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SpecEagle review · Apple

iPhone 3GS review: The 2009 "S" — the speed bump that added video recording.

SpecEagle Editorial·Jun 2009·$599
Overall
14/100
Class rank
#2 of 3
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

The 2009 "S" that finally let the iPhone shoot video.

The iPhone 3GS added video capture, Voice Control and a speed bump. A long-selling model in its day — now a piece of smartphone history.

01Display

26/100

26/100 trails the 31-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2009.

TypeTFT LCD
Size3.5 inches
Resolution480 × 320 px (163 ppi)
ProtectionGlass

02Camera

22/100

22/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2009.

Main3 MP, autofocus
SelfieNone
VideoVGA @ 30 fps (debut for iPhone)

03Performance

10/100

10/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2009.

ChipsetSamsung S5PC100 (65 nm)
CPUSingle-core 600 MHz
GPUPowerVR SGX535
RAM256 MB
Storage8 GB / 16 GB / 32 GB

04Battery

30/100

30/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2009.

Capacity1,219 mAh
Wired~5 W (30-pin dock)
WirelessNo

05Build

48/100

48/100 trails the 50-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2009.

06Value

18/100

18/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2009.

What works
  • Added video recording and a faster processor.
  • Introduced Voice Control and cut/copy/paste (iPhone OS 3).
  • A long-lived model — sold for three years.
  • Compass and autofocus camera.
What doesn't
  • Plastic back; low-res 480 × 320 display.
  • No front camera; 256 MB RAM.
  • No LTE; stuck on iOS 6.
  • Discontinued — a true vintage device.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 3-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .