I haven’t written anything about the new 3G iPhone (except the iPhone version 2.0 software announcement) for a few reasons:

1. I was on holiday when it was announced and have yet to catch up on all the coverage.
2. I’m not sure if I need 3G or GPS (note the emphasis on need – want is an entirely different issue).
3. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my 1st generation phone if I do upgrade…

One of my friends has sold his v1.1.4 iPhone on eBay this week (unlocked) for a whopping £233 – not bad for a second-hand mobile handset – leaving him plenty of cash in the kitty for the upgrade (even if the old handset he’s using until he can get his hands on a new iPhone is driving him mad). Mine has a small scratch on the side (left by a grain of sand that got caught between the phone and the case it lives in) but is otherwise immaculate – it’s had a screen protector since day one and always lives in a case. Even so, I don’t think it will fetch as much as my friend’s – but hopefully it would be enough to cover the cost of the upgrade.

I did think of keeping the v1.1.4 iPhone as a spare handset – with the v2.0 software but then again I hope I’ll never need a spare iPhone. I could give it to my wife but she doesn’t like the iPhone form factor and the various extended family members that I’ve spoken to don’t seem that bothered either.

I also toyed with unlocking it and using with the SIM for my business cellphone but the two-dozen or so of my colleagues who have done this have been tracked down “asked” not to use the iPhone on the Vodafone
network (bizarre – as the Vodafone network must have many iPhones in use on it and I’m sure they don’t get upset about other unauthorised/untested handsets). Perhaps changing the IMEI to my officially sanctioned Nokia 6021 would work. But then again, maybe they will have another way of tracking me down and I’m sure that “asked” will become “instructed”.

Then there’s the whole issue of whether Apple or O2 will require me to have the old handset with me when I upgrade. I sure hope not, because selling mine before the price tanks on July 11 will make a lot of sense… so I’m considering taking it to the pawn shop (as long as I can get enough for it to cover the cost to upgrade) – and I can always buy it back if I need it!

So many choices! And I still don’t know if I will upgrade or not.

In any case, I wanted to share some iPhone tips – and one source is the excellent iPhone Hacks website – but I stumbled across a hidden feature myself a few days ago, completely by accident (this phone is running v1.1.4 and is not unlocked or jailbroken). I have a PIN code set on my phone, but that’s a real pain if I need to pause the iPod functionality on the phone for some reason (slide to unlock, enter the PIN code, then access the iPod controls). Then I found that, if I hit the home button twice in quick succession, it lets me access basic playback controls without unlocking the screen. Neat.