The bigger news is the inclusion of video capture and editing. The iPhone 3GS camera app has a slider switch to activate the video camera, which records 30 frames per second video at 640-by-480 resolution. In video mode, the camera shutter turns into a red record button you press once to start recording, and again to end recording.

Sending video is very easy: The phone has integrated hooks into YouTube, MobileMe (Apple's $99-a-year service), and e-mail. Just select the service, and proceed from there; for YouTube, the iPhone 3GS will automatically compress the file in preparation for upload to your YouTube account. Want to trim your video before sending? No problem: The in-player iMovie-like frame editor makes snipping the beginning or end of a clip a breeze.

The videos I captured looked better than many typical camera phone images at the same resolution, and I found the inclusion of a video camera handy in a pinch when I was caught off-guard with a video opportunity and had no other camera on hand. But the iPhone 3GS can't replace the video you can capture in 720p high-definition with many digital cameras and compact video recorders like the Flip Mino HD. And like-resolution dedicated camera and camcorder devices generally have a few advantages, such as greater stability for hand-held shots, and a tripod shoe if you want to steady the image.

The video feature has a few other rough spots. You can't easily find the videos you capture: They're lumped in with the rest of the images in your Camera Roll, with the video camera icon and length running along the bottom of the thumbnail. You also can't access your videos from within the iPod music and video player. And, unfortunately, the much-ballyhooed editing feature is rather limited: Once you make an edit, it's done. You can't undo them, and you can't save a copy of the original video--annoying if you want to keep the longer video for yourself and send an excerpt to a friend, for example.