Apple iPhone 3GS - 32 GB - White (Vodafone) Smartphone

If you already have an iPhone 3G then there isnt really a great deal to upgrade to with Apples Latest offering! Saying that I purchased a pay as you go one so when my contract comes to an end (sometime in 2010) I can then take advantage of the fact another iPhone will be released in July. Its all about forward thinking :)

Im pleased to say with the iPhone 3GS (32GB) forward thinking it most certainly does! Compass, not a great addition and something you prob wont be using but handy nonetheless, especially in google maps as now itll not only show you where you are, but also where your facing.

Video recording, this is a feature most phones already have, but how many phones can boast the ease of use that the iPhone posesses? Simple to record, edit, trim and then picture message your video, this latest offering from Apple just goes from strength to strength.

Better camera. 3.2mp inc auto focus and actually touching the part of the screen where you wish to focus are great additions to the already usable & decent quality camera. No flash tho. Im sure this will be on the next iPhone they do like to keep us wanting more ;)

iPhone OS (or firmware) v3.0 - Cut Copy and Paste - A joy to use & simply ingenius! Other phones have been able to do this for years, but now its finally here its smooth, simple and like the whole iPhone experience a pleasure to use.

Thats the thing with the iPhone. Yeah there are a few phones on the market that are technically more powerful but imagine a child driving a ferrari and this really does sum up the way the iPhone operates. Its like a racing driver in formula 1!

Speaking of speed, yes you guessed it, thats just what the 'S' reportedly stands for. And i can confirm from my initial tests having had both devices, it does open up webpages, the app store and actually run, overall quicker than the previous model. With improved graphics to, this can be seen from searching the net eg Firemints excellent Real Racing which has 6 cars driving at once, on the 3GS they have managed to get more than double that, all running at the correct speed! Excellent stuff!

This also leads me onto one of the excellent benefits to having an iPhone, the App store. Most things that you want to do with your iphone, like editing documents, playing games etc can be done via the App Store. Browse on your phone from anywhere and the purchase and download and then your in! The apps on your phone ready to use. Its a very painless and simple process anyone can learn.

MMS now features out of the box and this is another simple and painless process from taking the photo to typing a message, its all very user friendly. No more getting frustrated because your phones "having a think" or "doing something else" the best thing about the iPhone is the fact that the phone only does what you tell it to do. It really is great (and i used to be a Windows Mobile fan boy so it takes alot for someone like me to admit there is something I like better out there) and the iPhone is it.

The whole experience is enjoyable, smooth and silky, the phone feels great in the hand (I would recommend purchasing a screen protector along with a hard case, you never know! Better to be safe than sorry!). Sending messages, setting up email, and even just using it as a phone, the iPhone seriously does shine in all respects. Now if they put in a better camera, with flash then id be happy to say ditch your digital camera as everything else about this device is brilliant.

Top marks

After being a Windows Mobile user since the very first SPV mobile phone i thought id take the plunge and purchase an iPhone 3G 16gb.

I said to myself, i wasnt going to start a new contract and that I wanted to use my existing contract on another network as im not with o2, with the iPhone so i purchased a Gevey 3G turbo sim.

The sim card is installed over the top of your sim and then inserted into the iPhone. This tricks the iPhone into thinking it has a valid sim card.

The iPhone itself is very responsive. With almost 0 lag in any of the menus and the only time the iPhone has ever crashed is using a Third Party app which i downloaded via the App Store (this was facebook and this has a history of crashing according to other iPhone users)

Step 1 - Activating the iPhone.

You need to download iTunes via Apples website and install on your PC / Laptop. I did this and connected my iPhone. You do need to have an O2 pay as you go sim card to enable your iPhone to activate and also to update the phone with your music, pictures, videos, contacts, calender entries, etc

The o2 sims are easy to get hold of, the latest "free sims" available from o2 are 3G so this enabled me to activate my iPhone and also put some music on it.

Step 2

Use iTunes to do a software update if need be. This updates the firmware of the iPhone to the latest version so when apple release fixes, they release a new version of the iPhone Firmware. Again you need to have the o2 sim in to do this as it uses iTunes.

This all worked flawlessly WITHOUT deleting any of my existing information. Now with Windows Mobile backing up was a must. Because of iTunes your data is backed up anyway so this all happened very smoothly.

Step 3

Using the iPhone day to day.

SMS texting. This I admit does take some getting used to but after only a weekend of owning the iPhone 3G im happy to say everything is working perfectly. It would be nice to be able to text landscape by turning your phone around but im sure Apple will include this in a future update.

Phone calls - quality excellent. No dropped calls, everything worked as it should.

Internet Browsing - Now this is the best portable browsing experience that i have ever had! Opera on Windows Mobile is getting there but this is excellent. No flash support but I soon forgave apple when i was watching Never Mind the Buzzcocks from the BBC iPlayer website! Stroke of genius!

Google Maps - this works fine also. Very simple to zoom in and out and plan routes. Bring on TOMTOM! Thats all i can say! Turn by turn navigation is a must!

Listening to music - The quality of the music is excellent and browsing my albums is so easy. This is how it should be!

App Store - Loads of apps available, brilliant! Great being able to add extra programs to your phone wherever you are, without having to plug your phone into your pc to do it! Facebook (brilliant shows you just what you need to know and navigating your facebook profile is simple) VNC (view your pc / laptop from your iphone - i use this a work so excellent that it was available on the app store - free!)

Camera - Good quality, not that great in low light but most phone cameras are the same. There are new phones out now with better cameras, im sure the next iPhone will feature a better camera.

Email - Works like a dream, did have to tweak the settings tho, but works fine.

Conclusion

How touch screen phones should be, everything is a joy to use and you never get tired of it. Recommended :)