The iPhone 4 is finally in shops, with the cheapest deals from 3 Mobile.

The much-awaited Apple iPhone 4 was launched for sale yesterday (24 June), and 3 Mobile has announced the most competitive tariffs on the market.

Its 24-month contract deal is considered to be the most competitive on the market (it only offers 24-month contracts), with the cheapest at £30 a month. On this plan, the 16GB iPhone 4 handset costs £99 and includes 500 any-network minutes, 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes and 5,000 texts plus 1GB data.

This is £70 less than the cheapest handset prices on the same pay-monthly contract length and amount from Orange and Vodafone. Three also offers 200 extra any-network minutes than the next best call package from O2. However, O2 does offer unlimited texts.

For the 32GB model on £30 a month you will need to pay £189 for the handset and this includes the same amount of texts, minutes and data usage as the 16GB tariff.

To get the 16GB handset for free, Three offers a £45 a month contract with 2,000 any-network minutes, 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes, 5,000 texts and 1GB internet. A 32GB handset will cost £89 on this plan.

Cleverly waiting until the day that the Apple iPhone 4 launched in the UK to announce these deals, 3 Mobile has indeed become the cheapest network for the device.

Meanwhile, Apple has released official advice for iPhone 4 owners to overcome the problem of the device losing signal when held by the lower left corner.

The casing of Apple’s latest phone is made of stainless steel, which also serves as its antenna, so when it is held, the conductive warmth of the human hand is apparently affecting reception.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs responded to a query about the problem from one owner by saying: “Just avoid holding it in that way.”

The official advice is to “avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band”. Alternatively, customers could buy a case to shield the antenna – the so-called ‘bumper’.

A number of videos have been posted on video sharing site YouTube complaining about the reception issue.

Rumours of easy scratching and screen discolouration are also abound, yet for many, the iPhone still represents a fantastic piece of technology. We’ll return to this in the coming weeks to see how the iPhone 4 is faring.