Whether anecdotal reports of iPhones overheating are true or not, Apple has taken them seriously enough to reveal the presence of a temperature warning screen for the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

Here's the deal: an unknown but probably very small number of iPhones have been affected by overheating, to the point that some white iPhone 3GSes have allegedly turned pink. Sascha Segan, our phone analyst, said he hasn't seen any such problems with his iPhone 3GS, however.

Apple, however, has issued what some might call a "common sense" warning: a support document that warns users not to keep the iPhone in an environment where temperatures can exceed 113 degrees Fahrenheit, including parked cars.

But Apple also warns that CPU-intensive applications, such playing music or using the GPS while in direct sunlight may also overheat the iPhone.

In that case, actually using the iPhone in temperatures over 95 degrees can also trigger the temperature warning. "Low- or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly," Apple warns.

Obviously, summer temperatures in many locations top 95 degrees.Las Vegas, for example, has forecasts topping 100 degrees for the next 10 days; Phoenix routinely climbs above 103.

So what will happen? Read on.

Anticipation for the iPhone 3GS helped make Apple's Web site the top destination among hardware manufacturers in May 2009, according to data from Nielsen.

Apple's site attracted 55.7 million unique viewers last month, and the average person stayed on the site for an hour and 14 minutes.

Those numbers are more than double Hewlett Packard, which landed at the number two spot with 21.2 million viewers. Dell rounded out the top three with 16.8 million visitors. Also in the top 10 were Sun Microsystems, Nintendo, Xbox, Gateway, MagicJack, Intel, and IBM.

Overall, the hardware manufacturers sub-category grew 22 percent since last year - from 57.3 million in May 2008 to 70.1 million in May 2009.

Apple also dominated in the blogosphere, where mentions of a "new iPhone", the iPhone 3G, or the iPhone 3GS jumped 1,226 percent week-over-week on June 8, the day of the 3GS announcement. Buzz dipped in the following weeks, but picked up on its release date, June 19.

The E3 video game conference also helped boost mentions of the top game consoles: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Sony Playstation 3. Online buzz for E3 2009 was 30 percent higher than buzz for E3 2008, Nielsen found.

Yep, I've succumbed. After waiting since 2007 for the iPhone to come to T-Mobile or Verizon, I've pulled the trigger and ordered a shiny new iPhone 3GS during the first wave last week. Never mind that it took until Wednesday of this week to get to me, but that's another story.

I acquired a few holster-style cases from various sources, and I can tell you this: the Compass/Magnetometer in the iPhone 3GS does not like magnetic closures on the cases. I first used Speck's odd but very protective SwitchWay case, and after using it, I found that I had to recalibrate the compass  every time I took the iPhone out of the case. I also used a no-name holster that I'd used with an iPod Touch, and that also garnered the same results.

The no-name case uses two magnets to keep itself shut, and the SwitchWay uses four magnets (it can be worn vertically or horizontally). Apple's support docs have warned against using magnetic cases since the iPhone 3G last year, but I'd used the no-name case with the first generation iPhone while I tried it out back in 2007 with no ill effects.

According to a review on iLounge.com, the SwitchWay was redesigned with a Velcro closure, and I'd certainly recommend one if you like a holster for convenience. In any case, I'm off to the Apple Cube to get a DLO HipCase, which I know has Velcro.

I should point out that calls, emails, and text messages came through fine in any of the cases, magnetic or not, so that's not an issue, but it is exceedingly annoying to have to re-calibrate the Compass everytime I needed to use it (including in maps). It also took progressively more time to reclaibrate the Compass the longer I kept the iPhone in the magnetic cases. Buyer Beware!

There's another shiny new gadget on the market, and that means it's time for another teardown from the folks at iSuppli. This time out the team tackled the new iPhone 3GS. According to the company, the 16GB model has an estimated price tag of $178.96--that's $172.46 in parts and $6.50 for manufacturing expenses.

