Apple unveils iPhone 3GS

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 8 Jun 2009 at 20:24

Apple has - as widely expected - announced the third-generation iPhone: the iPhone 3GS.

The new phone will come in 16 and 32GB models, costing $199 and $299 respectively. The 3GS will come in two colours - black and white - and will go on sale from 19 June.

The device includes support for 7.2Mbits/sec HSDPA, a 3-megapixel autofocus camera and 30fps video for the first time.

Surprise new features include support for TomTom GPS software (at an additional cost), and tethering - which means you can use the 3GS as a modem for your PC, either by wired USB connection or wirelessly via Bluetooth.

Controversially, tethering will work "in 22 countries" (we're yet to hear confirmation this includes the UK) but not in the US.

Apple is also clearly making a play for the business market. Not only does the handset offer hardware encryption, it now includes facilities to track lost handsets and remotely wipe data from stolen phones.

For existing iPhone owners, the revamped iPhone 3.0 software will be a free upgrade, available from 17 June. iPod touch owners are - as ever - tapped for an extra $10 for the upgrade.

Snow Leopard

The new iPhone wasn't the only big announcement at WWDC. The company confirmed the new version of Mac OS X - codenamed Snow Leopard - will arrive in September.

The new software will cost only $29 on upgrade, a significant reduction in Apple's usual upgrade fees and a gauntlet thrown down to Microsoft, which will be launching Windows 7 only a month later.

Snow Leopard is a 64-bit operating system, which Apple claims will offer support for 16 billion gigabytes of RAM - which should be enough to keep Photoshop CS4 ticking over nicely.

The company is increasing support for multicore processors as part of the new OS. In particular, a new technology called Grand Central Dispatch is used to dynamically manage application threads.

Apple also announced a new version of Safari for both Mac OS X and Windows. With typical modesty, the company claims it's even faster than Google Chrome.

New MacBook Pros

Finally, Apple used the San Francisco showcase to unveil a couple of new MacBook Pros. There are new 13in and 15in models of the laptop, which both have the same unibody casing as the 17in Pro.

The 13in model will start from $1,199, while the 15in will retail from $1,699.

The flagship MacBook Air has also benefited from a price cut, now starting at $1,499 for the base model.

UK pricing has yet to be confirmed.

Click here for the key WWDC announcements at-a-glance