When you have an iPhone your whole world revolves around your handset. You have your email, your calendar, your social media, entertainment, contacts and more all stored on your iPhone. Therefore, you want to make sure you look after your iPhone, to ensure it will have a good long life, and always reliably be there for you when you need it. You can ensure your iPhone will last longer and remain in top condition by following these tips.

1 – Car safety

Your iPhone will always be with you when you’re in the car, and there are some precautions you need to take to ensure it remains safe and in a good condition:

• Extreme temperatures. Your iPhone can experience extreme hot and cold temperatures if you leave it in your car. Temperatures of over 1000F and under 400F can degrade the performance of the battery. If you find that your iPhone is overheating, turn it off for several hours, but if your phone is emitting heat even when it’s off there could be a serious problem and you need to take it back to Apple or your provider right away.

• Car chargers. Car chargers should not be used as a primary means of charging your iPhone as the 12 volt electrical system used in your car is designed to run the headlights and the interior controls and was never designed as a phone charger. As a result you can experience a power surge in your car because you have overloaded the small capacity system and this can fry the main board of your iPhone. If you do have to use a car charger, don’t have your iPhone plugged in when you turn your car on or off, also only use Apple approved car charger products as they will use to your iPhone better.

• Risk of theft. Not only will leaving your iPhone in your car expose it to extreme temperatures, you will also expose it to the risk of theft as you’ve probably left your phone somewhere in full view.

2 – Moisture

You should already know that no mobile phone likes water or moisture, so try and keep your iPhone away from high moisture areas. This means don’t leave it in the bathroom, near swimming pools or in other high humidity areas as it only takes a small amount of moisture to do damage to your iPhone.

If your iPhone is exposed to moisture you can try and dry it out by removing the back casing and the battery as soon as possible. To help absorb the moisture, submerge your iPhone in a container of uncooked rice, seal the container and leave it overnight. If you don’t have any rice, leave the phone to air dry for a day before using it again.

3 – Memory

iPhones have an amazing memory capacity in being able to store your favourite songs, movies, images and files. However, be aware of how you are treating the memory of your iPhone because it’s not unlimited. If you find that your apps are crashing or your web pages are freezing it could be a problem with your phone’s memory. Therefore, make sure you don’t load up your iPhone to capacity, instead leave at least half a gig of memory free to handle any spikes in memory use.

At the same time take note of these crashes because if the same app keeps crashing it could be a problem with the app, and if Safari has a continual problem loading a page, that page could be too big. For easier web surfing on your iPhone look for the mobile version of a web page. Remember that your iPhone is really a mini computer and if you restart your iPhone this will help ease the burden on the phone’s memory.

4 – Battery

The battery is the life blood of your iPhone and you need to take good care of it to ensure your iPhone lasts a long time. You can look after your battery by:

• Sync your chip. If you find that your iPhone doesn’t fully charge when it is plugged in, it could be that the chip on the battery and the chip on the iPhone which measure the charge flowing back and forth are out of sync. To fix this run your iPhone battery completely flat and then charge it fully up before running it right down to flat again. This should help sync the chips, and should be done every month or two.

• Battery indicator. You may also find that the battery indicator is showing a false reading, showing that your battery is flat when it’s not. To correct the indicator run your iPhone completely flat before recharging it and after doing this several times the indicator should reset.

• Not overcharging. Make sure you remove your iPhone from the charger once it is fully charged, or turn your phone off while it is charging. When you over charge your iPhone you can cause it to overheat.

5 – Protection

Because your iPhone is with you all the time, it can see a few hard knocks in the course of a day, and these can all add up to damaging your handset. Therefore, to protect and preserve your iPhone for optimal performance take the following precautions:

• Cracks around the dock. Many iPhones experience cracks around the dock connector and headphone jack, as this is where the plastic of the screen is the thinnest. Apple are aware of the flaw and will replace your handset if it happens. However, to avoid cracks and scratches on your iPhone screen use a hard case and a thin skin protector over the screen. While the iPhone is scratch resistant it will still come in contact with keys, coins and more in your pocket or bag.

• Replace your protection. The transparent skin protectors for your screen can stop your iPhone from getting scratched, but make sure you replace them every few months for optimal protection.

• What where you put your iPhone. With everything at your fingertips on your iPhone, it will often be in your hand, but when you need two hands for something you are likely to set down your phone wherever you can. This leads to your phone being placed on the ground or on the roof of your car, and then forgetting where you’ve put it. Also don’t let your iPhone float loosely in your bag, instead keep it in a separate pocket.

• Clean out your speakers. At the bottom of your iPhone handset there is a speaker and a microphone which can experience problems over time. If you find you can’t hear your callers or they can’t hear you, you may need to clean out your speakers. You can do this with some strong rubbing alcohol on an old toothbrush, and using a can of compressed air to clear out the speakers. Make sure you don’t use too much alcohol as you don’t want any moisture to enter your iPhone.

