Review: iPhone 3GS

iPhone 3GS overview

Update: read our iPhone 4s review.

The iPhone 3GS was delivered by Phil Schiller rather than Lord Jobs on high, and a packed crowd hung on his every word, lapping up every new feature Apple had deigned to bestow upon us. The thing is it didn't take long, as essentially Apple has released a new phone that bears a very significant resemblance to the original version.

In fact, the only palpable difference in the chassis is the iPhone lettering is now mirrored in the same way as the Apple logo was on the last iteration.

Of course, with the new iPhone 3GS (the 'S' apparently standing for speed) we're getting a whole host of new features, essentially an improved processor (up to an apparent 600MHz according to a recent T-Mobile leak), a better 3MP camera with video recording and an upgrade to 32GB of memory.

The curious thing about the new iPhone release is not only that it doesn't bring a whole lot of new hardware in the latest upgrade (we're not talking the essential jump from 2G to 3G here) but it's also been released to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 3.0 firmware update.

That in itself brings a whole host of new extras to the iPhone game. Check out our in depth review of the new software to find out what snazzy extras Apple has brought to the party.

But this upgrade is obviously available for the previous Apple handset, meaning that for the most part an updated iPhone 3G is the same phone as the iPhone 3GS, and presents most users with a real dilemma: is it worth shelling out for the new upgrade less than a year later?

In the box

As most iPhone users will know, there's not usually a lot in the tiny Apple iPhone box, and once again, the company has perfected minimalism. There are the standard accessories bedecked in white as well as the phone itself of course.

The headphones are the same as normal, the bundled white buds symbolising that you've bought into the Apple brand and are indeed proud to wear the badge of Jobs-honour. It's a shame that Apple hasn't followed the lead of the likes of Samsung with its recent handsets, such as the i8910 HD, and realised that having a phone built for top end media should come with some decent headphones.

We would have at least have liked to seen some in-ear buds with this iteration, or even some Bluetooth cans (something Samsung again does with certain models in its PMP range) but that would cannibalise the healthy accessories market Apple has lovingly crafted, so it's hardly a surprise to see the standard fare here again, although we were pleasantly surprised at how well the hands free kit worked on the bundled buds.

And Apple is again banking on some customer loyalty in only including a USB lead with wall-plug connector. We know this is Apple's usual game, but we'd reckon a good portion of mobile phone owners have lost their charger in the past and been forced to use the USB lead to charge the handset before buying a new charger, so if you lose this one, it's a dead iPhone for a while.

Clearly Apple is assuming that its customers have many iPhone compatible leads lying around (in the same way that Nokia chargers will grow in any draw full of wires) so has kept things minimal, and of course saved packaging, and therefore penguins and polar bears, in doing so.

Indeed, in comparison to the likes of the Palm Pre and the HTC Magic, Apple is doing the same thing in trying to reduce packaging (as it always has done). We still can't feel like there should be more in the box however, even though a video output lead is always going to be out of the question.

Apple iPhone 3GS - design

As we mentioned earlier, there's very little different between the current iPhone 3GS and the previous 3G model, a little disappointing given we were expecting anything from a new iPhone nano to a matte black model with anti-slip coating and no bezel.

The one major upgrade is the new smear free screen, which we're pleased to see works very well. It's properly dubbed an oleophobic coating, with oleo being the Greek for oil/ grease/ the remnants of an XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger meal with Supersize fries.

One aesthetic criticism of the old iPhone was the fact that this grease stuck to it within seconds, meaning the device everyone loves to touch was a CSI's best friend in minutes.

But the new coating lives up to its billing, with a swift wipe on the jeans clearing the screen of all residue.

While most of you may be familiar with the layout and feel of the iPhone chassis, we'll just run through it for those that have never set foot in an Apple store or been tempted to fiddle with a workmate's device.

The screen is a 3.5-inch HVGA widescreen effort, using a capacitive touch display. This essentially means that you can't use a stylus (as it uses electricity conducted from the fingertip) but gives a more responsive screen.

The screen resolution can be firmly categorised as a question of taste. On the one hand images look sharp and clear, on the other, we're being told by more and more manufacturers of rival phones (for instance the newly announced Samsung Jet) that this resolution simply isn't good enough for our media needs.

We'll cover video performance in greater depth, but to us the screen seems fine and certainly fit for purpose.

