iPhone 3G vs 3GS: loading games up to 3x faster

The biggest feature of iPhone 3GS is the performance boost, touted by Apple as 2x the speed of the 3G model. Reducing load times by a few seconds for regular apps isn’t all that impressive, but when you apply the 2x performance boost to App Store games you start to understand why the S stands for speed.

In my testing I found the 3GS was able to reduce Peggle‘s load time by 16 seconds, definitely eye opening results. Bits of time saved here and there can really add up, especially when we consider the nature of mobile gaming, which is all about playing in short burst during down times throughout the day.

The second graph illustrates how much of a boost iPhone 3G owners stand to gain by upgrading to the 3GS, expressed as a percentage.

The graph reveals a 3x improvement in Peggle’s load time, of course this is the exception and not the rule. Not all games showed such promising gains, Rolando only improved its load time by a modest 26%. On average games improved load times by 85%, pretty close to the advertised 2x performance boost promised by Apple.

Improved game load times isn’t the only incentive for iPhone gamers to upgrade to the 3GS. iPhone developer, Daniel Pasco, ran some test on his latest build of Plasma and found the performance boost of the 3GS over the 2nd gen iPod touch to be 2x and 4x when pitted against the 3G. Previously the 2nd gen iPod touch was the king of graphics performance, but with those kinds of results it leaves no doubt who the new king is.

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