It’s here. The iPhone 3G S, the latest smartphone to carry the Apple crown, has arrived, and while the queues outside stores may not be quite as impressive as last year, that doesn’t mean the handset itself disappoints. We joined Apple at their flagship store in New York City this morning to pick up the new iPhone 3G S; read on for some of our first-impressions.
Physically the iPhone 3G S may not look much different to the iPhone 3G, but that “Speed” moniker certainly does make a difference when you turn it on. It’s too early to quantify exactly how much faster the 3G S is over previous models, but what we can tell is that everyday tasks – such as flicking through homescreens, navigating message-filled inboxes and browsing long contacts lists – are now significantly quicker. We’ve only had a short time to download a few of the more graphically-intense games, but they look visually more impressive too, no doubt thanks to the new PowerVR SGX video chipset.
Elsewhere, the camera – freshly updated to 3-megapixels – is a little faster to snap a frame, and comes with touch-focus selection. That’s not a new thing in smartphones generally, but it works well with the iPhone 3G S’ huge preview window. Shots themselves err on the side of over-exposure, both in stills and the new video recording, and Apple to continue to refuse any sort of manual control. What you do get is the ability to trim video clips on-device before syncing with iTunes, sending via MMS/email, or uploading to YouTube or MobileMe.
The trimming system is easy to use, but our first impression is that it’s very basic. There’s no way to merge or join clips, only chop off the beginning or end of them, and – more importantly – there’s no way to copy the video and leave the raw file intact. Still, on-screen the playback quality looks great, certainly better than we’ve seen on other video-capable devices.
For the rest our our first-impressions, head over to SlashGear where we’ll have live photos and video throughout the day. We’ll be putting together our full review, too, so if you have any questions you’d like answered, leave us a note in the comments!
