From the company's World Wide Developer conference (WWDC) today, Apple has released the latest revision to it's iPhone line, titled simply the iPhone 3G S, where the S stands for speed.
While it looks strikingly similar to the existing iPhone 3G, the new iPhone differs in a few key areas. Internally, the iPhone 3G S contains entirely different hardware, and as such the main interactions with the phone are at least 2x faster than with the previous iPhone. The iPhone 3G S also supports HSDPA networks for up to 7.2Mbps downloads.
One of the biggest wins over the previous iPhone is the updated camera, which can record 3 megapixel images and comes complete with an autofocus lens. The autofocus functionality is enhanced with touch-to-focus, allowing the user to select exactly what point should be in focus. The camera's software is now also able to capture video at VGA resolution at 30fps, something that has been unfortunately absent from previous versions. Users can also trim videos and upload them directly to YouTube or Mobile Me.
The iPhone 3G S now allows for voice control, not only allowing commands like 'Dial Brad at Home,' but also advanced features like asking the iPhone what is currently playing. For usage with Maps, the iPhone 3G S also includes a digital compass, and despite all these new features, the iPhone 3G S has slightly improved battery life, with 30 hours of music playback, 10 hours of video playback, and 9 hours of WiFi browsing. 2G talk time is up 20 percent to 12 hours, which 3G talk time remains at 5 hours.
Storage capacity has been increased to 32GB on the top of the line iPhone 3G S, to be available June 19 at a price point of US$299. A 16GB 3G S model will also be available for $199. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK will also see the iPhone 3G S being made available on June 19. No pricing information was avialable for those markets.
In conjunction with new hardware, Apple has also announced the availability date for its iPhone OS 3.0, available worldwide on June 17. Bustling with new features, iPhone OS 3.0 includes handy tweaks like a built-in device-wide search feature, letting you quickly find applications, contacts, emails and other items stored on the device. On-phone micropayments are also now supported within applications, allowing developers to sell content from within their applications directly to the user. The device's iTunes application can now also purchase and download movies, TV shows, and music videos directly.
A boon for people on the go will be tethering support, allowing the user to connect the device to a Mac or PC with Bluetooth or USB and share its internet connection with the computer. At launch, 22 carriers will support the tethering feature, though U.S. users appear to be left out since AT&T was not on the list of carriers supporting the feature.
Another cool new feature for users is what Apple calls Find My Phone. Built into MobileMe, Find My Phone uses the device's built-in GPS to locate the phone and show it on a map after logging into the Mobile Me website. The user can then chose to play a sound on the device and send a message with instructions for its return. Additionally, this feature allows you to remotely wipe the device, securing your personal information.
On top of this, Apple are finally making their push notification API available, so that applications that aren't currently running can still present notifications to the user. Other tweaks like copy and paste functionality between applications and the ability to undo actions are included, and the landscape screen and keyboard orientation, long available in Safari, is now available to any developer to implement in their apps. MMS support is also included, and at launch, 29 carriers around the world will support sending and receiving MMS messages, with AT&T scheduled to support the feature later this summer.
