartphones out there, so why should they feel the need to change just yet?
So if you´re new to the iPhone market, or still have the original: take the plunge and invest in the 3G S for sure. And keep your eyes peeled for whatever Apple release next, as no doubt it´s going to be something all-new and very special indeed.