Apple unleashes fastest, most powerful iPhone yet: the 3G S

MANILA, Philippines - Apple announced last week from its home turf in San Francisco its new iPhone 3G S. The fastest and most powerful iPhone yet, the 3G S boasts speeds of up to twice that of the iPhone 3G and sweetens this with longer battery life, a high-quality three-megapixel autofocus camera, easy-to-use video recording, and hands-free voice control.

The iPhone 3G S includes the new iPhone OS 3.0, an advanced mobile operating system with over 100 new features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard and more.

Users of the iPhone 3G S get access to more than 50,000 applications from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, the largest application store in the world where customers have already downloaded over one billion apps.

Starting June 19 when it hits the shelves in the US market (the new phone will be available in over 80 countries in the coming weeks), Apple’s new handset will offer twice the capacity for the same price with a 16GB model for just $199 and a new 32GB model for $299. (The 8GB iPhone 3G hits a breathtakingly low $99.)

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet and we think people will love the incredible new features, including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for worldwide product marketing.

The higher speed of the iPhone 3G S renders webpages quicker and launches applications faster. iPhone 3G S takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for stunning high-quality 3D graphics, making mobile gaming and other graphic-intensive applications better than ever.

The new iPhone 3G S also supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds. It also features a new three-megapixel autofocus camera that adjusts focus, exposure, color and contrast for the best possible image and includes an automatic macro focus for extra close-up shots.

With the new “tap to focus” feature, you simply touch the display to select an object or area of interest and the camera automatically readjusts focus and exposure.

Users can record high-quality video clips and edit them right on the device by simply trimming the start and stop points. It can send photos and video by e-mail or MMS and post them to MobileMe or YouTube with just one tap.

The voice control feature in iPhone 3G S offers hands-free operation for both iPhone and iPod functions. Just speak the appropriate commands into the built-in microphone or headset microphone to dial by name or number.

With voice control you can play your favorite music by artist, album or playlist and activate the Genius feature by saying “play more songs like this.”

You can also tell the iPhone to pause the music, play the next track, turn on shuffle or ask, “What’s playing right now?”

The 3G S also features a new built-in digital compass for instant navigation. The compass app shows you which way you are headed and rotates as you change direction.

You can orient yourself to true north or magnetic north, and the phone’s built-in GPS automatically displays the coordinates of your current location. The new built-in digital compass is also integrated within Maps, so it automatically orients any map to the direction you are facing.

The iPhone 3G S provides new accessibility features, including VoiceOver, a screen reader that speaks what appears on the iPhone 3G S display, enabling visually impaired users to make calls, read e-mail, browse webpages, play music and run applications.

Its new universal Zoom function magnifies the entire screen, and the White on Black feature reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with poor eyesight.

It even supports Mono Audio that combines left and right audio channels so they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear.

The iPhone 3G S’ OS 3.0 software, which becomes available on June 17 as a free software update on iTunes 8.2 (or newer), boasts more than 100 new features, including Cut, Copy and Paste; MMS; Spotlight Search to search across the iPhone or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod; landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari; expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app.

The iPhone 3.0 software also includes a new Find My iPhone feature that works together with MobileMe so you can locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent. If you cannot find your iPhone, you can erase all data and content on your iPhone with the new Remote Wipe feature.

New iTunes features available with the iPhone 3.0 software include wirelessly downloading movies, TV and audio programs as well as iTunes U so students can download learning materials on the go.

The iPhone 3G S also features built-in Nike + iPod support making it an incredible workout companion. Users simply place the optional Nike + iPod sensor ($19) in their Nike + shoe to seamlessly connect with the iPhone 3G S to track miles run or sync with the latest generation gym equipment.