Tips

Many users have been reporting problems with the iPhone firmware 2.2 upgrade from Apple. It may be that the best way to solve these problems is to take a step back and downgrade to firmware 2.1. Others inadvertently upgraded their phones when syncing to iTunes on their computer and for whatever reason would like to revert.

The process is relatively simple and should bring back the 2.1 version OS to your iPhone. Performing these steps on an iPhone 3G may work, however this article does not cover reversing the 3G baseband update included in firmware 2.2. Remember, taking these steps is at your own risk, and any hacking of the iPhone could render your remaining warranty invalid.

So you've watched the videos and looked at the photos of iPhone 3G disassembly and now you're ready for action. The glass screen is cracked and/or the LCD is broken and you have no intention of spending days without your device and paying Apple $200 or more. Although the do-it-yourself attitude is noble, it could cost you even more money if you're not careful. The tutorials above are a good start, but more details can only help.

Take these tips to heart if you're going to fix the screen yourself. First and foremost don't ever buy the glass alone (typically $20). It's useless. The digitizer can't be detached from the front glass. The next best option is the front glass and digitizer together (around $60). The LCD is mounted with screws behind the digitizer and runs $80-90. Remember, you perform this repair at your own risk, and will render any remaining warranty invalid.

Though it would have been better if SpoofApp had been around for April Fools' Day, there's still plenty of uses we can think of to fake (or "spoof") your caller ID. Yes, most of these are for reasons involving practical jokes. Not all, though, there are definitely legitimate uses for spoofing your caller ID -- everything ranging from conducting business from the road to checking in on your kids. So, when one of our readers wrote in about SpoofApp, we thought we'd spread the word.

The unofficial iPhone development community has contributed numerous applications which serve to make your life easier and/or make you more productive. While the subject of this HOWTO, vWallpaper, does neither, what it does do is offer up some eye candy to wow your friends and neighbors with.

vWallpaper allows you to replace your boring old static wallpaper with video wallpaper. That's right, wallpaper that moves. The good news is, if

Without question, one of the best and worst features on the iPhone is YouTube. Being able to watch YouTube videos from anywhere at anytime isn't just convenient, it can be a lot of fun as well. However, YouTube on the iPhone isn't without its frustrations.

For one thing, you tend to want to show people the same video over and over. Waiting for the video to download repeatedly is less than exciting. Additionally, videos originally seen at WiFi quality (the iPhone downloads higher quality video when connected to the internet via WiFi) lose a lot of their luster when seen at EDGE quality.

One of the most common gripes from iPhone owners is the lack of native copy and paste functionality. Though the topic has been often discussed, until now, no actual solution has ever arrived. Thanks to coder Preston Monroe, this functionality is now available on the iPhone in the form of a Safari bookmarklet. Named iCopy by Monroe, the bookmarklet provides the ability to copy and paste text within Safari or copy text and paste directly into email.

A number of users who have upgraded and jailbroken 1.1.4 are reporting that the Mail application stops working properly after the upgrade and/or jailbreak is complete. These reports of a broken Mail.app come in a variety of forms. For some users, Mail crashes when they attempt to open it. For others, it simply fails to download any new messages. Still, for others, Mail crashes when attempting to read a message.

Regardless of the particular symptoms your Mail is experiencing, should your Mail.app be broken after upgrading and/or jailbreaking 1.1.4, here are some possible fixes:

A number of users have reported an inability to install Summerboard after jailbreaking firmware 1.1.4. With Summerboard being one of the most popular third party applications for the iPhone, many iPhone owners will be glad to hear a solution is at hand.

An iPhoneFAQ reader, Cherubsan, sent in the following instructions which allow those running jailbroken 1.1.4 to install Summerboard via Installer.app. As with all instructions related to jailbroken or unlocked iPhones, proceed at your own risk:

Many of you are already using SummerBoard and it's accompanying theme "Leopard." While one of our favorite themes, the SummerBoard Leopard theme actually uses outdated wallpaper. If you'd like to update your iPhone Leopard look, read on.

You'll also find a link for the full size Leopard Aurora wallpaper at the end of this article.

An iPhoneFAQ forum member, trumac, recently added an iPhone-sized version of the Leopard wallpaper to our

With the iPhone's beautiful and vibrant LCD, the last thing anyone wants to do is risk damaging or negatively affecting it. One of the most typical problems with LCD screens on mobile phones, smartphones, and PDAs is dust and dirt getting behind the screen. In many cases, what users identify as dead pixels is actually dust or dirt.

If you're like us, with the iPhone's two big, wide-open inputs, you might be feeling a little paranoid about dust and dirt getting inside the iPhone itself. If you carry your iPhone in your pocket, chances are every time you pull it out you'll find a bit of dust or pocket lint lingering in the dock connector. More worrisome, perhaps, is the headphone jack. When the LCD screen is illuminated, it's easy to see just how far down inside the iPhone offending particles can travel via the headphone jack.

The good news is that there's a neat and tidy solution to the problem - well, at least part of it. For usually less than $5, you can pick up a rubber dummy plug that protects the dock connector from unwanted particles when in your pocket, a purse, or wherever.