Apple upgrades iPhone's battery, screen

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- 6/18/2007

With less than two weeks leading up to the iPhone's June 29 market debut, Apple Inc. today announced two major upgrades for the upcoming mobile handset in apparent response to criticisms following its January unveiling.

The iPhone's battery will now enable eight hours of talk time, up from the five-hour-long battery life that was originally estimated for the handset. The phone will be capable of six hours of Internet use, seven hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback. In addition, iPhone will feature up to 250 hours—more than 10 days—of standby time, Apple said.

Also today, Apple announced that the entire top surface of iPhone, including its 3.5-inch display, has been upgraded from plastic to optical-quality glass to make it more scratch resistant and optically clear.

"With 8 hours of talk time, and 24 hours of audio playback, iPhone's battery life is longer than any other smartphone and even longer than most MP3 players," Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said in a statement posted today on Apple's website. "There has never been a phone like iPhone, and we can't wait to get this truly magical product into the hands of customers starting just 11 days from today."

The iPhone, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.'s wireless network, will be available in a 4GByte model costing $499 or an 8GByte model costing $599. The iPhone will be less than a half-inch thin and will come with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, along with a slot for headphones and a SIM card. Apple's CEO Jobs has said that he hoped to eventually capture 1 percent of the worldwide mobile phone market, a goal that market research firm iSuppli Corp. has called "attainable."

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