Failing Home Button: Tips On Fixing It

Hi all,

My home buttons been going on my phone recently and I was wondering if anyone could take a rough stab at how tricky to fix it will be.

A while back I did a very stupid thing and as I was getting out of the car, I didn't notice my iPhone had fallen out of my pocket and onto the door frame. Until I shut the car door and wondered what was stopping it from shutting properly that is. My iPhone came out fully working but with a smashed back glass panel and it's now also slightly bent at the top of the phone (near the silent mode switch). That was a while ago and since then I've taken it off to the Apple Store to get it fixed & all was fine for a while.

But now my home button has stopped working. Sometimes it's fantastic and will work instantly. Other times, I just can't get the thing to respond no matter what I do. I'm trying a restore on my iPhone now incase it's somehow software related but I'm guessing the hardware's just taken one knock too many over the iPhones life.

So my question is - what do I do:
1) Take it into an Apple Store to see if they can repair it? Will they be able to?
2) Buy an iPhone 4S when I'm due an upgrade in December & hope that the iPhone 5 isn't released for another 18 months. Plus then try to see if I can get a decent price from a phone recycling site.

Suggestions anyone?

 

I didn't mention it as I didn't really start to notice it until after the repair. The flicking does seem to temporarily fix it but it soon goes back after a while. I've also heard rubbing alcohol can help so perhaps I'll try that next.