There's a switch for placing the phone in silent above the rocker volume controls, as well as two speakers at the bottom near the port. Power on and off at the top also acts as a 'hold' switch to lock down the screen, and we're also treated to a 3.5mm headphone jack for funsies.

The layout of the phone is nicely structured (given the immense size to accommodate the screen) although you will have to move your fingers around as all the buttons aren't in easy reach.

It ranks well alongside the likes of the Palm Pre and the HTC Magic. Since the first iPhone was released Apple hasn't been bettered in the touchscreen stakes, which is a marvellous accolade. It showed the mass public just how simple touch technology can be.

Thankfully, the rivals are finally catching up, with both the Pre and the Magic sporting great touchscreen examples as well, but Apple deserves top spot simply for coming in and showing an industry how it's done.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Interface

A lot of those reading this will be familiar with the iPhone interface, with the standard 'all icons together' layout making it easy to search for applications without having to trudge through a gallery of menus.

There isn't a great amount of depth in the sub-menus either, with the likes of the iPod, Safari and Photos all managed from one central Setting icon rather than a great degree of control from within each application.

The new iPhone 3.0 software brings a few new things to the interface, namely the addition of Spotlight, which allows you to search comprehensively through the phone, meaning typing in the first two or three letters of a name will bring them up from your contacts, as well as any email messages you have from them in your linked mailbox and any Apps with the same letters in the title.

Accessed by pressing the home key once on the home screen, swiping left from the same place or being set as the function for double tapping the home screen, the search is good, but doesn't let you perform any actions from the search list such as actually replying to a message, instead asking you to enter the contact / message before you can interact with it.

As anyone with an older iPhone will know, the screens can get pretty filled up with applications, to this new feature certainly helps you find Ultra Tetris faster than if you had to scroll through loads of screens.

Where the iPhone interface is slipping behind its high powered rivals is the inability to multi task. Nokia (and other's) Symbian system, Google's Android and Palm's webOS all allow multi-tasking, and in the Pre's case, the 'cards' system fully allows you to see which applications you have open at any one time, and simply throw them off the screen.

What is strange is that the webOS' cards feel very much akin to the way we navigated through multiple tabs in the Safari internet browser, so Apple has the functionality and system in place, just not the OS power to actually execute multi-tasking, meaning any third party Apps that use music cannot be shut down should you wish to keep listening, making the iPhone 3GS very one dimensional in these instances.

That said, it's surely only a matter of time before it does appear on an iPhone, with Apple's excuse that it 'drains the battery too badly' a poor reason in the face of the power-friendly Palm Pre.

Apple iPhone 3GS - calls/contacts

A 'hilarious' thing is often said about the iPhone by some customers: it shouldn't really have such an iName given the poor call quality on it.

The first 3G iteration was certainly in a lot of hot water over the strength of its signal after a number of customers complained they simply couldn't access the high speed data when needed, with calls often dropping or not connecting at all.

Unfortunately the new iPhone 3GS doesn't really manage to improve on the problems brought by previous iPhone iterations, as signal was once again patchy. In fairness, the call quality was good and fairly regular when signal was present, but that's not really the kind of top level quality you're expecting with a device as high-end (and expensive) as the iPhone.

Whether it's O2's network in the UK or just a general problem with the iPhone (we'd be tempted to believe it's the latter given other countries have reported similar problems) we don't know, but either way we'd hoped this problem would have been fixed.

The problem was at its worst on the train, with the iPhone very quickly defaulting to the EDGE network on multiple occasions (not a problem for calling, but data suffers) but for the most part dropping off radar completely.

We know that this isn't just a train problem as we were also carrying an HTC Touch Pro2 (not particularly known for its signal reception) on the Three network, and it managed to keep a few bars going when the iPhone had simply given up.

Contacts

Contacts themselves have barely changed in all three iterations of the iPhone, with the same layout and interaction present in all three versions (bar the new Spotlight searching functionality).

However, this isn't a bad thing, as Apple has the knack of making things that other manufacturers find difficult seem blindingly easy. When faced with the problem of having a list of names and only a touchscreen to help you interact, manufacturers took a strange variety of options.

Samsung used the volume key to scroll, LG divided up the list into letter groups and Nokia implemented a text input, all of which were a little convoluted. Apple lets you simply select a letter from the list on the right and flick through the list using a touch swipe when you get to the right place.

