iphone's black screen of death

i don't know what happend but ever since i upgraded to the latest OS (the one that now has the capability to send mms & some other cool stuff) i've been encountering black screen of death.....what do i mean? it's when no matter what button i clicked nothing happens....... it's like my iphone just decided to hibernate on me.....

first, a history....

3 days after i got my iphone (this was around march of this year) i got this problem that my screen gets stuck on the "Favorites" and no matter how many times i click the "Home" button (that's the round thing below your iphone 's screen) nothing happens! it stays on the "Favorites".... so i went to the AT&T store in willowgrove mall (that's where i got my iphone) and requested for an exchange..... but before they gave me an exchange they tried to troubleshoot the problem first....

at&t guy: did you try resetting your iphone?
me: yeah, i pressed sleep/awake button to power off my iphone
at&t guy: how about a soft reset?
me: soft reset?


so what's a soft reset?

to perform a soft reset, press and hold the iphone’s sleep/awake button (upper right top of your iphone) and the home button (circle button, located below the screen) at the same time for several seconds until you see the apple logo on the screen. then wait until you see your iphone comes to life. 

worked wonders!


now, fast forward.....

i never had a problem with my iphone after that incident....... several months after that, the newest OS update became available........ and so i updated my iphone....... problem is after updating to the latest OS i noticed i started getting the black screen of death...... i panicked the first time i saw that happening ofcourse (i have a lot of data on my iphone that i don't want to end up in the lost data heaven) but then i remembered the "soft reset" .....  i did that and it worked wonders! problem is i get that black screen of death many times a week........ of course i can just do the "soft reset" every time but i remember reading somewhere over the web that continually performing "soft resets" can cause problems........ so here's my second tip:

if you tried clicking on any of the buttons in your iphone and nothing happens and you find yourself staring at a black screen of death here's what you can do before doing a "soft reset" 

(1) stop clicking!
(2) put your iphone down on a table or anywhere where you're sure you won't accidentally touch any of the iphone's button
(3) wait for 5 minutes....now, now, i know 5 minutes is too long and you're just itching to update your status message on your facebook but remember, patience is a virtue...... although in my experience 3 minutes is fine (yeah i'm impatient, i gotta update my twitter you know, lol)  but to be safe 5 minutes is better...
(4) after 5 minutes click the "Home" button... voila! you have just resuscitated your iphone back to life....

now, while it is true that maybe i need to have my iphone checked if i get the black screen of death kinda semi-regularly, i decided to observe my iphone first before i go to the at&t store...... so if any of you is encountering the black screen of death kinda-semi-regularly like myself please give me a buzz....




p.s.

here's another tip that you can do if one of your iphone application freezes:

If an application  is frozen, just press and hold the iphone’s home button for about 5 seconds, or until the home screen shows up.