iPhone 3G S Benchmarks and Comparisons: Up to 4x Faster than 3G

MacRumors · Jun 22, 2009

Since Friday's release of the iPhone 3G S, there has been a lot of focus on the actual speed gains provided by the newest iPhone model.

Anandtech performed formal benchmarks between the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, Palm Pre and Android G1 to see which was the fastest in web rendering and app launching. The site found a 122% speed improvement in web rendering in the iPhone 3G S over the iPhone 3G and a 22.6% improvement in the 3G S over the Palm Pre in the same testing. The iPhone 3G S was also the leader of the pack in app launching with 14-72% improvements over the iPhone 3G.

Meanwhile, Tap Tap Tap found that the framerate (video) of their currently unoptimized Plasma application runs about four times faster on the iPhone 3G S than the iPhone 3G:

As the video shows, in our OpenGL ES testing, the 3GS is generally close to four times faster than the 3G. Results will vary depending on the application but this is remarkable to say the least. Plasma’s pretty heavy on particle animation and fairly CPU intensive.

Finally, the developer of AirCoaster 3D [App Store] a roller coaster simulation application put together this comparison video showing the dramatic difference in performance of a particularly complex track on the 3G and 3G S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8jivXUzOk

The differences in performance are expected to be even more significant once developers start taking advantage of the advanced graphics capabilities found in the iPhone 3G S.

Article Link: iPhone 3G S Benchmarks and Comparisons: Up to 4x Faster than 3G

Mykbibby · Jun 22, 2009

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Hmmm... Starting to think I should get one now. Hopefully I'm upgrade eligible.

thegoldenmackid · Jun 22, 2009

one would have thought Apple would have talked about this a little more...

slffl · Jun 22, 2009

thegoldenmackid said:
one would have thought Apple would have talked about this a little more...

I think putting the word 'speed' in the name of the phone was a good start.

larrymarshall2 · Jun 22, 2009

Mykbibby said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Hmmm... Starting to think I should get one now. Hopefully I'm upgrade eligible.

You can check at ATT's website. I'm not until Dec even tho I got the 3G on launch b/c my monthly bill is under 99 a month

sammich · Jun 22, 2009

Hmm, the 3G does everything I want already, except play TTR at a consistent frame rate. If I got the 3GS so I could play TTR, I'd be getting a glorified (very very glorified

) PSP/DSi thingy.

Lucky bastards those 3GS owners...

JoshHawn · Jun 22, 2009

This is good news for those planning to purchase a 3GS.

Still not enough to make me want to pay $700 for one, I'm looking forward to next years revolutionary iPhone (that will hopefully spank everything out there

)

sirhumbak · Jun 22, 2009

okay...

im calling BS

i understand it's faster.. really i do..my girlfriend upgraded her shattered screen 3G yesterday for a 32gb GS..

When i asked if it was faster.. she simply shrugged and said, "a little bit yea".
When the windows of range go from 14-70%, credibility is lost for me.

before you grab your blowtorches and try to flame me to a crisp understand that I eventually will be upgrading my 3G to the GS when i feel like it.
Since im of the many jailbreakers the storage capacity is the most (perhaps only) intriguing upgrade i have seen to be noteworthy.

lol @ speed enhancements going from up to 2x faster to 4x faster in a weekend.

Warbrain · Jun 22, 2009

sirhumbak said:
okay...

im calling BS

i understand it's faster.. really i do..my girlfriend upgraded her shattered screen 3G yesterday for a 32gb GS..

When i asked if it was faster.. she simply shrugged and said, "a little bit yea".
When the windows of range go from 14-70%, credibility is lost for me.

before you grab your blowtorches and try to flame me to a crisp understand that I eventually will be upgrading my 3G to the GS when i feel like it.
Since im of the many jailbreakers the storage capacity is the most (perhaps only) intriguing upgrade i have seen to be noteworthy.

lol @ speed enhancements going from up to 2x faster to 4x faster in a weekend.

I played with one over the weekend and it's definitely faster. I don't know if I would call it 4x or 2x or whatever but the big deal is that it's very, very noticeable and nice.

oneals2focus · Jun 22, 2009

Mykbibby said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Hmmm... Starting to think I should get one now. Hopefully I'm upgrade eligible.

Apple iPhone 3G S Check your upgrade eligibility just dial *639#

Peter Kim · Jun 22, 2009

sirhumbak said:
okay...

im calling BS

i understand it's faster.. really i do..my girlfriend upgraded her shattered screen 3G yesterday for a 32gb GS..

When i asked if it was faster.. she simply shrugged and said, "a little bit yea".
When the windows of range go from 14-70%, credibility is lost for me.

Oh yes, 14-70% is definitely accurate. After one weekend with mine I am sufficiently blown away.

sirhumbak · Jun 22, 2009

Peter Kim said:
Oh yes, 14-70% is definitely accurate. After one weekend with mine I am sufficiently blown away.

lol.. 14-70 % reminds me of weathermen who say

"we should be getting 2-10 inches snow"

next week it will be 10 times faster.

