Monday, June 22, 2009

iPhone 3GS, 3G, and original iPhone Comparison

A lot of people are talking about "new" features of the iPhone 3G S, however, many sites listing new features are listing items that exist for previous generation iPhones as well. Also, several sites are only comparing the new 3G S to last years 3G and not even including the original Edge only iPhone in their comparisons. So I felt the need to put together this table.

Hardware Differences

Original

3G

3G S

Metal back

plastic back, more curved shape

Recessed headphone jack

standard headphone jack

No stereo Bluetooth headphone support

Stereo Bluetooth headphone support

Edge

3G (3.6Mb/s HSDPA)*

3GS (faster 7.2Mb/s HSDPA)**

No GPS (simulates using triangulation=very inaccurate and often unavailable)

GPS

GPS + Compass (should allow turn by turn directions in future software)

No video

640x480 30fps video (fixed focus during recording)

2MP fixed focus Camera

3MP auto focus camera

Original CPU

Faster CPU

Original graphics

Faster 3D graphics

Powered by old iPod chargers****

Powered only by newer chargers****

Supports 1 button inline headphone remote

Supports 3 button inline headphone remote including volume control

No voice dialing

Voice Control

No tethering

Tethering**

No MMS

MMS**

No Nike + iPod

Nike + iPod built in



New features added with the free 3.0 software update to all iPhones

Original

3G

3G S

Cut, Copy and Paste

same

same

Global Search

same

same

Horizontal keyboard in most apps

same

same

Voice memos

same

same

Notes sync with Mail/Outlook

same

same


Notes:
* Some reports state that AT&T artificially limits 3G access to 1.4 Mbps instead of allowing the full 3.6Mbps HSDPA speed.
** Not available in the US with AT&T yet.
**** The original iPhone supported the 12 volt charging (as did older iPods) and many car chargers only supplied that voltage. The 3G and 3G S require newer chargers that do not rely on the old specification.