iPhone 4 Power Button is dead: the cheapest fix

My iPhone 4 power button / sleep button has failed. Press it and nothing happens. This presents a pretty major inconvenience: app buttons can be pressed accidentally when I put it into my pocket, emails can be accidentally deleted, and accidental phone calls (pants dialing) can occur. All of these things have happend to me, so clearly some kind of fix is in order.

The obvious choice is to go to your Apple Store and get the hardware fix. If you're under warranty or have AppleCare- go do it ASAP, you'll be glad you did. If you're not under warranty, you can still go get it fixed. It's worth a trip to the Apple Store to throw yourself on the mercy of their staff and you may get it repaired cheaply, but there's a real chance you'll be quoted $200 to fix. That's a pretty serious cash outlay- enough to consider the cheap options!

Option 1: Use the Clock App to put it to sleep.
You can put your phone to sleep in one minute without getting the hardware fixed.
- Go to the Clock app which comes as part of the iPhone OS.
- Go to the Timer button in the lower right corner.
- Press the "When Timer Ends" button
- Select "Sleep iPod"
- Press the "Set" button
- Set your timer to 0 hours, 1 minute
- Press the "Start" button
That's it! Your phone is asleep in one minute. Sure wish Apple allowed you to do it in 1 second..

Option 2: Put the phone into immediate sleep by resetting your network.
This approach puts your phone to sleep immediately, but it resets your network settings. Next time you go to your favorite Wifi zones, you'll have to login again. If you have a complex network configuration like you have a VPN set up and lots of wifi setup, it may be not be worth it. For me, I'm out on the AT&T network, 3GS most of of the time. When I get home I'll get on Wifi, but it's not so inconvenient. Overall, the ability to put my phone to sleep immediately makes it worthwhile.
- Launch the Settings app
- Press "General"
- Scroll to the bottom and press "Reset"
- Press Reset Network Settings
- You may need to enter your passcode next
- Press reset network settings again
That's it! Your iphone 4 is now doing a mini reboot. You can immediately put your iPhone into your pocket- no more pants dialing and you haven't spent a dime!

Can you do this last one in fewer steps? The answer is yes! Here's the approach I use.

I purchased an app called Icon Project. It allows you to create icons which do a variety of things, most notably give you shortcuts to your settings. I created an Icon which does the network reset.

Here's a link which explains the whole thing:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/11/11/how-to-create-custom-shortcuts-to-wifi-settings-airplane-mode-and-more-no-jailbreak-required/