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Apple iPhone 3GS Review
| Author | Riyad Emeran |
| Published | 16th Jul 2009 |
| Manufacturer | Apple |
| Supplier | O2 |
| Price | £184.98 on a £34.26 per month tariff |
| Latest Price | Click here |
| Design |  |
| Features |  |
| Performance |  |
| Usability | |
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TrustedReviews NewslettersNo matter what I write in this review, there are people out there who will instantly accuse me and the TR team in general of being Apple fan boys, so I may as well throw the cat among the pigeons straight away. Put simply, the original iPhone changed the face of mobile devices, and proved without a doubt that a great user interface is far more important than a long feature list.
For years iPhone haters have always been keen to point out all the features that are missing from the device and how their Windows Mobile/Nokia/other handset is better because it supports a host of features that the iPhone doesn't. Apple addressed some of these issues with the iPhone 3G that launched last year, adding (unsurprisingly) 3G data support along with GPS functionality.
But, even the iPhone 3G was open to very vocal criticism - no MMS, no copy and paste, no video recording, no A2DP Bluetooth support… The whinging went on, and once again everyone at TrustedReviews was accused of being biased towards Apple, when in reality we believed, and still do believe, that the user experience afforded by the iPhone far outweighed its lack of certain features.
Did I ever sit there with my head in my hands lamenting the lack of copy and paste on my iPhone? No, not really. Did I ever wish that I could wirelessly stream music to a pair of Bluetooth headphones? Nope - I'd far rather plug my Shure E500s in and make the most of my music. Did I ever wish that I could whip my iPhone out of my pocket and video some mundane occurrence in the hope that I might get it shown on BBC News? Absolutely, positively never!
However, if a list of features is really that important to you and you can't see beyond it, the new 3GS may offer just enough to convince you of the iPhone's merit. Although I wouldn't necessarily call the iPhone 3GS the third generation device, there are enough tweaks and improvements over the iPhone 3G to make it appeal to some of the naysayers.
Whether there's enough of an improvement over the 3G to make it a worthwhile upgrade for existing iPhone users is a different matter though, and one that I'll look at in more detail later in this review. For now though, let's see what new features the iPhone 3GS brings to the party.
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khufus said on 22nd July 2009
MrGodfrey said on 22nd July 2009
Khufus, you're right about battery life, and I doubt a software update will help here... But in fairness, poor battery life is not unique to the iPhone and is common to other ... more
James Morris said on 24th July 2009
Since switching from HTC Diamond to iPhone 3GS, I've actually found I don't have to recharge the phone absolutely every night now. Which is nice.
gdawg304 said on 27th August 2009
Hi....chiming in here so late that I doubt I will get a reponse but I'm really tempted by one of these when my upgrade is due in a month...my major issues are: I'm not entirely hap... more
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Nice phone.Shame you have to turn all those great features off before you get through a day without the battery flunking out. Anyone buying the 3GS should take a look at apple'... more