Apple iPhone 3GS review

Performance boost

Apple is also keen to promote the 3GS' improved performance, and we're happy to report that it is, indeed a more responsive phone. With the help of a beefed-up ARM processor and PowerVR SGX graphics (a similar spec to the forthcoming Palm Pre, we understand) web pages render more snappily, panning and zoom feels quicker, while scrolling in Google Maps is also smoother.

We're less enthusiastic about the voice-controls: we've seen these before on Windows Mobile and S60 phones, and we've found little use for them. The internet tethering feature, which allows you to use your iPhone as a USB or Bluetooth 3G modem, isn't the cheap alternative to USB dongles it ought to be, with O2 charging a faintly ridiculous £15 per month for 3GB.

And, although claimed battery life has seen an slight improvement, our tests failed to reveal any advantage. We were unable to test the phone as thoroughly as normal due to time constraints, but our quick tests suggested three days of light use, with GPS, Bluetooth and push email switched off wouldn't be far off the mark. The 3G we tested in our last Labs managed four days, albeit in more amenable circumstances.

Finally, the fact that many of these improvements are also now available to existing 3G owners via the OS 3 upgrade, somewhat dampens our overall enthusiasm too. The camera improvements, storage upgrade and general performance belong exclusively to the 3GS, but everything else can now be had on a standard 3G - including the satnav features. Bear in mind that map data can occupy large amounts of storage if maps are stored locally; this makes the 3GS the more practical navigation partner.

But despite all that, and the fact it's more expensive, there's simply no getting past the fact that, whether you buy the 3G or this 3GS, the iPhone is now the complete consumer smartphone. There remain some annoyances, such as its inability to download certain attachments, and the fact that you can't edit Office documents out of the box, but with the App Store ready to come to the rescue in many cases, it's now very hard to find a reason not to buy one.

Author: Jonathan Bray