Early yesterday, just before lunch … I had one of those technologically sad moments. My precious iPhone 3G while holding her making a call … seemed different, especially near the back. Much to my dismay, what I discovered was a crack that goes from the USB connector up through to the “Designed by Apple” text. The phone, still worked, so I called AppleCare to find out what the deal was. After several minutes on the phone, we both figured out that a trip to the Apple Store to visit the support staff was the next best option.

I went to the local store, there are 4 in a 15 mile radius of the house, flashed my Apple ProCare badge and got seen within 5 minutes by a specialist. After looking at the phone for a while, and reading his special PDF documents explaining procedure, he said it wasn’t covered under the Apple Warranty, and that it was considered “damage”. Damage? I have never dropped this phone, it has stayed in a case for most of it’s waking life, and I’m being told that the hardware warranty doesn’t cover a flimsy back on the phone?

What seems to be of interest here to me, is that the crack probably started from the USB connector and gradually got larger. I haven’t noticed it until recently, because it’s always been “in the case”. Another possible troublesome issue, is the phone wouldn’t sync a few months ago, so I took it in to Apple, and the associate took a screwdriver and cleaned out the USB portion (could that have done it?).

I do hope they release a new phone next week, because I really don’t feel like shelling out $199 unless I’m getting something “extra” for it.