HTC employs a similar method in its Windows Mobile and Android models, as well as Apple's practice of giving you the option to send a message or add to a favourites list, with all the options laid out nicely in front of you, so it shows that simplicity works best when you have a decent touchscreen to work with.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Messaging

You might not have heard, but Apple has decided to add MMS messaging to its iPhone repertoire with the new iPhone 3.0 software.

It might have only taken two years to do, but Apple has finally managed to fix its messaging set up to work the way the fans have been asking for what feels like a decade or so.

The addition of a landscape keyboard is by far the biggest boon for the iPhone lovers who fancy a bit of texting. Despite the portrait QWERTY option being scarily accurate in choosing the correct word for you when your spelling goes awry, it still doesn't have the accuracy of a landscape version, and the new iteration works perfectly.

Some people have already spoken out about the accuracy of the new landscape keyboard, maintaining that the layout and structure of the landscape option isn't conducive to use with either fingers or thumbs. While we admit to having pretty lady-like fingers when using the keyboard, it's hard to see how anyone couldn't find it to be an improvement, unless they had become so adept / attached to the portrait version that the thought of having to change fills them with complete fear.

One of the things Apple curiously didn't manage when bringing the landscape keyboard is a wider choice of symbols, namely having the full stop and commas on the main letter window, meaning you have to press a button to enter the number and symbol mode to find the oft-used options, which seems a little strange.

However, you can access a full stop by double tapping the space bar, although this strangely wasn't activated out of the box on our phone, meaning frantic taps before we realised that it was just a simple switch problem in the settings.

Apple usually excels at waiting to bring a feature to its devices, be it copy and paste or MMS, but when it does it almost always manages to get it spot on first time.

As usual, email is baked right into the Apple ecosystem, with a variety of account options with very easy set up.

For instance, setting up your Gmail account on the phone is as simple as entering your name, email address and password (although we'll never feel completely safe doing this) in the same manner as before. In fact, completely the same as before, meaning we still don't have the push email Gmail functionality we've been hoping to be given for so long, even though such systems exist on other equally well-equipped handsets.

Not only that, but the new and improved search functionality for the mail system only extends so far; this means that while you can search for senders and subjects, there's no way to pull up details within the messages themselves (at least not in web mail accounts).

What's funny is a simple connection to Gmail through the dedicated Google App will give a more comprehensive and thorough search that you almost feel like laughing in Apple's face at is attempt.

And it's things like this that really let the iPhone down. Apple might respond by saying it can't do everything, but it's a brand that's built on making things intuitive and slick, which is why it usually wait before integrating new features others had years ago. So to have mail search that doesn't really let you search mail is rather strange indeed.

MMS is a nice addition to the party, although it's hardly the deal-breaker some Apple fanboys / naysayers have been chattering on about since the dawn of the iPhone in 2007.

When turning the phone on, we were instantly greeted with a message telling us that MMS was going to take a while to set up, and we would have to be patient.

That message was swiftly followed by another informing us that MMS was already to go, which left us with the distinct impression that O2 may have done this before.

MMS was nicely set up in the way we've come to expect from Apple, with the option to send a picture or video directly from the item, or by hitting the small camera icon in the MMS message to choose a photo or video.

Strangely, if creating a message using the MMS editor, we could only attach a video or picture, yet MMS supports contact cards as well as sound recordings too. While both of these functions allow you to create an MMS from the actual item, if you want to combine audio and a contact card you won't be able to in the current MMS editor.

Text messaging is laid out in Apple's favourite 'conversation' balloons, with easy interactivity with your chats and message lists.

Given Apple has made a big deal about being able to have push IM in the background thanks to the new iPhone 3.0 software, it's interesting to see that it hasn't included a dedicated client out of the iPhone box.

You have to go to a new IM client via the App Store, and at the early time of writing this there were very few that catered for the new ability for push notifications. What's beyond doubt is that there will be slew of new applications making use of push, simply as it's a way for designers to differentiate themselves from the others, meaning a better ranking in the App Store.

It's hard to tell whether Apple is still ahead of the game when it comes to messaging. The Pre can do all the email, MMS and texting functions of the iPhone 3GS, yet it also has that crucial QWERTY keyboard as well as a whole host of push-enabled IM applications.

