iPhone 3G is finally official

starts at $199

available July 11th

Jun 9th 2008

It's been a long, leak-filled wait, but Apple finally took the wraps off its 3G iPhone.

Thinner edges, full plastic back, flush headphone jack, and the iPhone 2.0 firmware -- Apple's taking a lot of the criticisms to heart from the first time around.

Obviously 3G is at the forefront, but they're also making sure it's available all over internationally, works with enterprises, runs 3rd party apps... and does it all for cheaper.

Apple claims its 3G speeds trounce the competition, with pageloads 36% faster than the N95 and Treo 750 -- and of course it completely trounces the old EDGE data.

Battery life isn't getting put out to pasture though, with 300 hours of standby, 8-10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio.

GPS is also a go.

Apple is using A-GPS, which supplements regular satellite GPS data with info from cellular towers. WiFi data is also worked into the mix, which should give users a pretty solid lock on where the heck they are on this planet.

Unfortunately, there's no front-facing cam, which syncs with what we were hearing, but is still a little disappointing.

Apple hopes to launch in 70 countries this year.

8GB is available for $199, 16GB for $299 -- and the 16GB comes in white.

Both pricepoints require a contract.

Apple will be hitting the 22 biggest markets, including the US, on July 11th.

Pre-orders are available now at the Apple Store.