Well, the iPhone 3GS has been out for a few days now. I’ve been playing around with an Optus version of the handset, and, in a side by side comparison with my iPhone 3G, I’m getting some pretty mixed results.
Using the Speedtest.net iPhone app, I actually found that about six times out of ten, my original iPhone 3G came back with faster download speeds than the 3GS sitting right next to it. I tried the test at various locations around my home in south west Sydney, with consistently disappointing results on the 3GS compared to the 3G.
In a real world test – like loading the Giz AU homepage – the 3GS performed much better, loading the page in about 25 seconds, compared to just over a minute for the 3G. Loading up Kotaku had similar results: about 25 seconds for the 3GS, and about a minute for the 3G.
On the upside, the 3GS completely wipes the floor with the 3G when it comes to gaming – since the 3.0 update, Wolfenstein 3D has become almost unplayable on the 3G with huge lagging and choppy framerates, but the game is extremely fluid on the newer handset.
What about you guys? Are you happy with the new 3GS speeds? Has anyone using the phone on Telstra or Vodafone found any massive speed boosts? Let us know win comments below.
Dean Hamstead
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 2:26 PMyoure doing it wrong!. wolf 3d works perfectly on iphone 3g w/ os3.0.
check that speed test is using the same server on both phones. some speed test servers are either over utilized or very poorly connected.
Nick Broughall
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 2:48 PMConsidering I died at the end of E2M6 when I walked into a room full of SS gunmen and my iPhone pretty much froze up, I’d argue that Wolfenstein doesn’t work perfectly with 3.0 at all.
And I did make sure that the same server was being used… Every test was run at the exact same time with the phones right next to eachother, both on optus. After a few more goes, it’s now more like 50% are faster on the 3G than the 3GS, but that’s still not the kind of figure I was expecting.
Richard Mason
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 3:13 PM50/50 is really what you should expect on bandwidth tests on the Optus network.
On Telstra you can expect the 3GS to be faster than a 3G because Telstra’s network is cable of delivering the 7.2Mbps speeds that the new 3GS is capable of. The Optus network is only capable of delivering (up to) 3.5Mbps on the 2100MHz – the same for both 3G and 3GS.
As you pointed out tho’, the actual rendering of webpages should be (about) twice as fast on the 3GS.
Jordan
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 4:27 PMWeird, Nick..
Your home router isn’t giving priority to the 3G because it was assigned an earlier IP? Or the 3GS doesn’t have different network/push/other settings?
Can’t think of anything else.
Nick Broughall
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 6:41 PMI switched off Wi-Fi on both phones before doing the test, so it was all 3G…
Jordan
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 2:32 PMI’ve swapped from a 3G on Three to a 3GS on Vodafone. I’m finding that web activity is slower on 3GS, but it’s likely a difference in the carrier rather than the handsets.
On the upside, the 3GS is speedier in the menusystems, emailing, apps, everything.
Ying Lee
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 3:13 PMI’ve moved from three to vodafone and noticed a speed drop also.
Me thinks Voda drops down to just “3G” a lot whereas I found on three it sticks to 3.5G (HSDPA) longer.
attila
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 2:37 PMI can’t comment on the 3GS, but I found your comment regarding gaming with 3.0 very interesting – the lag when using my iphone with 3.0 is really beginning to annoy me. I am not talking about gaming, just in general – opening applications in particular causes it to hang all the time.
Ed
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 3:19 PMCouldn’t help but pitch in.
When I did an upgrade from OS 2.2.1 to 3.0, iphone was really a lot slower.
I followed a friend’s advice and did a backup and DFU. Basically a full backup, followed on by a restore that formats all your files, then restore the backup user data back to the phone.
What a world of difference it makes.
it is possible that the upgrade leaves a lot of “junk” behind which slows the phone a lot. (like a windows upgrade compared to a full reinstall).
But, it gave me a much better experience afterwards…
ab
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 3:08 PMI upgraded from a 3G to a 3GS both on Optus. I didn’t have any problems with lag on my 3G. By that I mean it wasn’t choppy. Even so, the speed difference on the 3GS is quite huge. I did some side by side comparisons and my 3GS always wins. The wifi strength indicator fluctuates from 3 bars to 2 and sometimes 1 although this doesn’t effect the speed in any meaningful way. My guess is that it may be just that the indicator works differently rather than it actually being a worse connection.
Overall, web browsing and maps have seen the biggest boost.
simon
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 4:12 PMdoes it seem wasteful to upgrade to the 3gs from the 3g in such a short period of time. i mean…. whats wrong with your 3g to justify tossing it in the bin and getting a new 3gs – slightly longer battery life incase u forget to charge it?
seems we are becoming a rather wasteful society arent we.
Demosthenes
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 2:08 AM@simon
dude, you’re on gizmodo
Davebear
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 4:27 PMI didn’t expect to really notice a difference, but i really do. Sms, email, contacts, most things open almost instantly. Chunky games are twice as fast to load.
Downloads on Optus, seem a little bit faster.
Love it.
Pete
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 4:48 PMso basically you’re saying the speed test app is a waste of space?
Tristan
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 5:27 PMI’m on Telstra and haven’t yet wanted to put my SIM card back into my 3G… BUT… the general speed of the phone is GREAT! Things which I was just putting up with before e.g. Spotlight Search screen loading times… are now a non event! It’s great! Still wish the phone was slimmer though!
AND wish that VoiceDial worked with normal Bluetooth profiles e.g. in CARS! – This IS an Apple problem, forcing car companies to change their ways won’t help!
Cy Starkman
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 5:54 PMI have had some interesting experiments with the 3GS vs the 3G
The 3GS is definitely faster in interface, loading apps (very significant) but while in some cases (Google Earth) the graphics is massively faster in others (iFractal for example) there is no difference at all.
The performance of the built in applications is significant. The camera and photo library are stella speed.
Web surfing has been a bit of a non-event, probably network issues I also suspect.
The speakers are maybe 50% louder though there is some distortion with the (I suspect) new drivers for the speakers.
The oleophobic coating is curious, it makes the phone very slick to the touch, like you aren’t really connecting with the surface. It’s so slippery that there is a feeling you are either going to skate right off it or maybe it will slip out of the hand.
I have had some rather powerful heat coming off the unit when doing longer video recordings (15 minute)
Compared to 3.0 on the 3G which in some instances such as messaging has slowed the unit down the 3GS appears even better.
As a side note. When did client side databases for web apps appear, I don’t remember seeing them before?
Phil Campbell
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 6:04 PMSo can you downgrade an old 3G phone by reverting the software to version 2.X? I have had a feeling that my wife’s phone was a little ‘happier’ running the old software… for example, Safari seems to be crashing more often loading gmail.
Stephen Ridgway
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 6:21 PMLag… what lag! You are just using it as an excuse to upgrade, so upgrade already!
brad
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 12:36 AM29ms over a 3G network?? Over OPTUS’ 3G network? This doesn’t sound right.
My 3GS on Telstra is getting in excess of 5Mbps consistently where as the 3G iPhome only ever achieved 2.5 max.
Brian
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 12:42 AMI have found the upgrade to os 3.0 has slowed my iPhone down considerably. It takes 10 seconds to open SMS for example. Anyone else having this problem?
Chris
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 9:56 AMI’m on Vodafone and I’m getting 3256 down and bout 256 up… Loving this iPhone stuff.