Tips and Tricks

I recently ran into an issue where my iPhone would take an inordinate amount of time to sync but I couldn't figure out why. The step it always seemed to hang up on was "Verifying iPhone," but why? After doing a bit of investigating, I found out that this step is actually a part of iTunes' backup process. So to solve the problem, I deleted all of my iPhone backups under the "Devices" tab in the iTunes preferences. After doing a full backup, my iPhone syncs nice and fast!

Enjoy!

You've been able to directly download podcasts on your iPhone for quite some time now, but to download anything over 10MB requires that you be connected to WiFi. However, it's incredibly easy to get around this arbitrary limit. Instead of tapping the "download" button on a podcast, simply tap the episode. Your iPhone will begin playing it right away, completely ignoring the limit. If you're streaming audio, you can continue listening even if you exit the iTunes app.

Enjoy!

One of the great things about the iPhone is that its headphones come with a handy little microphone with an integrated button. The button of course allows you to answer and end calls, as well as play and pause your music. You've also been able to double-click them to skip to the next song, but in iPhone 3.0 you can actually triple-click to rewind and go back to the previous track! It's a little tough to do at first, but it's a handy little addition that's sure to help out with your daily iPhone use. Enjoy!

Ever since my first iPhone, there was always one feature I thought Safari was lacking; the ability to open links in a new page. I mean, Safari for iPhone let you have multiple pages open, but there was never a way to explicitly open a link in a new page! Every competent desktop browser can do this. Thankfully this feature was finally added in iPhone 3.0. To make it work, simply tap and hold a link to bring up a nice little dialogue which allows you to open the link in a new page. Hooray, perfect for Google searching across multiple sites!

Piggy-backing on yesterday's tip, I have yet another Voice Control tip for you guys. Although Voice Control is fairly limited in its abilities, it can read more than just a contact's name. Specifically it can read from the nickname field as well. This means that you can tell your iPhone to "call Dad," instead of having to refer to your father by his proper name.

But wait, it gets even more entertaining! Voice Control will understand just about any nickname you assign to a contact. For example, instead of saying "call Jeff Gamet," I say "call Mr. Cuddles" because he's a cuddly guy. The possibilities are endless, and frankly the comical uses will likely outweigh the practical ones.

As many of you already know, the iPhone 3GS comes with an awesome feature called Voice Control. It lets you make calls or play music just by telling your iPhone what to do. To activate Voice Control, you press and hold the Home button. But what if you want to do something via Voice Control without looking at your iPhone?

Starting with iPhone 3.1, you can now use a Bluetooth headset to activate the feature. To do this, simply press the answer/end button on a paired Bluetooth headset while not on a call (be sure a call isn't coming in). Voice Control will be routed through your headset so that you can start a call without looking at your phone. Awesome! You can also do the same to begin playing music.

Among the myriad of tiny improvements included in iPhone 3.1, Apple introduced a new feature to their "Find My iPhone" service. Introduced with 3.0, Find My iPhone allows users with MobileMe accounts to find and remotely wipe a lost or stolen iPhone. In 3.1, you can now remotely lock your iPhone with a four-digit passcode. Jump down for the how-to!

Here's a nifty, new feature for those folks who are always concerned about their battery life. New for the iPhone 3GS, you can now display a percentage meter right next to the traditional battery life indicator. To enable it, head to Settings>General>Usage and flip the "Battery Percentage" switch on. Now you'll see the percentage of available battery right next to the battery icon!

Personally I don't leave this on because it makes me think the battery is draining faster than it used to. But hey, give it a try! If you don't like it, just turn it back off. Enjoy!

By far one of my favorite new features in iPhone 3.0 is Spotlight. Those unfamiliar with the Mac technology, it's essentially a super fast, smart search system. In iPhone 3.0 Spotlight has been added to iPod, Notes, Mail, and Calendar, in addition to the Phone app. This means that you can search for a song in the iPod, a mail message in Mail, or appointment in Calendar. But here's where things get crazy awesome. Swiping to the left of the first home page (the little spotlight icon) will let you search through your entire iPhone. How awesome is that? In addition to results from those apps, Spotlight also finds apps for quick launching.

Keep reading for some awesome search-related tips!

Ever purchase an app on your iPhone and find out later that it's magically shown up in iTunes? This is because your iPhone automatically transfers new app purchases during a sync. But what happens if the apps in iTunes are lost? Turns out you can invoke the magic app sync anytime you want. Simply right-click your iPhone in the iTunes Devices section and choose "Transfer Purchases." Any application on your iPhone that isn't in iTunes will immediately be moved.

Of course you can re-download any app in iTunes for free, but then you already knew that. ;]