25 iPhone Power Tips
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.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.
More...
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September 02, 2007 at 4:23am
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!
Sanjay
August 30, 2007 at 11:57pm
Multi-click articles are soooooooooooo amateur. And so is your website. Giv us some credit, okay? Treat us like something other than click providers?
Anonymous
August 30, 2007 at 12:23pm
Sorry folks. I'm removing your site from my bookmarks. Your article requires just TOOOO Manyyyy clickkksss.
Pete
August 30, 2007 at 8:24am
You forgot my favorite iphone game, BattleFleet!:
http://www.iphonebattlefleet.com
Skookum
August 29, 2007 at 9:41am
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
Anonymous
January 21, 2008 at 3:29am
Put the phone into aircraft mode?
khansen
August 29, 2007 at 10:30am
I don't really have a good answer for this one, but you might try asking by submitting that question to ask@maclife.com
Dan
August 29, 2007 at 7:59am
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.
Hano
August 29, 2007 at 6:58am
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
JimH
August 29, 2007 at 4:37am
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?
Dave
August 28, 2007 at 4:18pm
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
alex cutter
August 28, 2007 at 12:56pm
Does this article really need to be spread over so many pages?
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