I have searched around for a while now and haven't found a direct answer yet regarding a method to backup your iphone.

I am planning on upgrading my firmware with iTunes, but before I do, I want to do a full backup of my phone (save phone contacts, pictures, music, settings, 3rd party software, etc).

How do I go about doing this? Thanks!

just sync it with itunes and the liitle box at the top of the screen on your computuer will tell you that its sync contacs an etc etc