iPhone 3GS

iPhone 3G and 3GS users: if you're hoping to upgrade to an iPhone 4, this may be your moment. Only a few months after it started selling the iPhone, Target has announced a trade-in program offering customers up to $200 for their working iPhone 3G or 3GS.

To take advantage of the offer, visit a Target Mobile center with your working previous-generation iPhone. You'll need to re-sign a two-year contract with AT&T — no, Verizon is not an option. Customers will receive up to $100 for a working iPhone 3G 16GB and up to $200 for an iPhone 3GS 32GB, which will then be credited to the purchase of an iPhone 4; $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB.

You can trade in your phones starting this Sunday, Feb. 6 through Saturday, Feb. 12.

As if Best Buy's December free smartphone sale wasn't hot enough, the retail chain is upping the ante and adding two new popular handsets to the mix.

For starters, today only, you can get a free iPhone 3GS with a two-year AT&T contract. But if you're more of a BlackBerry kind of geek, now through Dec. 24, you can get the BlackBerry Torch for free with a two-year contract as well. Which one are you getting?!

After the iPhone 4's release, designers and case makers scrambled to accommodate the newer, boxier shape of the phone. Though similar in size, its design is completely different from its predecessors, old cases won't fit. Newly designed cases are great news for iPhone 4 users, but bad news for anyone still toting an iPhone 3G or 3GS. But two cases from Jonathan Adler have just caught my eye, and they are designed to fit the older models.

The Good Eye for an iPhone Cover in Ginkgo and Diamond ($24) feature bright and cheerful Jonathan Adler designs in a hard plastic protective case. They're both so pretty, I can't pick a favorite!

Whether you have an Android device or are rocking an iPhone in your pocket, loading it up with apps is the key to making your smartphone work for you. Although I already have pages and pages of apps (despite iOS 4's new folder feature), I keep finding new and fun apps to download and use. Not to leave out my Android- or BlackBerry-toting friends, I found a few apps that you'll love as well. Discover them all for yourself below!

• Chrome to Phone (Free) — The just-released app from Google makes it easy to save and send links from your desktop Chrome browser to your Android 2.2-running device.
• MoMA for iPhone (Free) — Use the new MoMA app to search current and past exhibits, artist bios, a dictionary for art terms, calendar information, film screenings and more. Download it before you head out for a culture-filled day!

Learn about the rest of the apps after the break.

We showed you Apple's much-hyped 300th store in pictures on Friday, and just as the doors were about to fling open, Incase announced that they'd be supplying the brand-new Covent Garden location with these exclusive cases for 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook and MacBook Pros. I'm not really a red kind of girl in general, but this graphic white and black outside (designed to match the inside arches of the Covent Garden store), paired with the inner red layer is totally craveworthy.

But it's not just laptop cases — Incase is covering lucky Londoner's iPhone 3GSs with the print on a Slider case as well. Color me jealous. Please Incase, bring them stateside!

Celebrate Spain's World Cup victory with a special edition iPhone 3G/3GS case from Uncommon. Though the company recently launched its line of iPhone 4 cases, iPhone 3G and 3GS soccer fans get some love with this celebratory collection. A month ago at the start of the World Cup, Uncommon launched its World Cup collection, featuring cases decorated with flags of the countries participating in this year's World Cup. One by one as teams were eliminated, the cases were eliminated from the collection. Now, the Spain flag is the last remaining case from the original group — and Uncommon has added several other World Cup-themed designs, including a case decked out in a World Cup trophy commemorating Spain's victory.

The cases retail for $40 and are available at getuncommon.com.

Today's the day — the iPhone 4 officially arrives! Good news is, newly-minted iPhone 4 owners aren't the only ones that can enjoy some of iOS 4's features — iPhone 3G and 3GS users, as well as second- and third-generation iPod Touch owners, are also eligible for an update. Unfortunately, not all of the latest and greatest additions will be available to everyone, but don't fret — there's plenty to love! First thing's first: update your iPhone. There have been a few hiccups to be aware of, but after you get everything on the up and up, take a minute to check out some of these basic functions you'll be using in your new iPhone 4, or updated iOS 4 device.

• App Switching
  Open up two different apps. For example, open Pandora, hit the home button once, then open Safari. In order to switch between the two apps, hit the home button twice to open the app drawer. You can then quickly switch between the two (or more) apps. Scroll left and right in the app drawer to find the open app you want.
• Close a running app
  Hit the home button twice to pull up the app drawer. Hold down on the app to bring up the minus icon and close.

To learn how to populate your folders, add playlists, add a custom home screen, and more after the break.

Although the iOS 4 software update hasn't gone as smoothly as we would have hoped, there are some solutions to some of your biggest problems — including blurry images and missing tunes. While the iPhone 4 may be getting an early welcome into a few lucky homes, we're taking a look at what iPhone 3G and 3GS users were left without during the iOS 4 update.
This handy chart should help you decipher it. iPhone 3G and 3GS users are reaping the benefits of threaded emails, home screen folders, as well as Internet tethering (with an appropriate AT&T data plan, that is), while 3GS users get more features like multitasking, keyboard support, and fancy homescreen wallpapers.

A quick tip to all that are thinking of upgrading to iOS 4 — be sure to back up your iPhone and restore when prompted to during the update process. Find out why after the jump.

After yesterday's iOS 4 upgrade was made available to the masses, there were some reports of strange bugs, slowness, even blurry images after installing. Hopefully, you've solved the blurry photo situation with my last how-to, and now I'll help you get your music, podcasts, and iPod back in order.

If you're having trouble launching your iPod, find that your music, podcasts, and playlists have gone MIA, and are frustrated because your iPod crashes after a few seconds, help is on the way! Find out how to solve this iOS 4 problem after the break.