WWDC 2009: Apple Unveils IPhone 3GS

Available in mid-June, the new Apple iPhone 3GS will offer video recording, improved performance. Apple also drops original iPhone 3G to $100.

Can you see me now?

The most asked-about feature on the new Apple iPhone 3GS is the new camera. The new iPhone 3GS gets a 3-megapixel shooter with the all-important auto focus lens. In fact, Apple will adopt the touch focus features that we've enjoyed on other recent high-end cameraphones, such as the HTC Touch Diamond 2. The user simply taps an area of the screen, and the camera focuses on that specific space.

The new camera will also see video recording, a first on the iPhone platform. The iPhone 3GS camera will record video at VGA resolution up to 30fps, which is a nice start for Apple's first foray into phone camcorders. We wish the onboard camera were more impressive, though. 3-megapixels is at the low end for new cameraphones, and we'd like to see more settings and shooting features, like a panorama mode. Still, Apple promises fully automated camera settings, including an auto macro mode that the company claims will focus on subjects as close as 10cm from the lens.

The new camcorder app will see some basic video editing, but only for trimming video files to size, not for real linear editing. These clipped videos can then be sent as MMS messages, another first for the iPhone platform. MMS messages will appear in the same thread as text messages. Unfortunately, MMS support will be dependent on carrier, and AT&T has yet to solidify plans for multimedia messaging support.


At their WorldWide Developer's Conference on Monday, Apple announced the newest update to their popular iPhone 3G hardware. The update, simply titled the Apple iPhone 3GS (the S stands for speed), will bring more hardware improvements than straight feature bumps. The iPhone 3GS will run, on average, up to 2 times faster, according to Apple. For Web browsing and other tasks, the Apple iPhone 3GS will also offer improved battery life over the original, though Apple hasn't been able to eke out more talk time over AT&T's 3G network.