My iphone 3G is on life support, but still refuses to die. Got it when it was launched. After i upgraded, i passed it on to my sister in pristine condition. It was then tortured till it almost died.
The screen cracked (or shattered will be a better word), the sleep/wake button died, the home button died, the protruding silver volume rocker dropped off.
Just for the fun of it, i tried to fix it. I managed to find the replacement glass for 4 bucks. Fixed the glass. Found a piece of metal wire and stuck it over the location where the volume rocker was supposed to be. Found out about "Activator" and thought i didn't the home and power button. Managed to jailbreak it on ios 3.1.3, installed Activator, and viola. Working again, sort of. At least now i can exit apps.
Now its just a music player in my room. Still working. To unlock it i just toggle the vibrate switch, to lock i long press the volume up, and to mimic the home button, i long press volume down.