Apple capped off its keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference today by announcing a new iPhone, called the iPhone 3GS.
The "S" stands for speed, explained Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of product marketing. Apple claims that the phone runs up to two times faster than old models.
But I think the "S" moniker doesn't do justice to the phone's most important features. For example, the new iPhone captures video at 30 frames per second, with editing features built in. Videos can then be shared through e-mail, YouTube, MMS and MobileMe.
Also, the phone's 3-megapixel autofocus camera includes new abilities, such as automatic white balance, exposure and macro up to 10 cm. Autofocus can be achieved by touching any part of the screen.
Other features include voice control, a built-in digital compass, the ability to ask the iPod app what song is currently playing and a search function that works across the entire phone. Unfortunately, the battery still can't be swapped out by the user, but battery life is extended to 30 hours of audio and to 5 hours for 3G talk, according to a ZDNet liveblog.
Missing from the announcement is the rumored OLED screen. Since this phone seems to be more of an upgrade than a full-fledged "iPhone 3.0," there's still a chance Apple could introduce another phone, maybe even this year, with OLED. Talk of a glowing Apple logo on the back of the phone, however, has come to fruition.
The iPhone 3GS will be available on June 19 in 16 GB and 32 GB variations, for $199 and $299 respectively. The plain old iPhone 3G will sell for $99 starting today.
