Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 09 June 2009 06:14
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Another rumour: a faster processor could mean proper multitasking
Truth: We still don’t truly know, because we don’t know whether the iPhone 3G S’s processor can handle it well enough or not.
Rumour: double the RAM (256MB)
Truth: Apple hasn’t made it clear yet what size memory the iPhone 3G S offers – let’s hope it has increased, if not doubled, from the current 128MB of RAM.
Rumour: better battery life (despite that faster processor)
Truth: Better battery life has been delivered, with up to 12 hours talktime on 2G networks but the same 5 hours of talk time on 3G networks. Standby time is “up to 277 hours”, 3G web surfing is “up to 5 hours”, Wi-Fi web surfing is now “up to 9 hours”, video playback has been beefed “up to 10 hours” and audio playback now reaches a whopping “up to” 30 hours.
Rumour: a sleeker cool new design, different rim
Truth: The design appears identical to the existing iPhone 3G
Rumour: more colours, up to 5 colours in total
Truth: The iPhone 3G S is still only available in black and white
Rumour: an FM transmitter
Truth: This only appears to be for the Nike+ sports add-on, not for transmitting music to any FM radio, sadly.
Rumour: a potentially re-positioned headphone socket
Truth: Nope, it’s in the same spot
Rumour: a magnetometer/compass
Truth: This one came true, and will even orient Google Maps to the direction you’re facing, which is a nice little improvement.
Rumour: 3.2 or 5 megapixel camera with autofocus
Truth: Only a “3” megapixel camera, seemingly missing that extra .2 megapixels, but the autofocus rumour was true. Pity there’s still no LED flash, nor 8, 10 or even 12 megapixel cameras as seen on other smartphones.
Rumour: video recording
Truth: This one came true, but will sadly be unavailable to iPhone 2G and 3G owners who upgrade to the new iPhone OS 3.0, you’ll need to buy a new iPhone 3G S if you want to record your own video clips without jailbreaking. Thankfully, however, video recording is VGA (640x480) at 30 fps - perhaps 2010 will see an iPhone 4.0 that can record at 720P HD, like the Samsung Omnia HD can.
Rumour: onboard photo and video editing software
Truth: Basic video editing software is included, but it’s unclear how much photo editing software is now built-in.
More rumours tagged as busted or confirmed on page 3, plus my final “initial” thoughts on Apple’s latest and greatest –
please read on!
