Learning to Use My New iPhone

Just got home with my new iPhone and I'm beginning to play with it. Here are some of the questions I have about it (along with answers added later):

Q: How do I make it "sync" to my computer? What is it that gets "sync'ed"? Can it sync over bluetooth or does sync'ing require the cable?

The salesman had told me that I should let the battery run down completely, then recharge it. So I used the iPhone until the battery was depleted and it shut itself down. Then I plugged it up to my laptop and it started charging. iTunes did not start up. After waiting a few minutes, I started iTunes manually, it noticed that the iPhone was plugged in, and the sync proceeded. Pretty easy.

Q: The salesman told me I'd need to sync to the computer and hook up to iTunes to be able to download available applications. How do I do that? What apps are available that would be of interest to me?

After the sync through iTunes was done, I was able to open the App Store and see the apps available for download.

Q: How do I send my wife a text message? I paid extra money to be able to do that, but the message I just sent never showed up on her phone. :(

The issue with text messaging was that several years ago, my wife and I both got some spam messages that we didn't want to pay for, so I had AT&T put a restriction on her line that prevented text messages from getting to her. I had to call up AT&T Customer Support and have that restriction taken off her line. Now I can send her text messages that say, "Kissy kissy." There might still be a restriction on my receiving texts, but for now we're just trying it with me able to send to her to see if we use the service enough to make it worthwhile. (Update: it turns out that there was not a restriction on my line -- I've been receiving text messages just fine.)

Q: How do I get it to tell me my current latitude and longitude?

When I googled for information about getting latitude and longitude out of the iPhone, one of the hits pointed me to this forum conversation. So I went to the App Store and looked for Motionex GPS Lite, as suggested. It's free, so I downloaded it and tried it out. It provides latitude and longitude values as requested.

Q: How do I get it to tell me the latitude and longitude where I made a picture?

It also looks like Motionex GPS Lite also has a way of associating waypoints with pictures so you can get the latitude and longitude where a picture was made. This seems like it might be just the thing for waymarking. However! The Lite (free, teaser) version only allows you to mark 3 waypoints (and therefore it will only mark the location of up to 3 pictures) and record 1 track. To do more, you have to pay $2.99 for the fully functional version of the program.

Q: How do I get rid of moisture between the screen of the iPhone and the screen of the case (an Otter Box)? (The salesman said something about using baby powder for this.)

Further research is needed.

Q: How long should I expect a charge of the battery to last? Do I need to charge and discharge in any kind of pattern to preserve the strength and life of the battery?

Apple has a page about iPhone battery life that offers a number of tips for maximizing battery life (how long until you need a new battery) and charge cycle length (how long you go between charges). The most important tips are keeping the iPhone away from heat (don't leave it in direct sun or in a hot car, for example), staying current with the latest software, optimizing your settings based on your usage patterns (details given on the page linked above), keeping the interface locked, and using your iPhone regularly.

Q: Can I use bluetooth to transfer pictures from the iPhone to my computer? How do I do that?

I haven't yet found a way to use Bluetooth to transfer pictures to my computer, but there's an easy way to send them to flickr.com -- e-mail. Since the goal is to share them anyway, being able to transfer pictures straight to flickr cuts out the intermediate step of putting them on my laptop. Update: With more googling, I found forum conversations discussing the fact that synching over Bluetooth is not supported.

Q: Can I use my iPhone to read Kindle books? If so, how do I do that?

By reading the Kindle for iPhone page on amazon and Apple's page on the Kindle app, I learned that I needed to open the App Store (even though the Kindle app page said to "Open iTunes to buy and download apps" -- I intuited the correct place to go). Under the category "Books", the Kindle app was the second entry. When I first tried to download and install it, I was asked to verify my Apple account information. I did. Then the download took a long time before I got the message "unable to purchase". Looking around, I couldn't find a new app on my desktop. So I tried again. The second time, my credentials were not question and the app was downloaded and installed. This is a free app, so if I ever try to buy something that actually costs money, there may be trouble, but for now I'm happy. (Update: I have since downloaded apps from the App Store that do cost money, so this has not turned out to be an issue.)

Q: How can I set up shortcuts for dialing numbers I call frequently?

A google search found me this page. It describes an app called OneTouch that is supposed to provide quick dial services. OneTouch Lite is free. There are more capable versions that cost. I'll try out the Lite version and see what I think.

Q: Help! I forgot how to find my voice memos after recording some. How do I listen to them?

On the Voice Memo screen, in the lower right corner, there's a silver circle with three horizontal black bars across the middle. Touch this and a list of voice memos will appear so you can play them back, share, or delete them.

Q: After sync'ing my iPhone to my computer the first time, I notice I suddenly have a bunch of spammish contacts that I don't want in my Contacts list. How can I get rid of them easily?

After connecting your iPhone to your computer, iTunes should come up if it's not already running. If it doesn't, start it. Once you click on your device in the left column, you get a page full of information about your iPhone, with tabs across the top. Click on the "Info" tab at the top. This will give you a page where you can control what gets synced, in which direction, etc. In your contacts, you can select a group that will sync to the iPhone. You don't have to sync all your contacts. I created an "iPhone Contacts" group in my address book on my computer and told iTunes to just sync that group to the iPhone.

Q: There are lots of settings and options to control the many different sounds the iPhone can make. I need a quick and simple way to be sure my iPhone isn't going to go off in a meeting or a movie and embarrass me. How do I do that?

This page showed me how to quickly and easily silence my iPhone. The short version is: there's a hardware switch at the top of the left side of the iPhone as you look at it. Push this switch toward the back of the phone. (It's not the top volume button. Rather, it's north of that button toward the top of the phone, but still on the side.)

Q: I like listening to podcasts on my iPhone. I like that I can download them directly to the phone without going through my laptop or iTunes. Once I'm finished listening to a podcast, how do I get rid of it?

This blog post gave me the clue. I tried unsuccessfully to figure it out on my own, then finally googled for the answer and found it. When the list of podcasts is visible on the screen swipe your finger across one from right to left. A red delete button will appear. Touch it and the podcast will be deleted.

I'll continue updating this article as I discover more information. If you have questions, post them in the comments and someone may know an answer.