That's a bit of a bump from $174.33 that the company estimated it would cost to put together the iPhone 3G this time last year. All things considered, it's not a huge profit margin, given the phone's $199 price tag--at least it's not before the carrier costs are factored in.

For a full break down of manufacturering costs, check out iSuppli's site.

Research in Motion is soaring at the top of the U.S. smartphone market these days, but it had better watch out: A new study reports that 4 in 10 smartphone users would switch to the iPhone for their next purchase, while 4 in 5 current iPhone owners would buy another one, according to MediaPost.

Contrast that to the BlackBerry: just 14 percent of smartphone users that don't have one would switch to one of Research in Motion's handhelds for their next upgrade. "The findings highlight the challenges the BlackBerry faces in stemming the iPhone stampede," said John Martin, the CEO of market research firm Crowd Science, in the article.

The report said that the iPhone also beat out other smart devices for customer satisfaction in numerous other areas such as screen size, navigation, the ability to add new features, and video playback quality.

One six month hiatus and a rumored liver transplant later, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is reportedly back at work at the company's Cupertino campus, this according to anonymous employees. Official Apple PR has --likely they're planning on doing it with a bit more fanfare, preferably on-stage somewhere.

Of course no one's saying whether the return is permanent, after all, if Jobs did indeed recently receive a new liver, a few more months' hiatus may be in order.

Earlier today Apple released an announcement from Steve Jobs stating that, five days after it was first made available to the public, the company's iPhone 3.0 software had been downloaded an impressive 6 million times--that number, of course, is in addition to the more than one million people who have picked up an iPhone 3G S in the past three days.

With those kinds of number, it only figures some number of users would run into issues with the new software. We put a call out on this site over the weekend, asking users what their experiences have been, thus far.

While there some messages that suggested otherwise, the majority of the responses we got seemed to suggest that the iPhone 3.0 software works well when pre-installed on the new 3G S. When users download and install it themselves on older versions of the handset, however, things are apparently taking a decidedly different turn.

Apple's blew away analyst expectations by moving more than one million iPhone 3G S handsets over the weekend. While the lines at Apple stores weren't quite what the press had expected, both Apple and AT&T had been pushing for customers to order their phones online, a fact that may have thrown a wrench in some analysts estimates.

Gene Munster, for one, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, estimated some 750,000 handsets over the weekend--a marked drop from the one million iPhone 3Gs sold at last year's launch, but still roughly a 50-percent increase in his initially estimates. Still, despite increased competition from new phones like the Palm Pre and the continued sale of Apple's own iPhone 3G (now a tempting $99), the new phone sold rather briskly.

Also, interesting, the news was accompanied by a quote from the company's M.I.A. CEO, Steve Jobs, stating confidently,

Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning. With over 50,000 applications available from Apple's revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.

Apple also used the opportunity to report that the new iPhone 3.0 software has been downloaded six million times in the five days its been publicly available.

Have you downloaded and installed the new 3.0 software on your original iPhone or iPhone 3G? Were you among those waiting in line to pick up the new iPhone 3G S? Apple has done a pretty good job selling consumers on the advantages of the handset's new software, but as is the case with any new products, there are bound to be some bugs.

If you've experienced any issues with the software--or even if your experience has been flawless--we'd like to hear from you in our comments section. What sort of issues have you run into? Have you been able to resolve them? If so, how?

Earlier this morning we got our greasy little hands a brand-spanking new iPhone 3G S. Our lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan has bravely agreed to sacrifice his weekend in order to be bring you a full hands-on review of the device. In the meantime, we managed to snag a couple of shots of the new handset when it first arrived at our offices.

After the jump, check out an unboxing and some close up shots of the eagerly anticipated phone--which, for the record, looks an awful lot like its eagerly anticipated predecessor.

Not too jazzed about the prospect of paying up to $500 to upgrade your iPhone 3G to an iPhone 3G S? AT&T has apparently heard your complaints and announced an accelerated upgrade schedule Wednesday for customers who want the new device.