Alban has been an early adopter of the Iphone. When he is not providing tips on how to maximise the use of an Iphone, Alban writes articles at Personal Loan Finder

With the iPhone approaching its fifth iteration, a monumental milestone for the lifecycle of any product, an Apple fanatic has to hope that Apple has something up its sleeve for its release. While evidence is building that changes are in the works, nothing is for certain until Apple itself removes the sheath on the highly desired product. As the normal, annual release window for the iPhone has already passed, the rumor-mill has been speculating that the delay has been partly caused by new changes in the physical product, along with the development of iOS 5 and iCloud.

I myself still have a 3GS and was hoping I would be able to update this June to the new model, so I’m holding out that the new phone packs some killer updates. Additionally, upon past analysis, it seems that the 3GS was a very mediocre upgrade and I am also hoping that the supposed “4GS,” as other sites have been calling it, incorporates more than just faster speeds. The following is a list physical features that I, as well as many other fanboys, would love to see.

Bigger Screen

Most Android phones, the iPhone’s biggest competitor, seem to have a much larger screen than Apple’s product. While the product will no doubt continue to remain relevant, to keep up and hopefully surpass competition, Apple should definitely expand iPhone screen size. This would allow better gaming and video display (movies and FaceTime), a larger touch keyboard, and more open space between apps on the Home screen (a la the iPad) for a less busy feeling. Supposed pictures have leaked out of iPhones with larger screens, so it looks like Apple has taken notice to what others are doing. But, who is to say that the larger screen will actually happen? The Motorola Droid 2, with a much larger screen, is already on its second iteration and gaining followers. If Apple knows what is best and wants to halt customers from switching to phones with larger displays, they know what they need to do.

NFC

Rumors have also been circulating that Apple is toying with near field communication technology in the next iPhone. This technology is popular overseas and could act as a payment device or e-wallet as some call it. Potentially, the phone could store your credit card data and would allow the user to “swipe” their phone instead of your card. My phone is always within easier reach than my wallet and I’d think this feature would be great for speedy transactions. While NFC technology is not widely used so far in the US, if Apple, being a leader in just about everything these days, does incorporate this feature into the next iPhone, you can expect a huge increase in adoption of this tech.

Larger Storage Capacity

iTunes was released over 10 years ago and people have been building their music libraries ever since. Lately, it has become a struggle for me to decide what music I want to remove from my iPhone in order to put new music on. I know I’m not the only one with this problem. A 64 GB model, along with a low-end 32 GB model, would be great for keeping more media on the phone: more music, more videos, more pictures, and more apps.

Better Cameras

Thankfully, the iPhone 4 included a camera upgrade. Again, since the competition has bested Apple in the photo-taking abilities, Apple should include an 8 megapixel camera. With all-in-one devices becoming almost universally popular, this feature would only strengthen the possibility of iPhone adoption. I remember the days when I carried an iPod, a Blackberry (*sigh*), and a camera. With an 8 megapixel, we can safely remove the camera from our pockets or purses and not have to suffer from low-quality photos. A better front-facing camera is another feature that would be great to see. As Apple pushing for FaceTime to become the default video-calling program, a high megapixel front-facing camera would help Apple define its products as best-in-class for this service. Let’s just hope we can use the network for this too.

With only a few months to wait before an announcement, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for these features.

About the Author: August Drilling works for CliqStudios.com, an online site for Kitchen Cabinets, and can always be found with iPhone in hand.

Most people are suprised to find out that AT&T does NOT offer insurance for the iPhone.  Apple does offer a product called AppleCare that will provide some additional protection for your iPhone.  For $69 you extend your 90 day warranty to a fully 2 years of coverage.  This will extend your technical support on how to use the devices as well as your hardware warranty in case the device malfunctions.  You will also get some extended coverage on your battery and get a replacement as the battery starts to fade.  AppleCare does NOT cover you against accidental damage though, which is usually standard coverage when you get insurance on other phones from AT&T.

AppleCare Details
AppleCare FAQ

Would I buy AppleCare?  Not a chance.  I really don’t see much value in AppleCare.  Since AppleCare does not cover against accidential damage, I find the coverage pretty limiting.  The only selling point for me is the battery replacement, but I figured I would take my chances and see how well my battery holds up.

Your alternatives are pretty limiting though.  The only other way that I found that you can insure your iPhone is through a company called SquareTrade.  The coverage looks pretty decent as it extends the normal warranty and covers you against manufacturing defects, but it also covers you for accidental damage.  When making a claim for accidental damage, you will be charge a $50 deductiable, but this is pretty standard even with insurance provided by AT&T.  The pricing for SquareTrade is very reasonable, 8GB $76, 16GB $96, and 32GB $115.

Has anyone ever used SquareTrade?  Let me know by leaving a comment.