Straight from Apple’s site:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3g-s/
Let’s take a look at the new features:
“The Fastest iPhone Ever” – Claims that the new 3GS is up to twice as fast as the 3G model. Seeing as we don’t know any hardware specs, nor can we trust Apple’s tainted advertising reputation, we’ll just have to wait till the phone comes out and becomes subject to real world tests. However, Apple claims that “launching messages is 2.1 faster, load the NY Times in Safari: 2.9 times faster.” (Gizmodo) If this is true, then WOW, what a great improvement.
Video – 30FPS at VGA resolution (640 x 480) is outstanding. Shame on Apple for making me install Quicktime (bleh) just to watch their demo video. Anyways, the demonstration looks great! A full 30FPS with no lag or stutters, however, I’m a bit skeptical because the video was not made with a real iPhone 3GS in a real world scenario. You heard me, the video was made to look like a real world demo. Just look at the guy holding the iPhone; there’s no way anybody could hold the phone that steady. You be the judge: iPhone 3GS Video Demo. This better not be another Apple marketing gimmick.
3-Megapixel Camera – Pretty cool tap to focus feature. Autofocus isn’t a big deal; it’s been around for years and is just another thing for Apple to over glorify. The macro and low light are outstanding though. Check it out: iPhone 3GS Photos
Voice Control – Been out for years and there’s a reason nobody uses it: because it always sucked. Will the iPhone’s voice recognition and decoding be better? We’ll have to wait and see. But why, oh why, is Apple touting a feature that’s been around forever like it’s hot out the oven?
Compass – Pretty cool, but really only useful if you’re walking around. GPS does the same thing (gives you your heading), but needs a few seconds of data before it can determine your heading. Google Street View + the compass is a good combination, since you could basically turn your body and the Street View would line up with what you’re looking at.
Cut, Copy & Paste – LOL!!! It only took three revisions to get this feature. . . Being able to copy/paste pictures is nice, however.
Landscape Keyboard – Again, it only took three revisions. . .
Messages – Multimedia messages to be exact. Going along the same lines as my last two comments. Even more depressing, read the fine print: MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer.
Search - Exactly like the Universal Search incorporated in the Palm Pre. Palm beat you to the punch on this one, Apple.
Accessibility - “These features include the VoiceOver screen reader, a Zoom feature, White on Black display options, Mono Audio, and more.” How useful. .
Internet Tethering – Pretty much the biggest fail. What’s been around for years and years, finally comes to the iPhone. But there’s a kicker, its not offered in the United States. “Tethering is not currently offered in the U.S. and some other countries.” Sucks.
Voice Memos – Isn’t there already “an app for that”?
Nike + iPod – No comment except for, “Wow, that’s nice?”
Stocks – Isn’t there already “an app for that”?
YouTube – Don’t tell me it took three revisions for YouTube functionality.
As the title of this post says, Apple has definitely found success in some areas, but most definitely failed in others. The speed increase, video recording capabilities, compass, and camera functions are all impressive. Apple could’ve wowed even more people if it ditched the low 480 x 320 resolution screen in favor of a WVGA 800 x 480 resolution screen.
In other areas, however, Apple is playing catchup with long time available features like copy/pasting, landscape keyboard, MMS, and YouTube functionality. Internet tethering is also a big let down, but blame AT&T for that one.
The inclusion of Voice Memos and Stock tracking as part of the iPhone’s 3GS main features is pretty pitiful. Having these items on Apple’s main features web page makes it look like they’re trying too hard by padding the feature list with crappy “extras” if you will.
When the original iPhone came out, it was full of innovations. Now on its third revision, while still introducing some new features, you can’t deny that Apple’s playing catch up as well.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not sure how you feel qualified to review the new iPhone revision if you’ve never owned an iPhone. If you had owned one, you’d know how full of shit your review is.
Beside that, how can you call new features “fail” just because they were late. They were “fail” when they were missing. Now they’re not missing.
This is not a review; where did you get that idea? These are comments based on Apple’s description of the new features of the iPhone 3GS.
I say “fail” because it took them so long to release some of these features, and because they’re touting them as the main features of this new iPhone 3GS, which people will eat up and inevitably think that Apple themselves came up with these already thought of innovations.
I gave credit where its due, but I also point out the short comings that most people would miss.
I would like to see a side-by-side comparison of the Palm Pre versus the Iphone.
As would I. Too bad AT&T requires a contract with the iPhone 3GS and won’t let me buy it outright. I was thinking of buying it outright to do some comparisons and such, but it looks like I’ll have to borrow a buddy’s phone.
re:shporq
GTFO troll and go suck on Steve Job’s testicles some more!
lolz. Five comments, one of them a troll. Eric, I see the validity in your commentary about the 3G S. I have a 1G3G (what?) and I am noticing those holes more since phone usage tends to increase as more functionality is added through apps and such. Copy and paste? Come on, Windows Mobile has been doing that since I was a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I would be hard pressed to tell you of another phone I would have – the Omnia 2 looks decent – but you have to be objective about speculation. In this case, fanboys = fail because they don’t use logic to defend their lovely little fruit-branded crack toys; they use emotion. Anyway, thanks Eric for all your work on this and moreover for sharing it. Keep up the good work buddy.
I’d rather a company not release a feature than release on that is buggy. So instead of trying to cram half thought out features they released the phone without and worked on doing it correctly in the future. I find nothing wrong with this. As an informed consumer I knew what the iPhone had and did not have when I purchased it the day of release. I was never disappointed as I knew what I was purchasing.
I find your tethering comment ironic though seeing as there is a fairly large post regarding how to hack to tether the PalmPre. Tethering is a sticky issue for the cell companies mainly cause they can’t handle the traffic on their networks. Ever been to a tech conference where everyone is using and internet enabled device… good luck connecting. It is also a dollars issue. They want to charge you more so you can tether. Is this right? No. But since their network can’t handle everyone who has these devices now using it for computer downloading, this is their solution.
I think your article should be structured into points that should be brought against cell companies and points against the iPhone as a product. They are two separate talking points and mashing them together only spreads misinformation.
David,
What you are referring to are bug fixes. Apple is touting these bug fixes as innovative features. If they just managed to get them to work and released them without fanfare, then there’s no problem. However, they have a commercial touting voice command like they’re the first company to have a phone that offers it.