First of all, thank you to all of you for your interest and concern. I can’t say that I’m really surprised by everyone’s shock or concern about giving up the iPhone – We all rely on smartphones, and the thought of going without is hard to bear.

Second of all, there seems to be some confusion about why I would put myself through all of this. So let me explain in a nutshell what the issue is:

1. I dropped and shattered my iPhone 3G back in December.
2. I qualified for an AT&T “upgrade credit” in January.
3. I hoped to limp along on my shattered iPhone until the new iPhone 4 is released this summer.
4. My shattered 3G stopped working all together despite every attempt I could make to revive it 3 weeks ago.
5. I needed a phone ASAP so went to AT&T and used my upgrade credit to buy the 3GS.
6. Earler this week, the whole Gizmodo stolen iPhone circus began and I watched the video about the iPhone 4.
7. I immediately wanted said iPhone but cannot afford to pay full price for it this summer.
8. If I return my 3GS within 30 days of purchase in “new”-ish condition, I get my money back and will save my upgrade credit.
9. My 30 days expires on April 25.
10. Once I return the 3GS I will need a functioning phone (see #4) and will be smartphone-less until the iPhone 4 comes out.
11. I will cover how I am coping with no smartphone in this blog series.

Hopefully this explains the issue at hand and why I am going through this process. Giving back the iPhone will not only make me look forward to the iPhone 4 that much more, it will be an interesting social experiment (for those who know me well) on how I cope without having instant access to information.

Hit me up with comments or email if you have other questions!