While LG's S-Class texting experience is still a long way from being any good, its functionality and ease of accessing new letters and information outstrips Apple's as well, so when the company puts together a decent messaging system it will probably leap up towards the head of the messaging pile too.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Internet

The internet experience on the iPhone is without par. End of story. Until the likes of Mozilla brings a decent experience with the Fennec mobile browser, we're all going to have to sit back and marvel at how well Apple managed to bring browsing to a mobile phone.

The quandary is obvious: how do you put internet sites designed for a larger screen on a tiny one? Mobile sites are, quite frankly, rubbish, and larger sites take a long time to load and are too expansive to view in one go.

Many people will be outraged that we call Apple's Safari browser the best when it doesn't bring Flash compatibility, but that is its blessing and its curse in one. While some sites might lose out on functionality, the vast majority of web browsing on the mobile will benefit. Flash-heavy sites very rarely bring something of great worth to the mobile experience, and thus its absence (until a decent solution can be found) should be applauded.

The improved processing speed is very much apparent when browsing the internet, with Apple claiming some sites load over twice as quickly, especially when combined with new 7.2Mbps download speeds.

While some sites did indeed feel a lot more snappy (not that they were particularly slow in previous iPhones) the main difference was felt when multiple pages were opened.

We managed to pull out eight separate tabs on the iPhone 3GS before things started to fall apart and judder, which is clearly enough for anyone on the go - we always could find three or four that we weren't using any more and forgot to close down.

This is probably a problem Apple needs to fix, as unless you want to open up all your tabs, there's no way to simply shut down a window, so the open tabs simply mount up until you notice there's a problem.

It's hard to even think of a browser that comes close to the Safari experience, with Opera Mini / Mobile probably the pick of the bunch, mostly because it employs similar functionality to Safari Mobile with features such as double-tapping to reformat the text to fit a mobile screen, so if Apple has any mobile internet laurels, it will surely be tempted to have a quick lie down on them.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Camera

Did you know that the older generations of the iPhone had a rubbish 2MP camera? They did, you know. We're talking fuzzy pictures, no flash (therefore a complete absence of night time shots) and video being totally out of the question.

Apple being Apple, we were convinced that better cameras weren't necessary on a mobile phone, that people carried around point-and-shoot cameras all the time, and that to bung anything else on the phone would result in an ugly device.

But we all believed something better was coming. Rumours of a 5MP option with flash and video recording came thick and fast, but in the end we were only given a 3MP upgrade and no flash (albeit with VGA 30 fps video recording as well).

But it's not just an improved sensor that Apple has brought with the iPhone 3GS, but also a better overall camera experience. Auto-focus is achieved simply by tapping a section of the screen, and auto-exposure attempts to keep the light balance corrected.

The AF function, considering how underpowered the camera is in comparison to its high powered mobile brethren, is actually very good and simple to use. Tapping a section of the screen not only quickly brings it into focus, but also attempts to balance out the screen's light levels to make it more visible.

Macro mode has also been added, and despite Apple stating that it's good to take in-focus shots from up to 10cm away - in real tests we found this was an understatement from the fruity ones (which may be the first time ever) and we could actually get to around five cm (in good light) before the shot started to blur terribly.

The camera clearly can't compete with efforts from the likes of Sony Ericsson or Samsung, which can take long range shots with a multitude of scene options with high-end flashes, but for day to day snapping it's fine. Perhaps the discerning mobile phone buyer has been slightly spoilt in terms of what's actually needed for mobile photography, but we can't help but feel like 3MP simply isn't good enough for one of the most expensive phones on the market at the moment.

That's not to say Apple is lagging well behind its smartphone peers in terms of camera ability, as most phones (such as the HTC Magic, Touch series and Palm Pre) also have similarly poor-specced snappers, mostly due to trying to fit everything in to one tiny chassis.

But with the likes of the Samsung i8910 HD, we've seen that it can be crammed in, so while we're not expecting a 12MP marvel, it would be nice to see a decent lens, a better sensor or (whisper it) a flash on there in the next iteration.

