Apple iPhone 3GS review

We've always been fans of the iPhone here at PC Pro, but rather than taking the opportunity to dominate its rivals in all departments, Apple's policy to drip-release features such as 3G, GPS and proper, turn-by-turn satnav, has allowed challengers to jam an ugly boot in the door. With the new iPhone 3GS, however, the door has been firmly shut.

The new 3GS isn't what you'd call a revolutionary upgrade. The hotly anticipated high-definition screen hasn't materialised here, the camera still has no flash, and there's no change physically. Our review sample still boasts a 3.5in screen with a resolution of 320 x 480, it still measures a pocket-friendly 62.3 x 115.3 x 12.6mm (WHD), and it weighs a mere two grams lighter than a standard 3G at 133g.

So why the outpouring of Apple adoration? It's because, at last, with the introduction of iPhone OS 3 the company has removed most of the annoying and artificial limitations of what the iPhone can do. Chief among these is the ability to run third-party developed satnav software. Ever since the dawn of GPS on the iPhone 3G, owners have been able to see their position, plotted accurately on a top-down Google Maps map. But in-car guidance remained restricted to an on-screen list of turning instructions. No more.

All mapped out

TomTom has announced it will be selling a satnav application very soon and Navigon already has its MobileNavigator application available on the App Store for download. At £70 for the latter, including full European mapping, it's a well-priced alternative to a full-blown satnav device, and in time we're sure more developers will weigh in with their own offerings.

While we're on the subject of mapping, the 3GS now has a built-in digital compass, a very handy addition that makes pinpointing your position much easier using Google Maps. Rather than having to walk along the street for a hundred yards or so to determine which direction you're facing, a simple glance at the position marker, which features a built-in direction indicator, will tell you all you need to know.

Snap happy

There are other long-overdue additions. The iPhone can finally do MMS messaging, it can now shoot video at 640 x 480 and 30fps, while the stills camera has also been improved from two to three megapixels. As before, the camera is a snappy performer, allowing you to take pictures reasonably quickly - and Apple has improved the software side of things too.

It's an autofocus camera, but there's also a semi-automatic mode for those who want to get more creative. This means, if you're unhappy with the results of the camera's autofocus, all you have to do is tap the part of the image you want to be in focus and, hey presto, it's fixed. Plus, there are basic video-editing and upload tools, which allow you to quickly trim and send footage directly to YouTube. It's still no match for dedicated cameras, or even top-end camera phones, but for impromptu recordings and snaps it's now quite a respectable little shooter. And the 3GS is available in 16GB and 32GB variants now, too, leaving plenty of room for recorded home movies and pictures - without impinging on your music and video collection.

Then there's cut and paste. Finally, you can highlight text, cut or copy it and paste it somewhere else. And the facility works just as well for plain text as it does for sections of web pages. Simply hold your finger to the screen, tap Select and drag the on-screen handles to highlight a section, then tap Cut or Copy. Quite why it took Apple so long to come up with this is beyond us, because this system works like a dream.