Anyone who follows this blog, or gadgets in general, or owns an iPhone (that should cover about 75 percent of the planet), knows that the new iPhone, 3G S, is out. Early reviews are glowing (except for the pricing snafu. More to come on that soon.)

For those who aren’t ready to shell out for a new iPhone already (my hand high in the air), there’s also good news; the software the powers the iPhone has also been enhanced. It’s the 3.0 upgrade, and while more evolutionary than revolutionary, it’s still something to get excited about.

The most important, most-requested, most-anticipated feature is cut-and-paste. Yea! Now you can actually do what’s been available on every other smartphone on the planet almost from the beginning.

The camera is also much improved. The resolution hasn’t been increased (that would take new hardware, like that found in oh, say, iPhone 3G S), but new  software has cut down markedly on picture bluriness, and it handles low-light conditions with much greater aplomb. That doesn’t mean it will replace a Canon Digital Rebel, but it’s much more useful in a pinch (still no video, however; that’s another 3G S perk).

Spotlight Search has been added to 3.0. It’s a universal search tool that can find stuff in e-mail, documents, contacts, applications and so on. Early reports indicate that it’s fast.

Another much-requested improvement is a Landscape mode for e-mail. Pre-3.0 software limited e-mail to Portrait (i.e. vertical) mode only. One significant limitation of that mode is that it makes the onscreen keyboard more cramped. Being able to turn the iPhone sideways should improve my texting speed by a good bit (that may not end up being an advantage, however!)

There are a number of other enhancements, but I saved the most-fun one for last. For an annual $99 fee, you can have access to MobileMe and “Find My iPhone.” This application tracks the location of your iPhone wherever it may be. If some cretin steals it, it will find the phone in minutes, allowing you to disable the phone and even wipe the data if you wish (MobileMe syncs your iPhone information, so you can easily re-install it on a new phone). If you leave it at the mall or a friend’s house, or under the cushions of your La-Z-Boy, you can send an alert to your phone which will beep, allowing you (or anyone nearby) to find it. Too cool.

I’m not saying this will salve the wound of not being able to get the iPhone 3G S immediately, but it will help tide the less fortunate among us over for awhile.