25 (Most Wanted) Tips For IPhone

We all know that the handy user experience of iPhone is one of the selling point. But not so many people do realize that there are several shortcuts, tips and tricks available on the iPhone which able to make life much easier.

We believe every single iPhone users would like to know all of the tips and tricks for every feature of iPhone. In fact, if you dig and explore a little deeper, you will know that you can actually do a lot more on your iPhone. With these lesser-known goodies, you can easily get the most out of your iPhone.

This week, we’ve collected some really amazing tips from Web and our own experiences to present you 25 most wanted tips for iPhone 3G. Full list after jump!

1. How To Disable IPhone 3G GPRS Or Edge Connection

   Tap "Setting – General – Network – Cellular Data Network". In the “APN, Username and Password" field, simply type in some words so iPhone will not pass the correct values to service providers. Restart your iPhone if necessary.
   

2. How To Set Content Restriction

   You can set restrictions for iPod content for the use of some applications on iPhone. For example, parents can restrict explicit music from being seen on playlists, or turn off YouTube access entirely.
   Just go to “General – Restrictions” then tap Enable Restrictions and enter a four-digit passcode to restrict your content.
   

3. How To Customize IPhone Wallpaper As Google Calendar And Notes

   gCalWall Lite enables users to add their upcoming Google Calendar appointments to their home/unlock screens.
   

4. How To Train Your IPhone To Learn New Words

   You can train your phone to “remember” words if you type them repeatedly, but this tutorial will teach you a better way to train your iPhone to learn new words on the fly.
   

5. How To Select Other Domain Name Endings

   When you type a website URL in the address bar, you can now hold down the ".com" button to get a selection of other domain name endings and tap on any of the endings to insert them in the address bar. [via tuaw]
   

6. How To Take Screen Shot

   Hold the "home" button, then hit the "power/sleep" button, the screen will momentarily flash, and the iPhone’s current screen contents will be saved to the Camera Roll.
   

7. How To Hide SMS Preview

   With Show SMS Preview disabled you will only get a generic "New Text Message".
   Go to "General > Passcode Lock" and enter a 4-digit passcode. After that disable "Show SMS Preview".
   

8. How To Increase The Volume Of The Ringer

   Your iPhone’s ringer volume issue can be resolved by using a custom ringtone rather than ringtones currently available on the iPhone.
   

9. How To Save Images In Safari And Mail

   Just touch and hold an image in Safari or Mai, an action sheet will be presented to enable you to save the image. The image will get stored in the “Saved Photos” library of the Photos app.
   

10. How To Insert Extra Punctuation Keys

    Touch and hold the punctuation key and you get a set of additional keys to choose from.
    

11. How To Force Quit An App

    Have you ever been using an app and it’s become completely frozen? You can actually apply a force quit on it by pressing the Home button for at least six seconds.
    

12. How To Switch Punctuation Keys To Alphabet Keys Quickly

    Mode changes in between the punctuation keys and alphabet keys are pretty annoying. To solve it, just press the “.?123″ key, but don’t lift your finger as the punctuation layout appears. Slide your finger a half inch onto the period or comma key, and release. The ABC layout returns automatically.
    

13. How To Fast Forward/Rewind Music & Video

    Press and hold the skip forward/back arrows to fast forward or rewind rather than skip tracks. Also, press on the album art to manually FF/rewind.
    

14. How To Access IPod Controls Or Phone Favorites Instantly

    Go to "Settings – General – Home Button". You can customize by double-clicking the Home Button goes to Home, Phone Favorites or iPod Controls.
    

15. How To Maximize IPhone Battery Life

    Here’s how to live with the iPhone’s battery life while using it a whole lot.
    

16. How To Erase IPhone Data Thoroughly

    A method that should wipe out almost all remnants of your personal data.
    

17. How To Backup Your IPhone Contacts

    A neat application dubbed IDrive Lite that allows you to backup, share and restore all your iPhone contacts completely free of charge if you’ve updated your iPhone software to 2.0.
    

