iPhone Stopped Vibrating

One day my iPhone 3G made a funny noise when it started to vibrate.  It sounded like the motor died mid-vibration.  I thought this was the end of my old phone and I was going to be forced to purchase the latest and greatest model, which unfortunately is a problem since I need an unlocked phone for where I live.

But I was able to revive it!  I read online about placing the phone face-down and tapping the back -- not hard, but enough to shake it up a little. It didn't work, so I tried focusing on different parts of the phone.  It seems the best location to tap is on the spot two icons from the bottom right of the screen (but on the backside of the phone).  Basically, put the phone face-down and aim for that spot in the lower-left of the backside.

It worked for me!  It started vibrating, then stopped again.  I had to tap it a couple more times before it would continue working without me having to tap it any longer.  I imagine there's a piece of plastic or a seal floating around in there now, but I'm happy with extending the function for a bit longer.

iPhone - Nobody Can Hear Me!

One day my very old iPhone 3G seemed to give its last breath when one day people were unable to hear me on a call, though I could hear them just fine.  I figured the phone was just too old and the time had some to upgrade.  Just to be safe, I scoured the internet and found a bug related to the iPod app, so I gave it a try and it worked!

Many forums online say it happens when the headphones are suddenly unplugged during the middle of a song, but I couldn't recall such an incident since I don't listen to a lot of music on my iPhone.

The fix:

1)  Start the iPod app.
2)  Play a song.
3)  Stop the song.
4)  Close the iPod app.
5)  Restart the iPhone.

That worked for me and I haven't had any problems since!  If this doesn't work, then try updating everything through iTunes.  A workaround is to just use the hands-free cable until you can get a new phone. Some shops are able to fix hardware issues, but you need to weigh the costs vs. getting a new phone.