The latest update from Apple means that your iPhone 3GS can do many of the things that a new iPhone 4 will be able to do, without updating your physical phone. This rolling update of Operating Software for iPhones has been a significant feature of how the iPhone differed from your last mobile phone (which didn't improve and evolve during it's life time).
Beginner's Overview - What it Means for iPhone 3GS Owners / Prospective Owners
Your iPhone has an Operating System which controls what you can and can't do on your phone, and those with an iPhone or similar Android device will know just how capable these little devices have become. When Apple releases a new iPhone (like the recently announced iPhone 4) there is usually an updated Operating System to handle some of the innovations that the company has been working on for the new phone. What this means is that there are some features that have been announced with the new iPhone 4 which are software related (like multitasking, which is the ability to run multiple 'apps' at once, or iBooks) which are separate from the newly announced physical features that are hardware related, like the 5 Megapixel camera or improved screen / improved video camera. By upgrading your software (by plugging into iTunes and upgrading), you'll get access to many of the new software features immediately with your iPhone 3GS.
iPhone 3GS Deals with iPhone iOS4 New Features
If you are about to buy an iPhone 3GS, you can upgrade this iPhone's software to access the new features as soon as you buy it to access many of the features announced with the iPhone 4. In coming months, the iPhone 3GS stock sold to new customers will automatically include the new software. Either way, the new iPhone Operating System 4 offers some great feature and speed enhancements, making the iPhone 3GS an even better device.
iPhone Models
From July 2010 in USA, the iPhone 3GS will become the cheaper entry level model of iPhone. It looks like there will be 5 iPhone Models on the market - an iPhone 3GS 8GB, an iPhone 3GS 16GB, iPhone 3GS 32GB, iPhone 4 16GB and iPhone 4 32GB. The iPhone 3GS will support many of the new features of iPhone 4 with the OS update, making the iPhone 3GS very good value. The iPhone 4 will be priced slightly higher with both the new hardware and software in the one device, becoming the premium model and probably not $0 on a contract until about the $70 per month for 24 Months price point.
Features & Benefits - iPhone Software Operating System Version 4
The new Operating System (iOS 4) is a free update for your iPhone 3G and 3GS and is accessed through iTunes. It is compatible with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS models, however it important to note that the Multitasking feature is not available on the iPhone 3G and will only work on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.
Here are the highlights….
Single inBox for Mail
If you have multiple email accounts on your iPhone (like a work and personal email account), you will have experienced that you needed to bounce in an out of each email box to access the relevant emails. With iOS 4 upgrade, you can access all the emails from multiple accounts in one common box. When you reply to an email, your iPhone will simply reply from the same address that you received the email into. Messages are conveniently threaded together when you are having an email conversation on a single subject.
Bluetooth Keyboard Support
This new Bluetooth feature is great addition for travellers. If you've travelled with your iPhone before and thought of it as your 'office on the move', then you'll know that one of the greatest problems is the size of the touchscreen keyboard, making typing slow. Correcting your own mistakes from your fingers not hitting the letters correctly is common. You can now pair your iPhone with a Bluetooth keyboard, which will make typing long documents much easier. You could take a Bluetooth keyboard and iPhone for email on a business trip and use this solely as your computer with your foldable Bluetooth keyboard for typing out long emails.
Multitasking
With the new iPhone iOS4 you can now run multiple applications at once. This is where you use one application (like Safari web browser) and switch to another application (like email or your favourite game) quickly without having to close one application, then stop and start another. This is a feature which will be a favourite of iPhone power users.
Video Focus
You can now tap to focus the video camera on the iPhone 3GS (video is not available on the iPhone 3G so this feature does not apply to iPhone 3G upgrades). The video camera on the iPhone 4 has been improved to take 720p HD video - this does not flow through to iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 3GS Video Camera records VGA video and not HD.
Folders
If you download lots of iPhone applications and these are sitting on your home screens, you can now organise these applications into folders. You name and designate a folder to contain relevant applications for easy access. This is a nice feature to quickly get to related applications.
Improved Spell Checking
You can get suggested spelling corrections as you type with the new and improved Spell Checking feature. A spell checking feature was available in some applications like Mail and SMS, but this has been improved to work across multiple applications like the Safari Web Browser.
Homescreen
With the iPhone Operating System you can now customise your iPhone's home screen. This means you can get your favourite photo to sit underneath the icons of the iPhone home screen.
iBooks
The new iPad showed off the new iBook feature for reading digital books on an iPad. The iBooks application and bookstore and now available for buying and reading digital books on your iPhone and synchronising with your iPad.
Rotate Photos
You can now choose to rotate an image 90 degrees and lock it for showing friends and family. The lack of control when you rotated your phone and tried to show landscape images has been an annoyance to iPhone users.
iPhone 3GS Deals & New Features
There are some great new deals and prices on the iPhone 3GS model. These are dangerously good prices and compete directly against all the mid-range phones from Nokia / Sony / Samsung etc. Remember, if you take an iPhone 3GS deal, you can upgrade directly to iOS4 to access the new features.