Early reviews of iPhone 3G S filtering through

Despite sending units to a few of the bigger editorial outlets, Apple imposed an embargo on critical coverage of the iPhone 3G S, which goes on sale at 8:02AM on Friday 19th June. The embargo lifted last night, and early reports appear to be quite favourable - though a lot of praise levied at the 3G S actually seems to be more to do with the 3.0 software.

But the major factor permeating most opinion of the hardware upgrade revolves around the "S" in its name, as Gizmodo's Jason Chen points out in his review: "There’s a reason why Apple called this the iPhone 3G S for Speed and not the 3GC for “compass” or 3GV for “video recording.” Speed is the central upgrade here, and probably is the single biggest reason you would upgrade to a 3G S from a 3G."

And David Pogue of the New York Times agrees: "“You can still buy last year’s model, the iPhone 3G, for $100. But find a way to afford the new one. It looks identical to last year’s iPhone, but its faster circuitry makes a huge difference."

The voice control system is evidently quite functional, but it isn't proving as popular as we'd hoped. As The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg points out: "Voice control isn't perfect but works most of the time."

Mossberg seems to think the 3.0 operating system is still the best thing to come out of Apple this week, when he says, "Both the new iPhone and iPhone OS are packed with features that make a great product even better. But, for many users, the software may be enough of a boost to keep them from buying the new model."

The digital compass is another new addition that's working just fine, but it's struggling to blow the media's skirt up. Andy Ihnatko at the Chicago Sun-Times is an exception. He says, "The compass, though currently limited in its use, will inspire many new apps, but has already boosted Google Maps into the Giga-awesome range."

Kent German over at Cnet provides a very fair summary (near the beginning of his review, but there you go) as to whether or not you should get up early tomorrow and queue up outside the O2 shop:

"So should you buy it? That will depend on how much you'll have to pay for the privilege. If you don't own an iPhone yet, and you've been waiting for the right model, now is the time to go for it. The same goes for iPhone Classic owners who never made the jump to the iPhone 3G. But, if you're a current iPhone 3G owner, the answer isn't so clear."

Our own Stuart Dredge is actually paying Apple a visit tomorrow for a personal introduction to the iPhone 3G S, so we're holding off for a review until then, but don't go far.