Warning: This post is specifically for those who own an iPhone 3G (or iPhone 3Gs).  If you own an iPhone 4, the information in this article is much less relevant.

I just jailbroke my iPhone 3g –version 3.0.1– a few days ago (after owning this iPhone for more than a year).

What got me to finally jailbreak my iPhone?

Well, there are some pretty sweet benefits that you could either 1. never do without or 2. would have to pay a bunch of money to acquire.

Here are some such benefits:

1. Video Recording - With Cycorder, you can record videos on your iPhone, now you can capture those memorable or funny moments on video (pretty crappy quality but still better than not having this function at all).
2. Customizing the Interface – Using a program like WinterBoard, you can completely customize and redesign the look of your iPhone interface, even altering such icons as the Wifi or Unlock buttons.  You can also apply some pretty spiffy wallpapers and themes.
3. Sweet (Free) Shortcuts – There are some really awesome shortcuts that EVERY iPhone user should be using.  For example, multifl0w allows you to multitask and run background applications similar to Dashboard or Expose in Mac OS X.  Also, QuickReply allows you to be much more efficient with replying text messages than the default way — a must have.
4. Try New Apps Without Paying First – Because jailbreaking your phone allows you to download free apps, you can try out applications before paying for something you’re not even familiar with yet.  In the past, I’ve bought a few apps that I ended up not even using — a waste of money.
5. Makes You Cool – Don’t you feel more hip now that you can show your buddies the sweet new apps you installed (free)? 

If you’re interested in jailbreaking your iPhone, be forewarned that it is no trivial task for an everyday person (that is, when you start running into small problems along the way).  Here are some tutorials that will help you.

Any other cool benefits of jailbreaking that I missed?

***Tip ( June 2011): Get 25% OFF iPhone skins and cases at our partner site, Mama Studio, with coupon code: GEEKMAMA.

Have you noticed a lag in the speed at which your iPhone 3G or 3Gs loads SMS text messages or web browser pages?

Here’s the solution.

Remember that your iPhone is basically a small computer, it runs an operating system just like Windows XP or Mac OS X. And just like those systems, there are background tasks running that may slow down the performance of your iPhone. So in order to speed up your iPhone, you should properly quit the applications that you are not using.

Important note (common misconception):

When you press the ‘Home’ button on the front of the iPod Touch, you are not quitting the application. You are simply closing it, but the application is still open and running in the background.

Suppose you open a game that you downloaded or an application on your iPhone that constantly updates via the internet. But you don’t use that application often. Then it is smart to quit those applications so it is not hogging the bandwidth (speed) of your iPhone in the background.

So, in order to properly quit these applications on iPhone 3G or 3Gs, perform the following steps:

1. Open the application that you wish to quit by pressing its button on the home screen.
2. Once the app opens, hold the power button (on the top of the iPhone) until the ‘Slide to Power Off’ with a red button shows up.
3. Then let go of the power button and press and hold the ‘Home’ button on the front-bottom of the iPhone.
4. When the interface returns to the home screen, you have successfully quit the application.

Perform steps 1-4 on any applications that you don’t use often. This will speed up the performance of your iPhone.

Bonus: Clear the cache of your Safari browser regularly by doing the following:

Home Screen > Settings > Safari > Clear Cache.

This will help speed up the performance of Safari when surfing the web.

Double Bonus: Got an iPad? Learn how to speed up YouTube on iPad.