What Accessories to Buy for Your Apple Iphone 3g?

The Necessities
Apple's iPhone 3G – Obviously you’re buying the phone. Not much to decide here, except how much storage you want and whether you want to a white or black one. Always buy as much storage as you can afford, since the phone will last you longer and will hold more music, data, and programs like games.

iPhone 3G Case – After spending hundreds of dollars on your new phone, you don’t want to risk scratching it, or damaging it more seriously, by not protecting it. Get a case to prevent scratches to the phone and absorb shocks from jostling and drops. More Cases:

* iPhone 3G Crystal Cases
* iPhone 3G Back Cover Cases
* iPhone 3G Leather Cases
* iPhone 3G Silicon Cases
* iPhone 3G Socks

iPhone 3G Screen protector – The iPhone has been touted since before the release of the original model as having a strongly scratch-resistant screen. Unfortunately, that’s been proven not to be the case. The screen of the iPhone 3G also picks up smudges from the oil on fingers and faces very easily, making the screen constantly look kind of dirty. Protect the iPhone 3G’s very appealing screen with a thin, plastic overlay screen protector.

Recommended
You don’t absolutely need these things when buying an iPhone 3G, but you may enjoy your phone more with them.

iPhone 3G Charger – The iPhone 3G comes with a Sync data cable and an USB wall charger adapter for recharging the battery. In most cases, you could need a car charger or a 3-in-1 Car & Wall Charger with Data Cable Kit while on the road or traveling.

iPhone 3G Stylus Pen – Stylus made from special materials designed specifically for touch screen phones, will let you type faster and with greater accuracy.

iPhone 3G Extended Warranty – The iPhone 3G comes with a 2-year phone support, 1-year hardware support warranty, but you’re probably going to have your phone a lot longer than that. Extending the warranty to a total of two years for all kinds of support – probably the life of an iPhone, or close to it (will you be able to resist upgrading before that?) – will cost you just US$6/month.

iPhone 3G App Store Programs – The key appeal of the iPhone 2.0 software that the iPhone 3G runs on is its support for the App Store, Apple’s repository of official third-party programs such as games, blogging tools, and productivity aides. While the iPhone itself is great, expanding its functionality with App Store programs will make it infinitely more fun. Most programs range from free to US$9.99. Learn more about the App Store

Extras
Check out these accessories if you plan some specific uses for your iPhone 3G.

iPhone 3g Cradle & Dock – While not a strict necessity, some people prefer to stand their iPhones up in one of these little plastic stands while syncing. The first-generation iPhone came with a dock, but Apple now sells them separately.

iPhone 3G Car Mount & Car Kit – You would probably want to use your iPhone while in oyur car or RV or boat, get a car mount to easily connect to your car stereo. You should definitely consider getting a car charger if the item does not come with one.

iPhone 3G Headsets/Headphones – Though the headphones that come with the iPhone 3G are perfectly serviceable – and include a way to use the phone – you may want a higher-quality means to listen to your music on the go. Headsets also serves as a Send/End button, for answering and ending of iPhone calls, and it even controls basic music playback.

Weather Resistant iPhone Cases

One of the most requested accessories for the iPhone is the weather proof case. The importance of having an iPhone case that is weather proofed is extremely high, mainly because the iPhone does not have extreme amounts of protection. While it is an amazing phone with incredible capabilities, it is quite vulnerable to the elements. Thus, if you are stuck in a rain storm, you may find that your iPhone is not completely safe by simply resting in your pocket.

If you live in a city that gets decent amount of rain, or if you simply want to protect your iPhone from the outside world, than you will want to purchase an iPhone weather-proofed case. But what are the best cases for this type of protection?

If you have searched the marketplace for weather resistant iPhone cases, than you have probably noticed that many of them are bulky and, quite frankly, unattractive, while this may be true for many weather resistant iPhone cases, it isn't the truth for all of them. There is one case that is stunning, both in its appearance and also in its ability to protect your iPhone from the harshness of Mother Earth. This iPhone case is the OtterBox Defender Series, which is a smart and rugged case that will add a certain style to your iPhone. This case still allows you to have full interaction with every feature of your iPhone, including pictures, all while giving you true water-resistant technology.

It doesn't matter what type of iPhone that you currently have, whether it be the 4GB model or the 8GB model, they will both fit in this iPhone case. One of the coolest features about this iPhone case is the fact that it allows you to have full interaction with the iPhone screen, while still protecting it. This is made possible by a unique membrane that has been patented due to its unique ability to give you such accurate interactivity, while still giving you weather resistant protection.

Actually, you are getting three complete layers of protection within this case, which is much more than many other "weather resistant" cases. Another feature that makes this iPhone case so unique is the fact that it is completely wrapped in silicone, which has two great purposes.
The first purpose is to allow you to have a seamless grip on your iPhone, so you will be less likely to drop it while walking throughout your day. And the second reason the silicone is such a great feature is because it will protect your iPhone if you do accidently drop it. Normally if you drop your phone, you are scared to even look at it because you don't know if the screen is cracked, or if it is completely broke. However, because of the silicone you will have superior protection against accidental damage.

