VentureBeat

So rumors do come true. Apple has just announced a new version of the iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 3GS, built to run data-intensive applications faster. It can also record video.

Phil Schiller, senior vice president at Apple, said at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference today that the new phone will be faster at almost everything, thanks to better computing power and the ability to run at 7.2 megabits per second thanks to a faster HSDPA data network.

The phone can record video in VGA format at 30 frames per second. That’s as good as a lot of video cameras, but not quite high-definition video.

As for speed, the iPhone 3GS can run the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark in 15 seconds, compared to 43 seconds on the iPhone 3.0 iPhone 3G and 126 seconds on the iPhone 2.0 software. An app such as the game SimCity loads 2.4 times faster, while you can open a Microsoft Excel attachment 3.6 times faster. The New York Times web side will load 2.9 times faster.

The new phone also has Voice Control, a feature that lets you issue voice commands for the phone to do just about anything, like “Call Home.” You can say, “What song is this?” and it will tell you (just like Shazam). It has a built-in compass integrated into Google Maps. You tap the map to get oriented to the direction you’re heading.

You can play up to 30 hours of audio, nine hours of Internet on WiFi, 10 hours of video, 12 hours of 2G talk and even more with 3G talk. It has a mercury-free liquid crystal display. The iPhone 3GS will go on sale on June 19 for $199. A 32-gigabyte version will sell for $299, while the existing iPhone 3G will sell for $99.

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Tags: co:Apple