25 iPhone Power Tips

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25 iPhone Power Tips

Posted 08/28/2007 at 2:14:03pm | by Leslie Ayers and Roman Loyola

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.

iphone image with SoonR app

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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)

iPhone game Bejeweled

Add bling to your iPhone playing Bejeweled.

More...

COMMENTS: 18

TAGS: iphone

COMMENTS

Does this article really
Submitted by alex cutter (not verified) on Tue, 2007-08-28 12:56

Does this article really need to be spread over so many pages?

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What's with the two page article spread over 10 pages?
Submitted by Dave (not verified) on Tue, 2007-08-28 16:18

This is plain silly. I use ad block so I may be missing some blink-o-licious ads, but the whole click and reload the whole page 50 zillion times doesn't fool anybody

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Why is there no print version of this article?
Submitted by JimH (not verified) on Wed, 2007-08-29 04:37

How hard could it possibly be to make a "format for printing" version of all these pages? Who wants to keep clicking Next and printing seperate pages?

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Add my voice to the growing chorus asking why so many pages?
Submitted by Hano (not verified) on Wed, 2007-08-29 06:58

Add my voice to the growing chorus asking why so many pages? Who's silly/goofy idea was that? How about a "Print" version so people don't have to cycle through so many pages?

The tips may be great, but who's going to want to cycle through so many to get to them? Very poor presentation.

-- Hano

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Guiltless page-spreading
Submitted by Dan (not verified) on Wed, 2007-08-29 07:59

It's great that you've posted an article of potentially useful iPhone tips. No, I won't load your site eight-plus times (giving you unearned page-views) for one article. I wanted to read this article, but you won't cheat advertising revenue through me. Show more respect for readers and post articles on a single page.

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GSM Buzz at desktop
Submitted by Skookum (not verified) on Wed, 2007-08-29 09:41

Thanks for the aluminum foil idea for isolating the iPhone from the GSM buzz while driving...but what about at the desktop?

I have desktop Harmon Kardon speakers plugged into my Mac, but whenever I put my iPhone into its cradle I have to turn the speakers off, or else I get a godawful buzz. Is there any way to solve that problem?

jta

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RE: GSM Buzz at desktop
Submitted by khansen on Wed, 2007-08-29 10:30

I don't really have a good answer for this one, but you might try asking by submitting that question to ask@maclife.com

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GSM buzz
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2008-01-21 03:29

Put the phone into aircraft mode?

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You forgot my favorite
Submitted by Pete (not verified) on Thu, 2007-08-30 08:24

You forgot my favorite iphone game, BattleFleet!:
http://www.iphonebattlefleet.com

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TOOOO Manyyyy clickkksss
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2007-08-30 12:23

Sorry folks. I'm removing your site from my bookmarks. Your article requires just TOOOO Manyyyy clickkksss.

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Looooooooooooooosers
Submitted by Sanjay (not verified) on Thu, 2007-08-30 23:57

Multi-click articles are soooooooooooo amateur. And so is your website. Giv us some credit, okay? Treat us like something other than click providers?

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Great article
Submitted by Brad (not verified) on Sun, 2007-09-02 04:23

I really enjoyed this article, especially the tin-foil trick, I'll definitely remember that one! I was a little disappointed you didn't mention Launchrz as a great source for finding iPhone web apps and managing the links to the ones you like. Many of the apps you mentioned can be found there. Regards!

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Re: How do you update your Ipod
Submitted by fujiyato on Thu, 2008-10-30 22:04

ipod nano video converter supports convert movie to ipod nano so that you can watch your favriout movies on ipod nano at any time.

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are you still selling the item
Submitted by revhall000 on Thu, 2009-04-30 16:12

Dear Seller,

My son birthday is at hand and he surf through and come across your item as his favorite, which he want me to present to him as a birthday gift.but it is unforturnately that i dont have it in my store for now, His currently studying in Africa and I would have like to buy it directly and send it to him but my job won't permit me to do such cos I'm a busy person due to the nature of my job.

I will make an immediate offer of your price in USD and give me the total cost for the item including shipping and handling charges to Africa and if you are to busy to do that i can arrange for pickup so if you are interested in selling this item to me kindly forward to me your PayPal details e-mail address so that i can send out the payment through my PayPal account or Money order immediately.

Regards,

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