Customers who will be upgrade eligible in July, August, or September 2009 will now qualify starting Friday, June 19, AT&T said.

In general, AT&T provides special upgrade options to customers who pay more than $99 a month for service plans and have completed between 12 and 18 months of their two-year contracts.

Given that the iPhone 3G was only released 11 months ago, very few people currently qualify for an upgrade and would have to pay $399 for a 16GB iPhone 3G S and $499 for the 32GB device.

"We've been listening to our customers. And since many of our iPhone 3G customers are early adopters and literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible due to iPhone 3G S launching 11 months after iPhone 3G, we're extending the window of upgrade eligibility for a limited time," AT&T said in a statement.

Under this promotion, people who pay more than $99 a month and are set to become eligible in the next few months will be able to buy the 16 GB iPhone 3G S for $199 and the 32GB for $299.

Get the rest of this story at pcmag.com.

Afraid of dumping a couple hundred bucks into a shiny new iPhone 3G S, only to have the handset crap out you a few months later? When the eagerly awaited handset goes on sale on Friday, mega retailer Best Buy will be offering up insurance on the device for the weary among us.

Best Buy will be offering Geek Squad Black Tie Protection for the device on top of Apple's two-year extended AppleCare warranty--but I'll cost you. The retailer is expected to charge $15 a month for the coverage plan--that's up from the standard $7 to $10 for other phone models.

No one ever said peace of mind was cheap.

The iPhone 3G S's notoriously secretive manufacturer isn't saying much about what's inside of the forthcoming handset, but that's not stopping its carrier in the Netherlands, T-Mobile, let slip some of that juicy information.

On its page for the new Apple handset, T-Mobile Netherlands unwittingly let the world in on some secret iPhone 3G S specs, including RAM and processor. The new phone will feature 256MB of RAM and a 600MHz processor, the latter up from the 412MHz of its predecessor--and as Gadget Lab points out, the same number as the Palm Pre.

Meanwhile, AnandTech does a deep dive into the 3G S and its processor, concluding that it houses a Cortex A8 and PowerVR SGX graphics chip, just like the Palm Pre, except perhaps clocked slightly faster.

We just got a very amusing press release here at Gearlog. It's from a case vendor saying that they've already got iPhone 3G S cases available!

Well, duh.

The iPhone 3G S has the exact same body as the iPhone 3G, except for its new "oleophobic" coating that's supposed to repel face grease, and, in some cases, white paint on the back. That means all existing iPhone 3G cases will work with the new 3G S, as well as existing docks, headphones, styli and such. So feel free to browse the entire world of iPhone cases and accessories if you're looking for something for your new iPhone 3G S - if it works with the 3G, it'll work with the S.

I will not mention the case vendor's name, because I don't want to encourage them.

The new iPhone 3G S is coming out on June 19th. Because it's a mobile phone, the pricing is really difficult to understand. Here's the full deal.

All prices below are for the 16 GB model. For the 32 GB model, add $100. For the old 8 GB iPhone, subtract $100.

If you are an existing AT&T customer who has been in your current contract for at least somewhere between 18 and 22 months (it varies by individual), you pay $199.

If you are a new AT&T customer willing to sign a two-year contract, you will pay $199 plus a $36 activation fee, for a total of $235.

If you are an existing AT&T customer who hasn't been in your current contract for 22 months, and you're willing to extend your contract, you pay $399.

If you want no commitment and no contract, you pay $599 - plus the $36 if you're activating it on a fresh line.

You will want to get AppleCare, which gives you decent service beyond the iPhone's 90-day support period, for up to two years. That's an extra $69.

Now, this means that most folks who signed new contracts for iPhone 3G models a year ago are not eligible for the lowest possible price. That was in your contract. Your two-year contract only gets you a discounted phone every 22 months. You agreed to that.

iPhone service plans are similarly complicated. Here's how they break down.