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WWDC: $199 iPhone Going 3G, but not 'till July 11

In one of the least surprising events since the failure of Paris Hilton’s acting career, Apple finally announced its 3G iPhone at today’s WWDC keynote. Some of the details were less expected: built-in GPS, distribution in 70 countries over the next few months, and a $199 price for the 8GB model were nice surprises.

Availability delayed until July 11: Not so much. Read on for all of the gory details…

First off, let’s run down the prices for the new models: There’s the black, 8GB model for $199, and at the high end, we’ve got $299 16GB models in both black and white. The new model has a plastic back, a thinner profile, built-in GPS, and a flush-mounted headphone jack. Apple claims they’ve improved the audio, too, which would be a welcome change for in-ear headphone users, given the super-hot output I experienced on every iPhone i tested.

Of course, the 3G update is mainly about speed – one of the key compalints about the first iPhone. Apple demoed the new version loading National Geographic’s site in 21 seconds, vs., well, a heck of a long time over the old EDGE network. According to Apple speeds over 3G almost approach a Wi-Fi connection and are 36% faster than even other 3G phones. I’ll have to see that to believe it, but 3G is definitely a welcome addition to the iPhone.

Battery life gets a boost in this new model, going up to 300 standby hours, 5-6 hours of 3G web browsing, 7 hours of video playback, 24 hours of audio, 10 hours of talk time over 2.5 G and 5 hours over 3G.

Still, outside of 3G, this update’s more about the iPhone App Store and its 2.0 software update, which you can read about in our earlier recap.

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