iPhone 3GS review: The 2009 "S" — the speed bump that added video recording.
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
26/10026/100 is one of the weaker display results among flagship phones of 2009 — 35 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
22/10022/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2009 — 33 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
03Performance
10/10010/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2009 — 36 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
30/10030/100 is one of the weaker battery results among flagship phones of 2009 — 27 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
48/10048/100 is one of the weaker build results among flagship phones of 2009 — 10 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
06Value
18/10018/100 is one of the weaker value results among flagship phones of 2009 — 26 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
- 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.
- 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 35-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .