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.

 

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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.

 

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5. Beat a Shortcut to Your Fave iPhone Apps

Handy iPhone apps like Leaflets (free) and Applists (free) put most iPhone apps at your fingertips, but if you want to build your own list, just collect the apps you use most into the same bookmarks folder in Safari on your Mac. Then when you sync your iPhone next, in iTunes, be sure to check “Sync Safari bookmarks” on the Info tab, under Web Browser.

 

6. Take Self-Portraits

Because the iPhone camera’s shutter button is a “soft” (that is, onscreen) button, it’s a bit tricky to take self-portraits with it since you have to turn the phone around so you can no longer see the button. The solution: With the camera feature selected, place your finger on the camera icon and turn the phone around so you’re facing the lens. Smile real pretty and let go of the shutter button. You’ll hear the telltale click - you’ve just taken a self-portrait.

 

7. Rehang the Wallpaper

If you’re up for a bit o’ iPhone hacking, you can take any image you find anywhere on the Web and turn it into custom wallpaper (see this YouTube video for details: tinyurl.com/2ecfbg).

 

But there’s a much easier way: Download 320-by-480-pixel images for free from a variety of online sources, saving them all in the same folder on your Mac. In iTunes, with your iPhone docked, select your iPhone, click the Photos tab, select the radio button next to “Sync photos from,” and then from the drop-down list, select “Choose folder.” Browse to the folder you created, then click Apply in the lower-right corner. Finally, on your iPhone, go to Settings > Wallpaper > Photo Library to hang your new wallpaper.

 

Darth Vader as iPhone wallpaper, as interpreted by an artist at Gizmodo.com.

 

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8. Say NO to Magnets

The iPhone has a few enemies. One of the archest (besides tech-loving muggers) is the magnet - especially those that lurk in places you’d least expect them. Like iPhone cases with lids that snap down magnetically, for example. If you can tell an iPhone case uses a magnetic closure of any kind, don’t buy it. We’ve received firsthand reports of iPhone deaths directly attributable to magnets. There’s nothing like killing a $600 device with a $20 piece of pleather.

 

9. Reveal Secret Features

When Apple released the first firmware update for the iPhone on August 1, it did so with little fanfare, and attributed most of the updates to security fixes. The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg discovered a few new non-security-related features on his iPhone after the update, including:

 

> Greater capacity in the Phone module’s Favorites list (was 20, is now 50).

> Ability to automatically blind carbon copy (BCC) yourself on all emails sent, where previously your only option was to CC yourself, which alerted your recipients to what you were up to.

> Compatibility with some car adapters and external speakers originally created for the iPod.

 

For more iPhone and tech tidbits, visit Walt’s blog at mossblog.allthingsd.com.

 

10. Ditch the Camera Altogether

If you know you’ll never use the iPhone’s camera, you can remove it altogether. (If you work for or with certain government agencies, your iPhone may actually be contraband on their property because they don’t want you taking any secret photos of the goings-on.) iResQ will remove your iPhone’s camera for $99. Meanwhile, the hands-on folks at iFixit.com have a DIY camera-removal guide (oddly titled “Installing Camera”).

 

All you need to extract the iPhone’s camera are a few basic tools, including a metal spudger, and a steady hand.

 

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11. Get the Official Mod Tool

If you’ve already had to send your iPhone back to Apple for warranty repair or replacement, you might have discovered something different about the replacement iPhone. First off, it comes in a much thinner box. Second, it comes complete with the official iPhone SIM card removal tool: a paper clip. Yes, Apple actually supplies a paper clip with all replacement iPhones, along with instructions for using it to open the SIM card slot and insert your card. (Thanks to the guys at InsanelyGreatTees.com for tipping us off about this!)

 

12. Find Wi-Fi Hotspots

JiWire makes it easy to find the nearest hotspot on your iPhone - so you can rescue yourself from the slow-moving hell that is AT&T’s EDGE data service. Surf to iphone.jiwire.com on your iPhone and fill in your location info. If you’re a cheapskate like us, check the box for “Search free hotspots only.”

 

13. More Wi-Fi Performance Tips

Apple has a potentially useful collection of Wi-Fi-related iPhone tips in a regularly updated knowledge-base article on its website. Suggestions include fixing problems like paid Wi-Fi connections that drop off suddenly, weak Wi-Fi signals, and Wi-Fi connections that revert to EDGE due to issues with WEP passwords or wireless routers that use MAC address filtering as a security measure.

 

14. Kill GSM Buzz

If you experience a buzzing sound using an iPhone cassette adapter for your car stereo, such as Monster’s iCarPlay - which claims to be iPhone compatible but doesn’t appear anywhere on Monster’s website, www.monstercable.com - Gizmodo offers a low-tech solution: aluminum foil. Yep, just take a little bit of Reynolds Wrap and wrap it around the cable closest to the iPhone. This eliminates the need to switch to airplane mode - which is a viable solution, but sends incoming calls to voicemail.

 

If you really want to amuse your friends, try twisting the foil around the iPhone cable into the shape of a swan.

 

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15. Buy Spare Parts

If you’re the type who simply can’t resist trying to take your iPhone apart, here’s where to go to find replacement parts when you go too far: www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts. Our sources tell us that Apple charges $300 for a replacement screen, but you can get a replacement from iFixIt for $199.95.