How our iPhone 3GS camera compares to a fancy Olympus SP-565UZ:

The iPhone 3GS manages to capture a well-lit scene well with minimal colour loss:

Olympus SP-565UZ

The iPhone 3GS struggles to pick out detail when a variety of light levels are present:

Olympus SP-565UZ

The iPhone 3GS has good background definition, although we were attempting to get the doll in focus:

Olympus SP-565UZ:

The iPhone 3GS is excellent for text, perhaps even sharper than the Olympus SP-565UZ:

Olympus SP-565UZ:

The iPhone 3GS's macro mode is strong in close up, although colours are quickly washed out:

Olympus SP-565UZ:

The iPhone 3GS struggles badly in low light - come on Apple, what is it with you and no flash?

Olympus SP-565UZ:

Apple iPhone 3GS - Video recording

The world is somewhat divided on video recording on a mobile phone. Sure, it's a fun tool once in a blue moon, but it's probably way, way down on the list of things users are looking for in a prospective new device.

Apple's position has traditionally been that it's not a necessary extra when building a mobile phone, but it has clearly changed its mind and whacked on a pretty good effort. It's a shame that video recording is one of the (few) features that you'll be getting as an upgrade from the iPhone 3G, as it's hardly a deal-breaker.

The new video recording is very good though, ie enough to film your mates playing Frisbee in the park or whatever it is people use mobile phone video cameras for. And the quality plays back well on a computer screen, although it's not going to win any awards at Cannes unless you were posting it in an 'ironic' way (probably wearing a beret).

From early hype, it seems people are very excited about the possibility of trimming video on their iPhone before posting it to the internet via YouTube and the like. We're struggling to see why this is such a decent feature, as not only is it a bit useless 90 per cent of the time, but it also means that once you edit a video, there's no way to view the original.

Perhaps that's something for Apple to think about in the future as more updates come out to the 3.0 firmware.

In terms of beating the best on the market, which we think is currently the Samsung i8910 HD 720p video capture, it doesn't really match up, and the fact that very few others don't bother with video editing on the device should tell Apple it's a pointless feature. It's nice to have, it's just not essential.

It would have been much nicer to have a forward facing camera for iChat, and a lot of industry insiders were predicting this would happen on the iPhone 3GS, which makes it strange that it hasn't happened, as it would be a logical step for Jobs' lot.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Media

Unless you've been living in plastic bottle with the cap screwed firmly on, stuffed under a cushion in a giant's house while he went on holiday for a few years, you might have noticed that Apple has become something of a big name in the media playback game thanks to the iPod.

That tradition has continued into the iPhone, and while the iPhone 3GS doesn't necessarily bring much in the way of upgrades, it still certainly works well within the Apple mobile ecosystem, with background working available for music playback (but not much else on the phone).

Coverflow is back as usual, and available by flipping the phone on its side when choosing some tracks, although its use is still somewhat debatable when you cross the 1,000 tracks barrier that most people will on the 16GB / 32GB versions.

Apple has included a 'shake to shuffle' feature with the new 3.0 upgrade, but this is more of a gimmick than anything else, and something that makes you want to tear your teeth out when you leave it activated on a jog and you quickly find yourself skipping through your 'power' playlist.

We also decided to try the new A2DP Bluetooth abilities of the iPhone thanks to the new upgrade, using some Sony Bluetooth headphones we had kicking around. Set up was simple, with only the necessary switching on of Bluetooth needed to make things discoverable, in the same way as a headset.

Sound quality was good, and obviously freeing yourself from wires is a good thing. The good thing about Apple releasing phones that can accept the A2DP protocol is that it might bring Bluetooth headphones more into the mainstream (and hopefully bring the cost down).

While we love them, they are so darned expensive that it's hard to justify the price tag, so hopefully making them the must-have thing for Apple lovers would sort things out.

Video playback

All the talk about Bluetooth, sound quality and overall media performance in the audio section is true for video as well, although there are still some problems and disappointments over video in the new iPhone.

The first is the fact it didn't come with OLED screen means that the contrast ratio is once again a little lacklustre. Dark videos simply aren't happening, and since we've seen what can be possible from large size AMOLED screens, we'd come to believe there was no way that Apple wouldn't deliver for us.

The screen, at 3.5-inch, is just, just a little on the small side too. We reckon that a four inch effort is plenty, and we can pretty much get by happily with the 3.7-inch effort on the Samsung i8910 HD review.

However, Apple has still littered the video player with nice touches, like a dual level accelerometer that lets you watch video in landscape mode no matter which way you hold the phone, so if you have a preference for which side you like your headphone socket then the iPhone 3GS has it covered.

