The iPhone 3GS gets iOS 6: The best smartphone of all time?

Apple showed off its new wares to the globe nowadays, but the biggest surprise wasn’t a shiny new “one last thing…” gizmo. Nope: it’s that the 2009 iPhone 3GS getting iOS 6. Is this the longest lasting smartphone ever?

Launched at WWDC three years ago, the iPhone 3GS is nevertheless on sale – and by releasing iOS 6 for it, Apple has just extended its life even additional. It is not clear which characteristics it will be missing, though it’s unlikely to supply Siri-powered voice handle and navigation in the new Maps app.

Apple infamously updated the iPhone 3G to iOS 4 two years ago, but received significantly backlash: it lacked the multi-tasking other models received, and in fact slowed down devices in some situations. But Apple’s iPhone 3GS received practically each feature in last year’s iOS 5 update, and looks set to get the identical again.

Why is Apple bothering, so lengthy right after launch, when it’s currently dropping help for the first iPad? The answer is simply that it’s nonetheless on sale. And let’s face it, while the iPhone four and 4S are substantially more potent devices, the iPhone 3GS is nonetheless an impressive device that can almost match them for software functionality (though with our nitpicking pants on, we do wish its camera was a bit far better).

What do you believe? Would you acquire an iPhone 3GS in 2012, realizing that it’ll assistance Apple’s new iOS? Or does it belong in the past? Let us know in the comments beneath.