Review: iPhone 3GS
* Apps section at bottom of page added 3pm ET, June 22, 2009.
Last year, Apple introduced the Apps Store with the iPhone 3G. I think the success of the Apps store (50,000 apps, and numerous "me-too" stores from other phone makers) aptly displays that there is a hunger for third-party apps on phones. What is new this year? A few things.
Bluetooth
The iPhone finally has stereo Bluetooth, and it's just as easy as before to pair it with other devices. When you're using the Bluetooth menu, the iPhone is automatically made visible and put in pairing mode. If it senses something, it will tell you. You can pair or ignore. Sound quality of phone calls through mono headsets was decent, but not fantastic. I'd say it is on-par with the quality of the iPhone 3G. Stereo Bluetooth headsets work well. They don't sound as good as standard wired headphones, but the feature is now there for those interested in using it.
Compass
Apple has put a magnetometer in the iPhone. This seems an odd feature, but it has some use. The compass app is elegant. It looks like a compass of old. You can choose to have it show you magnetic north or true north. It will point to north, tell you how many degrees off north you are, and also display your latitude/longitude. Unless you're into geocaching, we can't imagine many are going to find this the most useful feature on earth...unless you use it within Google Maps.
When using Google Maps, press the "My Location" button (the small blue button in the bottom left corner). It will take a few seconds for the GPS to center in on your location. After it has, press the "My Location" button again, and Google Maps will incorporate the information from the compass to show you which direction you're facing on the map. Cool.
Voice Memos / Controls
The iPhone can now record voice memos. The app is simple and elegant. It shows a large picture of an old-school microphone with a strength meter below it. Press the small record button in the bottom left corner to start the recording. You can record as long as you want, pause it and save it. There is another button on the bottom right corner. Press it to access all your voice notes. Notes can be played back via the speaker or the earpiece (for private listening) and they can be shared via email (and later via MMS as well). You can keep recording in the background as you do other things on the iPhone, but you can't record calls. You can also choose to have voice notes synced back to iTunes for safekeeping. Memos can also be trimmed (same manner as video clips) before they are shared and/or synced to iTunes. Like it.
You can also use your voice to control some features of the phone, such as initiating phone calls or sending text messages. For the most part, it works. It misheard me a few times, but I'd say the success rate was about 90%.
Apps added 3pm ET, June 22, 2009
One problem with Apple's app system is that you seem to lose all third-party app data when you switch to a newer or replacement iPhone. The backup-restore process backs up data from all Apple apps - from your notes and voice memos to your last search in Google Maps - but nothing from any third-party apps. When upgrading to new iPhones, we lost all of our Twitter account settings, saved games (my SimCity!), sketches, songs tagged with Shazam, etc.
If Apple allowed any kind of access to the file system, and perhaps had a memory card slot, users could back up and manage such app data themselves. That would be ideal, but at the very least, the backup-restore function should be extended to third-party apps.
Apple iPhone 3GS