But the iPhone 3GS screen, which might be fine for the odd cartoon here and there, isn't going to replace a large-screen Archos in the way other phones might do.

Gaming

This is the first time we've included this heading in the Media section of our reviews, which should tell you all you need to about the new iPhone and its gaming capabilities (take note Nokia, and whoever put together the N-Gage).

The improved processor, the increased speed and the upgraded feature set all make for a great experience, something akin to a PSP or a DS Lite (although perhaps not as impressive on the graphics).

But to be saying that about a mobile phone is insane. The sheer ability of the iPhone is exemplified in Need for Speed Undercover, which has great graphics and a very impressive frame rate.

Having played the same game on an iPhone 3G, we can happily confirm it is an improvement. Not a massive one, as the experience on the previous iPhone wasn't bad at all, but still there is a perceptible increase in movement within the game, and loading time was reduced to just under 15 seconds on average.

But, and this is a big but, holding the phone in landscape mode means you cover the speaker with your hand every time, and using headphones makes it a little harder to hold the iPhone and game at the same time. Ergonomic fail.

The iPhone won't replace your DS if you're a portable gaming lover, but the beautiful thing is you don't have to pay £20-£30 for a game... you're looking at around a fiver for a top effort.

There really isn't another mobile phone in the market that does all three things as well as the iPhone, and while the i8910 HD is probably the top of the range for video, and the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic maintains it's the 'top selling music player' in the UK, there isn't a phone that can throw all three in together in such a decent manner.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Cut and paste

Begged for by Apple fans for so long (even though it's a barely used function for a large percentage of users) it's finally turned up in the iPhone 3GS. The implementation is superb, with a round magnifying pane appearing if you hold your finger over some text.

The iPhone 3GS will then attempt to smart-recognise which text you're after, and auto select it for you. Should you need more, you can drag the copying field using little markers at the corners.

And it doesn't just stop there, you can drag and select swathes of text and pictures together, ready to pasted into a document or other application, as the phone will remember what you've placed on the clipboard even if you shut down the program.

This means that should you see a cool image on a website, you can simply hold your finger on it, select 'Copy' from the pop up menu, and paste it into a text in order to send it to a friend as either an MMS or move things up a technological notch and send it as an email.

Again, one of the things with the iPhone is that it doesn't necessarily bring something new, but what it does do it manages with mouth-watering simplicity (in most cases - things like message searching obviously don't manage that 'cool factor' at all).

It's a great system, one that you might not use all the time but will certainly miss should you use it on the odd occasion and then have to perform the same function on another non-Apple phone.

Voice control

The new iPhone 3.0 software brings voice control to the iPhone, accessed by holding down the home button on any screen, and gives you a whole host of options.

It's intended for basically calling people in your phonebook and helping you interact with music. However, there are a couple of faults: it rarely manages to work out what you're after when using the bundled buds, and using your own headphones means the repeated voice command comes out the speaker, so if you're listening to Aqua, the train carriage will know about it.

However, when it gets it right, and you ask which track is currently on or you want to start playing a new album simply by saying its name, it is really cool, so hopefully Apple will update this in the near future to be more accurate.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Applications

Have you heard of the App Store? It's pretty important to the iPhone apparently, and has turned what might be a normally decent smartphone into a conduit of expandability.

Let's focus first on what's already on the phone, as it's already pretty impressive. As well as the usual suspects in the iPhone version of Google Maps, YouTube and Yahoo! weather, we're now joined by an upgraded calculator, a compass function and Voice Memos to boot.

The compass is probably the most pivotal new application, as well as video recording as well, as it gives developers a couple of new tools for some interesting new Apps. We've already seen the likes of the Seer Applications for Android from IBM, which gives Wimbledon fans the chance to link the compass, GPS and video stream together to learn about aspects of the tournament just by holding the phone up to a certain landmark.

Google Maps now makes use of the compass, but it's a little bit confusing. Not only does the compass constantly need rebooting as it gets 'interference' from other devices, it's also erratic functionally. When trying to find your own location in Google Maps, you can find out which way you're facing, which is really helpful should you be lost.

Finding your location was super speedy, much better than the likes of the HTC Touch Diamond2, with around 15 seconds the average time to locate. However some people may struggle to know how to use the compass properly, as you'd assume there would be some kind of 'compass on / off' toggle in the settings, when actually it's activated by a double, rather than a single, tap when finding 'My Location'.

