Arriving in early July, the new "iPhone 3G" will sell for hundreds less than the original and—as expected—will come equipped with GPS and access to AT&T's speedy HSDPA network. Also: A new version of Mac OS X is on the way, along with a major revamp of Apple's .Mac online service.
iPhone 3G
It's real, it's thinner (at the edges, at least), and, truth be told ... it looks an awful lot like the original iPhone, from the front anyway. A couple of key changes, however: The headphone jack is now flush with the case—so no more need for a headset adapter—and the back panel is now glossy black plastic, which looks good, but may well be more susceptible to scratches than the original brushed—metal version.
So that's how the new iPhone looks. What's inside? As expected, 3G and GPS, good for turn—by—turn directions and geotagging photos. Nice, but we'd heard rumors of videoconferencing—which, judging from the lack of a front—facing camera on the iPhone 3G, isn't in the cards. Jobs claims five hours of "3G" talk time on the new iPhone (or 10 hours when using EDGE only), plus seven hours of video, 5—6 hours of Web browsing, and 24 hours of audio.
Also, no word on iChat instant messaging for the iPhone; then again, AOL has already announced it's making its own AIM app, and I'm sure plenty of other IM apps will arrive once the App Store launches (more on that in a moment).
And while we're at it—there was no discussion of music or video downloads over AT&T's HSDPA network, reportedly a sticking point between the carrier and Apple.
That said, it turns out the rumors of lower prices were true. A 16GB iPhone 3G will sell for $299, while the 8GB will go for $199. That sounds a lot better than $599 for the original 8GB iPhone. Also: The iPhone in white!
And finally, the release date: July 11. Looks like we've got a little wait on our hands.
iPhone Firmware 2.0
We already knew that the new App Store (which will come stocked with applications built by third—party developers, courtesy of the iPhone SDK), Exchange support (including over—the—air syncing of e—mail, contacts, and events), and IT—focused security enhancements would come with the latest version of the iPhone firmware, but now we have a few more details on the upcoming iPhone update, along with an estimate of availability: early July.
First, of all: contact search, which will pull up matching contacts the moment you type starting characters. We'll also be getting read—only support for PowerPoint documents, as well as full support for iWork, Apple's Office competitor.
Next up: the ability to move or delete groups of messages, or even save photos attached to e-mails in the iPhone's photo album (no mention of saving images from Web pages).
Rounding out the new Firmware 2.0 features: parental controls (including restrictions on YouTube and the iTunes Store—sorry, kids); a new and improved scientific calculator (just turn the iPhone on its side to get all the new buttons); and support for Chinese, Japanese, and other languages.
Applications
A series of developers demoed at least a dozen games and applications during the keynote. Among the highlights: Sega's previously announced Super Money Ball (now with 110 "stages"), an auction tracker from eBay, GPS—assisted social networking from Loopt (good for seeing if you have buddies nearby), a mobile blogging app (including photos) from TypePad, an AP news tracker complete with videos, and an app from Major League Baseball that'll real—time (or close to it) game highlights.
Games such as Super Monkey Ball will sell for $9.99 when the App Store launches, while the other apps I just mentioned will be free. |
