We all do it– the quick cell phone screen wipe on our clothes or just taking our thumb and re-smudging the screen. (Or at least I’ve done it myself and seen others do it as well.) So how dirty exactly is that new iPhone you’re gabbing on, I wondered.

A Google search for “cell phone bacteria” came up with several great sources on this topic. I found the following great YouTube video from a news station in Albuquerque that shows the kinds of bacteria that exist on cell phones including staphylococcus, the bacteria that can cause meningitis.

In another article, ABC News shows that cell phones are the dirtiest among toilet seats and the bottoms of our shoes! Check it out here.

To keep our Blackberrys, G1s, Sidekicks, fill-in-the-blanks clean and to reduce the risk of illness from gossiping/texting/blabbing on our devices, just use an anti-bacterial wipe or rubbing-alcohol-soaked cotton ball and gently wipe the surfaces of your cell phone.  Note that a hands-free gadget like a bluetooth headset is also more clean than the average mobile phone.

With the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 3G S today, I’ve seen lots of comments flying around about iPhones and BlackBerrys.  It’s amazing to see exactly how attached everyone is to their gadget– it’s really an extension and expression of themselves, as if their identities were enmeshed with their gadget, and everyone else must choose a “team” or else be forever shunned and ridiculed.

Ok, so maybe this is a little excessive and exaggerated. Nevertheless, I would be interested to see if we really DO have a team we’re rootin’ for!

The Experiment:

1. In the comment box below, choose and enter one of the following:  “iPhone”, “BlackBerry”, or “Neither”. You don’t actually have to own either to choose one.
2. Follow that with any comments you may want to include.
3. At the end of the week, let’s see who has the most fans!

Example below.

GOOD LUCK!

Oh and btw, if you still have the old 3G or planning to take advantage of the incredible $99 deal for those, make sure you check out our cell phone cases and accessories! BlackBerry fans need not feel left out– we have those too!