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Today I decided to focus on 10 Tips for the iPhone. Can’t help it! The people who do iPhone support for our company (also our MAC people) tend to feel left out with so many tips being focused on Microsoft products and BlackBerry devices.
Knowing that iPhone and MAC users tend to be a little hipper than most (at least that is what their commercials seem to imply), I have decided to put in a little Funk background music during the tips to make them a little fresher. Thanks in advance to David from Clayton & Fulcrum for the funky beats!
Now here come the Tips!
- Why are you wasting your time on basic punctuation? When needing to type a period, don’t go to the symbols. All you need to do is double tap the space bar. As Emeril puts it… Bam!
- Looking to get back into the groove from the disco era? Just think, “Shake, Shake, Shake… Shake, Shake, Shake… Shake your icons.” Well, at least that is what I am reminded of when I want to rearrange my icons. All you need to do to join the movement is press and hold on one of your icons on the home screen and when the dancing begins move them where you want!
- How do you roll? Well, I like pictures a lot. So when you’re surfing the web on your iPhone and find a cool image you want to keep to show others later, simply press and hold your finger on the image and you’ll be prompted to “Save Image”, which will save the image into your Camera Roll.
- Who says only those people at T-Mobile can have a Fave 5? You can actually have more than five if you want. If you’re like me and have a list of people you call regularly, why not make them your favorites? All you do is open up your contacts, select the contact and tap the “Add Favorites” button at the bottom. To access them, merely go to your favorites and there they are.
- Find yourself traveling the friendly sky a lot nowadays? Then you have all heard the following phrase: “Please turn off all portable electronic devices.” I still find you can use your iPhone for videos, audio books, and music during those flights if you pay close attention to the Airplane Mode setting. When you hit that magic 10,000 foot mark in the air you will hear that little <Bing> and now is your chance. Go to the Settings and toggle on “Airplane Mode”. This will disable all incoming wireless calls and data connectivity so you won’t be the first person to bring down a plane by posting to Twitter.
- One thing I learned about most people and computers, no matter what brand they use, is that they love to make it their own, whether they’re looking to pimp their ride or just change their background. Try taking an interesting picture of something random like a key on your keyboard or the Coliseum in Rome. Then go to your Camera Roll or other folder, locate your picture, and tap on the icon that looks like an arrow escaping out of a rectangle on the lower left hand side. Select “Use as Wallpaper” to assign your masterpiece to the background for all to see.
- Time zones can be a real pain when you’re traveling a lot. Not only do you feel like you lose time and get jet lag, but your calendar can really become confusing. I found that just turning off the Time Zone Support feature makes my schedule a little clearer by automatically adjusting my calendar to the time zone I am in. The Time Zone Support feature always shows event dates and times in the time zone you selected for your calendar, so when you turn it off, events will display according to the time zone of your current location. To change this option, go to Settings, select Mail, Contacts, Calendar and toggle off Time Zone Support. Your phone automatically changes its time, so why shouldn’t your calendar follow along?
- My company has two offices; one near Philadelphia and one in Cleveland. I know I like to go to specific restaurants in Cleveland and may need to make reservations or find out what kind of special they are running. I found that you can open the maps program, look up a favorite dining facility, tap on the arrow symbol to open that address, and tap “Add to contacts”. This gives you the choice of either adding it as a new contact or augmenting an existing one. Should you be in Cleveland, visit the House of Blues for one of the best bacon cheeseburgers you will ever have!
- Browsing on mobile devices can be a real challenge. With just a little pinch of knowledge, you can make it easier on your iPhone. When browsing a site in Safari, you can pinch your pointer and thumb together, touch the phone, and open them up on the surface to zoom in, or pinch it in to zoom out. Be careful not to act like the Kids in the Hall and start playing the “Crushing your head” game. Makes me kind of feel like a witchdoctor shrinking the heads of movie stars.
- And finally… If you have your favorite site to crush movie stars’ heads and want to make it easily accessible the next time you’re out with friends, all you need to do is press the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and choose “Add Bookmark” or, even better, select “Add to Home Screen” to create an easy to access icon. You, too, can easily manipulate an American icon.
Special Thanks to Clayton & Fulcrum for providing music for this podcast. Click here to check them out on iTunes
