Apple announces iPhone 3G S

As expected, Apple announced new iPhone hardware and with it comes new features.

Just judging from the picture above gives you an impression of the new exclusive features featured within the new iPhone model. But Apple's guided tour can give you the highlights as well as an impression of how much focus on speed Apple put on it for snappier response times and less loading times.

Personally, the voice control takes the cake even if it is quite limited. Just being able to dial numbers and control the iPod is enough for me. Future updates will possibly add more voice commands like, I don't know, search?

It comes with the iPhone 3.0 firmware, so old iPhone users can somewhat join in the fun as well. I won't elaborate on the features of the firmware coming out June 17 for iPhone and iPod touch users (iPod touch users will have to shell out 10 dollars though), but I will give you the link to a past post I made featuring those, uhh, features. [click here for linkage]

So aside from those already pretty cool features, the iPhone 3G S also exclusively features 50% more battery life than the iPhone 3G- on Wi-Fi which is extremely impressive in comparison, VGA 30fps video recording (to catch up with phones made in 2002), a one-tap autofocus (YES!) 3 megapixel (OK...) non-zooming (aww...) camera with direct YouTube and MobileMe uploading, digital compass (which is much more accurate than the accelerometers) for more accurate turn-based directions and a basic video trimmer.

These features are actually nearly the same as the rumors that preceded them months ago, but the one feature I didn't hear about in the rumors (but probably was rumored about) is voice control. And as the video makes it out to be, it seems just awesome. It seems pretty natural, so it might become the killer feature of this iPhone model in my opinion. I don't think it's present on the Pre right? But nor is the relatively basic video editor.

But another more important part where the iPhone beats Palm is the price-for-GB. Basically, the iPhone has upped its storage capacity, therefore the 16GB iPhone will come in the 199 US dollar price point and the 32GB iPhone will come in the 299 US dollar price point.

It's available June 19, but pre-ordering is available, apparently with free shipping to your door. Obviously, this applies for the US, but what about the Philippines?

-looks for details in Apple's PH site-

Well, nothing yet. It'll probably take a few weeks before the iPhone 3G S comes here, maybe months? Who knows? The carrier has been established already right? You know, Globe? So chances are it might take less time than last time to bring the iPhone to our shores.