iPhone 3G S: wonder toy.

by WyldKard on June 22, 2009

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What’s most interesting about the iPhone feature chart posted earlier today by The Blog isn’t the evolution of the since 2007, but that the chart makes the 3G S stand out over the other models by its evolutionary leap. That’s not to say that we think the 3G S is hugely innovative, but that it’s more innovative compared to the 3G than the 3G was to the 2G . This is particularly noticeable when we begin factoring in not only the ’s 3.0 OS, but the availability of jailbreak-enabled applications: with MMS, tethering, and video recording all features enabled after a jailbreak, the 2G and 3G have few differences (albeit the major one: 3G network speed).

While AT&T’s 3G network was bumpy at best when the 3G was released, it’s much more stable one year later, and we can say with glee that our network experience on the 3G S has been fantastic, to the point where we’d certainly feel weighed down by the 2G ’s EDGE limitation. We’ve even forgotten a couple times when we were on our home broadband network – that’s how fast our 3G connection has been: little noticeable difference between it and wi-fi.

So sure, the 3G S sports more unique features than the 3G did compared to its own predecessor, but how earth-shattering are these new features? Beyond testing video recording, we don’t anticipate using the upgraded camera for video outside of a few special circumstance (which could change, perhaps). Still images, however, especially improved thanks to a tappable auto-focus, have suddenly made the camera far more useful, to the point where we’ll likely retire our Pentax Optio S for everything except macro photography. The 3G S’ compass is a novelty item in itself (the app), but its integration with other apps is what will make it killer. Already, we’ve found our Google Maps experience greatly improved, and once we start seeing great turn-by-turn apps available, and the use of the compass in other apps (e.g. Geocaching), the presence of the digital compass will truly shine.

As far as voice control goes, we haven’t used the application outside a quick test run, which proved fruitless; we’d prefer to see functionality akin to Google Search, such that we can perform web searches straight from the voice control app. With its primary focus on telephone calling, the voice control app doesn’t do anything we couldn’t with apps from Installer.app back in 2007, though perhaps we’ll utilize it more with the once we have more hands-on experience with it. The Nike+ integration is another nice feature, and we’ll probably whip out our ailing Nike+ transmitter to give it a spin, but that means we’ll have to find a new armband or other method of bringing the along on a run. Really, it was the Nano’s size that made it ideal for this purpose, while the is a bit clunky here.

Our biggest complaint about the 3G S is battery life. Indeed, being attached to a 3G signal must burn energy like no one’s business, because we’re constantly running low. We’re starting to think that heavy use of the GPS is another contributing factor, but it’s hard to rule this out until we start using the Geocaching app in offline mode, when we’re not relying on the network to continuously retrieve information on nearby caches. For most days of use, our 2G was happy enough with a night-time charge while we were sleeping, and it would rarely be dead by the time we laid our head to rest. The 3G S, however, uses significantly more battery life just in standby mode, to the point where we’re actually considering turning it off when we’re at work and not using it. This despite ’s claim that the 3G S sports longer battery life the the 3G. No wonder so many of 3G-toting fools were turning 3G off for routine travel.

We were right about leaving our jailbroken 2G behind, however. SBSettings was an invaluable tool, and with the speed and extra RAM of the 3G S’ , Backgrounder would be ever more useful now than it was before. These two apps alone would be killer additions to a future OS update, but as it’s unlikely we’ll ever see anything like them made official, we’re eagerly looking forward to the eventual 3G S jalbreak solution.

It looks like we can’t expect major improvements from year-to-year, but enough has happened over two years that we can expect to want another upgrade come 2011. That said, we can certainly see why some people are clamoring to get ahold of ’s latest and greatest phone, even if they did buy last year’s version. As far as a phone and ultra-compact web browser go, the 3G S’ specs didn’t wet our appetite all that much, but a number of lesser features added up in this case, putting our tech desire over the edge. Heck, if we didn’t already want to replace our Garmin 60CS and Optio S, maybe we would’ve held onto the 2G for another year, but in our case, consolidating three devices into one is more than worth it, especially since it’s a device always nearby.

With turn-by-turn GPS soon-to-be-realized, the next big trick will be identifying the best ways to mount the 3G S on our vehicles without spending an inordinate amount of money. Some thoughts:

1. While we already have a GPS in our Volkswagen R32, the GPS (and interface) is simply miserable. So, we’d like to mount the in an easy-to-reach location. The trick here is figuring out wiring, With the 2G , we used the car’s integrated interface, which tucked the away in the center console. The 3G/S runs at a different voltage, so the old charger won’t work. Audio alone isn’t an option given the battery life and we need to see the ’s screen now, so we can either find an adapter/cable for the dock, else get a (likely cheaper) cigarette lighter adapter, and then run a second cable (for audio) to the glove box which contains an aux-in port for the stereo. This is a messier solution (since it requires two cables), but potentially frees up the console for our Nano, which we can use for backup music (it’s not like the older Nano will have a decent resale rate these days anyway). We’ll have to check with other VW owners to see what their solutions will be.

2. Our BMW 1200GS motorcycle is currently fitted with a RAM and Touratech mount that holds our Garmin 60CS. The power adapter is hard-wired into the 1200GS’ system. We may try to avoid the headache of doing the same thing with the , and instead simply find an power cable with a socket adapter. The next step would be to either modify the RAM mount to somehow hold the (perhaps by attaching a cradle of some sort), else get a new mounting system entirely. Also, whatever we do, we nee to find a way to keep the dry, either by finding a water-proof mount, or ghetto-rigging a water-proof armband to attach to our mount. The final step will be to attach something to the index finger on our glove to work the touch-screen. Obviously, this motorcycle scenario will be the most difficult to deal with. Again, a motorcycle user group may be a good source of ideas.

3. With a bicycle coming our way soon, we’d like to find a mount that we can use with the here, too. If the mount/cradle for this can also be used in one of the aforementioned scenarios also, that would be fantastic, but we don’t have high hopes. Any bicycle mounts worth recommending?

Worth mentioning about the 3G S (and perhaps the 3.0 in general) is that the extensibility of the is furthered. No longer do we own an simply because it’s a great smartphone, we now own an because it’s a solid GPS too (okay, so we’re jumping the gun a bit because great turn-by-turn apps are still weeks away). In other words, the 3G S is changing our daily habits compared to how we lived with the 2G , and that’s notable. Had we purchased the 3G last year, we wouldn’t have changed our habits in any significant way. The effect of the conglomeration of OS 3.0, and the new in the 3G S, is what makes the latest a wonder-toy.

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