Better yet, the 3G S now captures video. It’s the real deal: sharp, smooth, 30 frames a second. Once again, it is not quite what you’d get from a proper digital camera or a Flip camcorder—it tends to “blow out� the bright areas—but it’s darned close. You can’t beat the capacity, either; in theory, the 32GB iPhone can capture 17 hours of video. With a fingertip, you can trim the ends of a captured video and then upload it to YouTube, right from the phone.

The new voice-control feature may be the most useful change of all. Hold down the iPhone’s Home button for a moment, say “Call mom’s cell� and it places your call, crisply and accurately. This feature goes a long way toward addressing what’s always been the iPhone’s weakest feature: the number of steps required to place a call. The iPhone also recognises spoken iPod commands like “Play songs by Abba� or “What song is this?�

The new Compass program looks like a classier version of a Cub Scout compass—great when you emerge, disoriented, from the subway. The iPhone 3G S also gains what Apple calls an oleophobic screen. It may sound like an irrational fear of yodelers, but in fact, it’s a coating that lets you wipe away fingerprints with a single rub on your clothes. It really works to keep the iPhone looking new longer. Maybe fewer people will now bury the iPhone’s gorgeous, slim shape in a homely, bulky case.

Finally, the iPhone 3G S harbours a better, beefier battery, thereby confronting another chronic complaint. It gives you about 25 per cent more life a charge (five hours talk time or 30 hours of music), enough to last at least a day of moderate use.

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