iPhone 3GS is here - so what's it like?

The iPhone 3GS goes on sale in New Zealand today.

It's here. Today is iPhone 3GS day, and signifies an expansion in that a few other vendors - like Apple reseller Übertec - are now allowed to sell the game-changing pocket phone, as long as it's sold with a Vodafone contract.

It'll cost you, though. Vodafone finally released the NZ charges and yeah, they're not exactly competitive. What, there's no competition? No. I haven't heard a thing about Telecom's purported bid and/or what it may have come to.

But Matthew Powell, editor of MacTheMag in Australia, thinks the NZ plans are pricey by comparison (his initial response to the NZ news was "Ouch!"), but points out that Australia does have more potential customers. He also thinks the salient point is competition - well, New Zealand's distinct lack thereof.

NZ prices

Anyway, Vodafone NZ expects $699 off you for a 16GB on a $40/month plan. (Two-year contract; 20 minutes call-time; 100 texts per month with a 250MB data cap).

The $60 plan gets you a 3GS for $649 with 60 minutes, 200 texts and the same data cap. The $80 plan puts the iPhone at $599 (120 minutes call time; 600 texts; 250MB cap).

The data cap only rises to 500MB on the $130 plan (250 minutes call time; 600 texts). The iPhone 3GS 'only' costs $399 on this plan.

As I've said many times before, Apple's iPhone may not be the best phone in the world - however, that's largely irrelevant to most users. It's a really cool device by any measure - a pocket computer, really, with a camera and phone ability. It does maths, plays games, tells you (literally) where you are, holds lots of music and plays videos. It's online so gets your email and surfs the net.

Oh yes, it may not have the best camera, either. In fact, much lesser devices in almost every other way have better - on paper - cameras. But the iPhone 3GS has a better camera than mere pixel count would suggest, according to Wired (not an Apple mag).

Wired writer Charlie Sorrel stated in late June "One of the biggest surprises in the week or so since the the iPhone 3GS shipped is the camera. It is far better than anyone was expecting, far better than a 50 per cent increase in pixel-count would suggest."

In fact, a singer in the US has already made a music video using just an iPhone 3GS for the visuals, so watch that if you want an idea of what it can do. Reyna Perez' singer-songwriter acoustic strum-thang called 'Love, Love, Love' (can't think what that's about) is embedded at 9to5 Mac. She recorded the music in a Brooklyn, New York home studio.

Of the new hardware, Matthew Powell says "The 3GS really is noticeably quicker than the 3G. Apps launch faster, searches are faster. And the oil-repellent screen actually works - I don't find myself polishing this one on a daily basis as I did with the 3G.

"On the other side of the ledger I haven't seen the vaunted improvements to battery life, but that might be my particular usage patterns.

"The compass is kind of nifty and now that there are some apps that actually take advantage of it, such as Pocket Universe; it's becoming very useful indeed."

When the iPhone 3GS was unveiled in March in the US, Apple dropped a subtle hint about new streaming video features in the new operating system (OS 3). This has since been expanded, reports AppleInsider. There's a lot more detail at that link (geek alert!) but basically it means a server can maintain multiple versions of video clips in different formats. An iPhone user on a WiFi connection can negotiate a higher quality version of the video than if only the cell net was available.

iPhone OS 3 has been out for a few weeks now, and it puts a new lease of life into an iPhone 3G. The newer iPhone 3GS, however, has that faster processor and double the RAM, plus the better camera. AppleInsider has a full review of OS 3 and the 3GS here, if you're interested, but yes, this is an Apple fan site, albeit a very well-informed one. Here's a quote if you don't feel like making the jump: "Apple says its up to twice as fast, and that's conservative." But hey, there are plenty of other reviews out there.

All in all, I don't think the iPhone is a triumph of marketing at all. It's a triumph of a company having the vision to put a truly useful device out that has a very slinky form factor. Despite the uninformed claims of Apple dislikers, Apple has hardly advertised the 3GS - most of the buzz comes from die-hard fans.

Anyway, hopefully I'll soon know more - when I get my own eager hands on one.

NZ iPhone developer news:

A veritable explosion of iPhone development seems to be taking place, with people looking for iPhone coders up and down New Zealand. I'm sure I'll be able to tell readers more about Kiwi iPhone developments as the year progresses.

Meanwhile, Richard Laing tells me he's just released version 2.0 of Traverter, the traveller's helper app, to the AppStore. It includes many UI changes and supports iPhone OS 3.0. Traverter provides currency conversions, international dialling code look-ups and unit and clothing-size conversions for travellers. His other applications (iddLookup and ukCodes) are now also iPhone 3.0 ready.

- Mark Webster mac.nz