Mobile phone blog Boy Genius Report is reporting that AT&T Wireless has sold out of their preorders for launch-day inventory of the iPhone 3G S. Those looking to preorder an iPhone 3G S and receive it on launch day should now solely look to Apple.com.

According to separate sources who supplied screenshots of an internal AT&T email to BGR, customers preordering an iPhone 3G S on Saturday, June 13, or later “should be informed that their order will arrive at the store 7 to 14 days from the order date.” Launch-day preorders from Apple.com are still advertised on Apple’s site as arriving on June 19.

Links:

Boy Genius Report “Didn’t pre-order an iPhone 3GS? You might have to wait about two weeks”

Preorder iPhone 3G S at Apple.com

Apple announced today the iPhone 3G S, the next generation iPhone that will be available in stores on June 19, 2009. The iPhone 3G S will cost $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB version with a 2-year contract (price is subsidized for new users and “qualifying” customers). The iPhone 3G S will come in black or white. Apple will also keep the 8GB iPhone 3G in its lineup and offer it for $99 with a 2-year contract.

Check out the first commercial for the iPhone 3G S below:

Hardware Updates

The iPhone 3GS will retain the same glossy looks as its predecessor but will receive some nice updates to its internal hardware. Here’s a quick look at the hardware updates for iPhone 3G S.

3-Megapixel Camera

The 3G S will have a 3-megapixel camera that features autofocus and autoexposure. The camera will have improved low-light sensitivity and improved macro shooting for close-up objects (as close as 10 centimeters). The 3G S will also come with 30fps video (with auto white balance, autofocus, and autoexposure).

Longer Battery Life

Apple also claims to have improved battery performance for the iPhone 3GS (although whether or not there’s a new battery inside is unknown), with WiFi usage time improving from 6 to 9 hours, 7 to 10 hours for watching video, 24 to 30 hours for listening to music, and 10 to 12 hours talking over 2G. Talk time over 3G, however, stayed unchanged at 5 hours.

Digital Compass

A new digital compass is included that will allow the iPhone to know which direction it is facing (north, south, east, west, etc). A basic use of this is to reorient Google maps so that it’ll reflect the direction you’re facing, but will also come in hand for turn-by-turn directions for your car and probably hundreds of other new uses developers will think up.

Faster 3G Connectivity

The 3GS will support 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, which is twice as fast as AT&T’s current 3G network in the US. AT&T has announced plans to start rolling out a 7.2 Mbps network upgrade in 2009, starting in select cities and making it nationwide by 2011. Anyone with plans to upgrade to the 3G S for its speed improvement should first check with AT&T Wireless to make sure it will be available in their area first.

Faster Processor

Apple is claiming an all-around speedier iPhone, with NY Times loading 2.9 times faster in the browser, and SimCity loading 2.4 times faster.

Belkin has pre-announced the first iPhone 3.0-compatible FM transmitter (a device that lets you send iPhone audio to your car’s FM stereo) called the TuneCast Auto Live ($79.99).

Will require the ClearScan Live app.

The device will require the ClearScan Live app from the App Store. With the app, you can control the TuneCast Auto Live hardware and select a clear FM frequency to broadcast over. The app will also utilize the iPhone’s GPS in order to automatically access a list of unoccupied frequencies in your area.

Belkin’s announcement is one of the first from a manufacturer for a device that takes advantage of iPhone 3.0′s new ability to interact with third-party hardware. There is no shipping date yet–Belkin’s official site merely lists it as “coming soon.”

With the variety of sources these photos are coming from, we’re pretty confident now this is what the next iPhone will look like.

Autofocus on the iPhone.

The autofocus for the iPhone’s new 3.2MP camera will function via a blue box on the screen that you can drag around with your finger, allowing you to focus on different objects in the shot. An example of touchscreen autofocus can be seen in the video below of a Sony Ericsson G900 phone.

Also shown on the Chinese website is a photo of the iPhone displaying a compass. The next iPhone is rumored to get a magnetometer that can determine the direction the iPhone is facing.

A compass on the iPhone.

An example of a how this feature is useful can be seen in the video below of Google Maps’s Street View on a Google Android phone:

Other photos on the site show other previously announced features, including MMS, an improved stock app, and voice recording.

UMPCFever: “Hong Kong Exclusive: Real iPhone 3.0 Test”

Apple rumor blog MacRumors has posted a new picture of the case of the alleged next version of the iPhone compared side-by-side with the iPhone 3G. The picture matches a previous leaked shot that displayed the back casing of the supposed next iPhone.

