Hands-on with the iPhone 3G S

After an endless wait for the FedEx guy (or maybe it only seemed endless), I finally have my hands on a shiny new iPhone 3G S. Unfortunately, it's still not activated, but that hasn't stopped me from testing out the new 3MP camera, video recording, and the digital compass. Read on for my first impressions.

Setup and activation
Well, I'm halfway there, at least. It took iTunes about 45 minutes or so to restore my old iPhone 3G settings to my new iPhone—and so far, it looks like all my text messages, call logs, e-mail settings, and the like survived the transfer.

Before all that, however, I got an ominous pop-up screen that read: "Your activation requires additional time to complete. Due to the current activation volumes, it may take up to 48 hours to resolve your issue." Uh oh. According to AppleInsider, the message started appearing for anyone who tried to activate their new iPhone 3G S after noon EDT Friday. In any case … for now, I can't make calls or access AT&T's 3G network, but at least I can connect to my Wi-Fi network. I'll give you an update once my activation finally goes through.

Look and feel
As promised, the iPhone 3G S looks almost precisely like last year's iPhone 3G. The only real difference I can find is that the 3G S is about a tenth of an ounce heavier than last year's model (according to my digital postage scale, at least).

Performance
Apple execs have been proudly telling us that the "S" in "iPhone 3G S" stands for "speed," and they weren't kidding. Right away, I noticed how peppy the new iPhone felt; apps launch in a flash, searching for contacts is no longer a tedious, stop-and-go proposition, and Safari loads big Web pages much faster than before. (Also nice: no more checkered pattern in the background when you flick-scroll around a given page.) Even the horrifically slow and buggy New York Times app works like a dream, loading up a section's worth of stories in a matter of seconds. The acid test will come later this weekend once I install The Sims 3, which (on my iPhone 3G, at least) tends to crash every five minutes.

Digital compass
Love it. The iPhone 3G S's main compass app pops up and tells you your relative direction, and from what I can tell, it's pretty precise—and yes, it works indoors. The compass lets you either true or magnetic north, and it also gives you the GPS coordinates of your current position. Tap the crosshairs in the bottom-left corner of the screen and you'll find yourself in Google Maps; again, tap the crosshairs to center your position on the map, then tap again to make the map swing around in the direction you're facing. I've been trying the new compass here in Brooklyn and I have to say, it works better than expected, smoothly and practically in real time. No more getting lost in lower Manhattan for me.

Camera and video
The iPhone's cruddy two-megapixel camera has long been one of its weak spots, but I'm happy to report that the three-megapixel snapper on the 3G S is dramatically improved. I took some snapshots of my backyard garden that, for once, are actually worth sharing (I've posted some of them here). Chalk up a lot of the improvement to the 3G S's touch auto-focus feature, which lets you tap on the object that you'd like to be the focal point.

Still, don't expect the image quality you'll get from those 5MP-and-up camera phones with Carl Zeiss optics and LED flashes. Indoor snapshots on the 3G S, for example, still look grainy, despite promises of improved low-light performance, and you won't find advanced features like facial recognition or panoramic modes.

As far as video recording goes—one of the most-requested features on previous iPhone models—color me impressed. Video from a camera phone is typically a jittery, blurry, and well-nigh unwatchable affair, but the footage I shot on my 3G S looked pretty dang good, with smooth frame rates and little in the way of blockiness.

Voice commands
Here's a long-overdue feature for the iPhone 3G S, and it worked well enough during my extremely limited testing—I barked "Play Talking Heads!," and lo and behold, I soon heard David Byrne and company playing "Crosseyed and Painless." But given that my new iPhone has exactly one (1) Talking Heads album on it right now, that's the least you could expect. And since my iPhone still isn't activated, trying to voice-dial a contact got me nothing but a stern robotic voice: "Voice dialing is unavailable when there is no cellular connection." Oh well.

Call quality
Can't test it, unfortunately, or at least not until Apple's #%$! servers activate my phone. Stay tuned.

That's all for now; I'll have more detailed thoughts once I've had the chance to test my new iPhone 3G S this weekend. My initial impression? I'm pretty happy with my purchase, especially given the vastly improved camera and digital compass features (and remember, I paid $499 for this thing because I'm not yet eligible for a full AT&T discount).

Got any iPhone 3G S questions? Post 'em below, and I'll get back to you Monday.

Update (June 20): Finally got my new iPhone activated—in my case, I had to call AT&T and give the customer service rep my phone's IMEI and ICCID numbers (located on the bottom of the iPhone 3G S box). Once the rep entered the numbers into my account, I just turned the iPhone off, waited about 10 seconds, turned it back on and ... voilá, activation complete.