iPhone 3G-S D-Day- June 19th!

Another summer, a new iPhone model. The highlights:

- Much faster phone in general, so apps will load faster, run better, less crashing.

- Way better battery life: Up to 12 hours of talk time on the 2G network (still 5 on 3G), 9hours of wifi Internet surfing, 10 hours of video playback.

-Voice dialing and Voice Control of iPod functions.

-3.0 Megapixel camera with video, at last, and in-phone video editing. MMS (multimedia messages with photos and video) will be supported but won't be available until the end of the summer.

-Built in compass (in addition to the GPS, of course) to further help the directionally challenged.

-Spotlight search: search across the entire iPhone for any search term- you don't have to look separately in your calendar, contacts, etc...

Bottom Line- Do you need it if you have an iPhone 3G?
I think yes. But I'm crazy and I also have an Android G1 phone, the Palm Pre, and, um, a few others. The improved battery life of the iPhone 3G-S is reason enough for me to upgrade. The added processor speed (makes the phone about twice as fast) helps too, if you're a power user or use a lot of apps. The compass is good if you can't find your way out of your own house, like me.

But... other than the battery, processor, compass, and voice controller, most of the upgraded features will be included in the iPhone 3.0 firmware upgrade, which will be available for free on June 17th. This uncommonly gracious move allows iPhone owners to play around with the new features before deciding if they need the upgrade to the new hardware.