We're excited to see how developers use this new bit of functionality, as the HTC Magic and G1 both use it to show off Streetview so well, so when the Apple crowd get their hands on it we can only imagine what might appear.

The iTunes store has also been given something of a refresh as well, albeit minor, as you can now download audiobooks and movies to the device, as well as being able to enter redeem codes for iTunes vouchers from loved ones at Christmas. It might not seem like much, but it certainly adds to the holistic iPhone experience.

On the App Store side, we're not only being treated to micro-payments (ie being able to subscribe to your favourite magazine or newspaper and pay for certain parts or periods) but a general expansion of applications available. The panorama is set to expand as well, as more applications with greater functionality and add-ons come to fruition. For instance, we're very excited by turn by turn directions and a TomTom dock and speaker, and LifeScan, allowing diabetic users the chance to monitor their blood level, is just the next level of cool.

Here are a few applications currently available that we think every discerning iPhone owner should have:

TweetDeck - Great for bringing order to your Twitter account, it organises your friends for you, has separate columns to keep your information in check, and allows you to shake and refresh.

Google App - There is literally everything Google here and even more than on the Android OS bizarrely. We're talking Voice Search (scarily accurate) Google Earth, Mail and Talk, a YouTube portal that syncs with the iPhone's YouTube client and loads more. Worth getting for the cool factor of Voice Search alone.

Need for Speed Underground - a great showcase of the iPhone 3GS's abilities graphically, and the frame rate and in-depth game play, along with the sumptuous cut scene videos, will have you whipping this out on practically every bus ride.

Apple iPhone 3GS - Battery life

Battery life, despite being tipped as much longer on the new iPhone, seemed to be pretty similar to the iPhone 3G.

When browsing the web, calling and uploading over 3G intensively, we hit around 5-6 hours of functionality, which is pretty much the same as the last iPhone. Over 2G we managed to make the phone last for a day under heavy use, but that's mostly because we got too irritated with the web to really use it hard.

In normal use, with the phone searching for a 3G signal, it works pretty well for around a day, with some video watching and song playback thrown in as well. We haven't tested it solely as a media player, because if that's all you're buying the iPhone 3GS for, then you're better off with a standard iPod touch really.

One thing that did irritate us was the fact that while tethering to a PC or Mac the battery didn't seem to charge at all, despite claims to the contrary. It's only a little niggle, but we hoped that it would be able to survive some data transfer and top up the juice at the same time.

The calendar function of the iPhone is a bit simplistic too - the normal version is somewhat akin to any basic mobile phone. Out of the box it seems there's not a lot you can do, as the calendar doesn't prompt you to sync up with anything.

However, Google has kindly put together some instructions on syncing your calendar (and contacts and Gmail, of course) so if you've got the time you can get all settings-ified and use push to sync with your calendar. There's also the option for syncing with Mobile Me should you want to be all integrated with your Mac, although neither of these options is particulalry well publicised in the Calendar application itself.

We're also seeing the entrance of Voice Memos with the new iPhone 3GS, with the ability to record sound and watch the meter at the bottom twitch in time with your voice. Yes, it looks nice; yes it adds a bit more functionality, but Apple, really? It took you this long to work out how to put it in the iPhone? Shame on you.

Apple iPhone 3GS - tethering

Some of you may have used the PC suite for the iPhone 3GS before: it's also known as iTunes to some people.

The fact is that Apple has managed to bring a super-efficient piece of software to the iPhone as well as making it a portal to music and additional paid for content. Nokia with its nascent Ovi portal must be pretty much salivating at the fantasy of having such an intuitive interface on its books, as it not only looks great, it convinces users to part with more cash for content.

Setting the iPhone up wasn't too bad as it was much the same as any other Apple peripheral, with the necessary naming and backing up process taking some time as well as having to download all 90MB of the new iTunes software to make the host PC compatible. Most people will want to get cracking on making their iPhone more media friendly, so having to wait the best part of half an hour to get cracking wasn't the best idea.

But being able to view and control so much of the iPhone 3GS without having to worry about fiddling with menus and such in the phone itself is always going to be a real boon, although the latest version of iTunes for the iPhone isn't really anything to get that excited about.