Jayomat · Jun 22, 2009

sirhumbak said:
lol @ speed enhancements going from up to 2x faster to 4x faster in a weekend.

the phrase "speed enhancement" does not tell you "where" the speed increased.. the gfx power for example seems to be the target for "4x" speed. it pretty obvious that the 3GS outperformed the 3G. Meanwhile, the 4x speed does not affiliate to the webspeed...
it's just a question of definition....

bob122989 · Jun 22, 2009

Peter Kim said:
Oh yes, 14-70% is definitely accurate. After one weekend with mine I am sufficiently blown away.

+1. I was upgrading from 2G and its enough to make a person wonder how they lived with the slowness for two years. We don't have 3G coverage anywhere near, but even the Edge speeds are easily X2 for me.

sammich · Jun 22, 2009

sirhumbak said:
okay...

im calling BS

i understand it's faster.. really i do..my girlfriend upgraded her shattered screen 3G yesterday for a 32gb GS..

When i asked if it was faster.. she simply shrugged and said, "a little bit yea".
When the windows of range go from 14-70%, credibility is lost for me.

before you grab your blowtorches and try to flame me to a crisp understand that I eventually will be upgrading my 3G to the GS when i feel like it.
Since im of the many jailbreakers the storage capacity is the most (perhaps only) intriguing upgrade i have seen to be noteworthy.

lol @ speed enhancements going from up to 2x faster to 4x faster in a weekend.

Does anyone grasp what the article is actually about? Maybe everyone reads the title, then the first paragraph (which is a rehash) THEN it proceeds with the next paragraph with 'MEANWHILE'.

All the of the other were tests between similar apps like phone, app launches and safari loading, but this new 2x-4x speed is with the graphics capabilities, which clearly took until now to get sort of result.

mobi · Jun 22, 2009

JoshHawn said:
This is good news for those planning to purchase a 3GS.

Still not enough to make me want to pay $700 for one, I'm looking forward to next years revolutionary iPhone (that will hopefully spank everything out there )

Holding out as well, next year should be sweet!

iZac · Jun 22, 2009

...my 1st Gen iPod touch suddenly feels a bit more sluggish.

Bullshark · Jun 22, 2009

Who cares what the exact percentage is. It's much faster.. Thats my percentage.. its much% faster than the 3g.. and much^2% faster than the 2g.
Part of the point is the potential that comes with the increased speed.

And next year when the new iPhone comes out, it will be much% faster than the 3gS.. The S will no longer stand for Speed, but for Slow..

Donz0r · Jun 22, 2009

Where are all the 3G S haters now?
minor update my a$$.

The speed difference is glaringly apparent in just regular usage of the phone. browsing, sms, emails, animations, etc. Everything is way faster, even compared side by side on 3.0.

Data · Jun 22, 2009

One more example of how the update from 3g to 3gs is a minor update compared to the 2g to 3g update, i mean look at it , it's still the same phone, lol, people are so funny who say that, and all because they can't upgrade yet to the 3gs.
Having said that i will probably be in the same boat next year when i can not upgrade, for an other year ;-).

LagunaSol · Jun 22, 2009

Wow, a remarkable improvement to say the least. I was dubious when some were comparing the 3G/3GS to the Xbox/Xbox 360, but it looks like the comparison was accurate (minus the RROD, LOL).

Can't wait to see what iPhone gaming holds in the months to come.

Where's my StarCraft - iPhone Edition???

Donz0r · Jun 22, 2009

JoshHawn said:
This is good news for those planning to purchase a 3GS.

Still not enough to make me want to pay $700 for one, I'm looking forward to next years revolutionary iPhone (that will hopefully spank everything out there )

OUCH $700 is steep! Do you not qualify even after AT&T updated the qualifications?

Every year people are ''looking forward to NEXT YEARS revolutionary device". The iPhone platform (like the iPod) is EVOLUTIONARY. Don't expect to ***** your pants next year either.

Thex1138 · Jun 22, 2009

Can't Wait For it

Donz0r · Jun 22, 2009

Data said:
One more example of how the update from 3g to 3gs is a minor update compared to the 2g to 3g update, i mean look at it , it's still the same phone, lol, people are so funny who say that, and all because they can't upgrade yet to the 3gs.
Having said that i will probably be in the same boat next year when i can not upgrade, for an other year ;-).

?? You seem to contradict yourself here...

ghostface147 · Jun 22, 2009

I do notice that my GS boots up about 10-15 seconds faster, and the overall response is faster. If anyone can push the new graphics core to the max, it will be John Carmack. While backwards compatibility is great for the masses, eventually Gen 1 and 3g users will be left in the dark somewhat. I am guessing that companies will write a great game for all platforms, but then add special content or code that only runs on 3G S or above. Eventually they will grow tired of coding for two different graphics cores and leave the old graphics platforms behind. I guess we'll cross that bridge when it comes.

iPhone 3G S Benchmarks and Comparisons: Up to 4x Faster than 3G

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