Apple iPhone 3GS
Phone Scoop Review
Jun 22, 2009 by Eric Zeman and Rich Brome
Phone Scoop takes an in-depth look at the iPhone 3GS, its new hardware, and the new iPhone 3.0 operating system. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Very Fast and amazing!!!!
Amazing phone!!!!. Much faster than the Iphone 3G and the G1. I had both the Iphone 3g and the 3g s and the 3g s kicks the butt of the 3g. Its much faster(I mean much faster!) when loading the apps compared to the 3g and the internet surfing also is much faster. Definately worth upgrading from the 3g. I love this phone and I can't put it down!.
Love This Phone
Cons: Have not found any, yet
Pros: Everything but I only give it a 4.5 because nothing is perfect.
I love this phone. It does everything. I was even able to get a service plan through Best Buy. It does not cover lost or stolen, but it covers everything else. I have stayed up later than normal just to play with this phone (the reason explained below). If there is something this phone can't do, I have yet to experience it. The camera takes good pictures and there is a rather inexpensive internal flash that sets exposure according to the lighting it senses you can buy to go with the camera.
My 4 year old son even loves this phone. I usually have to look for him to get my phone because he loves the iPod, the video playback and the gaming features. At this point, I believe I will need to get him an iPod Touch, so I can use my own phone without protest. My son has a MP3 player but has refused to use it since I got my iPhone. My 9 year old nephew loves this phone for the same reasons my son loves it.
I highly recommend this phone to anyone who wants an all around good phone. I also recommend they buy it from Best Buy and get the service plan for $14.99 a month. It is a little steep but think of how much it would cost to replace the phone.
Still Not Enough
Finally after 2years gave in & this is what I get? A phone that is slow, calls that I canât stand full of static & freezing! Hey Iâll admit touch screen rocks & great clarity outside something I was really looking forward too, but dropped what seemed like every other call first two days! I live in NC so I know its not the west coast issue others talk about, other calls kept getting a horrible screeching static and would have to hang up and call the person back sometimes 2 or three times before it cleared I know it wasnât their phones because it would happen with random people on different carriers. It drove me nuts! Great Iâm glad it can finally do voice dialing but why should I have to pay for the privilege being able to use a supposed built in feature?? Also never realized how much I do MMSS till I got this and realized I canât do without. I love apple & like the fun stuff but I need a phone to be able to be a phone too! Without feeling like theyâre just out to get every last dime by adding stuff that every other phone already has, except for the compass but honestly Iâve never stopped pulled out my phone & gone âgee I wish I had a compass so I knew which way I was going down the streetâ I want to edit pages, documents, presentations, video (with more then just cutting seriously) etc &found I couldnât do all that I was used to before. If your looking for a fun phone great if need more I suggest keep looking and get an ipod touch. It can do all the same things without the problems the tug of war between Apple & At&T are causing. The phone had a lot of potential &still falls short due to limits. I recommend the HTC or Palm for the true smart phone user.Side note: friend of mine has 2nd gen, we compared, mine ran noticeably faster, still had a good charge (this was at three in the afternoon) while she was running low. Both took same quality pics &our kids found the compass amusing. She end up getting the 9.99 upgrade & i returned mine next day
Great Computer, Suspect Network - Paradoxical User Experience
First I will state the positives of the iPhone 3GS as a piece of computerized hardware. Then I'll deal with my personal experience using the device on the AT&T network.
The iPhone 3GS is the single most powerful handheld computer created thus far. It is a computer first, phone second device. Everything about it oozes, flaunts, toys and manipulates graphic and audio power with a flair for the dramatic. All text entry problems that plagued the 3G have been solved. Text entry on the 3GS is positively sublime. It is as fast and accurate as the text entry on a BlackBerry device. The landscape keyboard mode works like a dream, even when inside of a moving train. The volume of the ringtones has been boosted to an actual useful level. It is no longer necessary to boost them to maximum volume because 50% is quite sufficient in most settings.
Using the iPhone 3GS on the AT&T network is the most disappointing reality and ultimately damning pitfall of 3GS ownership. In Staten Island, NY the AT&T network has embarrassingly serious deficiencies with in-building voice service penetration and 3G signal strength that have not improved since the release of the 1st generation iPhone. I really, really love the hardware, but cannot use it as a phone at all due to no bars in more places than any carrier I have ever used. Boost Mobile, MetroPCS, Sprint and Verizon all have significantly better RF performance than the iPhone 3GS on the AT&T network. If not for the useless phone, I would definitely keep the device, but as things stand, I'll most likely return to Sprint to use a Pre or Tour (both of which perform will admirably as phones on Sprint's rock solid penetrating network.) I will then decide if I'll keep the iPhone 3GS to use as a tablet over Wifi.
Iphone SUCKS
I have had the new iphone 3Gs for two weeks now and I am returning it. It is just as flawed and the 3G v2 that I had to return 4 times in the last year. It is full of glitches. The gps doesnt work half the time. It will glitch in the middle of a trip and all of a sudden I am in Canada instead of Florida. I try to make phone calls because it takes me to my voicemail, I cannot pull up any contacts becuase it takes me into messaging and the so called longer life battery barely makes it 4 hours. I am so completely unimpressed with this phone. I expected updates. The ATT Tilt is what I have gone back to. I can actually open and save and edit an excel file! I can setup up alarms that occur every two weeks for my phone conferences!
What a joke!
Seriously!?!?! WTF????? What's the point to this phone? Apple straight lied to us!!! There is still no mms features to this phone, I still can not insure it don't let att lie to you "apple care" is just an extended warranty. No expandable memory or telenav!!!!!!!!! Battery life is still very poor so to add insult to injury there is no way to switch out batteries. About the only this apple did right with this phone was its name, 3gs... Except they left one letter off 3gbs... great big shi* I'm going back to my bold.
Has it's Quirks
I was one of the lucky people to get this phone on launch date! GREAT PHONE for the first few days. About a week after having it things started to happen. The phone would freeze and black out on me and wouldn't turn on until I connected it to a power source and held down the reset button for a few seconds. This didn't always work and I would have to go hours without a working phone. The first time it happened it stayed on for about 5 hours and did it again. When I confronted Apple about my problem they gave me the run-around and said I had to sign up for their "concierge" which was of course...completely booked. The only way I could get them to help me was to walk in demanding that something happen. They exchanged my phone after it did it to them 3 times within the 45 minutes I had to wait. The new phone they gave me is having some issues with the icons. For some crazy reason all of my apps have the Facebook icon instead of their originals? I can live with this but it's still a bit of an annoyance. If it wasn't for the video I would trade back to the original 3G which was SOOO much more reliable and user friendly. Just goes to show what happens when you are in a hurry to have the latest and greatest!
Pros.. Easy to use.
Great video quality.
Updates itself regularly.
All those fun Apps!
Clear call quality.
FAST!
Cons.. Apple's quality customer service.
Bill after downloading those Apps.
Fun quirky glitches.
No MMS capabilities (supposed to change mid-late summer).
Best phone available...
I'm a cellphone junkie and I used to love tweaking and customizing my phones. After a while I realized that all the tweaking I was doing was to make my phone at the time behave like an iPhone. I can't believe how stable and fast the 3GS is. Everything just works and works fast. There is an app for everything. The support of developers is what has pushed the iPhone to it's success. And now with the boosted hardware there is no looking back. If you want to multitasking then you can take about 30 seconds and jailbreak your phone and bam! Pandora in the background with facebook waiting for you post on a wall from some images in Safari. Oh yeah... Safari! Hmmm best browser out there. I guess I am lucky and have great coverage with At&t, so no dropped calls here. I am totally happy with this phone and will upgrade to the next iPhone when it comes out. The hype is true. Go get an Iphone now!
The best phone ever
First of all I had a Sprint Instinct and it was my first touch screen and phone of that type and I believe Sprint when they said it was an iPhone killer until I got an iPod touch and that was way better than the instinct. I switch to the iPhone 3gs and now I know what I have been missing from a phone everything that the iPhone has. It is real user friendly. The phone is easy to type on the stroll is not to fast with the search feature you can find things fast. The instinct's stroll was way to fast and you would end up calling someone by mistake or not getting the song you want. I won't do a pro and con because there are way to many pros and no cons that I have seen so far. I switch phones often but the only way I can see myself switching this phone if they come out with a better iPhone. I know they are planning one I would love to see what it will be able to do because this phone seems to so everything.
Best phone Ive had
After owning many HTC WM and Droid phones I can finally say Ive found the phone that suites me best. Dont have the constant crashes and annoying problem WM brings.
What I like.
1. Screen- big & responsive
2. Speed- does whatever i tell it instantanously(sp?)
3. Easy OS- just makes sense.
What I dont like
1. Battery life- terrible but then again my WM phones weren't much better.