What we do like is the option to tether the phone to the PC / Mac and have it act as a modem. There are a number of options to already do this from other phones on other networks, but this has really brought O2's pricing plans to the fore.

TechRadar has spoken to O2 at length on the subject of tethering and the cost (not least the fact that some people have managed to bypass paying nearly £15 for 3GB pf data per month, or nearly £30 for 10GB) but while many feel the price is too high and they should be allowed to use the free data they already pay for, O2 maintains that its price plan is competitive and that it needs to monitor data to ensure all users can use the mobile internet without being affected.

It's likely the network will need to shrink the cost of tethering if possible in the near future, as the amount of blogs and forum posts about the anger over the tethering is starting to grow rapidly.

That said, browsing over the 3G networks is pretty quick, and there was no massively perceptible loss in speed compared to Wi-Fi (providing you have good signal, which as we've covered earlier, is pretty hard to come by at times).

Other special mentions should go to the quick and reliable Wi-Fi connection, especially in your own home, as well as the addition of constant connection to The Cloud network, as you'll no longer have to log in every time you re-enter a compatible zone. We would love to find a way to keep the Wi-Fi scanning but not popping up with a list of networks every time we even think about using data.

The GPS chip on board, as we said earlier, is fast and reliable, although the radius of your current position is sometimes a little wide. Similarly Bluetooth was nice and efficient, although it was oddly slow to find over the ear headsets, which we can only put down to an early software glitch.

However, it did seem to have a lot more joy with A2DP-enabled headphones, so given that's going to be our main peripheral of choice, we can't help but feel happy on that front.

Gallery: Hands on photography

Gallery: Official photography

TechRadar verdict

We liked

Well, there's just so much to like about this all rounder, isn't there? We could choose the excellent internet, the new camera that's almost is good enough to make us stop moaning about the iPhone always having a rubbish snapper (but not quite, though we do love the autofocus).

We could talk about the increase in speed or the great graphical processing power of the iPhone 3GS. We could even chat about the fact voice control is good, but a little bit pointless 90 per cent of time.

However, we think it's best to say that the best thing about the iPhone is it's an all rounder, the phone for every demographic. While it does some things wrong (see below) it more than makes up for it in what it does right.

If you're looking for an internet phone (they should shorten that name, perhaps something like the iPhon... oh, wait, we just got that) then this is beyond par, and if you're looking for the most complete multimedia experience on a handset, then look no further than the iPhone 3GS.

We disliked

But the iPhone 3GS isn't perfect, which is either a clever ploy by Apple or something that it likes to do to make sure the fans stay irritated. The price alone (nearly £300 on contract for the top model?) is enough to make you do a double take, and for that cost it makes us feel the need to be critical.

The camera is still not up to scratch, the battery life isn't great and call quality was patchy to say the least. While the screen is ultra responsive, we still had problems at the edges in terms of accuracy, and we really were hoping for an OLED effort from the latest iPhone.

But there's far more to love than to hate on the iPhone 3GS, and it must be remembered that Apple devices are designed in such a way that they are slick and well-formed, so it's easy to want to take cheap pot-shots at them for that very fact when in fact it's still a brilliant handset.

Verdict

The iPhone 3GS is a tip top mobile phone. Its improved functionality is good, but it's certainly not worth upgrading for. However, if you're new to the iPhone market, then choosing between the two should also be a no-brainer - go for the iPhone 3GS. The faster speeds, better camera and a whole host of other extras will please many, and for that reason it's worth it (although we suggest you think long and hard over whether you need 32GB or just 16GB of internal memory, as there's a bit of a price hike between the two.)

We can't help feel like the public is being played by Apple a little bit with the slow release of features like a better camera, a compass and voice memos, with each being dripped into the new handset to make it seem more current and gives Apple lovers something they have to upgrade to.

But the point is Apple makes a device for everyone. People that don't give two hoots about mobile phones want an iPhone. Sure, we could go on and on about how the Touch Diamond2 is better at this, the i8910HD is better at that, but the truth is none package it up as well as the iPhone 3GS.

So if you're in the market for a phone (and haven't been crippled by the credit crunch) check out the new iPhone 3GS. If you've got an iPhone 3G already, don't bother with the upgrade. The near-£1,000 some will have to shell out to get the latest model will leave you feeling sorely disappointed for the money after you realise it's not a lot different from the 3G model with 3.0 software.

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