18. How To Design IPhone Themes

    If you’re bored with your default iPhone theme and plan to get more funky on it, you can visit iPhone Theme Generator and grab your own customized theme. It also provides a very good guide on how to install the theme into your iPhone.
    

19. How To Access The Scientific Calculator

    To access the scientific calculator, just rotate your iphone sideways into landscape orientation while using the calculator.
    

20. How To Share Your IPhone Apps With Others

    Melvin Rivera has a great step by step set up, so if you are a multiple iPhone family then you may want to head on over and check it out.
    

21. How To Use IPhone As External Disk

    DiskAid is a tool (freeware) for PC and Mac which enables to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as external Disk. With DiskAid you can transfer files and folders via USB between your device and your Computer.
    

22. How To Create Free IPhone Ringtones Using ITunes In Windows

    A few steps you can actually convert a DRM-free song into a ringtone using only iTunes in Windows.



23. How To Convert Videos For Your IPhone

    An useful resource for converting videos online as well as off. This tutorial also teaches you on how to copy videos to your iTunes and iPhone.
    

24. How To Sync An IPhone With Multiple Computers

    This tutorial allows you to add music/videos/podcasts from multiple machines.
    

25. How To Migrate Cell Phone Data To IPhone 3G

    Fone2Phone can help you migrate contacts, events, tasks, notes, bookmarks, photos, music and movies to the iPhone 3G.
    

iPhone 4S: Tips & tricks for your new phone

• By  Zeeshan gul

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If you’re one of the million lucky souls who has spent a few minutes today tenderly lifted an iPhone 4S out of its lovingly-crafted, pearly white packaging, perhaps afterspending hours in the driving rain outside an Apple Store, you might be stuck with a rather odd question: what now? Except for Siri — which, admittedly, you will be playing with for weeks to come — there really is nothing new. Yes, iOS 5 has a ton of neat features, and iCloud is awesome — but you would’ve had access to those even if you hadn’t handed over a fistful of dollars for an iPhone 4S.

There are still a few things that you can do to make the most of your new, super-fast iPhone, however.

Tell Siri who you’re related to

No, not so that Siri can tell your wife that you’ve been saying inappropriate things to your new, cutesy assistant — but rather so that you can tell Siri to “call my wife.” Pull up Contacts, edit a contact, click Add Field, scroll down to Related People, then add yourself and your relation (see right). Alternatively, you can simply tell Siri “Mary Poppins is my wife,” “My brother is John Smith,” and so on; a much more Applesque approach, admittedly.

Set up WiFi Sync

Not only can iOS 5 devices stand alone and be activated without iTunes, but you can now sync the contents of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod via WiFi. To do this, just plug in the cable, open up iTunes, select your device from the left, and scroll down to select “Sync with this device over Wi-Fi.” You’ll be walked through a simple setup process, and that’s it.

If you want to copy large amounts of data you’ll still want to use USB, though: it’s faster, and WiFi sucks up quite a lot of battery power.

Install some juicy games, play them on your lounge TV

Hardware-wise, by far the most stand-out feature on the iPhone 4S is its SGX 543MP3 graphics processor: it’s seven times faster than the iPhone 4, and almost twice as fast as the next smartphone(Galaxy S II). In everyday use, though, you won’t really notice the new GPU: the whole phone will just feel a little bit snappier… Unless you install some hardcore, bleeding-edge iPhone games!

Rage HD simply flies on the iPhone 4S, and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Galaxy on Fire 2 are good options too. Presumably the best game that will really show off the new graphics chip is Infinity Blade II, which was demonstrated at the iPhone 4S press event — but unfortunately it won’t be available to download until December 1.

