Care and Protection

Many people value their iPhone over most other possessions. After all, we keep much of our personal information there and it is usually among the more expensive purchases we make.

However, chances are there are some things you could or shouldn't be doing to ensure your iPhone's longevity. Many iPhone users place a case on their device, but not too many think about ways they can protect the internals, primarily the battery. No matter how pristine you manage to keep your iPhone on the outside, once the battery dies you're out of luck.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure your iPhone lives a long, happy life:

Did you know that 80% of all iPhone failures are due to accidents? The problem is that most mobile carriers will not cover a smartphone like the Apple iPhone under typical insurance contracts.

SquareTrade, a licensed insurance provider, offers the only iPhone protection that fully covers accidents from handling. The company has been in business since 1999 and has sold over one million iPhone warranties.

According to SquareTrade, "drops, spills, water damage, battery failures or any other failures from normal use or accidental damage" are all covered under their plans. This is the key difference between SquareTrade's insurance and other coverage options such as AppleCare.

Don't Drop That iPhone

Your iPhone comes with 90 days of technical support and a one year warranty from Apple, and many users have extended this coverage to two years with AppleCare. Unfortunately, if your iPhone is dropped and damaged or accidentally gets wet, Apple will not cover the repair.

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.