When Apple announced the iPhone 3GS in June, I saw UAE on the list of countries where the unit was expected to sell in August. So I gave our beloved telco Etisalat the deadline of August 31st to start selling the 3GS locally. August came and went and there was no sign of the 3GS landing on Etisalat. Thus I ordered a factory unlocked version from Hong Kong which I received last week.

I chose the White version this time around as I had the black one previously and the grey one before that. I also opted for the 32GB version as I had utilized almost 10GB on my 16GB iPhone 3G. As you’ve probably read on every other website there is no noticeable difference between the 3G and the 3GS as far as looks and form factor is concerned. Tech Specs state the 3GS as 2 grams heavier but I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference.

The good thing about the white version is that you see less finger prints on the back. Apple has also treated the touch screen on the 3GS with an oleophobic coating which again helps in reducing smudges. While this doesn’t make the screen on the iPhone 3GS totally smudge-free, it helps considerably. I tested this by wiping both the 3G and the 3GS screens clean and then using them for similar amounts of time. The 3GS screen looked a lot cleaner.

The “S” as you have read countless times, stands for Speed on the 3GS and oh boy- you sure can feel that. Below is a video comparing the 3G to the 3GS in terms of speed. You must’ve seen quite a few comparison videos like I did but almost all videos I saw focused on games and intensive applications. This video below is not focused on any of that but instead, I’ve shown everyday apps such as texting, tweeting and browsing.