It’s worth noting that you can hook these games up to your big-screen TV by way of Apple TV andAirPlay, and while the iPhone 4S isn’t quite as powerful as a video games console, it’s getting there…

Get a cheaper SIM card

While the iPhone 4S is being advertised as a “world phone,” the situation regarding its replaceable SIM card is a little murky. According to PC Mag, it sounds like Verizon users will be able to switch out their micro-SIM for another — and Sprint customers might be able to as well. AT&T customers will be forced to use the installed SIM card.

What this means is that Verizon (and possibly Sprint) users can a) switch in a SIM that gives you cheaper international calls, and b) when you’re actually travelling around the globe with your world phone, you can use a prepaid SIM card to make cheap local calls. AT&T customers will sadly have to pay for an “international package” and then suffer through extortionate roaming costs.

Of course, if you wait until November, you’ll be able to pick up an unlocked iPhone 4S for $449. Whack in a prepaid T-Mobile SIM and off you go!

Make sure iCloud is set up on your Windows or Mac PC

Finally, it goes without saying, but because it requires an update we’ll say so anyway: To take full advantage of iCloud you need to install an app on your Windows computer, or update your Mac machine to OS X 10.7.2 or later. The setup process is easy enough, but the first synchronization will take some time if you’ve taken a lot of photos and movies on your iDevice.

You may also want to customize exactly what gets uploaded to and downloaded from iCloud, which is under Settings > iCloud on your device, iCloud in System Preferences on your Mac, or iCloud in Control Panel on your Windows computer.

10 Useful iPhone Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks

Here at Mashable, we’ve been putting the iPhone 4 through its paces, and have come up with some handy tips and tricks that can help you get more out of your Apple-flavored mobile.

We’ve covered all kinds of basics, like making search results more relevant, creating shortcuts for your favorite websites, better organizing your apps, and making the most of Maps.

And, as ever, if you’ve got suggestions for more iPhone magic not covered here or in our previous Keyboard Shortcuts post, you know we want to hear them in the comments below.

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1. Change the Spotlight Search Result Order

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The iPhone’s Spotlight Search functionality is a great improvement from early incarnations, but you can make it even more relevant to you just by tweaking the settings.

In the “Settings” menu, go to “General,” then select “Spotlight Search.” You are then presented with a list of categories. By touching the three bars icon next to each category, you can change the order of how the phone presents search results.

This feature can be an extremely useful time saver, as it prioritizes search results based on what you’re most likely to look for (e-mails, apps, contacts, etc.).

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2. Lock the Screen Orientation

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A great feature for anyone who reads iBooks in bed, you can now lock the screen on your iPhone to stay in the portrait orientation and avoid that annoying wobble between portrait and landscape you can get in certain situations.

To activate the lock, tap the home button twice, then scroll to the screen on the left, at which point you’ll see a square gray icon with a circular arrow on the far right. Tap this to lock the screen (you’ll see a locked icon in the top right of the display now) and unlock by tapping again.

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3. Change the Display to White on Black

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This one falls under the iPhone’s Accessibility features as it offers a high contrast, more easy-to-view display, but it can also be employed just to make your phone look a little different.

To make the change, head to “Settings,” then “General,” then “Accessibility” and then toggle “White on Black” to “On.”

The colors on your phone’s display are now inverted, however, the Apple magic that makes this happen must have something to do with the phone’s display, rather than a software change, as you can’t export screen grabs showing this setting. To see the effect in action, you’ll have to make do with our real-life photos.

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4. Create a Homescreen Icon for Any Website

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This is a really nice option for anyone who regularly visits websites that don’t offer their own app. You can easily add a one-touch shortcut for any webpage to your homescreen in the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Simply load up the site you’re interested in and then press the “+” on the bottom of the screen. Select the “Add to Home Screen” option.

You can then label it something appropriate. Now, as the screenshot below shows, there will be a shortcut icon to the site on your homescreen.

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5. Use the Front-Facing Camera for More than FaceTime

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The iPhone 4′s front-facing camera isn’t just about FaceTime. You can also use it to snap quick portrait pics (as above) and even record video of yourself.

