By
Joseph Hanlon, CNET.com.au
12/06/2009
URL:
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62054979,00.htm
If Tuesday's iPhone 3G S announcement at Apple's developer conference left you a little confused or underwhelmed, don't worry: You're not alone.
In fact, we can't remember the last time a phone update was so seemingly insignificant, though the Nokia N95 8GB comes to mind. As with the build-up to the launch of the 3G last year, the weeks leading up to June 8 were speckled with rumors, but what was most interesting was that none of this speculation was especially outlandish. Those who tried their hand at photoshopping mock-up handsets stuck with a fairly familiar design, and those who guessed at improved hardware went no further than a front-facing video camera or an OLED display (we were gutted when this one wasn't true).
So let's take a closer look at the specs of both starting with physical dimensions:
|
|
|
| |
 |
 |
| Dimensions |
115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3mm
|
115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3mm
|
| Weight |
135g
|
133g
|
| Network |
GSM 850/900/1800/1900
HSDPA 850/1900/2100
|
GSM 850/900/1800/1900
HSDPA 850/1900/2100
|
| HSDPA |
7.2Mbps
|
3.6Mbps
|
| Storage capacity |
16/32GB
|
8/16GB
|
| Bluetooth |
v2.1
|
v2.0
|
| Camera |
3 megapixels
Autofocus
Video recording
|
2 megapixels
|
| New features |
Cut, copy and paste
Messages
Spotlight search
Landscape keyboard
Voice memos
Improved performance
Built-in video camera w/ editing
Voice control
Compass
|
Cut, copy and paste
Messages
Spotlight search
Landscape keyboard
Voice memos
|
| Battery life |
Talktime:
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 12 hours on 2G
Standby time:
Up to 300 hours
Internet use:
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi
Audio playback:
Up to 30 hours
Video playback:
Up to 10 hours
|
Talktime:
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 10 hours on 2G
Standby time:
Up to 300 hours
Internet use:
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi
Audio playback:
Up to 24 hours
Video playback:
Up to 7 hours
|
Most interesting in Apple's comparison chart is video recording and battery life. All current iPhone 3Gs will be able to download the iPhone 3.0 firmware on 17 June and we would have suspected that video recording would be a software upgrade and not specific to the camera module. As for battery life, Apple is citing a 0-50 per cent increase in battery life; as in 0 per cent for talktime, but 50 per cent for Web browsing. It is nice to know that browsing would run the battery down as much, but as a phone first shouldn't we expect to see the improvements elsewhere?
What do you make of all of this? Is the iPhone 3G S a necessary and important step forward for Apple, or is it just a lot of hot air? Let us know in the talkback below.
This story first appeared on CNET.com.au.
