An essay by Tom Baker.

I haven’t used an iPhone 3G S yet. I can quite easily imagine what it will be like, though; I’ve used the iPhone 3G running the 3.0 software extensively.

My vision of the 3G S experience was easy to create. This is down to the fact that the 3G S is nearly identical, hardware-wise, to its predecessor, the iPhone 3G.

While some minor hardware changes have, admittedly, taken place - such as the move to silver mirror lettering for the iPhone text on the rear - the aesthetic changes have been so minor that they may come to be a detracting factor to the primarily non-discerning buyer of these phones.

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Affirmative commentary

2009 has been an evolutionary year for technology, not a revolutionary one. Products have been updated satisfactorily but the space for new product has been fairly lacklustre; in keeping with this year’s trend, then the iPhone 3G S is far from disappointing. It is a relevant, and pleasing upgrade.

I am somewhat hesitant to label the 3G S a new model. I feel that, hardware- and specification-wise, the 3G S is exactly what the older iPhone 3G should have been. And, in some ways, what the original aluminium iPhone should have debuted with.

However I am of similar mindset to John Gruber of Daring Fireball on this one. The original iPhone, and to some extent, the iPhone 3G, dared to show the public that they didn’t really need tangible keys, or a flip cover, or boring operating system to own a true smartphone. Similarly, Apple showed us that we really didn’t need or want MMS, or a landscape experience, or a video camera. Until now.

It is the decision of the mother company that we are ready for these features now. Probably a smart move; imagine if all of the iPhone’s innovations had been released back on June 29, 2007. One problem is that global mobile networks were simply not ready for the hugely increased network traffic that resulted even from the fairly spartan original iPhone.

Should the full mobile iTunes store, third-party data-using applications, full Exchange support, MMS, tethering and video recording (and with it, mobile video uploading), there would have been network chaos.

3G would have been necessary, of course, from the very start. It was the case, though, that the American networks were lagging behind with this technology and Cingular was undergoing the transition to AT&T. Not a good time for so many network-intensive features, then.

The European and Asian networks would have coped, of course. But if America couldn’t, then it wasn’t going to happen. Of course we must also look at sites like YouTube. It is having difficulty coping now with the 1200% increase in mobile video uploads after only one week. Back in 2007, when the site was immature, it wouldn’t have. —

So in this way, logically and categorically, the iPhone 3G S delivers the features that the ubiquitous nagger who constantly says “But the iPhone can’t do this!” has been whining about for years in a timely fashion.

It can be easy to forget that Apple only began building the iPhone platform three years ago; and selling it only two years ago. While more staid companies like Nokia and Motorola engaged in the pioneering aspects of the mobile industry, their lack of inspiration over the recent years left a gap which Apple filled at just the right time.

The speed increases that come from the faster processor and doubled memory will be good news for power users and gamers, certainly. It is a satisfying, if predictable, upgrade that will benefit the platform in the years to come as applications - specifically, games - become more intensive and involving.

Video recording, as mentioned previously, will simply be a hit. The younger generation who will undoubtedly flock to this phone - those who understand the speed boosts and benefits - are going to embrace video capture on the fly like they embraced mobile photography five years ago.

YouTube may not cope under the pressure; technically, and financially. The site lost in the vicinity of $600 million last year. The 3G S will, I predict, directly cause an increase of around 25% in videos posted to the site. Unless more ads are applied to YouTube videos soon, the site cannot remain financially viable even for its wealthy owners, Google.

The updated 3.0-version software works, as it always has, in great harmony with the hardware. The features exclusive to the 3G S, such as voice control and video capture, are implemented beautifully and easily for the end user.

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Negative commentary

Truthfully, there are few real disadvantages to the iPhone 3G S and almost all of these are completely objective. For example, there are those who still whine about the lack of a physical QWERTY keyboard. My answer to that is that it won’t happen in the near future.

You can deal with personal objective problems with the 3G S in one of two ways:

1. Purchase a different phone and be quiet, or;
2. Take what you get, and like it. Be happy Steve knows best.

However there are of small problems that do not reflect on the phone itself that have sat at the back of my mind since WWDC. Instead, they reflect on Apple’s philosophy behind the 3G S.

These issues all stem down, really, to what can really be labelled a small lack of true innovation. While the 3G S represents the pinnacle of what’s doable in the mobile industry - the ‘best of the best’, one might say - it could probably do better.

Perhaps I am incorrect, and have just been bred badly by being spoonfed better and better Apple products thrice a year. But it is almost like Apple did not put in the same effort it has in previous years, and in the two previous iPhone iterations.

If there was an emotional scale, the original iPhone rated as a cheer, the iPhone 3G as a clap and the iPhone 3G S as a sigh. The rumour mill predicted the correct specifications days before WWDC. It failed on the aesthetic changes, though; blogs expected at least some change. And this is there the 3G S underwhelms most.

While, technologically, the 3G S is a far superior phone to its predecessor, the immediate psychological recognition tells a different story. We are taught, almost hard-wired, to associate pleasing aesthetic difference with positive change.

Take the example of Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Obama’s politics have been moderate at best and not too much ‘change’ has happened as yet in his administration. But the radical aesthetic differences between himself and Bush continue to cast positive light on the United States and its political spectrum.

We have to reverse this example to understand why the 3G S naturally disappoints us somewhat. The core has changed substantially; it is far better, can achieve so much more, and is technologically innovative. But as long as the outer shell remains the same, or at least mostly the same, we experience that nagging feeling.

Luckily for the iPhone, that outer shell is pretty darn good-looking, so it doesn’t really need an update. It will last another year looking the same way as the 3G and it will get away with it down to pure sex appeal. But it can’t look that way forever, or else the kind of people who buy the phone who are non-technological, and non-savvy, will not see the wonderful change occurring inside.

But what of marketing? The 3G S advertisements tell us that it is the “fastest and most powerful iPhone yet. However as a modern species we have come to know that advertising is a free market and we can be told anything. We want to see, feel, and experience things for ourselves, not be told about it.

And if we can’t tell the difference immediately, you won’t develop the kind of satisfaction that arose with the original iPhone and somewhat with the iPhone 3G - which were both aesthetically separate from anything before them.

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Concluding, though, the iPhone 3G S is once again a great phone and model for Apple. It will serve over the next twelve months as the main brand ambassador for the company. The iPhone has in spirit taken over from the Mac, and the iPod, as the core symbol at the heart of the brand; a symbol of everything that can be done, being done.

The iPhone combines the power of a Mac with the popularity of an iPod. This core belief remains true in the new model, and I am certain it will be at least as popular as ever, if not more so.

Even I am considering laying down on an iPhone now. And they say I don’t like to tie myself down.—