At the price of a brand new high-end gaming PC, or a blade-server capable of running a whole department – the Apple iPhone 3GS has a lot to live up to. Even when forming part of a contract, the 3GS comes in at a whopping £190 (upfront) for the 16GB model, and nearly £280 for the 32GB. Purchased as a pay as you go phone, the handset will set you back around £440 (16GB) and £540 (32GB).

So – what does this price actually get you? Fans of the touchscreen smart phone thought they had died and gone to heaven when Apple announced the 3G – the all-singing- all-dancing office mate and iPod rolled in one. Now we have the improved 3GS.

Firstly – it looks like a 3G and the user interface is the same. The landscape keyboard is an improvement, with a bright, large 89mm (3.5 inch) touch. This is the standard for touch screens on the market with large icons with single button fro ‘home’. Apple shines when it comes to easy user-interfaces, and the 3GS is no different. For example, scrolling is activated by means of a single swipe and multi-touch input allows you to easily control your viewing.

The 3GS is speedier, and unrivalled in usability. The fast HSDPA and Wi-Fi connect ability make this the perfect office mate, with even better battery life, the capability of playing movies, TV and music (via iTunes). Then too there is the enormous range of applications that can be downloaded from the Apps Store – Apple here again leading the market and introducing new concepts into our lives and those of the competition. Video recording and editing is also now possible.

Compared to the 3G, the 3GS lasts longer and application loading speed is vastly improved – halved in some cases – due to the new 7.2Mbps HSDPA support, especially when using it over 3G. Surfing over the fast connection using your laptop (tethering) is now possible thanks to the latest iPhone software, using either USB or Bluetooth. While slightly heavier, the upgraded battery makes surfing and watching films on the handset much more of a pleasure. Externally it wipes clean much more easily thanks to a special anti-grease coating.

Although the 3GS does not have a memory expanding card slot, the internal memory has been increased to 16GB and 32GB for this model.

Camera improvements between the models: the 3GS now sports a 3MP camera, compared to the 2MP one found in the 3G. The photos are of good quality, and an added tap-activated auto-focus feature and easy light-balancing facility make it easy to use. Video editing is made easy.

The 3GS supports voice control, recognising the UK English accent. This allows phone control as well as song identification and creation of iTunes Genius playlists. The shake-to-shuffle feature is smarter than an accidental bump, and there is GPS plus in-built support for Nike + for exercising information.

Other features of this handset include:

* Improved copy, cut and paste – even between multiple applications including web and photo
* Easier browsing thanks to improved speed and landscape keyboard
* OS 3.0 – included MMS for sending images, video, audio in text messages (useful in google maps)
* Apple is sharing many of the iPhone functions with app developers – providing for future application development
* New support for HTTP streaming allows listening to music while you use another application on the phone at the same time

What we didn’t like:

There is no FM radio, it is not possible to participate in podcast subscriptions, and disappointingly, Flash, which has been around for a while, is not supported in the web browser.

What we did like:

Apple as a company designs well and ergonomically – no matter what they produce. The 3GS is no exception.