The iPhone 3GS is a multimedia and Internet based smartphone developed by electronics and computer giant, Apple Inc. The device, as well as its predecessors, the iPhone and the iPhone 3G, is able to perform three types of tasks: first, it can perform usually mobile phone tasks, such as calling, video calling, or texting. Second, it is a multimedia manager, meaning that it can be used to store, edit and manage audio and video files. The third possibility of usage for this phone is that of an internet platform powered by the implemented Wi-Fi technology, which can be used to browse the web or download and stream content.
The phone's 480x320 display is designed by Apple, but actually produced and provided by LG. The display features a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen, with 163 ppi (pixels per inch). It even has an oleophobic clothing to prevent it from getting dirty. The touch screen on the iPhone was designed to be used with bare fingers, but there are certain styluses that can work with the screen. The iPhone 3GS features and improved 3 megapixel camera developed by OmniVision. Due to its high resolution, the camera supports auto-focus, auto-white balance and auto-macro. It is able to record in HD at 720p, but is limited by Apple at 480p. The Camera app on the iPhone 3G features a slider which helps users change between taking a picture and recording a video.
Another interesting feature on the iPhone 3G, regarding the camera, is the tap-to-focus feature, which allows users to select auto-focus on one area, by tapping it. The iPhone 3GS is powered by the Samsung APL0298C05, manufactured by Samsung. The system-on-a-chip consists of a CPU with 833 Mhz of RAM, underclocked at 600 Mhz, the PowerVR SGX 535 GPU and 256 MB of additional eDRAM memory, intended for extra applications or multi-tasking in the iOS 4.
Apple claims that the iPhone 3GS is two times faster than the second generation of iPhone that has been replaced, and showed this by doing several tests, which indicate that the device needs up to 10 seconds to load an application, compared with the 30 seconds needed in the case of the iPhone 3G. Like other iPhone models, the 3GS does not allow any data to be added on the SIM card, as everything goes on the flash memory. The device does not permit any type of memory extension as it comes in 32, 64 and recently 8 GB models.