iphone 3G

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.

Remember all of the issues that the iPhone 3G suffered after users updated to iOS 4.0? Phones became incredibly slow and buggy, and in some cases unusable. And, since it's not possible to downgrade your OS (at least, not in a way Apple recognizes), 3G users were stuck with slow and difficult-to-use phones. Now a new lawsuit alleges that Apple knew updating an iPhone 3G would cause problems.

The San Diego woman who filed the suit is hoping to have it elevated to class action status, which would mean that a large number of plaintiffs (i.e. all 3G users who updated to iOS 4) are eligible to potentially benefit from the case.

Find out more about the lawsuit after the break.

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!

Apple is going through quite a rough patch lately — from iPhone 4 hardware problems, to lawsuits, to Safari security concerns — and now the headlamp is on iOS 4 and the kinds of reported issues it's causing for iPhone 3G owners.

When iOS 4 was first released, we saw a few hiccups ranging from missing tunes to blurry pics, but those were all able to be fixed relatively quickly. However, continued user complaints of overheating, slow operations, and excessive battery drainage on Apple's forums raised a red flag for the company, who is now looking into possible compatibility issues between the iPhone 3G and iOS 4.

I've personally seen these exact issues occur with a relative's iPhone 3G after upgrading to iOS 4. Her iPhone 3G was speedy pre-upgrade, but chugged along at super slow speeds and did seem to get a lot hotter after installing iOS4. Unfortunately, she's stuck with the problem until Apple releases a fix or is able to downgrade back to the previous OS.

Of course, we already know that not all of the features of iOS 4 work on the iPhone 3G, but if you want to take your chances with an upgrade and need a refresher on the kinds of perks you'll get, just keep reading.

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.

Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone OS back in April, and it got a new name recently at the WWDC conference. Called iOS 4, this update brings lots of changes to the iPhone you know and love. Available to download for free on your iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4 this Summer, iOS4 comes with a staggering number of new features — over 100. iPhone fans should be especially pleased with all the new organizational and productivity enhancements that come along with the update, and iPad users can look forward to diving in this Fall.

We covered a few of the new updates during the initial OS announcement earlier this Spring, but here, a few other notables that you may find surprising.

• 5X digital zoom — Get closer to the action with the iOS 4's 5X digital zoom.
• Multitasking —Ahh, multitasking. Run more than one app at a time with this new feature! Play Pandora while you text, or keep up on your Words With Friends game while you surf your reader.

To see even more features of the iOS 4, just keep reading.

We took a tour of some of the new features that iOS 4 has to offer recently, and you'll get to discover even more soon — Apple is releasing iOS 4 for iPhone 3G, 3GS, as well as second-, and third-generation iPod Touch users today!

What will you need to do before getting into all the new, free OS action? First, update to iTunes 9.2 to get your Mac or PC ready for all the new features, then sync up your iPhone, and download as soon as it's available (by connecting your device to iTunes, and clicking "Check For Updates"). We'll be rounding up some of the new features once we update our iPhones, so stay tuned!

Update: It's here and ready to download!