Today, After tons of rumors, speculations and some unsuccessful mockups, Apple is finally releasing the new iPhone second generation – known as the iPhone 3G, across 22 countries, on 8:00 AM local time. The new iPhone 2 will have a 3G HSDPA connection which will allow users to surf the web, download emails, get directions, and watch videos 2.4 x times faster than previous model and 36% faster than the Nokia N95 and Palm Treo 750 devices in pageloads (according to Apple).
The second biggest thing, other than moving to 3G network, is the built-in GPS navigation system that was added to the new iPhone 3G. GPS technology and iPhone software come together to bring users mobile phone mapping, enabling fast fix on your location, track your progress as you go, help you get from point A to point B, by using GPS-based iPhone maps and A-GPS technology, which assists getting the signals from GPS satellites, Wi-Fi hot spots, and cellular towers. Once you get the signal, a GPS blue indicator will turn on, so you will be able to start using the relevant applications. However, GPS on iPhone is active only when you need it. iPhone powers the GPS unit on and off quickly and automatically, so it wont adversely affect the battery life. With the new technology, assimilated inside the handset, you will be able to get from the App store some cool applications that will let you take a photo with the camera, for example, and iPhone will geotag it with GPS location information. Another neat application is the Loopt, that will let you use location feeds to help you find friends on the go, within your range, wherever you are. Moreover, you will be able to receive live traffic information, indicating traffic speed along your route in easy-to-read green, red, and yellow highlights.
As for look and specifications, the new iPhone 3G has a nice rounded sleeky design with a curved glossy back, coming in black or white flavors. It has the same good old 3.5-inch multi-touchscreen, identical 2 megapixel camera at the back (no front camera for video chats) and a flush 3.5mm headphone jack. Battery life presents substantial improvement, with 300 hours of standby, 5 hours of 3G talk, 8-10 hours of 2G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio. Dimensions pretty much stay the same, although the new iPhone 3G is a little bit thicker, with 12.3 mm or 0.48 inches. However, we hear that it is hard to feel this extra inch difference and the sleeky arched design makes it much more comfortable in your hands.
You can find the complete keynote video here.
To learn more about the 22 countries to launch the new iPhone 3G and to see full specs and tips, just hit the jump and move forward, after the break.
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