 

16. Troubleshoot Hardware Issues

Apple has a relatively helpful collection of troubleshooting tips for iPhone hardware problems here. iPhone Atlas and The Unofficial Apple Weblog, aka TUAW, also do a great job of keeping tabs on iPhone bugs and common issues.

 

17. Foil Nosy Nellies

If you’re reading sensitive email on your iPhone or viewing images or documents you’d rather the guy with the wandering eye next to you on the bus or subway didn’t see, invest in an iPhone privacy screen protector from iStyles ($9.99).

 

18. Choose Your IM Service Wisely

A handful of free Web-based instant messaging apps work pretty well on the iPhone, including Meebo.com, HeySan.com, TinyBuddy, and JiveTalk. Our latest favorite is mundu IM iPhone Edition (free beta, www.mundu.com/im/iphone), because it boasts several of the features we’re used to in Adium (our top choice for IM on the Mac), including tabbed chats, simultaneous logins, and an iChat-like interface. To get started with mundu IM, enter the URL iphone.mundu.com on your iPhone.

 

Tabbed chats on the iPhone in an iChat-like interface - brilliant!

 

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19. Discover New Music

Just as the “full-size” Web has Pandora.com, the iPhone has SeeqPod.com. Essentially, SeeqPod is a beta site that lets you search for music that’s lurking in all corners of the Internet using keywords, or you can browse playlists alphabetically by name - which, because of the crazy names people have for their playlists, essentially amounts to a completely random discovery process. It’s certainly one way to stay entertained on your next long bus ride, especially if for some reason you’re sick of all your own iTunes music. SeeqPod works best over a Wi-Fi connection, but music generally plays without interruption on an EDGE connection too.

 

20. Get MS Entourage (Exchange) Email

The only way to access corporate email from an Exchange server on the iPhone is if your company’s IT department has enabled IMAP - and even that basic requirement is not as simple as it sounds. Many companies don’t want to simply switch on IMAP for a host of reasons, one of which is security. There is a solution - and the best part is that it means you don’t have to get your IT department involved. Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway 3.0 (free 30-day trial) will allow you to receive Exchange messages on your iPhone by first accessing the Web-based email service that most companies have enabled, retrieving those messages, then routing them to an account you’ve configured on your iPhone. (For the steps required to sync your Entourage contacts and calendar to your iPhone, check out our online how-to, “Sync Entourage Contacts and Calendar”.)

 

21. Satisfy Your Twitter Fix

Since your iPhone is, after all, a mobile phone - presumably with SMS text message capability, depending on your plan with AT&T - you can create new Twitter posts by sending a text to 40404. However, you can also access Twitter the way you might normally do on the Web (you know, while you’re supposed to be working), thanks to PocketTweets (pockettweets.com). Bookmark it in your iPhone’s browser and go there to update your Twitter status, view direct messages, view the Public Timeline, and more.

 

This is how you Twitter from your iPhone - no SMS charges need apply!

 

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22. Use It as a Flash Drive

This is a handy option if you just can’t stand to carry more than one device around - even if that “extra” device is a tiny USB thumb drive. iPhoneDrive from ecamm network ($9.95) lets you drag and drop files onto your iPhone so you can use it to shuttle them from point A to point B. Keep in mind, however, that you can’t access these files from the iPhone - you need another computer at the other end, presumably your home or office Mac, which must also have iPhoneDrive installed on it.

 

Drag and drop files from your hard drive into iPhoneDrive to put them on your iPhone. You need iPhoneDrive installed on whatever Mac you will transfer them to as well.

 

23. Check for Dead Pixels

Longtime iPod users—and, really, anyone who’s owned an Apple product with a screen - know that pixels sometimes die. That is, you sometimes get pixel-size “dead spots” on a display. Here’s wishing all your pixels a very long life - but if you want to check for dead pixels, visit iphonedpt.awardspace.com on your iPhone and follow the prompts.

 

24. Replace Your iPhone's Battery Yourself

Disclaimer: This voids your iPhone’s warranty. On the other hand, we sincerely hope that your battery doesn’t die much sooner than the warranty’s one-year term. To prepare for the worst, you might as well check out how it’s done before you need to do it. That way, when it’s time to replace the battery, you can decide if you want to spend $20 on the kit and do it yourself, or pay about $85 to have Apple do it for you.

 

25. Don't Be a Sucker

In your search for the latest iPhone apps, you might have run across websites that allegedly offer you instant access to hundreds of the latest apps - all for a low, one-time membership fee of $49.95. These sites include www.iphonenova.com, www.iphonecyclone.com, and www.iphonedownloadpro.com. Trouble is, these sites are scams. We ponied up 50 bucks for membership to iPhoneNova, which claims to be the “world’s first iPhone download service.” Guess what it really is? It’s a BitTorrent-like site for downloading illegal content you can view on your iPhone or iPod. Your $50 membership gets you a BitTorrent client called Tomato Torrent and links to download two more already-free apps that help you convert existing videos and rip DVD content to view it on your iPhone/iPod: iSquint and HandBrake Lite. You also get links to a mere five Web-based iPhone games and a huge, disorganized list of illegal downloads like The Simpsons and Transformers movies.