The Buzz: iPhone 3GS

If you are anything like me, you were eagerly watching the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) live from San Francisco last night. This event has a key place in the diaries of all Apple lovers, software developers and any clued up IT professional.

The Keynote led by Phillip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, gave announcements of any specification upgrades to their Macbook and Macbook Pro notebook range, discussed the eagerly awaited new operating system – Snow Leopard which will be launched in September, the new iPhone 3.0 OS software update and of course the focus of the event this year, the launch of the new iPhone 3GS – ‘ the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet’

The iPhone 3GS – (S stands for speed) has been speculated and rumoured on many of the reputable blogging and news sites that follow what Apple is working on. This time they were almost spot on with their predictions which is very good news for us iPhone users because of the very exciting new features it represents.

iPhone 3GS Features:

Improved Performance

The main selling factor of the iPhone 3GS is its improved performance. The time it takes to launch applications, WebPages and email attachments is noticeably up to 2 times faster. That and with its updated 3D graphics should improve its user experience considerably and will obviously boost Apple’s marketing as a gaming device through the downloading of applications through their app store.

3MP autofocus camera

The Camera has been tuned up, now 3 megapixels to make it more competitive with other phones available on the market. iPhone users have been keen to see an improvement due to reviews of the iPhone camera in the past being sluggish with a poor ability to adjust white balance or focus. The new camera now has an autofocus with a built in feature that allows you to tap the display to focus on anything, auto white balance and a macro setting for photographing close up.

Video recording

The video recording option is another key feature of the new iPhone. You can toggle between the camera and video option, shoot footage at a rate of 30 frames per second, edit what you have recorded and share this.

Voice Control

Voice commands have always been in the background for Apple. It is built into their operating system but it’s the first time it has been incorporated into an iPhone. It will give the user the option of voice activated calls, as well as select songs from your iTunes playlists; you can even request it to play songs like the one you are listening to and automatically creates a genius playlist. Obviously this is fantastic for the app developers out there because they can make best use of this function and incorporate it into their own applications.

Digital compass

The digital compass is something that any Google map fanatic has been waiting for. Have you ever been somewhere trying to use a Google map and having no idea what direction your facing? Well this solves that problem. It gives you your latitude, longitude and precise direction – not to mention the benefits of having something so accurate that it is beneficial to any application (including gaming) that relies heavily on the iPhones accelerometer.

How might the new and improved iphone 3Gs impact the mobile web

The cheaper entry level price of the iphone is going to make it more accessible to a large number of people, noting the following statistics the iPhone will continue to impact the search and the wider online community radically;

/ A survey back in 2008 carried out by M:Metrics revealed that 84.8% of iPhone users accessed news and information on their phones compared to 13.1%  of the overall mobile phone market

/ 30.9% of iPhone users have tuned into mobile TV or a video clip from their phone, which is more than double the percentage that have watched on a smartphone

/ Google noted last year that the iPhone generates x50 more searches than any other phone on the market, they were so surprised by these stats they thought they had a technical fault!

Paul Towney, Icann mentions the impacts that the mobile web, spearheaded by smart phones such as the iphone is having globally…

“The mobile global internet is growing quickly to connect billions of people, devices and things. It offers much greater productivity and lower barriers to entry for users and businesses.”

In a world where we have traditionally seen internet adoption primarily in the western world the mobile web, being made more accessible by phones such as the iPhone will give billions of people in the developing world access to the web.

This empowerment of individuals, especially in the developing world, is transforming social, economic, and political relationships.

Improved performance when using the web is always going to be beneficial to the online community. Its allows those of us who commute or constantly on the go to browse, search, purchase and blog from wherever we are and we are more likely to do it, the faster performing such actions becomes. The limitations of speed and usability are a known factor to what stops a vast majority of people from using the mobile web. By improving this, it means we will be opening webpages faster, most importantly share or search information and content.

Incorporating different options when using the video function is great for the online community. It creates the ability to instantly share your videos by emailing them to others, uploading them directly to youtube and syncing them with your computer at home. The Facebook and Twitter applications that have been available on the iPhone for quite some time now are a great example of this – instantly uploading photos, updating your status and letting those around you know exactly what your up to. iPhone video is that next step.

The digital compass makes online sharing of your exact location that little bit more accurate. It gives you the ability to send your location via email to others and for anyone that good at map reading. They will find you pretty quickly

Voice control is going to be something we can potentially see being used in the search community in the not so distant future. Rather than typing our search queries and requests, we are likely to see this sort of feature being built into our search engines and being able to vocally ask for something, making search faster and definitely more personal.

The release date for this is planned for June 19^th and you can pre order with O2 already. It is debateable whether O2 will provide any discount or early upgrade options for existing iPhone users. It has already been noticed and discussed in great depth however following a twitter feed from O2 that they do not intend on offering such a service this year and that you would have to part with a substantial amount of cash to end your contract early if you are wanting to switch over (or alternatively purchase one as a pay as you go and use your existing contract). Understandably this has caused a heated debate as to whether or not it is fair to not subsidise the phone again – more on this to follow.