At first, it simply refused to close down the ‘phone application’. So I could make calls, but I could not return to the home screen. Pressing the home button had no result. Trying out my options, I simultaneously pressed the sleep/wake button at the same time as the home button. Normally this would cause a screenshot to be taken. And it did (see below).

screenshot of a white-screen-of-death'ed iPhone 3G

Only – the screen stayed white. 

The phone rang. I instinctively “swiped-to-answer” across the white screen. The phone was working fine – except for the screen that is. I finally made it home, and plugged it into iTunes. Sync was fine. Still a white screen.

Finally I tried a “hard reset” (sleep/wake + home button pressed for 10 seconds). Fine. Power on. Apple logo. And then .. “slide for emergency”.

After plugging into iTunes, the iPhone finally showed the message “iPhone is activated”. Everything was back to normal.

I wonder what that was all about. Please don’t do that again. I need my phone.