It should be noted though that the silence switch is not available to use when your iPhone is in this case. So, if you must silence your iPhone, it is suggested that you do so before you put it into the weather-proof case.

HTC Touch HD vs Apple iPhone 3G

Apple faces stiff competition from HTC as the Taiwan-based mobile phone powerhouse introduced the HTC Touch HD smartphone.

For a long time, the Apple iPhone 3G smartphone dominated the high end touchscreen mobile phone market with its huge 3.5 inch WVGA display screen. This is a pioneering technology of Apple especially with its ultra high resolution display quality and very intuitive user interface.

However, HTC puts the competition a notch higher by introducing a smartphone that matches the size and quality of Apple's WVGA touchscreen display. You now have two high end options when buying a widescreen smartphone.

The Race towards Better Touchscreen Display

HTC Touch HD offers wider touchscreen at 3.8 inches which totally dominates the facade of this mobile phone. This type of design is common in Apple iPhone 3G smartphone. That is why you cannot help but compare HTC's smartphone from iPhone.

However, the bigger screen and display size of the HTC mobile phone will certainly pose a serious problem for Apple as consumers tend to favor wider mobile phone screens.

Both mobile phones have ultra high quality WVGA screen resolutions. HTC can provide brighter and crispier VGA screen display under normal lighting conditions. On the other hand, Apple's 3G iPhone can outperform HTC when used under bright sunlight.

Digital Camera and Multimedia Features

HTC Touch HD takes the cake away from iPhone 3G when it comes to their built-in digital camera features. iPhone 3G has a 2 megapixel standard phone camera. It has no autofocus feature and lacks a built-in flash. The digital camera of Apple iPhone 3G would be ideal for non-critical snapshots and should be used on bright environments.

On the other hand, HTC offers a 5 megapixel digital camera which is a first of its kind in the HTC smartphone line. The digital camera of HTC also features smart autofocus and a built-in camera flash. With such powerful features, you can use your smartphone as a real Digicam to produce superior quality images.

Processing Speed and Phone Memory Performance

Apple's iPhone edges HTC on this aspect. iPhone 3G has a 620 megahertz ARM central processing unit. You can also choose the phone memory power between 8 gigabytes and 16 gigabytes. These system features can provide faster data processing, high speed connectivity, and lots of storage space.

HTC Touch on the other hand works with a Qualcomm 528 megahertz processor. It has a 288 MB internal memory and a 512 MB ROM. If you want more storage space, you can add a 4 GB Micro SD card on it. HTC also runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system which can be surpassed by the iPhone operating system.

Web and Wireless Connectivity Features

HD Touch and iPhone 3G support multiple high speed networks to connect to web. Both can work on HSDPA, GPRS, and Quadband GSM. iPhone however can use EDGE network which is surprisingly absent in the HTC smartphone.

HD Touch and Apple iPhone 3G are two of the most advanced smartphones today. It is up to you to decide which high end mobile would be suitable for your needs.

iPhone Unlocking - Cat and Mouse Game

Giant companies, Apple and AT&T, have both been working hard to find ways to keep the iPhone technology exclusive to just the 2 companies. Right from the beginning, the Apple iPhone was meant to be for AT&T customers only. This was, and still is, part of their business strategy to acquire market share, and to prevent competitors to enter into the space.

The problem with this strategy is that it's not very popular among iPhone fans. The deal meant that an individual cannot use the iPhone with any other carrier except AT&T. So that leaves thousands of consumers in the marketplace stranded - i.e. they can't buy the iPhone unless they switch carrier.

However, it wasn't long before someone discovered a way to unlock the 2G iPhone. Soon, software was released to perform similar functions. The development team became so efficient that they are able to release software that can be installed with a few simple clicks.

For sure, Apple and AT&T business executives wouldn't be too happy about that. But due to sheer demand, it is almost impossible to stop iPhone fans from unlocking their iPhones. It's something like buying your own computer but you are forced to use a proprietary operating system. To the fans, that meant a loss of freedom. They want the iPhone badly, but they also want the freedom to use it with any carrier that they want.

The unlocking solutions came along rather nicely, and thousands of iPhone fans flocked to unlocking websites to see if they can unlock their iPhones.

Before long, the 3G iPhones were released. Many were speculating over whether the new generation of 3G would be unlockable. They didn't have to wait long to find out the answer. Within a few short weeks, someone had found a way to unlock the 3G iPhone. This time, to the surprise of everyone, it came as a hardware unlock instead of a software unlock.

Most people would be expecting the unlocking solutions to be software based. It is more common to see developers come up with some sort of hack for software. Very few people expect the unlock solution to be hardware based. To unlock the 3G iPhone, you have to attach an additional card to the existing SIM card. The card will "fool" the iPhone into believing that it's connected to the official network, when it's actually not.

But the solution didn't last long. In recent news, it was announced that Apple released new firmware (version 2.2) that actually updates the baseband, rendering the unlock solution useless.

The baseband is like your computer modem, and it is used for internal communications. Just like your modem, you may download new firmware to get upgrades or to patch bugs.

It has been confirmed that the unlock card cannot work with the new 2.2 firmware. So fans are urged not to upgrade for the time being. They are advised to wait until the release of the next iPhone unlock solution. The game of cat and mouse continues.