To access the front-facing camera, go to the main camera and then hit the camera with an arrow icon on the top-right corner. This switches the view to whatever the front-facing camera sees, meaning you’ll be able to see yourself on the screen to press the shutter at the correct moment.

To toggle between capturing stills and video, it’s the same as the main camera — slide the toggle from either icon at the bottom of the phone’s screen.

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6. Open and Save PDFs in iBooks

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The iPhone offers handy “Quick Look” functionality for viewing PDFs, but what’s even cooler is that you can auto-save them into iBooks and then access and view them from there.

Simply press and hold on the PDF icon and you’ll see the option to “Open in iBooks.” Hit this, and the PDF will be ported over, and be available to view in the app from then on.

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7. Turn iBooks Into Audio Books

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Another one of the iPhone’s Accessibility options for the visually impaired, the “VoiceOver” feature is a gesture-based screen reader.

Using slightly different controls (double tap to select and three fingers to scroll), VoiceOver essentially reads aloud what is on the phone’s screen.

Aside from the obvious uses for the visually-impaired, this also means that iBooks can become audio books. To activate it, go to “Settings,” then “General,” then “Accessibility” and toggle VoiceOver to “On,” at which point you get options to tweak the settings (the speed of reading) and try out the new controls.

Once activated, if you head over to your iBooks app, VoiceOver will read your selected texts to you. It might not be something you want to employ that often, but tired eyes might appreciate having a book read to them at certain times.

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8. Manually Add Pins to Maps to Mark Locations

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In the iPhone’s Maps app, you can add pins which make navigating to a point or sharing your location super easy to do.

In Maps, you’ll see a blue Post-It-style note icon on the bottom-right corner. Tapping this will give you the option to drop a pin. Selecting this drops a purple pin in the map, which you can drag to exactly where you want it.

Now that you’ve placed your pin, you’ll see a label that hovers over it. This leads to even more functionality.

Clicking through on the label gives you the options to get directions to that point, from that point, and also share that location via e-mail or text message as well as bookmark it. We think this functionality could be super useful for navigating your way back to your car, or a camp site, for example.

And while we’re on the topic of Maps, here’s a bonus tip. Did you know that hitting the arrow-shaped icon on the bottom-left of your display will activate the phone’s compass and show you on the map exactly which direction you’re facing? Clever, huh?

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9. Swipe to Delete

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There are some handy features for deleting messages more quickly. The most common way to delete multiple messages in e-mail is to hit “Edit,” select the messages you want gone, and then hit the big, red delete button. Alternatively, you can simply swipe to bring up a delete option.

In your inbox, swipe your finger from right to left across a message and you’ll see a delete button appear. Press it and the message is toast.

Gmail users, however, may only get the option to “Archive,” so if you’re using Gmail you’ll have to tweak your settings first. To do this, go to “Settings,” “Mail, Contacts, Calendars,” “Google Mail” and then toggle the “Archive Messages” option to “Off.” This will now reveal that delete option.

This swiping trick can also be used for phone messages, Notes and more.

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10. Add Folders to the Dock

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The ability to create folders is one huge improvement brought with iOS4, and is a very popular feature when it comes to organizing and accessing apps. In using folders, there’s a neat trick that will let you have all your most-used apps on your phone’s homescreen.

To create a folder, just press and hold any app until it starts wiggling. Then, drag the app into another app that you’d like to include in the same folder. The iPhone will automatically generate a name for the folder based on its contents. You can edit this name by pressing and holding the folder icon.

Once you’ve got your folders made, if you clear something less useful out of the dock (you can only have four things in at a time) you can drag and drop your folder into the dock for super-fast access.

With clever folder creation (Work, Play, Phone, Tools, etc) you could pretty much have everything you need one tap away from the homescreen, rather than scrolling through endless screens of apps.