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By Josh Lowensohn, 9 June 2009 08:37

NEWS

At Apple's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference on Monday, the company announced refreshes to its flagship hardware and software. Included was a new version of the iPhone called the iPhone 3G S.

The 3G S sports a faster processor, longer battery life, video recording and a digital compass. It also comes with higher memory capacity than previous models.

As well as introducing a new iPhone model, Apple cut the price of the existing iPhone 3G - which first debuted in June last year - to $99 for the 8GB model.

In addition, Apple unveiled refreshed versions of its laptops. Along with the usual speed increases, the newer 13-inch and 15-inch models cost less and include SD card slots. The entire line is also using the same non-removable battery technology found in the MacBook Air and the 17-inch model of the MacBook Pro.

Along with the new hardware, the company demoed features from the next version of Mac OS X, codenamed "Snow Leopard". It will available later this year as a $29 upgrade to current Mac users. Apple also announced that the next version of the iPhone OS software (version 3.0) would be available in less than two weeks.

iPhone 3G S
The 3G S has an updated three-megapixel camera (up from two megapixels) that has autofocus and autoexposure. It can also shoot video that can be edited right on the device in a similar fashion to iMovie. The video it takes is 30 frames per second at 640x480 VGA resolution, bringing it to spec with most point-and-shoot digital cameras.

The 3G S hardware also gets a magnetometer, which will allow the device to tell what direction it's pointed in. To go along with this, there's a new compass app that will act just like a normal compass. Users with the 3G S will get additional features in the Google Maps application that show which direction they're facing.

Apple also added built-in voice control that can start calls, find songs, and other information on the phone. The iPhone has long been criticised for not having voice support.

New iPhone software
Apple announced that iPhone OS 3.0 will be available worldwide 17 June as a free update to iPhone customers, and as a $9.95 update for iPod Touch owners.

Newly announced was data tethering over USB and Bluetooth is coming as part of the software update; however it will require carrier support, which means some carriers may not allow it.

Users can now rent and purchase movies from the phone. This also works for TV shows. Previously you had to do this on iTunes proper, then sync.

There's a new feature called "Find My iPhone" that will be available only for MobileMe users. It tracks down where your phone is on a map and gives you the option to display a message and even perform a remote wipe.

Mobile Safari is seeing some improvements. It's getting AutoFill and support for HTTP streaming of audio and video. Apple also says that JavaScript performance is three times faster than before, meaning things like Gmail mobile will load faster.

Changes to Apple's laptop lineup
Apple introduced new versions of its 13- and 15-inch notebooks that use the same battery technology found in the 17-inch models. It's non-removable, but pumps up the use time to seven hours, up from the previous five. As part of this, the 13-inch unibody MacBook is now a part of the MacBook Pro line, meaning that the only true "MacBook" is the previous generation's plastic model.

The SD card now gets its own slot across most of Apple's laptops

Apple also added built-in SD card slots to all its aluminium-body Macs, except for the top-of-the-line 17-inch model. On the 15-inch versions, this goes in place of the ExpressCard slot, which had allowed for the use of all sorts of third-party add-ons. The 13-inch unibody MacBook Pro also gets its Firewire port back, an omission on the launch model that caused much user ire.

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