Here’s the thing about a $600 cell phone: You want to get your money’s worth. If all you’ve done with your iPhone is make calls, surf the Web a little, and amuse yourself snapping pics of your kooky friend Mike, we’re here to tell you that you’re not pushing the phone to its limits.

You could be making international calls using Skype for a fraction of the cost. Or playing games for free. Or fixing a stuck slider or uncooperative Wi-Fi connection. Or uploading photos directly to Flickr. If these possibilities don’t entice you, we’ve got 22 more ways you can get the most out of your iPhone. And we’ve got them right here.

1. Unstick a Stuck Slider

If your iPhone’s slider ever gets stuck - as in, it simply refuses to do anything when you try to slide it, usually because you want to wake the iPhone up to use it - here’s a fix from iPhone Atlas: Press the Home button once before attempting to move the slider for the first time.

2. Make Skype Calls

Up-front disclaimer: We are not talking about free Voice-over-IP (VoIP) Skype calls here. We’re talking about making SkypeOut calls, which are not free but can drastically reduce the cost of making international calls on your iPhone. (SkypeOut rates average about 2.1 cents a minute.) The secret sauce is SoonR (free beta), which is actually much more than just a Skype-on-iPhone enabler. SoonR also lets you access Apple Mail files, mailboxes, and contacts. It also lets you grab documents from your Mac for viewing on iPhone, including PowerPoint presentations.

Until someone hacks the iPhone for free Skype calls, you can get deep discounts on international calls using SoonR and SkypeOut.

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3. Know Where to Go for the 411

Lucky for you, the world has gone iPhone crazy. That means there are a lot of excellent sources of info on the latest iPhone developments out there on the Web. Bad news: There’s a lot of crap, too. Besides MacLife.com, here’s a shortlist of our favorite iPhone info sites:

> iPhone Atlas (www.iphoneatlas.com)

> Gizmodo’s iPhone coverage (gizmodo.com/gadgets/iphone)

> The Unofficial Apple Weblog’s iPhone page (www.tuaw.com/iphone)

> iPhone Alley (www.iphonealley.com)

> iPhone Freak (www.iphonefreak.com)

> modmyiPhone.com (www.modmyiphone.com)

4. Play Games

You know what they say about all work and no play. Not that the Web surfing you’re doing on your iPhone is all work-related, now is it? Games - most of which are free - are starting to pop up for the iPhone, and we’re sure there will be more where those came from. For now, launch the Safari browser on your iPhone and visit these sites:

> MacMost’s collection of iPhone games, including classics like Solitaire and Minesweeper (free, macmost.com/iphonegames)

> myNuMo has four iPhone games, including iWhack - a whack-a-mole knockoff where the mole has been replaced by a headshot of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer - and blackjack (free, www.mynumo.com/iphone/fun4iphone.htm)

> iGiki’s games - which include Hangman and Canyon Crawl - aren’t free, but they’re only a buck a pop, and might what you need if you’re already tired of the freebies (99 cents per game or game pack for 99 days, igiki.com/i/Arcade_Gikis_.html)

> PopCap’s Bejeweled (free, static.popcap.com/iphone)

Add bling to your iPhone playing Bejeweled.

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