iPhone Tips and Tricks

Ok i am now a proud owner of iphone 3g (16gb) and has been playing with my new toy for a while and found some interesting trips and tricks that i want to put in one place so that i can go back to it when i forget how to do it and also for others to view and apply them.

Disclaimer - Most of the tips are safe but i cannot guarantee that nothing will happen to your iphone and I am not responsible if things go wrong with your iPhone. So try it at your own risk and enjoy.

Syncing with your outlook:The first bump i hit when i was syncing my outlook data with iPhone i noticed that it doesnt sync up the tasks and Notes from outlook. That was a bummer. But i did find a free service called Toodledo - www.toodledo.com where you can create a free account and add tasks. Then in iphone, you need to get a software called ToDo, it will automatically sync with Toodledo and you can set reminders like how you do in Outlook.

Create your own Ringtones The other big block that stumbled upon is you can create your own mp3 ringtones and use them as ringtone. Iphone/apple doesnt support ringtones in mp3 format. iPhone ringtones are .m4r format. So i went googling and here is a very simple easy way to get your own ringtones in .m4r format. Doesnt cost you a penny!!

1. First make sure that the clip you are trying to convert to a ring tone is not more than 30secs in length.
2. Then in iTunes playlist locate that file (if you dont see it, add it to iTunes library), right click on it and select "convert to ACC". It will automatically convert the file and put it in the same library/playlist in iTunes.
3. Before proceeding to the next step make sure that you change the settings of the way you view the files and folders to include the file extensions. by default the extensions are hidden. To enable this go to folder options and under view tab, select the check box that says show the extension of known files.
4. Now go to desktop and you will see the converted file sitting there with and .m4a extension. i.e. for example if you have save the file as "test" the in desktop after you enable viewing the file extension you will see it as "test.m4a".
5. Right click on that file and select rename. go to the end and rename .m4a to .m4r and hit enter.
6. Double click on the renamed file and it will be automatically opened in itunes and you will see it under ringtones....
7. Sync ur iphone and vola you have it under custom ringtones!!!! enjoy.

Good to have applications:
First let me list you all the good to have FREE applications. Have to go through itunes for all of them.
1. Bloomberg - real time stock quotes, market news and index.
2. Podcasts - CNN Daily video podcast, IBN Live - daily news podcast from India. BBC daily news update.
There are lot of other products so i will keep updating as and when i find one.
3. YouNote - Awesome application you can take different type of notes including capturing web page, picture note using your camera, drawing note, audio note and many more. This is must have application.

Paid applications:
1. Air Sharing - First of all i was stumped to learn that with iphone you cannot transfer files from your PC to the Phone and vice versa even if you are connected. The only way to do that for free is use you email to send attachments. but thats not so great. So stumbled upon this great app for $6.99 which converts your iphone into a wireless drive and lets you do whatever you want to do with respect to file transfer, storing and retrieving of files. Great app, worth every penny you spend on this.
2. ToDo - This is an addon to Toddledo.com online task management website. It automatically downloads open tasks from Toodledo and syncs up which is cool. little pricy $10, but worth it if you are task oriented person.
3. Pocket Express - a complete package for frequent traveler ranging from latest news to weather to travel portal which includes real time flight arrivals and departure information, currency conversion, the whole nine yards. Check it out pretty cool.

Games:
Note: Most of the games have 2 versions lite and full. Lite is usually free and full is paid. You can try lite and if you love it go for the paid one.

1. Labyrinth - awesome game. Download the lite free version and you will get addicted to it. Thanks to my friend Prabhu who suggested this.
2. Superball - brick ball game, download the lite free version and have fun.
3. Sodoku - free version is also good.

Well let me stop here and if i get more details i will keep posting and also encourage my friends who have iphone to come here and post their findings.

I had to put this updated because i just came across an extension to younote which is a desktop or Mac version which can be used to back up notes (all form of notes)from younote in iPhone to you desktop. Awesome!!!
click this link to go to desktop/mac download

A lot times, I take notes to myself by recording items in either Outlook Notes or one of those 3M yellow post-it notes. Now there are also times when these ideas come when I drive and I would like to record it, so I call my work phone and leave a voice mail. This application I think it $1.99 allows you record it using your iPhone and it is so far very easy to use. You can also assign categories to the recordings.

iPhone allows applications to read your current location using built-in GPS hardware. Many applications are benefiting from this by building applications based on where you are. Some examples are iWant, Where, Yelp etc. Some of them can also tell you friend where you are, now that can be useful or painful depending on what situation you are

I guess more and more cases are coming up which I sometimes think hides the beauty of the iPhone. But, if you are looking for something that can also hold your headphone wires here is one >

Looks like one more product that allows you to keep cord in the case.

Link for SideWinder >

Prabhu wrote:I guess more and more cases are coming up which I sometimes think hides the beauty of the iPhone. But, if you are looking for something that can also hold your headphone wires here is one >

Prabhu,

Is the message complete? looks like it got truncated. It is the same case for all the posts you posted. Please check.
Thanks
Aykay

Prabhu wrote:iPhone allows applications to read your current location using built-in GPS hardware. Many applications are benefiting from this by building applications based on where you are. Some examples are iWant, Where, Yelp etc. Some of them can also tell you friend where you are, now that can be useful or painful depending on what situation you are

I installed Where application. That includes Yelp for restaurant search and Where has tied up with gasbuddy to provide the lowest priced gas station in the area are you in. A neat little app.

Tap Tap is an interesting game that allows you to tap on the iPhone and play a game based on the tune of the song. Go to App Store and search by "Tap Tap" you should see the game. Its free and if played right it is fun. Make sure you go through the tutorial mode before you start the game.

Admin wrote:
Prabhu,

Is the message complete? looks like it got truncated. It is the same case for all the posts you posted. Please check.
Thanks
Aykay

Arul, Not sure why. I posted links to the application and it did not show up. Not sure if it is in my end of the forums. But I am sure you can go to App Store and search for those applications.

Today I discovered something in the iPhone. I am sure you might have discovered that if you press the home phone twice it can take you to the favorites screen (which could be something you can configure I think, but it defaults to favorite contacts). However, if you already in the home screen and your iPod is playing in the background, if you press home screen twice it shows up link to iPod and volume control. I thought it was neat.

Prabhu wrote:A lot times, I take notes to myself by recording items in either Outlook Notes or one of those 3M yellow post-it notes. Now there are also times when these ideas come when I drive and I would like to record it, so I call my work phone and leave a voice mail. This application I think it $1.99 allows you record it using your iPhone and it is so far very easy to use. You can also assign categories to the recordings.

Prabhu - have you tried Younotes? it is a free application that offers more than what you are getting from that paid app. Check it out in App store.

If you are trying to delete a txt message or an email, you dont need to click on the edit button anymore. Just slide fast from left to right on the message or email that you want to delete and you will see a Delete button coming up next to that email or msg.. and you can just delete it..