Apple unveils speedier iPhone

Apple Inc. unveiled the iPhone 3G S the latest, faster new version of its popular smartphone at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday in San Francisco.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president for worldwide product marketing, told the conference that the S stands for "speed."

According to the new iPhone 3G S website, the new phone isas much as two times faster and more responsive than the Apple 3G. It also includes features such as:

• Internet tethering, which allows the iPhone to share its 3G wireless networkconnection withlaptop computers.
• Video recording ability.
• Athree-megapixel camera with built-in autofocus and the ability to focus on individual objects by tapping their image on the screen.
• Voice control.
• A digital compass.
• A larger keyboard that can be accessed by rotating the phone into the "landscape" orientation.
• Cut, copy and paste capability.

The 16 GBversionof theiPhone 3GSwill sell for $199 US and the 32GB version will start at $299 US for American customers who sign a two-year contract with AT&T. Canadian pricing will be announced on June 19 when the phone becomes available, the company said in a news release.

An 8 GB iPhone 3G will also be immediately available for $99 US down from the current low-end price of $199 to customers who sign a two-year contract.

The keynote address at the conference is typically used to unveil new gadgets and hardware, a report on the website of Computerworld points out.

Also unveiled at the conference Monday were:

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard, which Apple says has faster search and backup functions than the previous version of the operating system but takes up half as much space, freeing up 6 GB.
• Safari 4, the latest version of the company's web browser, which includes a full history search as well as a feature called "cover flow" that allows the user to flip through previews of websites the way they flip through album covers in iTunes.