The new photo shows a casing that is matte black in contrast to the glossy texture of the previous iPhone 3G. The text on the casing also seems to better match the shiny silver color of the Apple logo instead of the dark gray of the 3G (which many felt was a design flub).

If authentic, the case could dispel the rumor that the Apple logo on the back of the new iPhone will glow. The logos on Apple MacBook laptops glow using light from the LCD backlight that shines through a piece of slightly inset translucent white plastic. The logo on the new iPhone case seems to match exactly the previous version with the addition of no new special material.

The shape of the new case resembles that of the first-gen iPhone more than that of the 3G. Its curves are more subtle and less bowl-shaped than the 3G.

New vs old leaked iPhone photos

Is the picture legit? Apple, of course, does not comment on such matters and has wisely stopped sending out cease and desist letters since they only legitimize the pictures. The case appears to contain none of the internal electronics, with both the camera and the ringer switch missing. In fact, the thing that gives us pause is that the area where the camera lens should be seems to filled in instead of being an empty hole as in the previous supposed leaked shot. It’s possible the case is an original iPhone repainted (although the speaker configuration and holes for screws on the bottom do not match the original iPhone) or Photoshopped, or, due to the filled in camera hole, simply a clever mock-up that someone built from scratch. Our best guess is that it is, indeed, legit.

The next iPhone is expected to be announced at Apple’s WWDC conference that runs June 8-12.

A poster on a Chinese forum at WeiPhone.com claims to have gotten his hands on the next generation iPhone and says upgrades to the hardware will be light.

The poster, named patapon200, states there will be modest upgrades to the CPU and RAM that will create a speedier operating system. The poster claims a new 3.2MP camera will be added with autofocus, the maximum flash storage will be upgraded to a 32GB option, and an electronic compass will be included as well as FM radio. Translation from the original forum post below:

First of all, the look is the same as the 3G iPhone, and the small print below the back and the Apple logo are the same as is the plating material. It’s a very light upgrade from the 3G iphone. The CPU frequency increased from 400MHz to 600MHz, and RAM 128MB to 256MB. The running speed has really improved!

The new 3.2MP camera has autofocus, and there’s also an electronic compass and FM radio. There is also a new 32GB version. Whoever said the home button will emit light said pure nonsense…. For those who are wondering about the screen size, resolution, and the battery, I’ll say a few words: There are no changes to the 3.5-inch screen, 480×320, or batteries, very regrettable.

Most dubious about the post is the inclusion of FM radio, which is something that Apple could have easily added to iPods in the past, but never did. The poster has not been a source for iPhone information before, but the accompanying iPhone screenshot he posted lends some degree of credibility to his claims.

Millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers will move to iPhone OS 3.0 this summer. Beginning today, all submissions to the App Store will be reviewed on the latest beta of iPhone 3.0. If your app submission is not compatible with the iPhone OS 3.0, it will not be approved.

Existing apps in the App Store should already run on iPhone OS 3.0 without modification, but you should test your existing apps with the iPhone OS 3.0 to ensure there are no compatibility issues. After iPhone OS 3.0 becomes available to customers, any app that is incompatible with iPhone OS 3.0 may be removed from the App Store.

Although a possible purge of old, incompatible apps from the App Store should appeal to many who find it cluttered, Apple hints that the transition should be a smooth one and that existing apps in the App Store should experience no compatibility issues with iPhone 3.0. The new iPhone software as well as possible new hardware are expected around the same time or soon after Apple’s WWDC event on June 8-12 in San Francisco.

Our sources turned up references to classes and methods named VSSpeechSynthesizer, VSRecognitionSession, SBVoiceControlDisableHandlerActions, SBSensitiveJibblerEnabled, and SBVoiceControlSoundCompletion. SB refers to SpringBoard, and VS likely refers to Voice Services. The separate Voice Services classes leave open the possibility that Apple may eventually allow access to these services via the official SDK. There’s no indication whether these voice features will be tied to newer hardware expected this summer or if the features will be compatible with existing iPhone hardware.

Many current cell phones already come with voice dialing, and the feature has long been one of the top requests for future iPhones. A speech synthesizer could not only make the iPhone more accessible to the vision impaired, in combination with voice controls, it could improve the iPhone’s hands-free controls, making it safer to use in while driving.

Ars Technica: “iPhone OS 3.0 to feature voice control and feedback”