Testing Puts iPhone 3GS Closest To Laptop Speeds

Apple's iPhone 3GS is much faster than Apple has claimed, according to testing by Medialets, a mobile analytics company. In tests using JavaScript, the iPhone 3GS proved nearly three times faster than its predecessor, the iPhone 3G -- not twice as fast, as Apple has boasted.

Medialets also compared the iPhone 3GS speed against the Palm Pre and an Android-based smartphone. Its tests used JavaScript executed by the smartphones' browsers, which all use WebKit open-source technology.

The WebKit project provides a JavaScript test script called SunSpider that was used in the Medialets tests. The baseline was established using Safari on a white MacBook.

The testing found that the iPhone OS 3.0 update for the iPhone 3G made it nearly three times faster than when using the previous 2.21 operating system. Medialets said the iPhone 3GS, which comes with the 3.0 OS, boosted speed another three times.

According to the Medialets results, the MacBook set the baseline at 1.36 seconds and the iPhone 3GS needed 16.5 seconds, or about 12 times as long. By comparison, the iPhone 3G with the 2.21 OS needed 132.3 seconds, or 96 times as long, but that dropped to 48.7 seconds, or 36 times, with the 3.0 operating system.

Medialets also tested the Palm Pre and found it needed 48.6 seconds, or 36 times as long, about the same as the iPhone 3G with OS 3.0. Also tested was a T-Mobile G1 with the cupcake Android 1.5 operating system, and that device needed 91.1 seconds, or 67 times as long.

AppleInsider reports that the iPhone 3GS has a 600-MHz processor and 256MB of RAM, up from the iPhone 3G's 400-MHz processor and 128MB of RAM.

Meantime, iSuppli reported that the 16GB iPhone 3GS costs $178.96 to make, compared to $174.33 for the iPhone 3G. The cost is mainly for parts, with manufacturing costing.